How to Consciously Create Change Using the 5 C’s System

“Deliberate Routines and Empowered Actions Manifest Dreams”

 

Discovering the power to change…

For many years, my personal journey had been full of stops and starts and lots of traveling in circles. Today, I know that fear and chronic busy-ness paralyzed me, preventing me from making positive changes in my life.

I was very good at looking like I was taking action. Yet, I was just busy  scratching the surface, unwilling to do the real work of moving beyond my comfort zone.

I avoided facing changes because I was scared of the unknown. I had no confidence and no courage outside of the norm, and I didn’t have any support. 

I knew I didn’t like where I was, and yet, I had all kinds of reasons why my life was making it impossible for me to take any deliberate action. For example, I complained that I couldn’t make the time, didn’t have the resources or I didn’t know what to do or how to do it. 

My pattern became one of change by crisis.

On the rare occasion I did make a change, it was when the circumstances were extreme or someone or something forced my hand. 

How was that possible? Did all my excuses magically vanish? Did time suddenly expand? Did resources miraculously appear? Did I suddenly have brilliant insights, confidence or courage?   No!

None of that was true. Nonetheless, I was so stuck in my comfort zone that the only way I would move in a different direction was if it were impossible for me to stay where I was. 

I refused to take new actions until the pain I was suffering was far greater than my fear of stepping into the unknown.

In hindsight, I see that I was only willing to take deliberate action to move in a new direction when I was literally on the brink of collapse. I would stubbornly dig in my heels and stick with my old ways until I literally couldn’t do it anymore. And that pattern cost me jobs, relationships, money,  and years of disappointment and shame. 

Does my story sound familiar to you? If it does, I hope you’ll keep reading…

Thankfully, during one of those break points, I found help.

Honestly, it is more accurate for me to say that help found me, and I had the sense not to turn it away. What began as self-help, grew into support from a coach and more. Over time, I learned that being pushed to the breaking point, before taking steps toward conscious change-making, is no way to live a joyful life. As a result, I became a coach, so that I can support women to see opportunities to make positive changes in their lives and businesses before their lives are a chaotic mess and the have to manage through crisis. 

I’ve learned that change is possible, even for those of us who fear it the most, when we add support to anchor new mindsets and behaviors, and we begin with baby steps.

I can face my fears by using simple systems of support that give me confidence and courage.

I get to expand my vision for the future into things I couldn’t have even imagined a few years ago.

More than anything else, I hope that you will build this strength and courage, too, by embracing the baby step philosophy and committing to the power of positive change.

If you’ve been following the 12 Baby Steps Foundation Formula, you know that Baby Step #1 is Commit to Change. As I grow in my understanding of the change-making process, so do the lessons I share. These lessons are now refined into what I call the 5 C’s System for Conscious Change-making.

1. Commitment

I am certain that life is not intended to be a struggle. Life is intended to be full of peace, love and joy.

Years later, and many life lessons later, I can look back and see that my successful, significant long term life changes were consciously created when I gave my full attention to living in peace, love and joy. They didn’t happen accidentally. I committed to them, embraced them and stuck with them, no matter what! And you can, too.

Big or small, I know that every change begins with a willingness to move in a direction that is scary. Commitment is the first C in the 5 C’s System.

This step requires only that you declare out loud, “I commit to change”. Repeat this phrase as often as you can until you feel in your gut that this change is no longer frightening. Post the expression somewhere you will see it and be reminded of it daily. Make this commitment a part of your morning ritual.

2. Choice

Next, Baby Step #2 – Choose Each Day, becomes the second C in the 5C’s System  – choice. This step requires that you make a deliberate choice to do one thing differently, something that is not comfortable, something that you think you can’t d”. Do something small, yet scary, and reaffirm that choice every single day until it comes naturally to you. Then, as your confidence builds, your courage will, too, and you can choose something greater to challenge yourself with.

I have grown to see that my choices create both positive powerful changes and negative resistance. When I avoid certain actions that scare me I am choosing to stay stuck. As you begin to feel the successful influence of this process on your life, I encourage you to be deliberate with your priorities. Your subconscious choices are still choices and they, too, are influencing the life you create. 

3. Creation 

And that leads us to the third C is the 5C’s System—Creation. I believe we are all inspired beings with the power to create anything we give our full and focused attention to by channeling the conscious energy of the Great Creator. [Please insert whatever reference you prefer that suits your spiritual or religious beliefs.]

Allow yourself to imagine the experience of your life with the change you desire as if it has already happened. Create a picture in your mind, complete with the sights, sounds, smells and senses of that complete experience. Use music, art, food or craft to anchor that vision in your mind. Sit quietly each day, picturing your new life for a few moments. This is the practice of creative visualization.

(For more on this topic, I suggest reading Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization). Remember, your subconscious will create a vision for you based on your most regular thoughts! Create this image in your mind with deliberate intention. Use it to replace the other automatic (and often less positive) subconscious thoughts that may be consuming you today.

I know from experience that committing to change, making deliberate choices each and every day and regularly engaging creative energy, is hard work. And I have to admit, that there have been many times when I would have given up. Thankfully, I learned early on that I needed a support network to help me, and that led me to the fourth C in the 5C’s System

4. Connection

I know for sure, that I am not intended to move through life alone. I believe we are all connected through universal life force energy, and when we activate that connection, the possibilities we can create are limitless.

To activate the power of connection, simply reach out to one person you trust, and let him or her know that you are stepping into something new. Let this person know that you are making a small change in your life and you want to ask for their support. Simply by sharing your intentions with him or her you are activating the connection. Connection does not require action on the part of the supporter, unless they choose it. If they decide to help that’s a bonus!

5. Celebration

Lastly, as you move through your days embracing change, you will feel differently. You have committed to leaving your comfort zone, and moved into what will seem awkward and uncomfortable. This is normal.

Allow yourself to accept that your life is changing even if you don’t always feel as if it is. Close each day with a celebration – the 5th C of the 5C’s System. Celebrate your success through a simple gratitude ritual by recording five things you are grateful for each day. If you are not already keeping a journal, begin one now, and make a nightly entry into this journal highlighting your gratitude. 

Enjoy the journey. And remember, be gentle with yourself. Practice makes progress. Today is the best day to start. 

I encourage you to declare your intentions in the Facebook group or comment on this post in the section below. Share your experience with this tool with me, too, or in the comments section, so we can all learn from each other. One baby step at a time, positive transformation will occur with commitment.