Like acorns that grow into Grandaddy oak trees, the consistent commitment to small changes in life make a big difference over time. Dietary change in the direction of better health can shift moods and eliminate pockets of bodyfat. Ceasing to whine or yell or explode emotionally when faced with a traffic jam, or a difficult person, brings comfortable energy to the fore and sends hair trigger reactivity on the run. We become calmer all over. Parking farther away from our destinations so that we have to walk a bit, and taking the stairs when we can, begins our path to physical fitness. Stopping cursing, saying more please and thank-yous, adding a single stretch to the morning routine and one less cup of coffee- all of these things change the quality of a day's experience.
We all have our habits in life that make us cringe, and some more than others, but we need not have them at all. We can weed them out. We can recognize when we have picked them up and put them down instead. We can catch ourselves and stop. And if we stop enough, we will train ourselves to not begin at all. Some behaviors are best made extinct. We need not act on everything we think of. Sometimes, silence and non-action are the most powerful and healthy actions there are, and used consistently, in the right way over time, they can grow us in bounds like giant oak trees.
I recognize when I behave in ways that make me feel badly and stop behaving in those ways.
