Written by Edgar Luna

Yesterday as I was walking I started to think about how our daily habits give us certain results in the long run. As I was thinking that, I visualized a flat piece of land and then  someone grabbing a handful of dirt and placing it in a specific spot to start to build a little hill.

As the days go by, imagine you grab one, two or many more handfuls of dirt a day and you place them over the little hill, after some time, if you are consistent your little hill will start to get bigger and heavier so the more you add, the more difficult it will be to remove all that dirt and go back to that flat piece of land.

Now think of what you do on a daily basis: 

• What do you think about or say to yourself?
• What do you eat or drink?
• How do you use your time?
• What type of information do you consume (read, listen or watch)?

What material are you using to build that hill? 

We create habits and unconsciously do so many things every day that add either good soil or trash to that hill.

• How many times a day do you put yourself down? 
• How many times do you reach for that snack or food that is unhealthy?
• How much time do you spend absorbing information that does not nourish your intelect and only is blocking your ability to learn and grow?
• How much time do you give to persons that do not want the best for you?

It does not matter how large that hill becomes, you still have time to make the hill smaller every day or have it be built out of good soil.

 You might ask the question:

How would I do that ?

Well, you have to make a “conscious” effort to change those “unconscious” actions, and similar to the time it took  you to build that hill, it also takes time to undo and remove as much trash as you can.

So instead of adding more trash everyday,  you should make a conscious effort to not add more trash.

How?

• Do not put yourself down.
• Do not reach for that unhealthy snack or food.
• Do not waste so much time doing things that don’t feed your intellect or provide needed rest.
• Do not give your time to people that put you down or want you to feel bad about yourself.

Then start removing trash one handful at a time. 

How?

• Start your day by finding one or several things to be grateful for. Like Michael J Fox said: “With gratitude, optimism is sustainable”
• Pray, meditate, find that space where you can be at peace, even for a few seconds, it does wonders.
• Recognize your qualities and celebrate them, be nice to yourself and others.
• Before you do something, think and evaluate if it’s harmful, if it is then try to do something beneficial.
• Share time with people that really want to see you succed or that have good qualities or habits.

Your quality of life is based on all those daily choices you make, the best thing about this, is that you have freedom and power to make your our own choices. Maybe most of the time you are buried under a big hill of certain decisions, however, it does not matter how big that hill is, which is a result of consistent choices, imagine if you use that same energy and determination you used negatively towards you and do the opposite and start creating good habits that eventualy become something you do unconsciously and only one handfull at a time you will be “thriving and being what you are really meant to be”.

ELuna