When I leave things to chance, I become distracted. It's too easy to spend time on the Google Machine, or lost in random thought. My shift has been to journal, schedule and document. Creating specific time to devote to the things that bring me joy. Writing, playing the guitar, exercise, reading and meditating to name the primaries.
What that does is allow what's important to me to emerge. Sometimes it is in something I'm writing, or in a piece of music I'm playing. Other times I finish an exercise regimen or a meditation session and I see something new and exciting; new patterns emerge for me - new ways of thinking.
That's the critical part to get over as a person. You are not chiseled in marble and are not committed to the person you were yesterday. You can change. You have the power. It takes more than technique, however. You must change fundamentally and build and sustain new practices that provide a foundation for the person you wish to become. Without the structural support, you move back and forth in your behavior like a rubber band, always coming back to the old you because it's what you know, what you are comfortable with.
This shift is not impossible and anyone can engage it. It requires nothing more than building a spiritual practice into your life that takes only a few moments a day. A time to be silent and still; to listen and to be guided. As you build this, you begin to see the whole more clearly. Your choices become more centered as your values emerge to guide you.
You also see the suffering around you more clearly. The gap between our true values and what we choose to do each day cause us emotional distress. Aligning our values, choices and behaviors is simple but not easy.
It takes practice.
