Hello my friends and readers. I had a request on the topic of “I am not making time for ME”
I started to think about how I would approach this issue. I started thinking about the “Compound Effect” which is a simple analogy that can make big difference.
I’m going to explain the Compound Effect using Yoga as the example. You can have the compound effect of doing something and of not doing something. Let's say you do a lot of yoga, like do it every day for a year. More than likely your body will change and your experience will change and you might be able to do positions and flows that you could never do before. You will start to feel one with your body and realize that what you thought was hard before will seem easy now. You like the way you look and you feel amazing. So that is the compound effect of doing yoga every day.
Now let’s say that you stop doing yoga for a year. The compound effect of not doing yoga for a year will be profound. You will feel stiff. You will not be able to do the things that you used to be able to do when you were doing yoga every day. You won’t feel good about yourself or about your body. So that is the compound effect of NOT doing yoga.
Here is the point, think about where you were at the end of that year of doing yoga every day and how amazing it was to be able to do all those amazing things with your body and to just really enjoy your yoga class at that deepest level. Just think about if you had done yoga every day since the beginning. Where would you be in terms of your yoga practice today?
You may not realize why you’re getting the effect that you’re getting if you don’t pay attention to the compound effect, if you don’t pay attention to how doing something provokes you doing something which provokes you doing something else which ultimately creates your result. These little insignificant daily choices aren’t necessarily enjoyed in the moment but will give you the result you are looking for.
We don’t realize that doing certain things over and over will cause a compound effect, one way or the other.
Now that I have said all of that, let’s think about making time for yourself. How does that fit in here? We sometimes make excuses for why we can’t make time for ourselves, right? It is just easier and making excuses, (or anything for that matter) for any length of time will cause the compound effect of you not making time for yourself, you not taking good care of yourself or you not caring anymore. That becomes your new reality. How do we change that?
When we understand that all the insignificant things that we do are what add up to the significant, then we can start looking at our lives very differently. What you do with your days are what create your successes or failures. So, I want you to look at your day. I want you to evaluate all the choices you’ve made today. And if you make those same choices every day, what will be the result?
Let’s say that you decide to have lunch with your girlfriends once a month. You make time for you and reconnect with your friends that you have neglected over the years. After 6 months or a year of making time for you and going to lunch with your friends, the compound effect of that is your new relationship with your friends and your inner happiness to have made and kept bonds.
Now move on to the physical you or the emotional you. Let’s say that you want to get into shape and feel better. You join a gym and commit to one year of exercise. The compound effect of that will certainly show on your face and body.
I think you get where I am going. The obvious part is that repetition is the key to the compound effect. The less obvious part is whether you are choosing positive or negative repetition. Making time for yourself is a choice, just like everything in your life. Are you making good choices? Are you causing a positive or negative compound effect?
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