Flexibility the Key Element to Successful Change

Flexibility is a Key Element to Successful Change, playing a more important role than you may realize when it comes to achieving Optimal Health, Happiness and Vitality. Opening your Mind to Possibilities to the Changes that come about everyday to lifelong changes without losing sight of your core desires, values and dreams. When you begin putting positive changes into place this with developing your self worth, valuing and appreciating who you are, how you want to be and your body. As you learn to “Become more Flexible” success will become easier to achieve allowing you to feel good about yourself, bringing about improvements with your self-worth, self-esteem and self-confidence.

Is a saying so often used, even the best thought out plans don’t always go according to plan, but for the most will end up with the same result, sometimes even better.

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What Flexibility actually Means & How you achieve it?

Flexibility is a two-fold process between your body and your mind. You are most likely familiar with physical exercises such as yoga, Thai chi and swimming that help to keep your body more flexible. But, did you know that arthritic pain is relieved by becoming more flexible with your Mind. Releasing emotional grief is easier, letting go of anger, pain all becomes easier when you become more flexible.

What Does It Mean To Be Flexible? As you well know that flexibility is the opposite of rigid. And I am sure that you have come across those people whom are just too rigid or stubborn for their own good. These are people who refuse to make the necessary changes, either to make their life easier or their health better, even when they have been diagnosed with a disease or area of ill-health. They just seem to tune out to taking any responsibility or possibility to making changes that are going to support their health.
Being flexible is about opening your mind to new ways of thinking, being and new ways of doing.
Understanding the key role of flexibility will enable you to roll with life’s challenges and obstacles more easily. Because I don’t know about you, but I have very few days where there aren’t interruptions and I need to diversify and make changes without losing sight of what needs to be achieved.
Developing your flexibility muscle will enable you to make changes and adaptions easier, often that will give you a better, more positive outcome. While keeping them in alignment with your core desires and dreams.
An example of this was with one of my clients, who became a paraplegic, obviously having to make huge changes in their life. This person’s core desire was to remain as independent as possible, so first change they made was to have their car fitted with hand controls. Then slowly implementing changes within their home and work environment. Success was achieved by still having a degree of independence.

Why Flexibility Is A Key To Successful Change

Flexibility is a key to successful change for many reasons. The most important one being, helping you to overcome challenges, obstacles that may prevent long term success of change.

Developing your flexibility muscle as I like to call it, opens up your world to opportunities, helps to eliminate negative and destructive habits by giving you a smoother ride to change.
Flexibility is an important element when it comes to building successful relationships, as people are much more likely to enjoy spending time with you. The reason being, that you will remain stable, even through times of uncertainty or during times of change, then transitioning into the new concept, area or activity.
Developing flexibility gives your days more scope and variety, helping you to feel better about getting out of bed in the morning.
Flexibility decreases conflict, highlights an element of excitement, bringing about a greater level of empathy and compassion.
Flexibility helps you to reorganize your schedule with less stress when something unexpected comes up, leaving you feeling less anxious or distressed.

I learnt early in my life, that the mornings were the time to get organized: To exercise, have a shower, makeup etc, so that no matter what happened, during the rest of the day, I was OK. Anything that was a must to do for the day, I would get done early. I would also leave the house tidy and respectable so that when I came home, I was then able to relax and quietly go about my evening events.

Flexibility your Roadmap to Successful Change is About

Developing self-awareness
Stepping out of your comfort zone
Learning to communicate effectively and positively, both to yourself and others
Listening more than you talk
Developing Patience: Waiting for all the ducks to line up in a Row, or maybe allowing them to be a little crooked.
Understanding that it takes lots and lots of small steps to make Big Changes.
Sanity and Sustainability – bringing together clarity, emotional balance in just taking one step at a time.

7 Steps to Develop Flexibility:

If you are or have become a person with a rigid, uncompromising view of the world, this may have come about due to trauma, tragedy and negative experiences and is quite common. It is like a safety net that your subconscious provides to prevent further hurt or emotional upset. However, if you allow this to continue, it will prevent you from enjoying all the great things in life and building happy, successful relationships. The key here in these steps is to teach your mind how to be flexible once again. Apply these Seven Steps each day to cultivate and develop a Flexible Mind once again for a Healthier and Happier You.

