I decided to post another 5-minute meditation this week. I really enjoy this particular meditation and recently, I’ve depended on it when I’m feeling stressed. I find it interesting that this guided video gets its audience to reflect on their emotions then observe, accept, and allow however they feel. I think that sometimes these meditations, as helpful as they may be, try to change your mood too much. In the right settings, these types of mediations are helpful but I also like the ones which allow you to simply reflect on your current state of being with no judgement. I’m not alone in getting caught up in the fast pace of life and I’m a person who likes to stay busy. A downside to that is I’m always seeking a sense of control and that can be hard if I don’t take time to allow myself to be present. I find that this meditation speaks to this problem and has prompted me to repeat “let everything simply be” more times than I can count this month. This grounding tool has been so beneficial towards my goal to be more present and in the moment rather than constantly thinking ahead.
My Journey So Far:
Wow! January has come and gone. I worked on habit tracking for a whole month and want to dedicate this blog to talk about my goals, how I stuck to them, my experience with motivation, and which habits I started to weave into my day-to-day life.
So, what were my goals? At the beginning of the month, I made a big list of ideas which you can see below;
So, how did sticking to them go?
In all honesty, I am surprised with how well I stuck to my goals this month. One of the biggest factors that motivated me (for a while at least) was the prospect of online school and balancing how to take time for myself. With online school last year, I feel like I got too caught up with school and didn’t give myself much ‘me’ time outside of school. I remember feeling like the days were passing so slowly because I was on my computer for most of it, especially when it was in the middle of winter. Knowing that online school was going to only be two weeks this time around, I wanted to see how I could make the most of the days online. During this period I made an effort to wake up early and get ready for the day as if I was going to go to a physical school. Then, when classes were done I would either go for a walk or run to break up the day and get fresh air. I also took time to not be on my phone and spent it reading and journaling. By the time online school was done, I became so used to my day-to-day checklists and I wanted to keep going! As I got into the rhythm of in-person again, I had to alter some things to balance out my time. Ultimately, I found that these goals have continued to motivate me to make the most of every day. Because of this, I feel like I’ve been able to stay on track with school and my habit building!
I’m currently reading the section on what progress is really like in “Atomic Habits.” Here James Clear talks about the plateau of latent potential which he explains as the line one has to cross to experience change. He uses the analogy of ice melting and I’ll take a snippet from the book and insert it here;
Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. The room is cold and you can see your breath. It is currently twenty-five degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up. Twenty- six degrees, Twenty-seven, …, thirty-one. Still, nothing happened. Then, thirty-two degrees. The ice begins to melt. A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked huge potential. Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.
James Clear
I found this week’s chapters to be super inspiring! It’s easy to give up when you don’t see the progress with your goals, whichever they may be. Clear explains that when one is struggling to build habits, it’s not because they’ve lost their ability to improve, they just haven’t crossed the plateau of latent potential. I feel like this is an important lesson to weave into everyday life because at the end of the day, change is inevitable and mastery requires patience. Though I have only seriously been trying to build good habits for a month, I have already experienced ups and downs. Reading about how success can be seen as a compounded factor of effort has made me realize it’s not going to come all together right off the bat and that’s ok. I feel like as a future educator, this plateau of latent potential is something that I can teach to my students to motivate them to achieve their goals! Understanding that progress takes time and that big things come from small beginings is a hard process, especially for kids. This blog will become a great tool for my future self to explain habit building to my students because I truly belive that the impcats of goal setting and following can be life-changing.
Sources:
Photo 1: Bluewater Sweden (unsplash)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssss7V1_eyA
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