Powerful Questions Podcast: How are you different now?
How are you different now to the way you were 1 year ago? How about 5 years? How about 10 years? What were the people who had really influenced you and how exactly did they change you? What were the most challenging situations in your life and how has dealing with them help you grow? In which areas of your life have you achieved a lot with patience and commitment?
There are several reasons I want you to ask yourself in what way you are different now.
The first reason is for you to realize how much you have grown over time. Sometimes we feel unsatisfied with the current situation in our life and want more and more. And I am not saying it’s not ok to want more. But reflect on whether you are actually stuck or whether you are growing and moving towards your goals, but maybe not seeing it? Sometimes we just don’t notice the progress because it is gradual, but it doesn’t mean that nothing is changing.
Asking yourself this question will also help you realize how strong you are. Whenever you are facing a challenge, think about situations in the past where you have dealt with challenges successfully. Remember what you can do and what power you have if you commit and make effort. Even if there are some challenges you have not overcome – surely you have learned a lot by trying. Think about all the skills that you have gained and all the experiences you have made. They are all there at your disposal to help you overcome whatever challenges you are facing.
What often causes significant changes in our mindset and behavior are some important insights that come from circumstances, people or the information we receive. What were these important insights in your life? Where did they come from? Reflecting on that will help you be more clear about your personal values, about what is important to you in your life.
Looking back at your own life, how you were and how far you have come can also help you be more compassionate towards others. After all, how can you judge them if you yourself have made mistakes in your life. It doesn’t mean you should beat yourself up for what has happened in the past, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to have a small reminder that we are all just people who try our best and act the way we can on our current level of development.
When you look back at your life, it can also be that you see you have not changed much in all or some areas of your life. Then the question is to you: was it your intention not to change in these areas? Or did you actually want to change for a long time already but did not yet do it? If you realize that you wanted to change for a long time and it did not happen yet, well, you always have today to start. Of course you cannot change the past, but you can start right now taking action to change whatever you want to change in your life.
What you definitely should avoid, is ruminating upon your past mistakes or thinking all the time about the events in the past you cannot change. Your energy in life will go where your focus is. So if you focus on the past all the time, you will just loose your energy, because the past cannot be changed.
Accept the past, learn your lessons from it, and focus on the here and now.