BUILD YOUR HEALTHY SELF- DISCIPLINE - 5 IDEAS TO TRY
Do you - almost daily - berate yourself for not doing the diet/exercise/loving thing you intended to do, to help and support yourself? Sure you do. We all have a tendency to allow people, circumstances, media, and our own negativity to pull us off-track.
We often get to the end of our day and feel like we kinda blew it. And why does that make us feel especially rotten about ourselves? Because we all know, deep down, that nobody else in the entire world can step in and exercise, eat, sleep or think on our behalf.
How many times have you, deep in that not-doing funk, looked in the mirror or down at the scale and mentally gasped at the slippage. But you sat on your determination to do something about it, because so far you haven't been able to succeed and can't trust yourself to try again, and keep at it.
What's the essence of the problem? The power we give to our resistance.
If, we all want to lose weight, eat healthier, and feel better running around in our Human Suits, we have to find a way to overcome our resistance to doing good things for ourselves.
What can we do to strengthen our ability to make the right choices?
Self-discipline can be seen as a battle between the Bully, "You are weak and useless. Don't bother." And our loving, nurturing Mother, urging us forward, that we are so worth the effort.
Strengthening our connection to that "Yes, mama!" voice opens us to a superpower over this problem. I'll do my best to explain, with some ideas I'm plucking from my own life.
#1 Strengthen your Connection to your Dreams - update your Bucket List.
What are those items on your Bucket List that light you up? If you haven't glanced at your Bucket List since the onset of the pandemic, I'd like to suggest, that as an act of courage and hope, you resurrect it. If you need more encouragement to get pen and dreams onto paper, please read my blog, "Your Bucket List and Why it Matters."
# 2 Place True Health on your Bucket List.
Okay, I am going to guess that one item on your Bucket List is to lose weight and eat healthier. Maybe you've pictured yourself in a tight gown or tuxedo, showing up at the reunion, at a wedding, ready and able to dance your ass off. Maybe physical fitness is epitomized in your Bucket List as simply "Live a lively, independent life to my old age."
If experiencing True Health is not on your Bucket List, let's just lightly place it on there, for the time being, as it makes everything else possible.
#3 Own it - Your Health Matters to People who Love You.
What if this experience of True Health, this item on your Bucket List, was as much for your family, friends, circle, community, and planet as it was for you?
What if we owned that our ill health affects many others profoundly, (hello COVID) as does our wellness? I lost my beloved and revered father when he was only 50, and I was 22. We should have had so many more years together, but he smoked, didn't exercise, ate plenty of red meat and had heart disease. He never got the chance to walk me down the aisle or hold his grandchildren. I still mourn those moments that never got to happen.
So, I am very motivated to continue the tedious tasks of eating consciously, exercising, meditating and taking supplements, when I focus on my daughter, Sophie. She is a cartoonist and graphic novelist with a great life going in Oklahoma, where she's enjoyed two years on a Tulsa Artist Fellowship.
During this time, three out of four of Sophie's parents have been battling cancer. She has had to navigate the rocky waters of worry, while her dad, step-mom, and step-dad have all been going through chemo. I've promised her, (and myself) that I will be the exception.
To that end, I thoroughly recommend "The Anti-Cancer Book" as a readable, science-based examination of the foods that contribute to creating a cancerous terrain in our bodies, and those foods that help to protect us, and strengthen our NK cells.
(Natural Killer Cells - our Friends!)
The years I have left on this beautiful planet, I want to be extremely healthy, where we can travel together to Paris and Cuba and to Barcelona, to view the magical mosaics of Gaudi. I'm going to need to be stong and able to walk miles every day.
Also, If I'm going to work as a producer on my own film, ANGEL LADY, (#1 Bucket List item) I'm going to need to have the stamina of someone to whom 14 hours a day on her feet, is only a little tiring. That's a high bar, but so worth it. I don't want to miss anything!
AFFIRMATIONS FOR THE MIRROR
Yes, we can develop our self-discipline by focusing on those dreams and the people we hold dear. When faced with working out or cuddling with the cat and the remote, let's try choosing love - love for our lives and the lives of others.
Your "Yes!" to love has the power to turn on your self-discipline, which is the strength to make a plan and stick to it, to show up for your self, no matter what.
However, there will be times when your resistance reminds you of a cranky toddler who needs to take her nap and wails, "I don't wanna! No! I don't have to!"
#4 When your Resistance shows up, gently but firmly tell it who's in charge.
Send your cranky whining to bed. Tuck it in, give it a kiss, and then get on with it, doing what's best for your life.
#5 When all else fails, remember this: Humans are hard-wired to resist doing what's good for themselves. "I don't feel like it" is normal.
That's right. Look for that feeling to surface every time you are setting out to do something. Before you put on your walking shoes, make that healthy shake, or turn on the yoga tape, you can expect to not feel like doing it. You will resist.
I was involved for years with a very dynamic Buddhist practice that called for sitting down and chanting, twice a day. I rarely wanted to devote myself to it, but I was able to stay on track when my Buddhist mentors described resistance as the necessary force that helps lift the plane off the ground. So, as we are about to take flight, if we expect that drag on our enthusiasm or determination, we don't have to fear the feeling.
Move toward the life of your dreams by reminding yourself why it matters, and letting that focus motivate you to be disciplined.
It's always good to end with a quote from Abraham Lincoln.
Hope it works for you, too. Thanks for playing!
Please share and/or comment if this blog has helped you at all.
Onward with love,
Sheri Leigh
Feb. 27, 2021 NOLA
We are planning to host this free and fun webinar!
"Claiming your Marathon - Your Impossible Dream."
If you read my blog, you'll see some of the strategies we will discuss with guests:
- Marathoner Dr. Dean Goodman (still running distance in his 70's)
- Angel Lady film director Edgar Pablos
- Activist artist Daneeta Jackson of Planet Daneeta
- Triathlete, veteran, cancer champion, and health innovator Clayton Treska
- Plus more!
If you'd like to be kept in the loop and reserve a free place, email me your interest - sheri@itstoolatetoquit.com.
About the Book
Here's a link to the book's Amazon page with 45 reader reviews. If you want a copy in paperback or Kindle, you can get it there. If you are flat broke, email me at sheri@itstoolatetoquit.com and we will work something out.
