Saturday, August 21, 2010

Reflecting on making small changes


Life is a process. We are a process. The universe is a process. -   Anne Wilson Schaef 


 In therapy the concept of making small changes makes sense. We all know that new growth doesn’t happen all at once. Loosing weight, thinking differently, or changing habits all happen by making small, slow changes in our daily life. Any life change can seem like an overwhelming problem. It's too much to take in all at once. We need to remember how each small change can affect a bigger change. Instead of trying to fix the entire problem, we can look at making small adjustments, and what their outcome will be. This approach to therapy not only produces immediate results, but also shows you that it's not so tough to change.



Noting small changes helps to:
-   strengthen our belief that change is possible and happening
-   builds a sense of self-efficacy
-   takes away the overwhelming feeling that the whole problem needs to be changed now
-   helps us focus, be present and slow down 


"[...] the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' "
— Jack Kerouac (On the Road)

2 comments:

  1. I wonder if I'm a "mad people"? Or perhaps just too darn impatient. Ha! But what a great post. Instead of trying to jump across the ravine perhaps I should try taking baby steps.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i just love the jack kerouc quote - i'm going to write that down!

    thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting, i've heard so much about you from kathy m and my hope is to take a workshop there one day with you, or maybe something here in the pacific northwest if you offer workshops around here?

    i'm signed up to take a 3 1/2 day workshop with "The Painting Experience" - have you heard of them? it's been a goal for years, finally, soon a reality.

    ReplyDelete