Visualize Greatness and Measure It

Feeling grounded and centered is a good thing.  It means that we feel balanced.  We are aware.  We are in touch with ourselves and hopefully those around us.  With the distractions of everyday life, we lose that sense of being on "solid ground," and we can sometimes feel that life is getting away from us.  

In order to reclaim a healthy, centered lifestyle, start at the beginning.  Visualize success. Imagine in your mind that you are rising to the occasions in your life.  You are meeting your goals for the day. You are preparing your meals and snacks.  You are prioritizing stress management (relaxation therapy), fitness and sleep.  You are accomplishing your tasks at your job or in your home.  You are doing it and doing it well.  

How do you feel?  How do you feel knowing that you are checking things off  your list?  You are starting projects and chipping away at them, bit by bit until you can be finished?  You are taking care of yourself by noticing when you are tired?  You take a recess break and walk for five or ten minutes instead of taking a trip to a vending machine?  You are in touch with your feelings so that when you are overwhelmed, you slow down and take a breath?   How does that feel?

We need to check in with ourselves regularly and often.  We need to gain valuable feedback about how things are going.  By noticing how we are doing, we can "track" where we are--where we want to be--and how well we are doing getting there.  We track all the time in this precious life.  We track our gas in the car so we don't run out.  We track our blood pressure and other vitals at the doctor's office.  We track our milk in the fridge so there is no morning meltdown.  We track our coworkers' contributions to a project.  We track our relationships with conversations that start like this:  "I need to talk..."  It's helpful information.

What we can do now is two-fold.  First, plan to be successful today.  Maybe success is starting a project at work or at home.  Plan for it to go well.  Expect to gain the support you may need.  Expect to stay on task.  Two, continue to visualize success as the project is underway.  Even if there are unexpected twists, plan to overcome them and achieve your desired outcome.   As far as eating goes, visualize the day's meals so that you can stay on track, eating from all the food groups.  Stick to the plan even if unexpected treats show up.  This should be easier because of the power of visualizing. Then, as the day goes on, check in at meals to see how well you are adhering to your plan.  This is the valuable measure of your success in real time.   Then, give yourself credit for doing exactly what you set out to do.  It all started with a positive image of your doing that very thing.

The mind is your powerful too.  Appreciate what it might do for you as you cultivate a healthier, happier, more balanced lifestyle.  Notice how far you have come from where you started to where you are now--and to where you'd like to be.  Measure your progress.

Do not waste this precious life.  

Super Power

Do you have a SUPER POWER?  A power that is unique to who you are?  A power that you can call on that reminds you and the people around you that there is something special emanating from you to the environment around you?  Of course you do.

With the hectic pace of life and multitasking being the order of the day, we often forget that we have characteristics, special traits, qualities and SUPER POWERS that make us who we are--that we can use to express ourselves, inspire our lives and affect the people and world around us.

Think back to a time and place when you did whatever you wanted to do....without regard for what anyone else might think.  Maybe you have to go way back to a time in your youth when you didn't care at all about what others might say about your actions?  What were you doing?  What made you so happy?  What made you feel so fulfilled?  What reminded you that life is great, and you are a part of its greatness?  Identify that special thing, that SUPER POWER.  Name it.  Own it.  Embody it.

Now spend a moment thinking about those around you.  Think about the environment and the energy that you created because you were expressing your SUPER POWER for the good.  Can you remember what that was like?  Can you remember who influenced by you?  Can you remember those feelings you created in yourself and others?

By slowing down to remember what makes us unique and by using what makes us special, we help ourselves and those around us.  We find our life feeling vital and important and exciting to live.  We wake up with that sense that today, this day, brings something new to be discovered.  This keeps us going.

There are always going to be naysayers and haters with their own agenda.  However, when we embrace our strength and use our SUPER POWERS for the good, we not only change ourselves for the better, we exude an energy of positivity to those around us.

The road to self improvement has many twists and turns.  There are wrong turns, temporary stalls and U-turns.  Your wonderful life is found along this road.  Let your SUPER POWER drive you.

I Can. I Will. I WILL KEEP GOING.

