Maybe winter, Christmas, a hard year, family stuff, general busyness, or all of these combined have robbed you of your mojo. Are you wanting to refresh, re-energize and recharge this year and beyond, but you wonder, where, oh where has the mojo gone?
Mojo is technically defined as, spells and magic that increases and creates power and good luck, however we've taken this African word and applied it to a feeling or experience of energy, power, force, vigor and overall enthusiasm.
It's the fuel to projects, adds color to our day-to-day, and is like a current of electricity that energizes whatever we're doing.
WHERE DID IT GO?
I wanted to write about mojo because not too long ago, I'd lost mine - poof, gone, MIA. After a health challenge, car accident, a long winter and a variety of other maladies that we call life, I felt spent, heavy and tired, and my normal get up and go, had clearly got up and went, and showed no signs of returning.
Mojo can get used up and burnt out, and when living becomes reactionary rather than proactive, we tend to be slack on the regular choices and activities that keep all cylinders firing. Exercise wanes, food becomes a friend and sleep is a foreign word that you think you read about somewhere. It's in this place, that our energy reserves are reserved for the day-to-day getting by, and not the initiation of all that we desire.
This can be okay; sometimes the best option is to choose small things each day that support whatever you're going through. But, if your life is lacking color and you're just going through the motions, then you may have lost your mojo. Thankfully there are things you can do. I'm happy to say, my mojo has returned, and so has a renewed understanding of how to call it home.
MOJO AND DEPRESSION
I want to clear up an important point, losing mojo isn't the same as being depressed. Living without mojo for a long period of time can be a symptom of depression and some of the methods for dealing with each are similar, but depression requires different intervention and support. Here is link to better understand depression. What is depression?
When you lose your mojo however, you lose the power and the spark needed to initiate new projects, take on challenges and explore your world.
“Mojo is that positive spirit toward what we are doing now, that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside” ~ Marshall Goldsmith
5 SMALL CHANGES, BIG MOJO
There are no chanting circles or spells required to bring back the mojo, just small changes that slowly increase the energy level, re-engage you with your life and re-connect you with what you need and what you desire.
1. CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE – Start small: drive a different way to work, visit a museum, wear a color you never wear, re-arrange your furniture. Do something to shake it up. This tells your brain something is different. It's akin to snapping out of it, and can shift perspective and create new ideas, reignite a dream and remind you of all you're grateful for.
2. CHANGE YOUR HABITS –Add or subtract: Look at what you do every day and take one thing out that drains energy and put one thing in that adds energy. Review often until you have upped the self-care ante. The importance of good nutrition, regular exercise, sunlight, social connection, meditation and sleep cannot be emphasized enough. You're either setting up your environment, both externally and internally, to hold and increase energy, or you're allowing it to seep out. Lean in and create a routine that increases, rather than depletes energy. Get back to basics.
3. CHANGE YOUR RESPONSE TO STRESS – Stress is going to happen: Devise a plan to handle it. You may have taken up watching hours of the Food Network as a way to unwind, but how else could you address the stress? Implementing this now, can help thwart future mojo depletion.
4. CHANGE YOUR PRIORITIES – Move from surviving to thriving: Re-connect with activities and friends and family that make you feel like you, make you laugh and stimulate conversation. Reinstate fun and adventure and make a commitment to yourself to get out and live. Eliminate “stuff” that drains you and doesn't support an energized you. Stuff can be clutter, shoulds, relationships and habits that are toxic.
5. CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE– Shift from woe is me, to possibility: Practice gratitude, create some short-term and long-term goals and re-imagine your dreams. If you're coming through a rough time, what did you learn? Who are you grateful for? What do you want to experience now?
How could you begin to restore mojo in your life? What's one step you could take today to add the color back, reengage and Live Your Life On Purpose in 2019? Have you ever lost your mojo? I would love to hear how you got it back.
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