“The haircut that will change your life?”
“Yes. If you go get this haircut, it WILL change your life. It will change everything.”
“What is this? Some kind of fantastical notion? A Rapunzel meets Samson tale?
“You know those times in our lives when we are trying to figure out what comes next? When we feel stuck in old patterns of thought or habit? Even if we are aware of it, we are having a super hard time stepping out of them. Well, you go get this haircut and *poof*, you’ll feel a massive shift. You’ll get a surge that energizes and propels you forward.”
“Really? Isn’t that being a little over dramatic?”
“Is it?”
“Seems a little much to put all that force of influence and power over the course of our lives into a simple haircut.”
“Good!”
“Good what? What’s good?”
“That you see it as so simple. Means it won’t be difficult to do…”
“What won’t be difficult. What are you doing?”
“I’m just getting the scissors.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to cut your hair.”
“WHAT?!!!”
“Don’t worry. It’s simple. It’s not really going to have that big an effect anyway, right?”
“Wait! WAIT!! Don’t you dare… (grabs iron skillet off the stove) come any closer and you’re going to philosophize with this pan about haircuts, life changes and the arrangement of FEATURES ON YOUR FACE!”
“Hhhmm… I guess this holds a little more weight then, doesn’t it?”
(Eyes wide, still gripping the skillet with 2 hands)
“So I take it you don’t want THE haircut that will change your life?”
“What haircut?! What is THE haircut?”
Simply Rooted in Depth
Amazing how simple something like a haircut or hairstyle or (for men) facial hair can seem on the surface. When thought about in context to the bigger picture, you know, the important things in life, it can seem like not that big of a deal. But if anyone were to come up to us right now and say, “Here I’ve got this great new haircut/hairstyle. You’ll love it!” and reach for our head, the “karate-chop” hands would come up so fast, you’d think we were 9th degree black belts.
Thing is, our hair, and the form which it takes, is not simple or superficial. It is rooted, deeply, to who we are. To the particular space and frame of mind we are in. The manifestation of our very identity (whether the one we feel or the one we want to be) is expressed through how we wear, or don’t wear, our hair. Yes, even those of us who may feel limited by what hair we have left. An expression that speaks to what’s going on inside. Sometimes it is honest and genuine. Sometimes it serves as a mask to hide that which we are having difficulty facing.
Sometimes the need for change is staring us in the face. Sometimes… it is not.
The Weight of Attachment
There are any number of factors that can influence the change in hair. Such as the need for acceptance, coming in the form of: belonging to a particular group, pleasing those in ‘power’, being liked, gaining power. Going in the opposite direction, coming in the form of: standing out, challenging the norm, getting noticed, “Accept me for who I am!”. Or smack dab in the middle, coming in the form of: disappearing, not getting noticed, being safe, avoiding one extreme or the other.
After nearly 5 years with my most recent “do”, the mohawk, I was struck by the necessity to let it go. It came out of left field after making an off hand joke. But it was done. In the past, the changes have come because it felt like it was time. Time to connect to a new energy for the stage I was moving into. But with the mohawk, it suddenly occurred to me I had actually been holding on. I’d grown sub-consciously attached to what it represented. A representation that didn’t come into full view until after I cut it off:
- It was my “warhawk”, as I was going to battle. I was going to battle against long entrenched patterns/habits that no longer served.
- It represented that I was going to fight for what I believed in.
- It was my stepping out to an edge, in order to find what I had not yet discovered.
- It was my protection against losing myself and my integrity to the status quo as I entered this vulnerable state,
- It was my weapon, my “warclub”, for taking societal perceptions and flipping them on their head.
- It was my staring into the eyes of the world and stating “Bring it”.
- It was my “antenna” to an energy, an intensity that was required to set the fires ablaze.
- It was my “whoop” of warning for what was to come.
It served through such an experience that required all this. It helped me connect to the energy and space I required to take things one step further in my journey. But now, I don’t need it anymore. I don’t need what it represented. Because I no longer need to fight for it. All those things I had to fight so intensely for, now just… “are” (you know, to the depth required for the next step 😉 ). They are a part of me that I don’t need to force anymore. So the keeping of the ‘hawk was keeping me tied to the weight of that period. Rooted to the left over shell of that experience. It kept me tied to something that was now time for me to move on from. And letting IT go, allowed me to let go of some hidden chains I hadn’t noticed, releasing more fully some big doors I’d been moving through.
Yeah, but all that from a simple haircut?
There’s a lot more to it than that!
Yes there is. Yet it all plays a role. It reminds us to not overlook the power of the simple or seemingly unconnected. When all other obvious options have been exhausted and we find ourselves still struggling, to look at what we may have great attachment to that is currently flying under our “radar”. It could be a specific food we eat, a certain style of jeans we wear, a particular application of makeup, a type of book we read, a regular exercise routine we do or, yes, our current “expression” of the hair on our head or face.
So what IS the haircut that will change your life?
It’s the one that unlocks, for you, all the above.
Dare To Evolve,
Shane.
What kind of diet does the hero have I need to loose belly fat
Haha! Paul, when I think about the diet of “the hero”, it’s usually horrendous because they are so busy trying to save the rest of the world, they don’t take time to eat or eat properly. 😉 But seeing as it’s a major contributing factor to our effectiveness in any endeavour, what we eat plays a significant role in the whole picture.
Personally, this is the jist of what I eat (and have found to be very effective for others when implemented).
Well rounded meals with:
1. protein (some form of meat)
2. vegetables (lots of dark greens with a splash of colour, most often steamed)
3. whole grains/roots (brown rice, quinoa,, oats,, millet, potatoes, yams, etc.)
4. and good fats (fish oil, flax oil, olives, avocado, nuts/seeds, etc).
The majority of my liquid intake is plain water.
I steer clear Dairy.
And sugar is next to nil.
Now I this is the overall jist. I then tweak, adjust and fluctuate depending on the season, on my training, how I’m feeling, etc. It’d be great to have the “cure all”, but in reality, dialling in our diet is a long term process. Like, “decade(s)” long. So I always tell people, we can let go of this “time” expectation around it and just enjoy the ride. Because it takes time to find not what the best diet is, but what the best diet for OURSELVES is. And then that adjusts as we age and where we live, etc., etc.
But above all, to start. That overall jist I shared? Do that. Start with that. Don’t worry about proportions. The biggest, most beneficial change is not first in HOW MUCH we eat, but rather in WHAT we eat. You decide the proportions of the different types of food based on what you think you need to function in your day with energy. As you move forward from one day to the next, you’ll see what that looks like and tweak as you go. Start with that. Don’t worry about the “foods/drinks to avoid” in the beginning. We tend to put way to much focus on them. Instead focus on the “foods/drinks to have” which I laid out. It’s not about avoiding. It’s about displacing.
And drink as much water as you can.
I’m going to be making my Dare To Evolve Diet Manual available for Dare To Evolve Members in the next few weeks, so be sure to sign up if you aren’t already (it’s free), and keep an eye out for it. It goes into greater depth moving on from this.
You’ve got it my man! You are probably already in the midst of “the process” and this is just one step closer.