I can.  I will.  I will keep going.  That is the mantra I have chosen for this time of year to help everyone get back on track and centered.  The mind is so important.  It is the decision maker, the reality tester, the voice from within that will not be silenced.  It is with us all the time telling us yes or no--this or that--more or less.  We start believing our thoughts and accept them as truth if we repeat them often enough.  Perception becomes reality.  For this reason, it is so important to be sure that the words we say to ourselves are positive and reflective of our heart's desire--our goals.

There are so many things we CAN do.  Whether we WILL do them or not is another story.  Let's start with "can."  I can make a small change today with my eating habits.  A small change might be having fruits or veggies for snacks instead of chips and crackers.  This is doable.  This is reasonable.  This is specific.  The test comes when snack time shows up. Will I choose fruits and veggies?  I will if I planned ahead.  I will if I have them on hand because I went to the grocery store.  I will if my success is driving my behavior. 

Let's say that I've been packing fruits and veggies for snacks for a while now--several weeks.  I am used to doing it.  I have learned to like these foods as snacks.  I am getting results.  However, one day, my coworker brings in my favorite donuts.  Instead of my apple at 10AM, I indulge in a big donut. No harm done as long as I keep going with regular programming.  There is room for indulgences now and then.  That's a healthy lifestyle.  However, what if I then start trash talking to myself and telling myself that I should have resisted the donut and eaten the apple.  What if I start feeling hopeless and defeated and then go to a pizza buffet lunch?  WHOAH!  That's not going to help me. Instead, I can simply take stock of the fact that for weeks I have been eating fruits and veggies for snacks.  Bravo!   I can applaud myself for that good behavior change.  I can recognize that a donut once in a while is acceptable...no judging.  I can then say, I don't have to have pizza and let my good habits unravel.  I can get back to regular eating patterns right away.  I WILL KEEP GOING.  

Expecting to succeed at weight loss and weight maintenance is critical to success.  Expecting to succeed means that we are planning on it, and we are arranging our lives so that it happens.  Nobody is perfect, and it doesn't matter anyway.  We have a back up plan for those moments--KEEP GOING. By refusing to give up, we keep going.  That's a huge step in the right direction.  That works.

I can.

I will.

I will keep going.

Say it to yourself often, and play it out in your life.  The results will be there.  You will be earning them one thought at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time.  That's a healthy life worth living.

Say Good by to the Summer You and Hello to the Fall You

It's time to turn the page on the calendar and to take a look back at the past three months and notice what happened.  Vacations, time away from routine and schedules, carefree attitudes, farmers' markets, flesh-baring clothing, bare feet in the grass, long, hot days...  Maybe it was the best three months of the year for you?  Maybe as you reflect on your life since Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day, you feel ready to usher in a new season?  Either way, we can all benefit from perspective, free of judgment or criticism, about where we were, how far we've come and where we'd like to go.

As sure as the sun rises every day and sets every night, there is an energy that comes with "something new."  When we start something new, there is an inherent hope that it will go well.  We have high expectations and plans for ourselves to do just that.  Unfortunately, not all fresh starts are good ones. There are plenty of false starts followed by readjustments and reality checks that come along too. The trick is to focus on the positivity that comes from making a change for the better.  The trick is to use the benefit of experience to redirect efforts in the right direction.  The trick is to be aware that change--no matter how much we want it--doesn't equal easy.  The trick is to keep going and keep redirecting until we get to that place we'd really like to be.

If the past three months were not your favorite regarding weight loss, weight maintenance or self improvement, the time is now to take stock and focus/refocus and commit/recommit to making a fresh start.  Learning from experience, gaining valuable perspective and channeling that wisdom into action--starting now--is the focus.

I read a book more than twenty years ago by John Kabatt Zinn, titled "Wherever You Go, There You Are."  How true.  No matter what, we come back to ourselves, our heart's desire, our passion for a better, healthier, longer, fitter, slimmer, more balanced, less stressful life.  It is always calling to us, because we want it so much.  It is always important to us because nothing less will satisfy.  Stay grounded in the present moment and take action.  Take a healthy step forward to finding the healthier, fitter, slimmer, more balanced, less stressful YOU.