By Danette Vernon
Many of us are familiar with the story of Jonah. He had a “whale of a time” with himself, running a gambit of emotions in the story, between resistant, then thankful; angry, then hot and bothered; despairing, then humbled.
Our own story can be much like this, a bit of an emotional roller coaster, until we reach our Nirvana. On Monday, we make the announcement of our intention to live a CHANGED LIFE, “No more donuts!” we vow. By Tuesday, we, just as quickly change our mind — and we have a donut to console ourselves. Surely people will realize we were just blowing off steam ... again.
But there comes a time when the pain of not living as we wish is greater than our fear of the unknown, and we take one hesitant step forward, trusting, as Barbara Winters writes, “that when we come to the edge of all that we know, one of two things will happen, there will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught to fly.”
Kevin Trudeau, noted expert on transformation, outlines his steps for change: 1. Find out who has gone before you, and were successful, read about them, talk to them if possible. Look for mentors if need be. 2. Assess your willingness to learn, to change, on a scale of 1 to 10. It should be a 10. If it’s not a 10, that is the first step to a new life — increase your willingness to learn new things, to change, until you reach a 10.
How do you do that? Well, ask yourself, what am I willing to give up, to be different; to live differently? Are you willing to give up comfort, the creature comforts of your own bed, the familiarity of your friends and family, the level of salary you currently have? Or more significantly, are you willing to give up your beliefs, the ones that no longer serve you?
But what can you do RIGHT NOW you wonder? Kevin further advises, to get out a piece of paper and pencil, and jot down, without thinking, your top 10 goals, and then rate them on a scale of 1 to 10. Any goals that rated a 10, start taking steps towards manifesting these goals, as they are the ones most likely to come true.
Finally, when considering any goal, doing the first thing in front of you is always the next step.
But doing things one step at a time, may not be for you, maybe you NEED the sudden slam of a door, in order to change; well so be it. It’s a rougher road — but get on it! Dan Vaden says, “Things fall apart, so that things can fall together.”
So tomorrow, you quit a job, slam a door, break a heart, and it may appear that all is lost, but it is in these very moments that you will come to the beginning of the new tales that you tell your grandchildren. The stories that will make them exclaim, “Then what happened?!”

<em>Moment of Wellness with Danette Vernon: Therapeutic SolutionsOffering a unique approach to your active health care needs using a variety of healing modalities, nutritional and wellness coaching to empower you to a new state of health and well-being. 73 Sams Point Road, 524-2554.</em>