Old patterns… Well trodden paths
Do you see that picture on the right? Well… for the longest time I could not figure out what is causing this indentation in the lawn at my house. Until one day I spotted the indent-maker…
Our neighbours have a teeny-tiny Yorkshire Terrier… I think his name is “Benji” (well that is what I dubbed him anyway) who make frequent visits to our front door and greets all who arrive at our house…. And THIS is the path the wee one takes to come over and back through the hedge.
At first I could not believe it! How can such a wee little dog leave such a massive and deep track in the lawn? I had to laugh! and then I thought about the message this brings…
How often do we choose the same route to approach things in our life? Anything from bad habits, repetitive cycles in relationships, ways of thinking and doing etc. This reminds me of the quote by Anthony Robbins “If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
But this also made me think about why would we follow the same route every time? What is the “pay-off”?
Well one thing is for sure is that this path is very well known, so I don’t even have to think about which turn to take and go onto “auto-pilot” so it saves thinking about strategies and ways to forge a new path or a new outcome… one way ticket to lazy-town… Forging a new path through a field (or lawn) will seem like too much work! Or we might feel that we are not capable of changing direction.
The other reason is that it is comfortable, even if it is not what we want… We know our way around and it is comfortable like a really old pair of shoes or worn-out jumper… I like to call this “Homer Simpson’s ass-groove” lol It is the really comfortable part of the couch that is well worn and familiar and where the view of the world (tv) is also really familiar – sure if I sit on the “newer” part of the couch it will 1) not be as comfortable and 2) my whole view will change from that angle. So why change something that works, right?
Well, here’s the thing that I have seen with my own process, but also with so many of my clients. Habits and Coping mechanisms etc. have an expiry date! They are good when they serve us in some way – but as we grow and evolve in our emotional life, we need to change and upgrade these habits and coping mechanisms. Otherwise they can hinder our growth or hold us back from living our most authentic selves and staying connected to our True Nature.
So how do we change old habits and repetitive patterns that keep us stuck in the mud?
My first answer would be in the form of a question… Are you truly being honest with yourself and about what you want? Is this pattern, relationship or behaviour serving your highest purpose and allowing you to shine your light to the full? Once we can acknowledge that it does or it doesn’t then we can start looking at what small changes can you make to start changing the pattern? When a ship changes its direction by just 1 degree it ends up in a completely different destination. And just like Benji here… you can see that it does not take massive things to form a pathway where there was none before… small, steady changes can bring about new ways, lifestyles, relationships, careers and habits. You are the custodian of your destiny however, and you get to choose the path you follow, so make it a good one. Stay connected to your heart (your truth) compass and you cannot go wrong!
I’m not sure as to what is going on for Benji and why he takes the same route every time… maybe it is just the shortest route home..
