#5 How did I ever let that stop me?

ByLukas

The other day you asked about my favorite words.

But what I really want to write about is my favorite questions.

Because as much as words can spark imagination, questions are what steer the mind – to good places or bad.

Consider this one:

“Why do I always give up when I start a new habit?“

This presupposes that I always give up and will ask my brain to come up with reasons (and excuses) to justify and perpetuate that behavior.

  • Why do I always get frustrated when something doesn’t go my way?
  • Why do I always wait until the last minute to start on a project, so I get stressed and barely meet the deadline?
  • Why do I always give up when I start writing and publishing daily?

And off I go, finding excuses for behavior, thus perpetuation.

“Look at all the reasons I found for behaving this way. I may not like it, but I guess this is who I am.”

Why would you send your mind there… If you could also ask yourself a question like:

“What would it feel like if I were already writing and publishing every day?”

How would I feel about myself…

How would I look at myself?

What would I say, what would I create… How would I act?

Which obstacles would I have conquered?

Which excuses would have become irrelevant, making me shake my head, saying to myself, “How did I ever let that stop me?”

And just like that, with my imagination set free

internal resistance melting away

off I go

finally becoming who I’ve always wanted to be.

P.S: If you MUST ask the “Why do I always…” questions, at least use them to justify and perpetuate positive behavior.

Why do I always wake up and immediately write three pages stream of consciousness?

  • Because it helps me slow down.
  • Because it makes me aware of negative (and positive thought patterns).
  • Because I feel calm after writing them.
  • Because ever since I started, more creative, productive, and disciplined
  • Because this is who I am now. And I love this version of me much more than the one from before I started writing every day.

P.P.S.: Alright then, one more question to think (or journal) about:

Where am I perpetuating a situation or habit I say I don’t want but I secretly cling to because it feels comfortable and has become part of my identity?

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    #310 Normalize the habit first

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    Only when it has become normal to write every day can you truly think about what you want to say.

    Only when it has become normal to run every day can you truly think about the record time you want to run.

    Only when it has become normal to practice yoga every day can you truly think about what it means to perform a pose.

    First, you normalize the habit. Then you get the freedom to hone the skill.

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    #35 Why time speeds up and the world become blurry

    ByLukas

    The first hour after I was born, 60 minutes encapsulated my entire life outside the womb.

    An hour is an eternity.

    When I celebrated my first trip around the sun, one year encapsulated my entire life outside the womb.

    An hour is not that long anymore. But a year… that’s an eternity.

    When I’ll celebrate my 30th birthday next year, one year encapsulates about 1/30th of my experience in this body here on earth.

    A year is not that long anymore. But 30 years… that’s an eternity.

    Lukas Van Vyve

    There’s an absolute, immutable version of time, and then there’s our felt interpretation, which speeds up with every passing moment because we compare it to all the “time we’ve lived so far”.

    Maybe that’s why the older we get, the more effort it takes to stay in the present moment?

    Because, unlike a newborn child, for whom, compared to its short lifespan, an hour is an eternity, and every second is an opportunity to discover, drink in the world, explore…

    We’ve lived so many hours, minutes, and seconds that we don’t care anymore.

    with every passing year
    i’m more in a hurry
    and the days, minutes, seconds
    become ever more blurry

    i can live fast and miss out
    or slow down
    listen, look around
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    and at last
    i hear you again.

    Lukas Van Vyve
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    #112 Chipping away at your skepticism

    ByLukas

    You don’t have to believe you can do, be or achieve something today.

    But you must trust there’s always a tiny daily action, fairly easy to take, that goes against your disbelief.

    A tiny daily trusty builder, repeated every day, that chips away at your skepticism and plants a seed of self-trust in your brain: “Maybe I CAN change”?

    Then one day, you wake up and you believe: I can be whoever I choose to be.

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    #230 It’s so much, until it isn’t

    ByLukas

    “Write 3 pages of Stream of Consciousness journaling.”

    “Coming up with 100 things to be grateful about.”

    “Publish a daily insight.”

    My initial reaction, and maybe yours, is, “That’s so much.”

    And that’s exactly the point.

    It IS a lot.

    But actually, it isn’t.

    And when you try it out, and see that it isn’t, you’ve shattered the illusion of scarcity and discovered abundance.

    Maybe we humans are wired to believe in scarcity and fighting over sparse food.

    And while that may serve us well, in many endeavors, there’s much more abundance than we think.

    If your gut reaction was, “That’s so much,” I invite you to try it out.

    Write down what the voice in your head talks about for 3 entire pages.

    Write down 100 things you’re grateful for.

    Challenge the scarcity mindset.

    There may well be abundance on the other side.

  • #340 This is all you have to do today

    ByLukas

    You may want to be a published, acclaimed author, or an online writer with a massive audience. But today, all you have to do is write.

    You may want to be the best marathon runner in your country. But today, all you have to do is go for one run.

    Whatever lofty vision you have for yourself, today, all you have to do is take one tiny step, one Tiny Trust Builder moving you closer to the person you want to be.

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