4 Steps to Achieving Vibrant Physical Health

Posted on February 3, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Taking care of your physical health is something that has been written about in a multitude of ways so I am not going to try and rehash what the “experts” say you need to do. What I do know however is that taking care of me is sometimes easier said than done.   It can be a long, frustrating and lonely journey insuring that I do the things that I know help me to feel better.  I want this to change.  I want to take the steps I need to make sure that I am living the life I want.  So I am using this blog to do just that.

What I want to do through this blog is to test my belief: Change can happen slowly with the following 4 steps:
  1. Setting the intention
  2. Developing a strategy
  3. Creating a plan
  4. Telling the truth about what is working and what is not

Journey with me towards vibrant physical health. We can grow and learn together as we overcome the obstacles and triggers that get in our way of achieving this goal.    

Step 1 - Setting the Intention

Identify one thing and one thing only you want to commit to change that will help you feel better physically. 
 
For me: I have a multitude of things I would like to do to stay healthy, but I know myself. If I try and change too many things at once, I will not succeed. My habit is to take on many changes, convince myself and the world that I will do it this time and two days later, I am back where I started and nothing has changed. When this happens, I feel stressed, disappointed with myself and frustrated at my inability to keep my commitments to myself. 
 
I am a smart woman, I have a Masters degree, I am a successful business owner and I have a healthy, loving relationship with my husband and children. All of these things take commitment and dedication. So I know what it takes to follow through on a commitment. Sometimes however, the commitments I make to myself around my physical health come from a huge set of expectations about how I should be living my life. This can be exhausting.
 
Through this blog, I am making an agreement with you and me that is real, heart felt and totally my choice. I am committed to taking on my physical health, one piece at a time.
 
My intention for the next 21 days:
 
I will intentionally tune into my body through my breath a minimum of 8 times during my waking hours.   When I tune in, I will listen to my body’s needs. This could mean stretching, deep breathing, reconnecting with the present moment, eating, drinking, resting or whatever. When I listen to my body, my answers will come. 
 
Through this blog, my commitment is: I am going to be honest, I am going to blog 5 days per week (any 5 days) on what my thought processes are, my commitments, my successes and my failures so I can monitor my progress.
 
Thoughts: If I am saying I am going to tune into my body every hour during my waking hours then I want to insure that I am not setting myself up for failure. What does this look like? What can I do each day to help me achieve this goal? What are my milestones to help me know I am on track? How will I know this is making a difference?  

Step 2 – Developing a strategy. 

What are the things you know get in your way, what things can you do to overcome those obstacles?
 
My obstacles include:
- forgetting to do what I committed to doing and at the end of the day I am frustrated that I forgot. 
- avoiding commitments that take too long. I don’t have a lot of time so I avoid things that take me away from what I need or want to do at the time .
- ignoring the physical signs that my body is giving me to let me know that I am not tuning in.
 
My strategy includes:
- reminders (timer alarms),
- not making the time commitment too big - 3 minutes maximum each time. 
- paying attention to how I am feeling in those 3 minute breaks
 

Step 3 - Creating a Plan

What can you commit to doing today that will get you closer to meeting your goal.
 
My Plan
  1. Tune into my breathing every hour – set the timer. When I tune into my breathing I am also tuning into my body. When I do this, I will check in and ask my body which areas need attention at that time. I am committed to tuning in a minimum of 3 minutes each time. The Gift of Calm audios are 3 minutes max and would be great to listen to here   
  2. After 4 hours, evaluate how I am doing!!    By setting the timer I do not need to keep my attention on my commitment, I just need to evaluate every four hours. I am setting my Blackberry alarm for every 60 minutes to remind me to tune in.   After the 4th time, I will look back and see how I did. I also want to notice how I felt. 
  3. Evaluate at the end of the day. Make a decision whether my plan worked or did not work that day. What can I do to improve this? Do I want to repeat the plan tomorrow? Remember my intention and why I have made this commitment Notice how I felt! Do I feel a sense of accomplishment? How does my body feel?  

Step 4 – Tell the Truth

By using this blog, I will be telling the truth about what is happening with making this change.
 
By acknowledging both my successes and my “failures”, I am being honest with myself. This honesty will be noted by my subconscious. When I do not tell myself the truth, I may be kidding myself on the surface, but deep down I know I have not kept my agreements with myself. I want to be totally honest so I can sort out a better strategy if it does not work.
 
Commitment: Tomorrow I will write how I did with this intention. While writing this blog, I have managed to tune into my body several times. I have also written and rewritten my intention because I want to insure that I can follow through on what I said I can do.  So this is it, this is my beginning and I am committed (gulp) to letting you know honestly how I am doing.  Here goes. 

How about you? Do you have an area you would like to focus on to create a different habit for you? 

It can be anything. The most important thing is that you know it is yours, not someone else’s. Please let me know what you are committed to and together we can work towards making those small changes we want in our lives to feel better and live the lives we want.
 
Respond via comment to this blog if you want to let me know how you are doing. If you would like more privacy, become a member of the moment-is online community (it is free) and you can anonymously post your comments. I look forward to hearing from you as we journey towards vibrant physical health together.
 
Blog with you later.
 
Gerrianne
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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