Why I Am Not Coming Home: The Choice to Transform

Let me start by saying that transformation takes guts. Sometimes I think it takes more guts than I have. Then I remember that there is no way not to transform.

Sometimes it feels like it just happens to you, but if you look closely you will see that transformation is a choice. Once you decide to do it, it is hard to stop the process, if not impossible.

It has taken me almost two weeks to share this with you all and I still don't feel ready even though I have shared some pretty personal things in the Aquin Yoga community. First, I quit my job. Then I was diagnosed with a health condition that delivers chronic pain and inflammation. After that I decided to take an extended vacation to Boston.

Each one of these situations delivered their fair share of fear, hope and insight. And as if life hasn't been eventful enough, I made another decision that is terrifying, hopeful and is pounding me with insights. The first and most obvious catalyst for transformation in my life lately has been the huge and terrifying decision not to move back to Hamilton.

Change Your Surroundings

When I left home this summer, I had every intention of taking a few months to spend with my partner, relax and try to wrap my head around the new reality of living with chronic pain. However, something began to unfold that I wasn't expecting. In this series of blogs that follow, we will uncover five ways to transform. The first is to change your surroundings.

I arrived in Boston and although I have been a visitor in the city, it has taken some time to get used to the subtle cultural differences between the US and Canada. Not only that, but very practically, Boston is tricky to navigate. The streets twist and change so often that if you don't know where you are going, you will get lost.

Although I hate not knowing where I am going, I was reminded today by the one and only Martha Stewart that getting lost is good for you. During her keynote at Inbound 2014 she told us that she regularly takes a new route to her destination so that she can discover new places and spaces that inspire her work and help her to learn something new every day.

The complexity of a new environment means you must re-calibrate. You need to pay attention to the unseen pulsation of your surroundings, the people, the culture, the physical space. The five senses are also awakened as you take in the buffet of new sights and sounds. You don't need to move to a different country to get a jolt of this power. When you feel stuck working from the office or from home, you can change it up by heading to a coffee shop or a park to work. Changing your surrounding has a way of unlocking a stagnant mind, and making you more present. 

Don't get me wrong, your comfort zone is important. The comfort zone is a place to lay your head, feel safe and do your self-care work (we will talk more about that later in the series). But going outside of that comfort zone is good for expansion. It forces you to be less complacent and provides that friendly reminder that the world is full of big and beautiful spaces waiting to be explored. Healthy transformation often begins with a shift of the internal landscape and that leads you to a grander perspective. Changing your surroundings is one way to kick start that process. 

If you need a little kick start in the transformation department join me for the Expansion Experiment that starts in less than 2 weeks!

Stay tuned for more transformation tools!