The Power of Slow, Steady Change, + a ritual to inspire a new story

Every manifest creation has birthed over time. This stream in the Lake District lit up in the blazing winter sun as twisting gold. It looked so mesmeric through the car window that I pulled up onto the verge, and scrambled over a fence to sit by it. Look closely at the layers of rock – smoothed into shape by the steady flowing persistence of water. They are perfect slabs of flattened loveliness – their density sculpted by water. No matter how big a dream, or how impossible an undertaking – this stream shows us what is possible when we steadily show up with pen, trowel, needle or paper, allowing our amorphous Muse to fashion our creative impulse into something new and wonderful. Time, commitment and determination allow inspiration to take shape.

As I stood by the stream, words rose up in me as a drumbeat: Slow. Breathe. Grow. Slow. Breathe. Grow. Slow. Breathe. Grow.

We are emerging from the liminal time between years. The blank page of a new year has untold power as a collective field. It is a threshold that can empower us to create afresh the stories driving us. If outworn, those stories can block our fulfillment. Before routine sets in and habits anchor, we have a chance to challenge patterns no longer serving us. Dreams can be tweaked and energized.

Writing down goals is a good start. But it’s not enough to carry us forwards for long. We have to feel the longing for more fulfillment and abundance, health, happier homes, better relationships. Details and tangible targets are essential for planning – but action alone does not make change inevitable. There has to be the stronger magnetism of feeling behind every imagined destiny. Without the gut-stirring, heart-racing impulse to make every step forwards count, we’ll soon run out of ‘whys’ and new habits will fall apart.

Ritual intensifies intent. It is the way to invite magic and miracles. Through simple conscious acts, a space can be created outside ordinary time – from where we can SOURCE ourselves – and RE-SOURCE our dreams.

This simple Ritual for Positive Change has three key parts:

1/ honouring + letting go;

2/ intention + action

3/ allowing + receptivity.

Part 1: Honouring + letting go

Elements: candle, incense, pen & paper. Stone/crystal.

1. Light a candle. Incense is another great way to shift the feel of a place.
2. Write down anything in your life that niggles you – circumstances, relationships, habits, health etc. Handwriting sends a powerful signal to the unconscious mind.
3. As your inventory builds, track your feelings. Whatever comes up for you, transfer that feeling into the stone or crystal through the breath.
4. Running through the list, acknowledge how each element served you in some way – allowing you to feel safe or justified or confident. What new knowing or impulse has been triggered in you because of it? Over each element, announce:

“I give up the need to DO/BE…fill in the gap… etc”

Breathe into the stone any lingering feeling of unease or attachment.

With every in-breath, welcome inspiration. With the outbreath, let go of the old.

5. Burn the list. Add any object/small and combustible possession that feels inconsistent with the new energy you’re calling in.
6. Rub soil/earth on the stone or place it in your garden for cleansing. Blow on it with the intent of clearing it.

Part 2: Intention + Action

7. Create an affirmation to empower your new intention over time. It must feel energizing and positive. eg:

“I am filled with love and power as I ….. ”;

“I radiate health, love and happiness…”

etc

Commit to this affirmation for the entire calendar month: 29 days allow new neural pathways to form and create habits. A habit means less effort. New behaviour becomes instinctive. We are less likely to sabotage best-held intentions.

Part 3: Allowing + receptivity

Intention requires the sensitive balance of action AND inaction; persistence AND receptivity, (allowing things to unfold).

It’s important to keep up momentum. Taking steps – small steps over time – inspires transformation. Acknowledge surprises along the way. Keep open for synchronicities = nudges from the physical world that life is responding to your intent. Recording all the positive twists and turns in some way reinforces their frequency. A gratitude journal is one way to keep track of your progress.

Set aside five minutes every morning to declare your affirmation and feel it fulfilled. With every in-breath, feel your mission fulfilled. With every out-breath, let go – clearing space for the new to come through.

Choose one action every single day that marks a commitment to change. Over the week, reflect on the seven steps taken to close the gap between your dream and its manifestation.

The brilliant-lit stream is a reminder of the gold to be mined when we are awake to the resources all around us. As we walk, the ground becomes the playing field where our imagination and physical world meet.

What is the new story longing to be told through you, lived in you, shared by you?

Change is a choice we can make. It will also be forced on us. If we are practiced in making new commitments and habits, we are better equipped to face the ups and downs. We develop more capacity to cope. Are you ready to flex and strengthen that creative muscle? Nothing’s stopping you.