In working with my client yesterday, I said something that actually came across as profound. And it makes sense. There is realizing, understanding, and doing.
When there is a problem or issue, the first step is to realize that it exists. To recognize something that is going on is crucial. Sometimes it takes someone else to see something and tell you about it. But even then, you still may not see it or recognize it. But once you do, and realize that it is an issue, you have taken the first step to fixing it.
Once you have realized an issue exists, the next step is to understand it. Why is it there? Where did it come from? Why does this keep happening? In the understanding of something, we see what it is, what caused it, what keeps triggering it and keeping it there. But through this process, we also see the solution, the means to correct whatever is going on.
Once we understand an issue, and have the solution to correcting it, the final step is the doing, the actual mechanics of carrying out the solution. This all too often can be the hardest step. You actually have to get up, sometimes fighting your desire not to, forcing yourself to make changes. All too often we fall back to old patterns, but this is a point where even that can be looked at using this process. The key is to take the final step and implement the plan and correct the issue.
The realizing an issue exists, the understanding that issue well enough to have a solution, and the doing of whatever it takes to make the changes needed. This is how we effect change, change within ourselves, and change within all realms.