pain and pleasure, day 2

i can already tell a huge change this program has made in my life. i feel myself realizing that i am not fulfilling my dreams. i see myself settling for those things that are mundane and mediocre, without a way of getting out of the daily rut. this has come at a perfect time for me to make huge changes in my life.

it's been great to learn from someone who uses real-life examples to help us change, and i've loved every second, no matter how embarrassing or painful my realizations have come to me.

one thing that tony talked about in day two (it was split up into two days, so i just combined it in one post), is how what drives us to change to make big decisions and to run after our dreams. the two things he identifies as things that drive us in life are:
pain and pleasure.

one of the times in my life i've experienced the most pain--emotionally and physically
man, i look scary!! circa early 2008, burst appendix and burst heart (so dramatic!)
....but man did it move me into action!

see, he talks about how until we experience one of those emotions, we tell ourselves lies and stories. we tell ourself that we: "don't have enough time," "need breaks," "might lose someone if we tell the complete truth," etc. (those are all my own personal excuses i wrote down during an exercise). think about how many huge decisions you've made in your life? have you made a big decision to change your health habits (sleeping, eating, exercising) because of something painful someone said to you? have you changed the way you treat others because of something wonderful someone did to you?

i identified a few key points in my life where i wanted results, and decided to examine and understand maybe why i haven't made changes. why haven't i moved toward the solution, and just moved away from the problem? through that exercise, i was able to cause some pain (examining my own beliefs on why i'm too chicken to do something, why i've been frustrated or sad with a certain outcome in my job, relationships, and physical goals), and it's caused me to move. i've decided to become a mover and a shaker.

sure, there may be opposition that shows up to stop me masked as love, but i feel that now i know how to overcome that, and i am ready to achieve all that i was made to achieve. i will change my belief system, because whether i believe i can or i can't, i am RIGHT.

xoxo
brook
ps. follow along on richard's blog to read about other people going through the same program.