Start and Stop

Is there something you want to start doing or something you want to stop doing?

Can you give yourself permission to start or to stop?

You don’t have to have a bigger plan. Just act on the nudge to start or the nudge to stop. Allow yourself to decide: today is the day I begin or today is the day I am finished doing that. You don’t need to explain it to anyone. No justification needed. If you are an over-thinker, try less thinking and more listening to that inner wisdom inside you, it knows. 

You can start and stop when you want to.

A scene in the movie Forest Gump illustrates one of my favorite examples of how we can give ourselves permission to start. Forest starts running just because he feels like running. It doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t have to be part of a larger plan. He’s just following the inner stir to run. And then great things happen along the way.

That same scene also gives us permission to stop. Forest suddenly decides to stop. He has followers wondering why and they are left wanting more. Forest gives himself permission to stop…because he wants to. Again, it doesn’t have to make sense. He stops because he is ready to stop. 

Watch 7 minutes of the movie - if you don’t have 7 minutes, watch the first 45 seconds to see Forest start something and then advance it to minute 5:30 to see Forest decide to stop.

He started and he stopped. Without worrying about what someone else was thinking about him or expecting from him.

These are your days on the planet, how do you want to spend them? 

You have more choice than you may realize. Resentment grows when we feel we don’t have a choice. Even when you feel like you don’t have a choice, you actually do.

You have permission to start. 

You have permission to stop. 

Starting and stopping with you,