What Could You Start; What Could You Stop?

I’m a believer in what I think manifests in my life.  If I choose not to embrace anger and resentment, I’ll create the opposite.  If I choose peaceful thoughts, my life will be more peaceful. If I choose to see the right rather than the wrong, I’ll attract more of the right.  Geneen Roth, writer / teacher, muses in the 09/25/24 Super Soul podcast, ”…people think all the time about what's going wrong. Let's look at what's not going wrong. So I rephrased it because I don't want the word wrong in my energetic space. So I say, I'm going to stop at least three times during the day and think about what's going right. Exponentially, your day gets better” (qtd. in https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/super-soul-special-geneen-roth-conscious-eating/id1264843400?i=1000670613709). As Ms. Roth points out, a mind shift from ‘what’s wrong’ to ‘what’s right’ is  a powerful change in perspective.  What could you start; what could you stop?

Here are a few of my starts/stops.  Do I slip up and lead with negative responses?  Sometimes.  Then, I get back to minding my thoughts and responses so that I put forth what I intend for my life, focus on my priority.  As you read through this list, think about what you could start/stop and why.

• Start making coffee / drinks at home rather than spending $ on buying coffee.  According to Marko Lazarevic  about coffee spending,  “The average price of coffee in 2022 is $4.90, which is 7.6% jump since 2021 and up from $2.70 in 2015. [https://www.businessinsider.com/coffee-prices-increases-inflation-drought-frost-2022-8 , https://www.wsj.com/articles/coffee-and-pastry-shops-avoid-inflation-backlash-punishing-restaurants-11661160780, https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/09/29/americans-pay-an-average-270-for-coffee-while-tipping-20-percent]. In 1970, the average price for a cup of coffee was $0.25 in the US! [https://www.sagefinancial.com/perspective-current-trends-u-s-inflation/]. An average coffee drinker is willing to pay up to $5.57 for one cup of coffee, which is 16.7% of the average hourly pay [https://craftcoffeespot.com/us-coffee-survey-how-long-can-people-go-without-coffee-or-alcohol/]"( https://craftcoffeespot.com/coffee-statistics/).  Just choosing to make coffee at home rather than buying it could put more money toward your priority in life.

• Start writing a list of what you’re grateful for at the end of every day.  Keep a Gratitude Journal.  This was a hard shift for me because I’m not naturally a contented person.  Still, when I do this, I recall what is right about my life rather than what is wrong.

• Start honoring your own word: if you say you’re going to do something, do it rather than procrastinating.  In other words, keep your word to yourself and others.

• Start loving yourself exactly as you are now, not as you wish you were.  For example, if you have some pounds you want to lose, love your body now rather than waiting to love yourself after the pounds come off.

• Start focusing  only on today. The past is gone and the future isn’t here; all we have is now.

• Start lifting yourself by lifting others.  I have a friend from high school who struggles with Parkinson’s and his wife is challenged by cancer.  This man lifts others by sharing positive encouragement, a funny meme or story, by writing poetry for specific people from his heart.  By lifting others, he is lifted.

•  Start listening to music, dance, take a walk, do something creative rather than watch the news or play violent video games.  What we watch and listen to affects our mood, our thoughts, our attitudes, our responses either positively or negatively.

•  Start living each day with integrity.

• Start learning something every day.

•  Start surrounding yourself with people who bring out the best, rather than the worst, in you.

• Start giving to people you want to give to rather than giving out of obligation.  If I get invited to a wedding or graduation for someone so distant that it’s obvious to me that all they want is a gift, I send them a congratulatory note / card and no gift.  When some people stopped sending ‘thank you’ notes or expressing gratitude, I got mad at them.  Now, I gift people only when I choose to and if they don’t express gratitude, I let it go.

•  Start expressing what bothers you about what that someone does. Share with them from a place of kindness and help them to understand your boundaries.  For example, I have a friend who loves to hunt and, in the past, he has sent photos to me of his smiling face/gun in hand and the animals he has killed. While I know he is going to eat what he kills and I am a meat eater myself, it bothered me to see his smiling face over dead animals.  I think differently about this.  I consider how the North American indigenous people would thank the animals they were about to kill for giving up their lives for the hunter’s family / tribe to keep them fed, clothed, provisioned. Smiling over killing a creature for “sport,” is creepy and disrespectful to the creature, in my way of thinking. When I shared my thinking with my hunter-friend, he stopped sending me photos of his kills while he grinned at their dead bodies.

I could go on and on, but, it’s not what I want to start and stop that matters to you; it’s what you want to start/stop the matters to you.  What are some things you could start and some you could stop? Why would starting benefit you? Please share your thoughts, insights, and suggestions by either commenting below this post if you are reading this on social media, or, if you are reading this through your email subscription, please share, by emailing me, at reimaginelife22@gmail.com.

I’m taking a break from posting until 10/28/24.  Until then, thank you for reading and participating in this blog essay; I invite you to subscribe to my blog at www.reimaginelifecoach.com.