If you’re like me, you were trained to be apologetic, to feel small, and to say and do things to keep you feeling that way.

It took a few decades before I put my foot down to this behavior. I will no longer apologize for who I am … yet I will always look for ways to be grateful for, and to, the people in my life who help me on the way.

It is difficult to change (never break) habitual patterns that were taught to us as children and young adults. These are our most formative years, and one reason why the memories of youth stay with us so long … even for those who suffer dementia.

Yet changing habitual patterns is necessary if we wish to change our reality.

As Dr Joe Dispenza states, “Your personal reality is formed by your personality.”

It is important to do things differently if we wish to experience a shift in our personal reality.

Skip the coffee in the morning, have juice instead. Drive a different route to work. Pack a lunch rather than going out. Sit under a tree and eat it, or go to the car and listen to soft music while you eat. After work, go to a hot-springs for a soak rather than going home to sit in front of the television … read a book, or color, or zentangle … get your creative skills going. Change the time you eat, the foods you choose, fast for awhile. If you take sleeping pills, skip them a few days, as much as you can stand … let the mind wander and ‘put up with’ a few sleepless nights … much can be accomplished should we allow our hidden consciousness loose for a time. Much will be revealed … scary things we can then ponder on and work out, lovely things we can grow in mind …

These are only a few ideas, of which I put into practice on a regular basis, not all at once of course, but I choose at least one thing in the day to do differently.

Being predictable can lead to many problems when it comes to our relationships with others, and even more detrimental, with our selves.

If you are having a bad day, consciously make it a point to start creating a list of things you are grateful for … any and all things that come to mind. It will shift your perspective fairly quickly, seriously. It will make it easier to process through whatever got you in a funk in the first place and rather than dwell there, you will be able to move on, into the next idea, thought form, or practice. And don’t just visit the list next time you’re in a funk, create a new list … because this list changes over time.

Mostly, stop apologizing for being you, stop making yourself small, giving away your power to stand tall and strong …

I’m not saying to become agressive, or overpowering … becoming that which has held you down for so long …. I’m suggesting a rising …. to heights originally intended for you … for we.

It is not a chosen few who get to occupy these spaces of strength and personal authority. It is you, it is me, it is we.