Spiral Dragonfly Coaching
Mary's Magical Musings
Change vs. Transformation
8/27/2009
We have been talking about change and how difficult it is to make changes in our lives. This newsletter I want to look at the difference between making changes and transformation.
Those of you who have been following this newsletter from the beginning remember my joy at having lost weight, my pleasure at rediscovering bike riding, and my desire to try a triathlon this summer. I made several changes in my life and maintained them for more than the 21 days it is supposed to take to solidify a new habit. I even managed to maintain through travel and the liminal time we discussed a few newsletters back. The beginning of May an incident occurred which threw me for a loop. ALL my new habits flew out the window and I reverted to old habits. So much for change!
The difference between change and transformation is change happens on the outside. It is visible; obvious through changes in behavior. Eating differently, exercising more, stopping smoking; all are observable by those around you. They either support you and cheer you on or sabotage you because they miss the activities you used to engage in with them.
Transformation happens on the inside. In the Dream Coach® process, we work with limiting beliefs and transform them into new empowering beliefs. I recently watched a segment on Good Morning America where a successful dieter discussed the way he had transformed his relationship with food. In order to stop smoking, it is necessary to see yourself as a non-smoker; to believe that you are a non-smoker
Transformation involves changing internal belief systems. As long as I continue to believe that I am lazy and out of shape, it is unlikely that I will get up and go for a run or get myself to the swimming pool. As long as I believe that I want a Pepsi rather than a glass of water, I will feel deprived when I opt for the water rather than what I truly want. Until I can see food as merely fuel for my body and mind rather than a sense of comfort, support, celebration, or whatever other reason I am stuffing unnecessary calories into my system; my eating will continue to be out of control.
I can use will power and other educational methods to make changes to my eating and exercise habits. But until I address the underlying belief system, whenever anything interferes with my carefully constructed house of cards "new" behaviors, I will revert back to my time honored traditional behaviors. The known patterns, no matter how disagreeable, are easier to deal with than the unknown "new frontier" of transformation.
In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, participants consider what ONE behavioral change would have the most impact on their lives. I consistently said regular exercise. I know it. I have experience of this being true. And yet, the transformation of the underlying belief has not occurred so that I continue to take part in a regular exercise routine.
If you would like the opportunity to explore one or more of your underlying limiting beliefs in order to move toward transformation, please send me an email. We can discuss how I can support you on your transformational journey.
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