A Letter from Chris Suarez

YOU HAVE MORE CONTROL THAN YOU THINK

This week I was amazed at how many people were in good spirits. They were smiling, sending thoughtful messages, posting positivity, and sailing high.  As I went upstream to get to the root cause, it centered around a national holiday.

It’s a random day that was inaugurated back in 1621, celebrated again in 1623, held on may random and multiple days each year in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, reestablished on a single day in 1789, changed in 1817, changed again in 1863, adjusted for commercial reasons in 1939, and changed back again because of social pressure in 1941.  Simply, history only confirms that the day is a bit random yet controlled. 

Ultimately, we allow a day to decide how we feel. We allow a day to decide that we will spend time with family and loved ones.  We allow a day to motivate us to let other people know how we feel about them through phone calls, messages, texts, and emails.

In effect, the day controlled our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions.

We decided on that day that we would think about certain things, feel certain emotions, do certain activities, eat certain food, and spend time with certain people. All of those things individually are incredibly positive and healthy.  

Here is my take-away.  It’s fascinating to think that it could be a very clear demonstration that we can make changes in just about every aspect of our life if we set the intention to do so.  An arbitrary date on the calendar, that random men set, changed, and changed again throughout history has the power to effect behavioural change greater than seemingly all the discipline we can muster on a random Tuesday or Thursday or Sunday.  When did we need permission from a nation to feel a certain way, treat people a certain way, or act a certain way.  

Imagine if we set our intention for the day like that all week?  All month?  All year?

Would we be happier?  Would we be more engaged?  Would we be healthier?   Would we put more attention and focus on our relationships?  Would we be more efficient and effective at work?  Would we accomplish more and achieve more?

Behaviour is the key to success in every area of our life - both personal and business.  So insight as to what drives our behaviour or how we change our behaviour is invaluable.  As we reflect on our activities over the last week we may have proven to ourselves that we are able to decide how we feel, what we do, what we say, and how we act at a moment’s notice.  Perhaps that is the first step in gaining control of our behaviour.  

The argument could be made that based on the national recognition of that day as a holiday, the greater majority of Americans have that day off from work.  The day off creates the space for us to think or act or feel a certain way.  But don’t give up your control of your days so quickly.  Every one of us has the ability to set aside a day of any week or any month or at any time to change the pace of the routine and focus on what we believe to be important.  Perhaps it’s not a day, but a morning or afternoon or evening.  Perhaps it’s just time set aside each day to be more personally intentional.  Too often, we need permission from external sources to do that, and so unknowingly, we give away control of our thoughts, and emotions, and actions.  

Be grateful any and every day.  Send messages of appreciation any and every day.  Eat a meal with your family any and every day.  Focus on what’s most important any and every day.  

After all, we just proved to ourselves we have more control than we think.

Chris