KAT’S NEWSLETTER

January

Author

Kat Whipple
January 25, 2024

It’s been a minute since I have been in your inbox…let’s catch up!

At the start of a new year, we all typically ask each other what our goals or dreams are for this next year. I am not sure how I feel about this arbitrary ritual, but I do think there is power behind the fact that everyone is thinking about it or resisting thinking about it. The potency of these goals and dreams are often seeded from what we want to change in our lives or what is already changing us.

Change is the one thing that we can depend on. It is always happening whether we choose it or not. But, how do we create change where we want it? And, how do we adapt to the change that is out of our control? 

By the end of January, many of us lose steam in creating the change we committed to wanting at the start of the year. But, we can start or restart at any point. There are ways to structure intentional change. We often hear that we are a sum of our habits. Thinking about our habits can help us make change more bite-sized and integrate it into our lives for a more long term, sustainable shift. 

Think about the change you want. What habit shift could bring you closer to this change? There might be more than one habit, but choose one habit to shift. Then, examine the habit. One of the best ways to shift a habit is to break it down. Make sure to think about how this habit serves you, and what is the reward you get for this habit (even if you think of it as a bad or naughty habit)? Next, interfere or disrupt the habit by trying something new or responding in a novel way. Then, think about what you could replace this habit with for a similar or equal reward. Now, make the new way a new habit by repeating it. This way it becomes a new neuro-pathway in your brain, or habitual, by repeating the disruption and the new habit as often or even more often than the old habit. Maintain this new habit for 21 days and you have changed your brain, by offering it a new way or pathway. 

We can do something similar when it is change outside of our control. When something happens to us, we adapt to it. And, we often adapt in the ways our youngest self learned to adapt to change. We can feel powerless or scared of the uncertainty ahead. How we adapt to circumstances that happen to us can be essential and therefore helpful for a short period of time. The challenge is that sometimes the way we adapt can also become unhelpful, especially in the long term. This is when we need to get curious. How did you cope with the change and what habits formed? Were they familiar habits or new habits? Then, we can make a choice.

Think about what caused you to adapt, consciously or not, in the way you did. Maybe it was to regain control or give you a sense of safety. Then, think about if this habit is still supporting you or if it is how you want to keep living. Make a choice to keep the habit or not. Lastly, create a new intention from how you want to move forward. How do you want to feel or be? Maybe, you want to honor yourself or others more, or surrender earlier to change, versus fighting it.

Intentions can serve as a filter for how to dance with change in the future. They give you a way to determine which habits needs updating or where a new choice needs to be made, based on what feels in integrity to you and your community.

What do you want to change, or how will you dance with what is changing you? What community do you have to support the change you want to create?

OFFERINGS

NEW Writing for Change Group FREE: February 11, at 10am-11am PST

“All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change.” - Octavia Butler

Come write about the worlds you want to create. For you. For your children. For those you love. You don’t need any writing experience, just a desire to be in community and to take time to write or dream about change in our world. And, to share, if you want to share.

Connect to sign up and get the ZOOM link.

One-off Sessions Available

I have rarely offered one off sessions in the past, because my goal is to support individuals and families in creating sustainable change, but I have been reflecting on this and listening to client feedback. There are a lot of pathways to sustainable change. I have found that sometimes we all just need a little spark to initiate change, or a reminder to dance with it. So, I will be offering single sessions to those who want them.

If you are interested, Reach out

BUSINESS CORNER 

There is so much uncertainty in starting and maintaining your own business. It changes you and you change it, constantly. We often face the blocks in our business that we face in our own life. What habits are you ready to change in your business? Maybe you would like to expand your business and make more money, and still generously give to others. Would you need to change how open you are to receiving? Would you need to change how you set boundaries and say no? Would you need to change how you feel about money?

FAMILY CORNER

Parenting, put most simply, is learning to adapt to change over and over again - living with your heart outside your chest in the world - every developmental stage of your child/children, every life event and every unexpected turn. The harmony of our family nervous system depends on how each individual and the whole navigate change together. What changes are each of you dancing with right now? Are there habits you could change in how you respond to one another that could help you find a new rhythm together?

If you are CURIOUS…connect with me for a 20 minute chat.