–        The way to change behavior, is to change the way you see yourself…Change the paradigm – Stephen Covey

What exactly is a paradigm?  According to Webster, a paradigm is simply  a commonly accepted way of thinking.  As humans we create a paradigm for ourselves largely shaped by our culture, our upbringing and our experiences.  You could argue that our paradigm is essentially our reality.

Why is this important in the context of this blog?  Well, because this blog is about transformation.  Not solely physical transformation, but emotional, mental and spiritual as well.  Changing your paradigm, or creating a paradigm shift is challenging.  It’s not uncommon for us to become so entrenched, so comfortable within the confines of our own paradigm that imagining any other direction for us seems like the impossible.  The idea that we can refocus or recalibrate our own lives is relegated to the mythical, even though we see thousands upon thousands of people undergoing their own paradigm shifts daily.  For some reason we tell ourselves that we are unable to, that those transformations are not the norm and that they are unique.  We tell ourselves that we are not deserving nor capable because whatever barriers are in place in our own current paradigm.  We must destroy this way of negative self-talk.

Before you can change, you must change your paradigm.  Albert Einstein once famously quipped “you cannot solve problems with the same way of thinking that created those problems in the first place.”  How true are these words?  As a previous smoker, I know all too well that the hardest part of smoking isn’t the physical addiction, it’s the psychological associations.  It was difficult for me to break the paradigm paralysis that caused me to associate smoking with everything from eating, drinking, driving, and a myriad of other “triggers.”  To this day, 9 years later, I still get what I call “phantom cravings.”  On a different note, the reason yo-yo diets rarely work is because they never truly provide a paradigm shifting way of looking at food.  In today’s instant gratification culture we are not happy unless we see immediate results.  This is why there is an entire market built upon exploiting this instant gratification culture with pills, potions, lotions, surgeries, shots, ointments, and wraps.

 Bottom line, only you can decide when the time is right.  Only you can make the daily choices to rewire your paradigm into something you long for.  When you are ready to take the first step, that day becomes the beginning of your new paradigm.  As the adage goes, Rome was not built in a day.  Paradigms don’t happen overnight, they are created like the stream of water creates the canyons.  There is no quick-fix.  This is a concept of committing to something so religiously that it becomes a new reality or habit.  Understanding this is the first step to becoming a better you.  BELIEVE it, LIVE it and I PROMISE you will ACHIEVE it.  Believe in yourself as I believe in you!  Now, are you ready for your Paradigm Shift?

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