Clean Slate

Notes

Claim

We quickly get entrenched with our ideas, feeling unable to shift to a different mindset, getting stuck in the same routines, habits and thoughts. However, we can generate moments where change is a bit easier. This is a similar experience to the effect of a Relaxation activates inward thinking for creative problem-solving, by letting go, we open ourselves up for new ways of thinking. We just need a symbolic moment to spark the change.

Explanation

It doesn't have to be ground braking discoveries, in hindsight, these are often suggestions that we could have known by ourselves if we had distance.

While we feel as if by changing location we change ourselves, it is not a matter of replacing as it is Learning adds new knowledge layers instead of replacing old understanding. If we go back to a location that sparked bad habits, we might fall down that path again.

The main advantage is that what counts as a "fresh start moment" is up to us. After all, even a new year is as arbitrary as any other date. We can simply Inverse our thinking, imagining our calendar, our space, our life as a clean slate, and we choose what to fill it with or how to shape it, instead of looking at how it's currently is as an unchangeable fact.

Why it matters

It's also important to avoid cases of Deferring happiness to future goals creates present suffering, don't wait for the moment to happen, don't say to yourself "starting next year I will do better", because that means you would wait a whole year and do nothing in the meantime.

Examples

Many start new habits at the beginning of a year, month, week. They use time as a sign of a fresh start. Similarly, consulting with others Peer support enables collaborative growth through shared feedback and mutual learning, moving to a different location, or change our environment can give us a fresh perspective Environmental design.

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Overview

🔼Topic:: Self-Regulation and Change ↩️Origin:: How to change (book) 🔗Link::