My Lifeline Wellness Advice Column

Change - How to Create it January 2011

Hello to 2011 and to All Of YOU:

This month we will be discussing promises we make to ourselves, resolutions we try to keep, and hearing our inner self have a wonderful idea and then we do nothing to make it happen. We all do and have done each of these things. I am going to give you a few guidelines to help make the journey into bettering ourselves and our lives easier. Greatest Rememberance: CHANGE HAPPENS ONLY OVER TIME!!! This is not a one time event. You must work on it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. But it will happen.

1) Never start anything on January 1st, on a Monday or right after a holiday.

2) The minute you have the thought - lets say for example I am thinking I need to exercise more - get up and do something right then and there. Go for a walk, run, put in an exercise video, lift some weights. This is powerful enough to help you do it again the next day. Don’t be concerned about the length of time at this point. Just Do It.

3) After you are done with whatever activity you decided to do - sit with the feeling of how good it feels - don’t do this for seconds do it for minutes. Think of how long you will sit with a negative feeling when you have done something wrong. Balance this with the same amount of time when you do something positive.

4) Forget motivation - It Is Not Coming!!!!! One of my favorite sayings is “Do what you have to do, when you have to do it, whether you want to or not” . This will build the motivation over time. And even then we don’t have it everyday. Remember we do things everyday we don’t necessarily want to be doing. The benefits is that we either enjoy doing it or when it is done we feel good about our accomplishments. Either way it is a win-win emotionally. Remember the good feeling you are looking for will come after you are done - not before.

5) Finish a task to the end. If you stop in the middle, the benefits are less powerful. This is how we get overwhelmed by either doing nothing or having to many things only half done or started. This is not a good life practice and leads to negative feelings. Just Finish One Task at a Time.

6) When you are working on yourself - do it for ONLY YOU!! If you do it for someone else, the behavior or activity you are working on will not be permanent. You will not reap the long term benefits. Then others, including yourself, we be disappointed and it is harder to get started the next time.

7) If you miss a day or decide one day that you are just not going to do anything, do not let that bleed over to the next day. That old mind game of beating ourselves up for missing a day, eating poorly for one meal, not exercising, sleeping that extra hour instead of doing what needs be done is just that, a game. If you have already not done what you need to do, just go ahead and do it the next day. Don’t make a big deal of it. Accept that you took a day off and get right back to it. No Mind Games!!!

These guidelines will help get you started, keep you on track and will stop you from beating yourself up. It will build motivation and a strong emotionally foundation to enjoy your life, your body, and what every task you are currently working on.

Feel free to ask any questions and I will answer them shortly. Your comments are also appreciated.

See You Next Month, Happy New Years, Jackie