Time is flying this January. In a few short days we’ll be square on the start of February and that means, only 11 more months of 2013 left! EEK! I hope this month, despite it’s speed has brought you success in the goals intentions that you set and that the tone of 2013 is proving to be fruitful!

This last post for January is going to be a bit of a ‘round-up’ post, one that intends to tie the previous 3 together and helps firm up the ideas that I touched upon. In general, the posts revolved around intention and awareness, the process of becoming aware of your current location and where you might like to go, how you might like to change the scenery or an adventure you might like to actualize. At a deeper level they were about getting real with yourself, sitting down to actually think about who you are in all of this and starting to recognize what works, what doesn’t and making a plan to engage with the path before you. Of course this is all very integral to a life fully lived and a process in and of itself. Like it or not, there is more than meets the eye and it’s all a bit like an onion – layer upon layer needs to be peeled back, delicately. The process might make you cry or you might find the sweet spot that you needed to make something more delicious.

Now, this might be all well and good to write about setting intentions and creating awareness, it’s a fairly standard discussion in my world, but if we are realistic there is a trend that begins each year and fizzles by Spring and talking about it doesn’t seem to change the reality that much. Everyone makes the same statements, sets the same intentions etc. every year - New Years Resolutions. Sure, you set intentions and goals but WHY haven’t they turned into a reality yet?

Are you stuck staring at the onion??

I’m sure that by now, you’re aware that I LOVE quotes and phrases… They motivate me and act as a lens to see fresh perspectives. One phrase that has proven to be extremely motivating for me is, “If you want something that you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done” – Thomas Jefferson. And it’s this phrase that cuts right thru it all and gets to the very bottom of it.

So many of us WANT to change our ways, we WANT to lose the weight, run the 10k, be more organized, learn to bake a mile high lemon meringue pie but it’s our habits and comfort zones that prevent us from rushing forth into our lives and actualizing our dreams. We are willing, until we are up against the wall that separates the familiar and the unfamiliar. We are determined, until we see the valley between the known and the unknown. We are uncomfortable with the now, glamorize the future, until, we are faced with the discomfort of making a lasting change, then all of a sudden what we have now doesn’t seem so bad and we fall back into the groove of the same old same old.

The unknown is a universal aggrevant; it requires of a leap of faith and a handing over of control, but more so it requires trust. It requires trust in yourself and/or trust in those that you’ve enlisted to help you make the change and ironically, it’s this trust that when fostered, helps us fear the unknown a bit less and allows us to make changes when we first become aware as opposed to dreading the effort it might take.

Another phrase, very similar to the first that I stumbled upon just this morning is “Nothing changes if you change nothing.” It’s almost the same, but ever so slightly different. It’s the truth, in plain English and it calls you to change SOMETHING if you truly want to change. It forces you to be brave and take the first step, pick something and change it and TRUST that it will all be worth it!

So, GO! Stop staring at the onion and start peeling back the layers.