Slow down your Cuckoo

In my Simply Lose It Society Coaching Group’s last phone call, we explored some important things. We envisioned what our perfect year would look like next year. When we read our paragraphs to each other on the call, I noticed a huge theme. We all wanted more stability in our lives.

For one is was stability in emotions, for another it was stability in family relationships. There were finances, food, and weight. After sharing, I prompted us all to share what our biggest struggle at the current time is. Sometimes, overcoming our greatest struggle of the moment can start an avalanche that gets us moving to that vision – that perfect year.

Stabilizing the situations

I looked up the definition of “Stabilize” and this is what it said: to make or become unlikely to give way or overturn; make or become unlikely to change, fail or decline

We all wanted to be more “steady” and not so quick to go off the rails! I’ve experienced this in my diet, finances, anger, and many things, as I am sure you have, too. Well, one member said their biggest struggle was uncontrollable eating.

Well, being me, I looked up the definition of control and this is what it said: the power to influence or direct behavior or the course of events; to command.

WOW! Who, in their diet, wouldn’t love to be able to direct their behaviors? How about finances, relationships, or responses to events in our lives? I told her, “What I hear you saying is the pendulum swings way to fast.” This led to my next Google.

How do you slow down your pendulum?

I went right to cuckoo clock repair. What do they do if the clock runs too fast, and the cuckoo show up too much? In my life, my cuckoo shows up way too much, and way to quickly! Well, it said that the longer the pendulum, the slower is swings.

So we just need longer pendulums, or more patience. How can we create a longer pendulum in our lives? I began thinking of how I’d done this before, and this is what I came up with.

If I think I am hungry, I usually head straight for a snack or meal. But sometimes if I get distracted, I forget that I’m hungry. Well, I don’t forget that I’m hungry. I actually realized that I really wasn’t hungry, but I mistook an emotion for being hungry. So this is what I’m going to do: when I feel hungry, I’m going to set a 10-minute timer. In that 10 minutes, I’m going to get busy doing something. When it goes off, if I truly am hungry, I’ll still be hungry. I just created some patience, or a longer pendulum, in my life.

Try it before you buy it

You can do this in many areas of your life! How many impulse shoppers do we have reading this? Well, set that timer for when you want to buy something. You might just figure out you can actually live without it, or you really didn’t want it anyway.

Or how about with your anger? In The Journey Training, we teach that many times we are “making up a story” causing us to get mad. In other words, we connect the dots and come to our own conclusions about someone’s actions. Usually, their intention wasn’t what we first thought it to be. We teach trainees to process their emotions before jumping off the cliff. Many times, we can come to the conclusion that we made up a story, and are able to forgive and move on. That is the equivalent of creating a longer pendulum in your feelings before reacting.

What else can you create a longer pendulum for? Where else in our lives would creating opportunities to be patient would help us?

Most people plan more for their yearly vacation than they do their lives. Why not pause, take a weekend off and create a longer pendulum in your own life, too. One way you could do this is to enroll in the very next Threshold class.  You never know what you’ve been missing until you stop to smell the roses. I challenge you to find some areas in your life and create a longer pendulum today!