By Joan Courtney, C.Ht.

Unstuck Living

When our March winds pick up, they can start with a gentle breeze. But they can also quickly turn up their energy. Powerfully. Strongly. Forcefully. At times, the gusts are over 50 miles an hour. The trees bend as this force of nature puts our towns on notice, “I’m here!” The temperature drops, and icy fingers of cold creep around doors and windows.  

The Toot and I walk in the early morning. When the wind is strong, I have to bend almost double to keep going. I marvel at the power of the weather. When the wind stops, there’s a respite as I stand up tall and stride along with purpose.

End that old pattern

To me, the winds in March are like gathering energy to end an old pattern. When I realize something in my life is not working, I gear up. I become the power of the wind before the calm. Be it weight loss or exercise, over-investing in a shopping spree, or spending less time on my phone? I stop. And figure out: where did this habit come from? 

For me, and perhaps you too, those habits stem from stress or boredom. And these behavioral patterns exist to serve a purpose and fill a need in some way. As a result, it’s difficult to simply eliminate them. “Just stop doing that” often brings up a lot of resistance, right? 

Move past that old way…

How to get past that old way of doing and break that habit? Here are some tips:

• Start with awareness. It’s easy to get caught up in my feelings about those pesky habits that take me away from what’s really happening.

Instead, I focus on when the habit happens. How do I feel? Who am I with? Clarifying the activity will give me dozens of new ideas to stop it.  

• Choose a substitute for that bad habit. Just as the wind’s intensity before a storm, I make a plan and gather energy for something new. For me, it needs to be just as attractive as the old habit, or it’s a no-go.

• Shift as many triggers as possible. For the wind to introduce my storm (the U-turn) to my life, I change my environment. I once worked with a woman to quit smoking. Instead of sitting in her favorite chair to smoke, she took a walk. Result? She dropped 25 pounds and stopped smoking. The outcome was attractive to her.

• Visualize yourself succeeding. When I geared up to start walking again after a major dust-up, I pictured myself slipping into my boots and walking out the door. The rest was easy.

• Use the word “yet” to overcome negative self-talk. One thing about negative self-talk is it’s easy to judge myself. Every time I slip up, I’m quick to tell myself I’ve failed again. Instead, replace “failed” with “yet” and notice how it feels. “I haven’t cleaned up that corner…yet.” What a difference.

• Plan for failure. Rather than beat myself up over a mistake, I plan for it. Sure, I can get off base. But I’ve noticed what separates top performers from the rest of us is: they get back on track quickly. Great mindset.

Be the powerful wind before the storm and end old patterns. Get unstuck.

Having over 35 years of experience, Joan Courtney, C.Ht.is a clinical hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. Writing for Outdoors Southwest and other publications on the Mountain, she also ghostwrites bi-weekly posts for Lil’ Toot, the Canine Executive Officer of Unstuck Living.