As I do most mornings before anyone else is up, I was listening to an audio book of the Tao Te Ching (Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life" - I recommend it highly). Verse 59 was about 'Living untroubled by good or bad fortune', and in his analysis of this verse he mentioned the Albert Einstein quote which is the title of this post "Nothing happens until something moves". As I meditated after this verse it came to me that although Einstein was talking mainly through the medium of physics, this quote also applies to lifestyle change - and to meaningful goal setting (Also maybe a kind of physics ... physical-ics?). So here's my Tao-inspired thinking about this.

Meaningful health related behavior change is all about setting 'action oriented goals' - which involves two sets of 'movements'

the thinking and the action

While it is true that 'nothing happens unless something moves', it is also true that nothing happens unless someone thinks, and so (stay with me here Albert) no different movement (or behavior) can result without different thinking. Ok, take a deep breath and read that again slowly, I know I'm going to!

The point I am making here is that the first 'movement' has to be one that starts inside your head - a 'thought move' away from your usual thinking - an 'aha' moment, however small. Without this first 'different thinking' there will be no different movement, and even though 'something may move' physically, there will be no lasting change in behavior - just a return to, or a continuation of, 'the usual'. Nothing different happens without different thinking. Usual continues Usual, Different produces Different. So ... two questions

  1. If you are doing 'the usual' what does 'the different' look like to you?
  2. What thought is happening to move you?

Think (differently) about it - make a thought move

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