Setting Course
June 3, 2008 | How to Change Your Life
I know I’ve alluded to the The Hidden Power of Paper & Pen before - but I’ve really only alluded to the mystery that I’ve discovered hidden in the process of writing things down. I don’t think I’ve come right out to tell you that I truly believe writing things down has a magical power.
I’ve always believed words have power. For example, did you know that the concept of creation being caused (either of gods or of our physical world) by the mere speaking of the appropriate word is common throughout all kinds of religions and mythologies? And did you know that multiple cultures around the world believe that a person’s name holds power over their soul; there are even wide spread practices of giving children secret or “true” names and a second name which they go by.
Which just goes to show that words manifested (i.e. brought outside of your head and into the real world) have some kind of power. Whether it’s a soul magic or a psychological phenomenon is relatively irrelevant in my eyes - I have enough kid left in me to be held in awe of the power no matter how it manifests itself.
I mean, come on people, no matter how old you are - or how much you understand the physics of the thing - bubbles remain pretty darn cool to look at.
Right… so back to the point. The power of words. I have found over the last few years that writing things down makes them happen. (I just ordered a book about it actually: Write It Down, Make It Happen because I’m fascinated to read about someone else’s point of view on the topic.) I don’t know how or why this is. All I can tell you is that in all my experiences with the life changing books (see my last post) that have required me to write things down and make lists have proven to me that if I want something to happen in my life I need to write it down.
Or, coming at it from the other direction, if I write it down, there’s a really, darn good chance I’ll see it happen sometime soon.
It’s right about at this stage in our Life Changing Course that I think I should point out that if you want to be able to see a quantifiable change in your life by this time next year then you need to start deciding what kinds of changes you’d like to see.
It’s just Life Coach 101: if you want to go somewhere you need to define where you are going so that you can tell when you’ve arrived.
Yes, I’m talking about those dreaded Goals (cue the heavy music: dun, dun, dunnnnn).
If you don’t decide what areas of your life you’d like to see changes in, or what results you’d like to produce in your life, then how will you be sure that a change has been produced? (Remember, most changes happen in slow steps - so slowly we are often unaware of what or how it happened.)
Now, if you write down your wild and crazy and impossible dreams and hopes you not only get the benefit of being able to look over the list a year from now and therefore have the ability to truly measure your progress and growth. You’ll also benefit from the magical power that flows out of every pen - you’ll see an amazing number of things slowly become crossed off your list.
I swear that you will see more coincidences and amazing happenings that allow you to cross things off your list that you thought you’d never see crossed off than you have in any other one time in your life - just because you wrote the list down. You don’t even need to look at it once you record it; you can just tuck it away in a drawer somewhere and forget it even exists. The magic of writing it down doesn’t actually require your attention to work!
It’s a baffling phenomenon I tell you!
You try it now. Take a pen and paper and start to write down your hopes and dreams. See how long a list you can make. If you get stuck just keep sitting there. Ask yourself: What dreams would I like to see come to pass in the next year? What changes do I want to see evidence of over the next few months? See if you can make a list of 50. Now see if you can push the list to 100. When you get stuck ask yourself what the totally crazy, impossible, isn’t ever going to happen, but if it could…. thing is. Write that down too.
How to Change Your Life Lesson #2: Set a course. It doesn’t matter what your road map looks like, or how big or challenging it is, all that matters is that you create one. Otherwise you’ll just be drifting around aimlessly like a two-man canoe with only one paddler.
No goal is too big or too small to record. “A great haircut” isn’t too petty and “fly around the world” isn’t impossible. No matter what it is, if it’s in your heart then WRITE IT DOWN!
If you decide to take part in my How to Change Your Life series, or if you are declaring today to be your new beginning I’d LOVE to hear from you. Post a comment or shoot me an email (muse @ flamingrenaissance dot com) and I’ll be sure to join your personal cheerleading squad! If you are up to sharing you goals, and hopes and dreams feel free to put them in your comments - or better yet - blog about them yourself, be sure to include a link for us!
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