Developing Self Awareness: A Major Key to creating and building a successful life, begins with Building your Foundation, changing your Perception to how you want to feel, your thoughts, how you react and how you want your life to be. Bringing these into alignment with your Core Desires, this is what will keep you on track with building your life of Optimal Health, Happiness and Vitality. Keeping your Core Desires in mind with your Core Values of How you want to Feel and Be is what will help flexibility and the ability to change course at any given moment but without compromising yourself.
Being adaptable to your immediate thoughts and reactions. Always to remember the bigger picture, your core desires and dreams. For example, one of your core desires maybe to have a more peaceful home environment with your family, less conflicts. So, your first reaction, if one of the kids brought home a friend for tea, at the last minute, would be to get upset and complain. However, you just remembered before displaying your upset or complaint that your core desire, was in lessening family conflicts, so you decide to let it go this time, setting an extra place at the table. Later when the visitor has gone home, you just mention that maybe next time you could be given a little more notice. Open your Mind to Possibilities- when your mind becomes rigid, it has stopped looking at all the varied possibilities, it may have even become closed in believing in achieving your dreams or maybe it isn’t recognizing that you have in fact achieved if not some many of your dreams. I had this one recently, I was feeling down on myself until I went back to what my core desires were, now don’t laugh because these core desires go back now over 45 years ago. Then I realized that I had achieved most of my core desires and dreams. By recognizing this not only did it help me to feel better within myself, yes, my mind but also in that I could accomplish any dreams or desires that I wanted. For this exercise go back to what your core desires are, rewrite them if necessary, then tick off any that you have achieved. Then add to the list any that you are still wanting to achieve. There doesn’t have to be a time frame or anything like that now, you are opening your mind to possibilities.
Stepping out of your comfort zone: Everyone wants to feel comfortable that can be one of the major obstacles to overcome when wanting to make positive changes. Hence the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone. Depending on your emotions and frame of mind at the time, this may be a little tricky. So, starting with small changes, so it isn’t too much of a shock to your system. Especially if you have been used to a structured, even somewhat rigid routine. This is where the importance of your core desires, dreams, aspirations and then putting these into action, changing of your thought processes, with affirmations comes into play. Stepping out of your comfort zone gives you the ability to expand your knowledge, your confidence and your zest for life. Often an underlying cause for not stepping out of your comfort zone, allowing your mind to become rigid is that there is still pain in your heart that filters through to your mind. Healing your Heart by Healing your Mind begins by implementing a positive element or outcome to even the most devastating of experiences. Focusing on what is good, kind and beautiful..
Communication – Listen with an Open Mind – Often when in a conversation, you will be just waiting your turn to talk, even with an answer or suggestion before you have even heard the full message in the conversation. The key here is to stop thinking and planning less in what you are going to say, listening more so when you do speak, you will have a better understanding of what you are going to say. This develops more flexibility with your thinking, improving your connection and conversation with other people. Learning to communicate well is not just about learning to express your thoughts, plans and beliefs, it also is important to “Listen”. Because effective, positive communication is vital to bring about change, listening to others will give you great insight, learning and knowledge both for your life and into the changes that need to be made. I would like to take a moment to explain something here, being positive, doesn’t mean that you go into la, la land believing that everything and everyone is wonderful. If only that were true, how boring that would be, “it is within the great differences that lie between us, that bring us together as one”. (Julie Doherty) Developing a more constructive and positive way of behaving and communicating is about looking at alternatives, how to solve problems that are directly associated with your home, family or work environment. When you communicate in this way, you will be remembered as someone who is of help, not a hindrance.; Listening. As mentioned previously, effective listening is such an important part of flexibility. It took me a long time to learn the art of effective listening, as has been a problem for many of the people I have worked with over the years. Because our minds are always thinking ahead or thinking of an answer when someone is talking to us. So, this is one of the most important areas in developing flexibility, because when we hear clearly what someone else is saying, being flexible becomes much easier because we know what is happening, therefore making change once again, becomes less stressful. Be Open to varied suggestions: There is always more than one way to solve a problem and often there are several ways to do one thing. This is a positive link to helping you with not giving up on achieving your goals and dreams.
Patience: I am sure you are familiar with the saying: “Patience is a Virtue”. So, what exactly does that mean? I like this meaning of patience, “Patience” is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances”. “Virtue” meaning a sense of integrity, honour, trust and honesty”. So, putting that together when it comes to developing your flexibility, is that you are building your ability to endure and face difficult circumstances, to rise above any obstacles and difficulties with integrity and honour. Providing you “Success” at its deepest and most profound level.
Small Steps: Big Changes -Takes Small Steps. Developing flexibility is one of the biggest challenges you will overcome, giving you the strength, endurance and clarity to successfully bring about positive changes. The reason I say that is one of the biggest challenges is that, as human you want the changes to have happened yesterday, so you go about putting too many things on your daily –“To do list”, only to become frustrated, losing motivation and losing the ability to be flexible because it all isn’t happening as quickly as you want it to be.
Sanity & Sustainability: Let’s get some clarity here that will help with your sanity and managing sustainable changes. By developing small steps for example, 2 – 3 things per day on your – “To do list” that are new, different or require a great deal of thought and perspective. Is going to be instrumental in expanding and developing your flexibility, being the key element to the success you will achieve, one step at a time.

How having a “Deep Understanding of your Core Desires: Will be your Foundation for Successful Change

To Build a Strong Foundation
To Understand and Activate necessary Changes to support you in achieving your goals, your dreams (your core desires)
To Take Charge: Staying on the Path without losing sight of who you are by enjoying every moment.