Clarify Your Vision:
Begin by defining what your preferred future looks like. This vision should be specific, measurable, and aligned with your core values or organizational mission. A clear picture of the desired outcome provides a target to aim for and criteria by which to measure progress.

2. Identify Early Signs of Change:
Pay close attention to emerging trends, behaviors, and signals that indicate movement toward your preferred future. These can include new habits forming within a community, shifts in attitudes, or small successes demonstrating the desired change. Use data, feedback, and observational insights to recognize these early indicators.

3. Engage Stakeholders:
Involve individuals and groups who are affected by or can influence the change. Building a coalition creates momentum, fosters shared ownership, and leverages diverse perspectives. Their enthusiasm and commitment can amplify the impact of change efforts.

4. Design Small Experiments:
Implement pilot initiatives or test new approaches on a manageable scale. This iterative process allows you to learn, adapt, and demonstrate proof of concept, making it easier to scale successful strategies.

5. Communicate Progress and Successes:
Regularly share stories, metrics, and testimonials that highlight positive change. Visible evidence encourages continued support, motivates stakeholders, and helps normalize new behaviors or practices.

6. Remove Barriers and Reinforce Enablers:
Identify obstacles that slow or block progress, and actively work to remove them. Simultaneously, recognize and strengthen factors that facilitate change, such as resources, policies, or supportive leadership.

7. Institutionalize Change:
Embed the new behaviors, practices, or policies into standard operations to sustain the preferred future over time. This may involve training, formalizing procedures, or adjusting incentives to align with the change.

8. Monitor and Adjust:
Continuously assess the impact of your actions and the environment. Stay flexible and be willing to modify strategies as needed to respond to new challenges or opportunities.

By following these steps, you can effectively identify the beginnings of meaningful change and take purposeful actions to amplify it, guiding yourself or your organization towards a preferred future.

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Subscribe to our magazine outdoorhealthandwellness.com to read more

We can not emphasize enough the importance of a secure base, with a mother, and how we can ensure a mother has this.

So what exactly is a secure base….

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Change can be a good thing. Noticing change for the good.

The Importance of Finding and Living your True Self

Without the darkness, it would be impossible to appreciate the light.

Mindful Mountain Wellness offers an 8 week course on Meditaitons for Self-Love; following the book by Laurasia Mattingly.

Waves are an endless force of nature that teaches us there is a rhythm and pattern much more powerful than ourselves. There is an ebb and flow of simplicity, reliability, and predictability. The constant flow of energy reminds us that the more we fight against it’s course the less probably we are to survive it’s current. If we can find acceptance in the movement and grace of the ebb and flow and dance with it’s current rather than fight against it’s power, we can use it to our advantage to enjoy the beauty of the wave.

Meditation for Acceptance

• Find a comfortable and dignified posture

• Allow your gaze to look softly towards the horizon

• Let your hands rest easily with your palms facing up

• Take a few moments to settle into your posture as you tune into your breath

• As you allow your breath to fade into the background, become aware of your thinking mind, what are your thoughts telling you?

• Rather than being carried away by your thoughts, flow with your thoughts, riding them like a wave, noticing what they are telling you.

• Simply enjoy the wave of your thoughts as you pass through them

• Thoughts can have different frequencies. Some thoughts are crashing waves while others are gentle and free flowing smoothly over the sand. Notice the difference and details in each.

• Each wave of thought will bring a different emotional current, notice what each swell is telling you

• Are you caught up in the wave of emotion or the powerful force of the thought, can you ride each emotion and thought like a wave safely into shore

• Has the storyline caused you to lose control, falling from the safety of your board?

• If so, accept all as they come, gently and with acceptance

• Swimming, surfing, and surrendering to the powerful ebb and flow waves of thoughts and emotions as you learn to accept and find confidence in your ability to reach the shore with skill and safety.

Keep moving forward, even it’s at a snails pace. Eventually you will reach the destination in front of you.

Boundaries define who we are, clearly.

They help us to set parameters on what is me and what is not.

A clear boundary shows where you end and where someone else begins.

This helps to gain a sense of ownership.

You can already envision how confusing this is.

Boundaries are important in having a sense of self-authority.

When we understand what our boundaries are we know how to protect them safely.

Boundaries within families and relationships can become unclear and unhealthy.

Developing clear and recognizable boundaries can increase positive connection with others confidently.

Setting a clear and healthy boundary and adhering to that boundary is the best thing for a relationship especially if the relationship is toxic.

The metaphor of watering someone else’s yard while your yard dies or vice versa is a great example of how to recognize poor boundaries. The goal is to be able to water your own yard sufficiently so that it can thrive.

By defining what is ours, we are able to take care of it. When boundaries are crossed it is easy to get lost.

Learn to nurture clear boundaries through mindful awareness.

-Anna Marie Hallows

Mindful Mountain Wellness

We are born with an innate sense of wisdom and intuition needed to survive and thrive. When we do not access our wisdom and intuition it lies dormant like sand at the bottom of a calm sea. Between our doing mind and our being mind lies a well of wisdom that we have available to access for our own benefit.

Exercise

Begin by finding a comfortable place to sit, stand or walk.

Allow the body to feel supported and postured with dignity and respect.

Notice where the body is grounded and supported. What physical sensations are present?

What does this groundedness feel like in your mind? Can you name an emotion or feeling that you are experiencing in this given moment.

Now, notice your breath. What are your lungs doing? Does your breath feel effortless or does it feel heavy and constrained?

Allow your breath to flow freely and give a name to the emotions and feelings that you experience as you are focusing on your breath.

Now… Think of something that challenges you and ask yourself… what should I do.

Without force.. learn to listen to your inner wisdom.

If the answer is not clear, Ask yourself again as you maintain your center and focus on your breath.

Practice this exercise anytime you have a decision to make and learn to listen to your internal wisdom and intuition with complete awareness.