10 Steps To Taking a Jump and Making a Change

Yesterday morning, I listened to Nancy Levin's interview ("10 Steps Towards Your New Life") on the Hay House World Summit (If you've not tuned into one of these events before, I highly recommend! It's free, chock full of incredible speakers - tap in and find what suits your fancy).

Because the title of this presentation was fairly broad, I didn't really know what was going to be included in the 10 steps, or towards what type of "new life"; but, WOW it was the best thing I've listened to in a while.

A really big part of me wishes that I'd heard this a year ago, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. Hell, I think I'll order it so I can listen to it as often as I need to! Especially, as working on my decision making abilities is something that I am working on improving.

Nancy was interviewed by another one of my favorite self-empowerment authors, Jessica Ortner, and Jessica expressed how making decisions is hard for her too sometimes. And, referenced being frozen with indecision at critical moments.

Nancy acknowledged that we all have this desire to want to know definitely what will happen before we make a decision...and that sometimes, when we don't know, we freeze, like rabbits. She is the  author of "Jump and Your Life Will Appear" where she outlines a 10 step process to help people move through moments of indecision, or major life transitions, like moving, changing jobs, self-growth, or, making any big change in our lives.

Here'a a brief summary of those steps:

1. Admit to yourself what you already know. What is your truth? 
2. Tell someone safe. Often times, we keep our indecisiveness, our hemming and hawing in our heads, in circular thinking, in fear of judgement...when what we need to do is get it out of our heads so that we can fully process what we're thinking and feeling. 
3. Imagine yourself free (as though you've made your decision) - What would it look like? What are you doing? Who are you with? 
4. Set new boundaries - Before listening to the peanut gallery, before being willing/open to changing our minds, she suggests putting a 24 hour moratorium on "yes." To use this time to ask yourself "Is this change or decision something I'm doing to get love? Or, am I doing to give love?" 
5. Take care of yourself. Give yourself compassion, self-love, self-forgiveness, freedom, acceptance...whatever it is that you need. 
6. Ask for help. Don't be afraid to reach out to a coach, counselor, to look for resources that support you. 
7. Honor your resistance - by honoring it, accepting where you are, you're able to move through it more quickly. Acknowledge your fear/anger/ambivalence/doubt/worry, etc. Through this acknowledgement, you'll be able to move through the frozenness. And, to remind ourselves that when we're acting/deciding from our hearts, there is no right or wrong decision. Surrender is letting go of the need to have something be a certain way. By allowing things to unfold, we make our transitions so much easier. 
8. Jump! Let go of the pain of the past, write your new story! Tell yourself your truth...otherwise, it will come out sideways - We make our indecision worse by shoving down our feelings, and opinions. Know that by sharing with someone safe that you release the weight or what's binding you down. Trust that jumping isn't as scary as we think. And, you don't have to have all of the information before jumping. Everything will unfold! 
9. Graceful exit - often, once we've jumped, we're in a rush to get to the next phase, to get through to the other side. And, we suffer the pain of not fully processing the loss of what's been left behind, whether it's relationships, neighborhoods, networks, pounds...whatever it is, pay homage to it. Grieve it. I love the name for this spot: "liminal space" - the space between no longer and not yet. 
10. Say yes! And, say it again, and again and again! (How do we know when to say yes, given that step 4 is about creating boundaries?) Well, we're always in transition! The time to say yes is when we're feeling a little scared and a little excited at the same time. When things interest us. When we feel the call that saying yes will align with the feelings of living in our fullness! 

She ended the interview by saying that during this ten step process, we have to remember to be gentle with ourselves (b/c it is a process after all). We have to learn to trust the process; and take our time doing the steps. There's no need to rush. And, remember, we can ask for help. Know that within ourselves, we have the strength and courage to make choices, make changes, and live our desires that are in alignment with our hearts. 

These are amazing steps. And, I'm going to work to apply them to my life. In decisions big and small. Because, I know with practice, that I'll be more comfortable, and the more opportunities  there will be to say yes, and yes and yes and yes!!!