The Big Change: Psychological Reactions

It has been a little bit since I have cut my hair and made that big change in my life. The impact of the physical change has begun to fade at this point and I am getting used to the whole thing on that level. It is at this point that I am starting to discover the mental changes that have been showing up and I wanted to take a little time to share those.

First off, when I did the change, xiaoyi and I developed some mental ideas of how the change would affect me. These were not just guessing at what the change might be, but rather a deliberate and active focus we wanted to move forward with the change. This is an example of the active and deliberate living that we are practicing and helping others to learn and grow through. The basic idea is that we decided how we wanted the change to affect us emotionally and mentally rather than just roll and dice and see what came up. To that effect, we decided that the change would be a symbol of my change and growth  as well as my desire to keep moving towards the person that I want to be. We decided that it would be a turning point to really drive into my psyche those changes that I wanted. To that end we created a self-talk script that I use at least twice a day. To put it simple, it is a script that reminds me of the intentions that I went in to the change with so that I can be active and deliberate in my daily actions to adhere to that.

The intention and the reality of the change have been right on and I expect that it has more to do with going into the change with an outcome in mind than anything else. Every day I read that script and refocus my mind and emotions on that outcome and then, during the day, anything that reminds me of the short hair is also a reminder of the outcome that I wanted in life. This has resulted in me being a happier and healthier person all around. That is what I was going for, that I would embrace the joys in life more fully and find the joys in life so that I was happier and healthier person. That intention and the fact that I remind myself of that intention every day and every time I am reminded of the change has worked to put that intention into place and change the way I interact with the world. The change has been a wonderful one and an experience I plan to take into any other large changes into my life. The extension of deliberate living into this avenue of change has been a wonderful and growing experience.

I would suggest that you look at your life and see what changes are on the horizon for you. Once you have identified them, take the time to be deliberate about the mental and emotional changes you want to move forward with in regards to that change.