Today is the Winter Solstice; the shortest day and longest night.
Throughout much of the world this is a time to honour the light. We gather together around firelight and candle flame, filling our homes with twinkling lights and reflective baubles. We remember the warmth of the sun on our skin.
We celebrate the opportunity to hunker down; spending time together, feasting and sharing gifts, but always ready for the return of the sun.
When we look to the natural world we can be forgiven in thinking that this is a time of complete stillness. A dormant time where nothing is happening.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
It’s all happening below the surface.
The potential for growth is just waiting, ready for the right time from which to burst forth.
If new shoots were to thrust skyward now they would wither and die in the cold.
Nature knows when it is a fertile time to transform.
We can learn a lot from nature.
As we enter into the festive period, we allow ourselves to let our hair down, to lay in, to feast and indulge in all the delights that we often forgo during the rest of the year.
These feasting periods have always been an important part of human culture, as they have for the rest of nature, fortifying us through the dark, cold periods.
But, in modern times this feasting is short lived before we are back to normality.
Many of us feel shame or guilt for the self-perceived gluttony and excess. We feel lethargic from our lack of movement. We feel depressed by the return to drudgery. We feel anxious about the amount of money we have spent. Booze has left us a little jaded.
And it’s still dark and cold. In fact, it’s getting bloody colder!
And, in this mix of unease and unsatisfactoriness, we decide that this is the perfect moment to make massive changes to our lifestyle in the form of a New Year’s resolution.
Negativity and self loathing can be a powerful motivator for some. But not many.
This is truly unfertile ground on which to try and make big changes.
So, this year, we want you to be part of the NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION.
Don’t make a New Year’s resolution. At least not just yet.
New Year’s resolutions are not a new thing. They date back at least 4000 years.
The ancient Babylonians made them, but they waited until mid-March. So too did the ancient Romans, but again not until March.
Today, we make them from a place of ‘lack’ rather than abundance. We focus on our negatives. And, we do this at one of our lowest points of the year.
It’s little wonder that we struggle to maintain them into February, let alone for the rest of the year.
And when we fail; when we fall off the wagon, we feel terrible, furthering that feeling of negativity and shame.
We need to stop this!
Making habit changes is a complex process.
Having an ambitious goal is great. This is the ember from which we can nurture the flames of change.
The desire to see a change is the spark; that point of certainty that you want to do things differently.
The spark becomes an ember the moment you decide to commit to this change. This is the most crucial phase of habit formation.
But what we do next will make or break the fire of change.
Social media has us all thinking that we are lacking in all the things that successful people have. And so, we go full tilt towards our new lifestyle/habit change.
The problem is that we try to do too much too soon. We haven’t created the most important habit of all. The habit of simply showing up for ourselves.
We take huge jumps. We restrict ourselves too much. We push ourselves too hard initially. We burn out. We give up. We retreat back into the sense that we are not good enough.
The truth is you are playing a game that is rigged against you.
But we have the cheat code.
Just like our metaphorical fire, we can’t just throw giant logs onto our ember. There might be some initial flames, but eventually the ember will become stifled and the fire will die.
We have to nurture the ember. Coax it into life. It’s incredibly fragile. A little oxygen is all it needs at first. Then to this we can add some tiny bits of tinder. And to this our kindling.
Now it’s time for thin twigs, then some bigger twigs, before adding sticks. Only when the fire is truly established do we gently place our logs in the heart of the flames.
As the fire builds, we continue to add more logs, but still, not too many at one time. The fire can easily be smothered and we have to start from scratch.
This is the true secret to habit formation. Start slow and start small. Let the fire catch.
Around the world great fires are lit at this time of year. Sacred fires to light us up in the darkness and lift our spirits.
We all have a sacred fire within us. The fire that, with gentle coaxing, will become a blazing light.
This is what Ember, our new FREE 14 day programme is all about.
We want to give you the best chance to succeed.
On the Ember programme you will learn ways to do the following:
- Discover your WHY and how to harness it
- Challenge your pervasive negative mindsets surrounding change
- Break down larger goals into manageable milestones
- Combat lack of motivation
- Overcome obstacles
- Learn to forgive yourself for your ‘failures’
- Harness marginal gains that coalesce into massive changes
- Manage your time effectively
- Create an environment for change
- See the wins rather than the shortfalls
- Focusing on the process rather than the goal
We will also introduce you to our 5 Circles of Health framework which you can use to build your own personal health practice. This becomes an anchor stone with which to stabilise and return to whenever you get derailed in your journey.
The Ember programme is designed for anyone who has tried and failed to make the changes they need in their life.
The current health and fitness system continually fails many of us. It is now the time to take the power back.
So, enjoy the coming festivities. Bask in the glow of fire-light and candle flames, and enter the new year with a sense of joy and abundance.
Are you ready to ignite the spark of change?
Ember begins on the 10th of February. If you would like to join us for FREE please fill out the form below and we’ll keep you updated.
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