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People get stuck in a rut thinking they don’t have the time to change. Making over your life doesn’t have to take a large chunk of time or energy. It can be as simple as taking 10 minutes each day to do something different for you or someone you care about.

10-minute makeover ideas:

• Just stop! Don’t clean, don’t eat, don’t check your email, or do the laundry, just take a break and clear your mind. You might be surprised how clear things become when you take a cleansing break from the demands of life.
• Say thank you. Phone a friend, sit down with  your child, or have a conversation with your partner and express your gratitude.
• Get in touch with your divine side. Pray, meditate, find some solitude and honor that part of yourself that is fed spiritually.
• Do something nice for someone. Nothing fancy or elaborate, just a heartfelt act of kindness. Make a bed, pick up some flowers, or leave a note.
• Change your routine. Mixing up the pattern of everyday life changes the way we see the world. Take the scenic way home, tickle a loved one, or say hi to a stranger. By introducing novel change, your view of the world shifts.
• Embrace the positive. Instead of rolling out of bed thinking about the all the obligations that lay ahead, set your sites on the positives. Yes, it’s going to be a fabulous, joy filled day!

Creating change in your life doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking. It’s the little 10 minute make-overs that make “difference” happen.

Let’s talk about something that gets in the way of personal success — urges.

An urge propels a person to take some form of action. If you get the urge to register for this year’s election, the action taken as a result may be a satisfying one–urge accomplished. On the other hand, if you get the urge to eat an entire box of See’s chocolates in one sitting, that’s an urge that doesn’t serve you well if your goal is to lose last year’s accumulated weight.  

What do you do when these urges strike? Give in or abstain? Do you manage the urge or do urges manage you?

Here’s a technique to get you thinking differently about an object of desire. I’m going to use a piece of chocolate for this demonstration since I happen to have an entire box of candy sitting next to my keyboard (food for thought). I’ve taken one out of the box for analysis. 10 or more points I eat the chocolate. Negative 10 or more I abstain.

Step 1: Start with a ranking

Using a scale of 1 to 10, rank the desire to give in to a particular urge (i.e., eat the piece of chocolate.) For this example, I’ll say I’m at a +2.

Step 2: Positive Visualization

What would it take to eat the chocolate? 

• If it were filled with caramel, I would add +2 points.
• If it were dark chocolate, I would add another +2 points.
• If I hadn’t eaten all day, I’d add another +4 points.
• And if it was deliciously decadent chocolate, I’d add another +10 points.

More than likely…there’s a high probability of eating the chocolate.

Step 3: Negative visualization

What would it take to NOT eat the chocolate?

• If I knew it was filled with some awful tasting creme filling I’d give that a -5. Yuck.
• If I knew someone had fingered it with their dirty hands, that would be a big -10
• If it had been sitting opened up on a dusty shelf for 3 years, I’d deduct -10 more points.

There’s a good chance I’d walk away from the chocolate.

Herein lies the key. By visualizing either way, you control your urges. To make the urge stronger simply visualize the positive nature of what you desire. You can make an urge weaker by visualizing negatively. By rethinking the object of your desire, you increase the ability to manage the urge.

If you’re curious, I actually put the lid on the chocolate.

If you are looking to change your life, it may be as easy as modifying the way you see the world around you. If you believe that the world is full of frustration and chaos, you will surely find it. If you believe that your children are doing poorly in school, you will be richly blessed with examples of them fairing poorly. When we see the world through the lens of “what is wrong” rather than “what is right” with a person, place or issue, disharmony shows up in our bodies and minds. Although we project the negatives as being “out there,” our bodies take on the discomfort in the form of bodily stress, anxiety and discomfort.

Try the following exercise for the next week:

Choose a subject to focus on. This can be a child, your living space, a partner, or an issue of interest. Instead of finding the glaring negatives that pop out so readily, look for something positive and accentuate it. Ponder it, reflect on it, and allow yourself to feel grateful for your findings.

I’d be curious to hear what changes in your life as a result of this exercise. Please share!