walking toward WELL: temporary change is not transformative

Yesterday the world turned a page, and now a new chapter called 2018 is wide open in front of us. 

The cursor is blinking at the top left corner.

The silence has yet to be filled with sound.

The snowy paths have yet to be more travelled — or less.

Maybe you’ve spent some time reflecting over the past few days on what you liked about 2017, and what you didn’t.  Which choices you’re thankful you made, and which ones you regret.   What you want to change in 2018, and what you want to do the same.  What you want to let go of, and what you want to reach for instead.  

Me, too.

The beginning of a new year is a gift.  It’s an opportunity to reflect, to make a new start, to try again, to move forward, to transform, to experience a deeper level of wellness in our hearts, minds, bodies and souls.

Since I published a book called WELL in November, I’ve been thinking a lot about that word.  I practice medicine in the U.S. and in the developing world, so I think about physical wellness all the time.  But as I’ve also spent a lot of time traveling, speaking and writing, talking to lots and lots of people, I’ve been wondering what it means, and what it takes, for me, for you, for us, to take life-giving steps toward healing and wholeness — not only in our bodies, but in every facet of our lives.

Here’s the thing.  Many people set New Years Resolutions, but the statistics about those resolutions are abysmal.  80% of resolutions fail by February, and only 8% last the year.

Temporary change is interesting, but it’s not transformative. We need to take consistent, constructive steps every day in order to experience true change.

This month, I’m going to be exploring how to take meaningful, sustainable steps toward transformation.

Want to join me?  

Together, we’ll explore what helps us, what hinders us, what trips us us, and what helps us succeed.  We’ll use our failures and our successes to learn and grow.  We’ll encourage each other as individually and collectively, we prepare to spend the days, the weeks, the months, the year ahead of us walking toward WELL.

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I’ll be back with more tomorrow!  But for now, here are questions to consider. (Feel free to post your answer in the comments if you’d like to share!)

1) What’s your biggest regret about 2017?

2) What one practice, habit or activity would most improve 2018 for you?