By Stephen Garber
The start of a new year traditionally is an overindulged time for planning, goals and resolutions. Gyms will be packed. The snowbirds will fly down in ever-increasing droves. Our lives will get a bit more stressful with more people clogging the roads and the shops.
It’s not easy to hold the good, sometimes. We’ve just finished a year that has touched on, revealed and perhaps stoked the fires of change. Some people love those changes—Make America Great Again—and some people are concerned about them. The same was true eight years ago—the Audacity of Hope. Promises, promises.
Politics aside, we always go through change. It happens faster and faster. We age, our kids grow up, technology helps us do things that we once only dreamed about. We can see and treat our bodies medically as never before. We can simultaneously video chat with multiple people around the world for free. Our phones can literally control our homes and cars—from anywhere. Who carries a camera? Driverless cars are coming. And, we see the things that are happening in our world in real time, for better and worse.
We have choices for our resolutions and actions. Most of us focus on what we are going to do: Eat more healthily, exercise regularly, call or visit family more frequently, save more, be kinder, etc. But here’s the magic: What we do is the tip of the iceberg. Our minds are so much more than the conscious thoughts and connections we make—the thoughts of which we are aware.
Science tells us our unconscious mind is seven to 10 times larger than our conscious mind. If you are having similar results to the past—making resolutions that are similar from years gone by—then you are likely using only a small part of your mind. And, so many of us focus on the negative, consciously and unconsciously. Seventy percent of the unconscious mind doesn’t really expect positive change, because it hasn’t worked in the past. At the first chance, we seek and/or recognize the negative evidence—whether it is there or not.
I’m 63. I have a lot of life left to live and grow. (Remember when that was old?) My resolution is that I will work every day to fill my mind with positive thoughts and memories. I will do some serious memory management to bring the positive thoughts, images, memories and the state of mind of success to my diet, exercise, relationships, business, finance—to my life.
I will say thank you to everyone for what they bring to my life. My wife, for giving me the best friend I’ve ever known. My daughter, for doing her best. My friends, for who they are. For the beautiful home, neighborhood, region and state where I live.
For the opportunity to work with wonderful people, and to make a difference in lives, families and businesses.
I will hold the good when I want to do something transformative for my health, body, business or financial state. Or when I write an article, speech or workshop materials. Or when I go into coach, train or facilitate. Or clean the garage, do the gardening, cook and clean up the meal. I will remember the good times, the times I’ve been successful at those tasks—the joy it brings to me and those I’m helping. The positives that I saw heard and felt—and I will let those thoughts and images guide my thoughts, efforts and results.
And, I will have more to say “thank you” for. I’ll hold the good.
Here’s to you holding the good in your life—and creating even more good to appreciate in 2017 and beyond. ↵
Steve Garber is director of Third Level Ltd. Contact him at 561.752.5505 or sgarber@thirdlevel.com.
