“If you do what you did, you get what you got.” – Anonymous
As the year draws to a close, we can reflect on 2019 and our life up to this point. We can acknowledge the areas in our lives that are working well and take stock of the areas that are falling through the cracks. We anticipate creating positive as the new year dawns. Many of us wait for Jan. 1 to make changes and allow the flurry of the holidays to be our main focus during the last month of the year.
However, it is during this last month that our strengths and weaknesses come to light. We somehow show the best and worst of ourselves, and it is an excellent moment to pause and catch the areas that need gentle tweaking. While our mind is focused on the holidays, we may notice our joy in giving and also notice our tendency toward anxiety and worry. Perhaps you become aware of what overwhelms you, or you recognize that you indeed have a healthy relationship with food.
December becomes a month of opportunity to find your truths. Before January 1, before you create a New Year’s resolution, before you set any goal: Find your truths.
When making a change using a 12-step program, the first step is to admit. Admit your truth. In yoga, satya, or truthfulness, comes as the second “rule” for right living. (It is second after ahimsa, or non-violence.) According to the yoga sutras, “With establishment in honesty, the waste of fearlessness comes. One need not be afraid of anybody and can always lead an open book.” Once you admit your truth, you can be free to create positive change.
Oftentimes, we see our truth but tell ourselves a story to make our truth seem bearable. Becoming aware of the stories we tell ourselves uncovers how we’ve been hiding from our truth. The stories may be truths as well, and they may even be positive aspects of your life as we compensate our flaws with our strengths. It’s in becoming aware and creating behavioral change that true change occurs.
I will share one of my personal truths, and the story I tell myself.
Truth: I procrastinate at work. Story I tell myself: I live in the moment.
My truth comes along with a host of other truths. I procrastinate at work because I enjoy focusing on other aspects of my life as opposed to those I see as tedious but will gain the most professionally. And although I do tend to “live in the moment,” which is a positive, I need to work on planning and where I spend my attention. Do I want to increase my productivity to begin with? (I do.) If so, I need to see my truth, stop hiding from it with my story, and actively make some changes.
Creating positive behavioral change can be uncomfortable. Our old ways creep in and tell the story we’ve been telling ourselves for years. Because we are used to believing it, we will easily fall in the trap of living the same life and consequences. Maintaining a reminder of our truth and the story we enjoy telling ourselves helps us stay connected to the behavioral change we’ve chosen to make.
Below you’ll find four areas where you can answer your truth and your relationship to each. Do this prior to creating any goal or New Year’s resolution and come back to it as you see your old ways creeping in.
Sleep: How well do you sleep? How long do you sleep for? Do you feel rested when you wake up?
Mindset: Do you consider yourself open-minded? How do you naturally respond to stimulus, negatively or positively? In what areas of your life can you create a calm response?
Nutrition: Do you have a healthy relationship with food? Are you aware of the food you eat? Can you identify foods that produce a negative outcome in your body?
Fitness: How often do you move your body for 20 minutes or more? Can you do routine, everyday movement tasks? Do you have a person who keeps you accountable for your fitness goals?
There are many areas and several questions you can ask yourself. Feel free to use these as a starting point. I hope you can identify some of your personal truths and create a path for your positive change. Every story is different, and each one of us has a different path. Practice doing the work of figuring your truths and follow up the intention to change with action.
Happy end of 2019!
What is your truth?
