After doing the first two exercises and getting to know yourself better you need to give yourself the time to match who you are with your behavior.
I realize that it may take you some time to align your true priorities with your behaviour, and that's perfectly normal. It requires practice.
Despite what our society may try and convince us of: Life is not a race.
Changes do not happen overnight. Changes happen little by little over time with a lot of effort and time and thought. It can appear that changes happen all of a sudden when we do not remain aware of our everyday thoughts and actions, but every big change is the outcome of many small changes and choices.
And it requires practice to know your self. Old patterns are often comfortable and reassuring because they feel familiar, but that does not mean they are good for you. It may feel familiar, for example, for you to schedule up your time so much that you can hardly sit down or even breathe, but that is not a healthy way to live. It's not healthy for you to have no time to relax, spend time with your children or spouse, be peaceful or have fun.
It's important to take time with yourself because through doing so you will be able to stop the old patterns before they creep back into your life.
Old patterns come from our childhood, our formative relationships, our family history--whatever that history was. But the patterns do not define who you are, nor do they make choices for you about how you are going to live your life right now.
If you are aware of who you are and what your priorities are right now then you can make choices based on those priorities. If you take the time necessary to listen to your self and know who you really are then when you fall back into old patterns they will stand out. You will see yourself becoming consumed with work or too busy to spend time with your children and you will realize that that's not who you are or who you want to be.
Learning about yourself and truly knowing yourself is a process. It's a process that we are all capable of and that keeps us on the path we need to follow to honour who we are as individuals.
I wish you all luck with your process.
Peace and love,
Jacqueline
