Whenever we are willing to take the risk and experiment doing something different with our lives, we are usually in for a wild ride. Once we commit to the decision, fear and self-doubt inevitably creep in. But if you can hold on, and keep moving forward, soon you will see signposts, omens, and assurance that you have followed accurate guidance. Once we learn to trust ourselves and lean on our own capabilities, we truly can set ourselves free and live the life of our dreams.
Experimentation can take place on the inner or the outer plane. You can experience thinking different thoughts and adopting new beliefs (inner) or changing jobs, relationships, or locations (outer). There is a physical, action-based side of experimentation and one that happens in the depths of your psyche. To physically weed out what you need and what you don’t is a matter of listening to how your body feels. Are you sick? Are you tired? Are you depressed? These are all red flags that you may need to heed in order to change your life for the better. Mentally and psychologically, it’s important to assess your thoughts throughout the day. Are you being too harsh with yourself? Impatient? Unloving or unkind? If so, you need to make a regular practice – a daily discipline – to change the way you think. I have found that EFT (emotional freedom technique) is a helpful tool for releasing negative behavior patterns that keep us locked in a prison of self-defeating beliefs.
It’s important to reflect back on your life to see what thoughts and behaviors have supported you and made you feel good long-term. If you don’t recall any because you have felt so low for so long, then it’s good to have a positive mentor in your life who can see the good in you. Someone who can remind you of your strengths and positive qualities is very helpful when you are trying to create a new way of living based on loving yourself and seeing your strengths instead of your weaknesses.
It’s also important to remember that we all experience negative emotions; it’s just a part of life. But if we can know that all emotions are like passing clouds – they come and they go – then we don’t need to feed them and focus on them when they come to visit. Instead, we can open the door and let them out saying, “No thank you, I don’t feel like feeling like crap today.” But instead, “I am going to reflect on how I am a being worthy of forgiveness, grace and mercy, and that everything that has happened to me has happened for me so that I can grow into the person I am meant to be.” The emotions that are meant to drive us forward in our lives and propel us to make positive change, will come back around if we aren’t sure how to act on them in the moment. These are the ones to pay attention to and to allow to grow within us until we are ready to act, to experiment with trying something new, and to shed our old cocoon in order to experience all we were meant to.