Keeping Up The New Year High

It is usually starts around February, sometimes as late as March.  The excuses come, "I can't exercise today because I have to go into the office early.….my son has a dentist appointment.......I’m just too tired today....... bottom line, the New Year euphoria wears off. If you feel yourself starting to slide, the good news is that it doesn't have to happen.

Your dreams and desire of your New Year High are at the heart of time management from the inside out.  I believe you can accomplish anything you want if you put your mind to it.  First you must be crystal clear on what you want.  Becoming crystal clear and what you want is important.  There is a difference between being committed to a healthy, fit lifestyle; to a healthy, fit tone body; to losing 20-30 pounds, rather than being interested in living a healthy, fit lifestyle, having a healthy, fit body, and losing 20-30 pounds. 

When you take the time to look at the bigger picture of your life and look at what you want you allow your authentic self to flourish.

Visualize your best self.  To do that move away from limitations of the current moment, you’re perceived obstacles, and shine your spotlight on your full potential.

The definition of commitment that I like is this: "The ability to carry through with a worthy decision, even when the emotion or excitement of making that decision has passed." Think about it. It's easy to get excited about starting a fitness program and dream about all the possibilities but eventually the alarm clock goes off and you have to put on your workout shoes and do it.

So what will get you out of bed instead of hitting the snooze button?  What will help you differently this time so you no longer go through the emotional pain of gaining your weight back once you have lost it?  We once interviewed Dr. Nick Yphantides on LYPB who was once the most obese physician in the United States weighting almost 500 pounds. He had a bout with testicular cancer, which woke him up. Dr. Nick’s process to making life long changes was instigated once he realized, “Your have to change the way you see before you can change the way you look.”  In his book My Big Fat Greek Diet he shares his knowledge from what he has learned along the way of losing 270 pounds and NOT finding it again. He has learned that anything short of true change is pointless. 

I’m sure there was many times when the emotion or excitement of making this big decision has passed such as now with your New Year's Resolution.  Dr. Nick needed to re-think the way he was going about his life and his body.  He called re-wiring his brain.

So what is your "why," your bigger picture goal?  What do you really want out of your life?  What do you need to “see” before you can change the way you “look?”

To your health,

            Amy Lundberg
            Aim For It- Fitness Coaching LLC

P.S. For more clarity on this point you may want to go to www.aimforfitness.com for a f^ree one time coaching session to help you move forward in a new path that helps you “see” the correct positive changes you need to make that brings lasting success and the toned, fit and healthy body you desire.

How to Hit Your Body Shaping Goals with Absolute Certainty
MP3 Audio Seminar

Download a zipped file containing the MP3 Audio file along with a transcript in PDF format.

Nourishing Nuggets

"Lao Tzu reminds us that the useful part of the pot is not the outer rim that gives it form but the empty space within; the useful part of the house is the empty space within the walls, not the walls themselves." ~Laurence Boldt, The Tao of Abundance

Reflections for Staying Attuned

It is when we remain open that we are best able to learn. It is when our minds are empty that new information, new ideas, can arise. It is with this openness, this emptiness, that new solutions to old concerns have room to blossom.

What a scary concept when applied to our food! How often have we not been able to be open and mindfully empty when faced with a decision about what to eat, when we were unsure of exactly how hungry we were, when we were so certain we had eaten enough but were also drawn to food?

We want to know, before we act, exactly what we should and should not eat. To know exactly when we should start eating. To know exactly how much we should eat in order to stop eating at the correct level of fullness.

When we have to know, we limit our ability to spontaneously know. Problem-solving and decision-making become more difficult and less effective. Imagine the stress we bring upon ourselves when we have to know.

What if we were okay allowing ourselves to be open, to be receptive to the knowledge that arises on its own? To not know. What new solutions, ideas, and information might we find?

What if we tuned in to ourselves, with an open mind to learn, "What would truly satisfy me right now?" To allow ourselves to eat even when unsure of our hunger level and listen and learn from the result? To be open to the bodymind's interest in food, even when we think we have had enough, and allow ourselves to eat, and see what happens?

What would happen if we practiced being open and allowed an empty mind?

Likely, we would find new ways to move through situations that we used to look to outside authorities to fix. We would discover more supportive ways to deal with old struggles. We might also find, in not knowing, new visions for the possibilities of our lives.

Stay Attuned Tip

For one day, notice how much you “need to know.” Watch your stress level rise as you “need to know.” Consider what would happen if you allowed yourself the freedom to not know?

Stay Attuned Affirmation

"When I am okay with not knowing, I am able to learn."

Stay Attuned™ is written by Karin Kratina, PhD, RD
(Dr.K@ nourishingconnections.com) and Amy Tuttle, RD, LCSW
(amyt@ nourishingconnections.com). Edited by Cassie Tuttle.
Please visit us at www.nourishingconnections.com!
© Copyright 2008. Dr. Karin Kratina and Amy Tuttle. All rights reserved.