Life is always at some turning point.~ Irwin Edman

When is that defining moment in time?  THAT moment.  The one that changes everything.

You know you need to do something: save money, lose weight, start a new program, go back to school, etc.

You have done the research and you have all the knowledge needed to get the job done.

But you have not pulled the trigger.

You know that you should have quit your job three years ago, but you did not.

This is the point at which a significant change occurs. This is THAT moment.

How do you know this is the moment you have been waiting for?

You FEEL it.

I have heard this process referred to as See-Feel-Change.

When we FEEL the effects of our decisions, then we can change.

When we FEEL the personal consequences of a problem and we can point out the real people that may suffer from our lack of movement, then we change.

When I feel the effects, then I feel the urgency to act and more importantly the urgency to follow-through. In these turning point moments we feel the anxiety, joy, anger, triumph and that gut-level instinct  that move us to take the first step.

From these feelings change is born.

These feelings empower us to act and break down the barriers.

These barriers can include information barriers, system barriers and my favorite- barriers of the mind -those self-fulfilling stories people tell themselves about large-scale transformation being impossible. We tell them so much and so often they almost become prophecies.

Knowledge is rarely ever enough to spark change. If it was, I believe our education system in the United States would be structured very differently today. I love the actual and the factual, but I know nothing real happens until I feel it.

How do I know when I am in one of THOSE moments?

I feel the spark that lights the fire of transformation, and I cannot , NOT act.