Day Twenty-Nine: My Journey to Zen
By: Joanne Reid
Tags: Self-awareness, Change, Mindset, Mindfulness, Mindset Shift

Day Twenty-Nine: My Journey to Zen

Slowly, slowly…

Photo by Daria Tumanova on Unsplash

Haste makes waste is an ancient cliché. Some say that it goes back more than two thousand years. Big surprise. I am not go to digress to research its origin. I do remember reading a while back that it is that old and since I am writing about the concept rather than the history of the phrase, the origin is not pertinent at the moment.

My 30 day journey is almost over and there is something I must say. Thirty days of being mindful and examining the way I live is a good start. This is not some sort of quick fix. It is not like a crash diet, which is fairly certain of being a failure.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance has been attributed to Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, John Philpot Curran — to name a few. Again, I am not going to digress into researching these words. I am going to apply them to changing your life, your habits, your way of being.

Whatever you want to manifest in your life requires a focus on what will bring about the necessary changes. Making that habit a part of your life has a price…the price of eternal vigilance.

You cannot lose 100 pounds in a week, prepare to run a marathon in a week, become a millionaire in a week (unless you win a lottery), or entrench any of these big changes in a week.

Every day is a new day in the journey and being mindful is at the core of building and using your new habit. If you are tired, worried, angry, frustrated, trapped, stressed, or any of these negative things, being mindful is going to be difficult.

Take it slow. Take your biggest impediment and spend a few minutes with it. When did this start? What is the source? If it were your best friend’s problem, what advice would you give her?

Don’t expect the answer to suddenly burst out of the sky. Be patient. Go slow. Examine the issue thoroughly and list the possible solutions. List the potential things you could let go that might alleviate that negative impact on your life.

Be prepared for some tough moments as you come to terms with the situation. But do not let your past hold you captive and don’t wait for some miracle solution to arrive. This is your life and you can learn how to live it in a much more fulfilling manner.

For me it was a matter of stepping back from drinks with negative friends where we would sit and gripe about how unfair life was to us. A couple of hours of a pity party fueled by alcohol a few times a week did not solve much for me.

In truth, it made matters worse. It allowed me label myself as a victim. Hah! That’s not an energizing label. It painted big black clouds in the sunshine of my days. It also used money that would have been better spent elsewhere and added extra calories to my already laden day.

When I walked away from these frequent grumble sessions, the odd thing is that not one of my gripe buddies missed me. We faded out of each other’s lives without a ripple.

When you make a change, often you find yourself feeling off kilter. You are out of your comfort zone. Take it easy. Think about yourself and your life and what you might like to do with the newly discovered time in your life.

Haste does make waste. There is no need to hurry. You cannot recover lost time. You start where you are and move forward.