The New New Year!

March 21, 2017

Note From Rochelle

Dear Readers,

We’ve been talking about how to ignite our passions, discover new ideas, and create projects that matter. But in order to do any of that, we need to shed what doesn’t work. Today’s tip celebrates spring by helping you clear out the mental, emotional and physical clutter and step forward with new practices.

Enjoy!

Rochelle

The Write Now! Coach

**The New New Year!**

By Rochelle Melander

Happy New Year!

You think I’m kidding, right? Maybe I’ve lost my calendar or my mind. Nope. After hearing from my friend Lisa England (more about her below) about the Astrological New Year, I looked it up online. Here’s what I learned:

The real New Year is March 20—the Spring Equinox and Astrological New Year—when the Sun charges into fiery Aries to banish winter’s chill.

Hearing this gave me great hope. I’ve been feeling a bit down—working too much and not writing. I needed a cosmic shift—and I got one. Now the tricky part: taking that cosmic shift and using that energy to transform my life. But I believe I can do it—and so can you!

I’ve been working in the field of personal and professional transformation for about 15 years now—and here are my tips to help you start again.

Shed

Last week, I had a coaching session with my colleague, Lisa England, a Storyteller and Communication coach and founder of The Hero’s Shift. She asked me questions. I told my story. She jotted down notes. Then Lisa read back to me ten things I’d said. “What do these all have in common?” she asked. It took a minute, but I got it: scarcity thinking. I was spouting stories of lack, which meant my thinking was chock-full of the scarcity stuff. No wonder I’d been feeling down. I vowed right then to shed my negative thoughts—and anything else that wasn’t working for me.

Despite my vow, my brain started in first thing this morning with some chatter about “failure” and “not enough” and so forth. I said to myself, “Thanks for the warning—but I’m not going there today.”

Your turn: What do you need to shed? Common blocks to progress include:

+negative thinking patterns

+naysayers or negative friends

+clothing and activities that no longer reflect who you are

+eating, exercise, and life patterns that don’t work

+projects, jobs, or tasks that don’t energize you

Choose one item to let go of this week. (Yeah! Just one.)

Shift

To get rid of the mental, emotional, and physical stuff you want to shed, it’s necessary to shift your behavior. As I’ve often said to coaching clients, “If nothing changes, nothing changes.” These shifts can be as simple as:

+Talking back to the negative voice in our head

+Wearing different clothes

+Trying a new activity

+Trying new projects

Your turn: How can you shift your behavior so that you can shed your one thing?

Hint: Often, we’re getting something out of the behaviors that bind us. For example, when we complain about our job, our writing project, or the state of publishing to our friends, we get sympathy and attention. Once we see that the payoff is connection and attention, we can try different behaviors to get that same payoff. Maybe by joining a critique or study group, we can still find connection and also let go of our complaining.