Happy 2017 from all of us here at Brio, we wish for you health, love and prosperity in all forms! 2016 was an extremely a trans-formative year for the clinic. One of the largest transformations occurred with going paperless, to electronic medical records. This was an enormous task that took a clear vision, research, planning, and courage to implement. With the patience of all our supportive patients and our rock star office managers, it was a success!
New Years is always a trigger for reflecting on “resolutions” and our own personal transformations we would like to see occur in our lives. If you have been following our blog posts for some time, you will know that I do not love the concept of resolutions. I think they set us up for failure, and is just another thing to make us feel bad about ourselves.
Feeling pressured and bad is a terrible way to start a year! What I am all for is self-love and always wanting to improve and strive for the best we can be. However, every day is a new day, and every day is a new beginning. Every morning we wake up, we are blessed with an opportunity to be a better version of ourselves.
Resolutions sets us up for failure, whereas I have embarked on a journey of “Mastery”. Over the past three years, I have been studying Mastery and implementing it in every quadrant of my life. I have a bit of work to do with several areas, but I will never give up, even during the months, days, years I do not see “results”, I will not give up. This is the art of Mastery.
What is Mastery? Mastery is a way of life, a way of being. Mastery has several points, which contribute to the rich depth of this practice.
- Habit:
The simplest definition is a – Habit. A hab·it is a noun defined as:
“a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
“this can develop into a good habit”
synonyms: custom; practice; routine; pattern; convention; norm; tradition”
To Master something in your life, there must be routine and repetition, keep doing the work every day, day in and out. There are no questions, just repetition, make it a habit. Mastery of a good habit will become your daily tradition.
- Calmness in the plateau’s:
In our world of pills for health, rapid technology, social media and fake news. We live in a society of “magic bullets”. Everything we want should be achieved the instant we put effort in. This is the collective thought we live in. However, this is the opposite of Mastery. It takes tremendous energy to go against the norm of quick results, and put in the work day in and day out.
Mastery is living in the plateau. It is living in the times, when all the effort is put in towards a goal, however for possibly days, months, years, there is no change; in what appears as being no closer to achieving the goal.
But you continue, whether it is regards to bettering health; waking up at 6am for the workout; putting in hours towards a business; keeping on top of house work; whole foods meal prep, etc. Whatever the goal, WITHOUT any change, without any payoff, the habit remains in the plateau. This is Mastery.
The reality is life is lived in the plateaus. The highs are few and far between. So finding stillness, calming the mind in the plateau is the Mastery.
After a certain time frame unknown to us, a certain exertion of energy unknown to us, there is a breakthrough, a peak. And Mastery has “paid off”. However, the real success was Mastery in the Plateau.
“Some days you wake up and just don’t want to. But this is when you should the most, and the hardest. Because if you let that feeling of not wanting, to manifest itself in your psyche, it will grow and overtake you.
“Tell the negative committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up.” ~ Ann Bradford
- Find your WHY!
The REASON you start or stop something is really what determines your success or failure. Find your WHY.
Chasing the end result is not long lasting. The why can’t be free of symptoms; more money; weight loss. Etc.
The why has to be our personal reasons for what the end result gives us. It is unique to each of us. Is it more self-confidence: is it breaking through our fears: is it the feeling of freedom: is it more space and time for loved ones.
Find your why! We are capable of having no limits to get to our why.
“There will be days where you’re not motivated. But the motivation comes after you show up. Don’t start with the motivation – start with the doing.”
This is Mastery.
A resolution ain’t got nothing on Mastery.
- Be crystal clear with the vision
Be very clear with your vision. Be very clear with your “want”. Do you want better health? Weight Loss? More financial freedom?
Once the want is in place, what is the map to get there. What does it look like. What steps do you have to repeat every single day to achieve this want this vision.
Write it out, research it, and own it. No one can achieve Mastery for us. It is only what we can do for ourselves.
Beautiful words from the words of the ultimate Master:
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” ~ Bruce Lee
As you can see, Mastery doesn’t have a start date annually. It is something we start with a fresh mind every single morning. Will we fall off the wagon, of course! Will it be hard, of course! We are human; it is our relationship with falling off that makes a difference. Mastery is not an obsession, but a why, a want, a desire for a certain outcome. Push through the “monkey-brain thoughts” telling us to stop. Start up again. Push through and continue our path of daily Mastery.
I also found Mastering one thing at a time in my life more digestible. There are several areas I will focus on today. I am firing up my WHY.
What would you like to Master today? Share with us, the practitioners at Brio would love to be your guide for Mastery 2017.
Wishing you a Masterful 2017, In health, Dr. Neetu
p.s. Mastery is all around us in Hollywood. Few examples:
Karate Kid
Star Wars
Jiro Loves Sushi
