Mindset, Habit and Commitment
My name is Sheila Petersen and I am here to help you feel better by giving you the tools that work for you when it comes to your nutrition and your mindset. 3 years ago, I created my health coaching practice LoveChange. LoveChange helps you live a happier, healthier and more balanced life through sustainable choices in food, relationships, time management, money and career. We take a look at the truths behind what you eat and what you think and how these are affecting the key elements in your life. Through one-on-one coaching and online support, you will discover your own power-and permission-to create time in your schedule and reallocate money you’re already spending to make your health a top priority. It’s a choice.
Have you heard of Brendon Burchard’s latest book Motivation Manifesto? In his book he says, “Everything boils down to motivation. Motivation is the core of all things. Our challenge is not that we aren’t smart enough, excitable or that we lack passion – what we don’t have, is the ability to sustain motivation over time”.
Let’s get motivated for change, shall we? It’s a New Year, a fresh start. Most of us create New Year’s resolutions, but let’s be real, they set us up for failure. If you’ve been here before and we all have, nod your head yes, keep nodding your head yes. Just like the gyms are seeing an influx of people this time of year, I was not surprised on Sunday that the grocery store was out of kale. Go green smoothies! This will taper off in February or March as history would have it. This year can be different for you. Do you want the change?
It can be different by setting an intention. When you set an intention for what you desire in life and review it daily, you will create and experience a transformation in your mind, with your habits and commit to this new feeling or way of being, because it feels good and you want more of that – feeling good, right? It’s a lifestyle, not a diet. It’s asking yourself each time you eat, what will this cause me and what will this cost me. Think about how you want to feel in your body, mind and spirit. Choose a feeling that begins with I am ______ or I intend to _______. Repeat these over and over and over again. If you have trouble visualizing yourself reaching this goal, you will need to repeat your intention until you begin to believe it and get fired up about it. What you are doing is practicing and training your brain to adapt to a new way of thinking and reinforcing any resistance, struggle and feelings of not feeling good. It’s way easier to do nothing. Tap into the feeling of feeling good and you can’t go wrong. Get addicted to feeling good and before you know it, you won’t believe how good you can really feel.
Do you want the change? Set an intention.
We need to make tiny shifts in our Mindset, our Habits and our Commitments to create sustainable change that bring about big results.
Let’s start with the Mindset.
MINDSET
When we talk about our mindset we look at our conditioning, our patterns, our habits and our beliefs. We all have conditioning from our childhood. When we reach our adult lives, we figure out what’s working for us and what’s not. Sometimes we have to unlearn what no longer serves us or the people around us. Sometimes we need to learn for the first time what was never taught.
Where do you get your information from? Your parents, your grandparents, watching the news or scrolling through Facebook? What do you believe and why do you believe it? Is it true? Are you believing thoughts that aren’t true that cause you to act or be someone you’re not happy with?
What you see, you will become. What you think, you will create. Who you surround yourself with matters. It’s a much different outlook If you start your day with tragic news, sit in traffic for 3 hours a day, come home to more tragic news, complain about the job you hate to a family who barely sees you and end your day with more negative news. VS. Waking up to something inspiring, appreciating what you have, fueling your body with healthy nutrients, exercising and taking time to set the tone for how you want to feel today. Permit yourself to let go of the idea of selfish and make it a selfless practice. How you begin your day, go through your day and end your day is a good place to begin inquiring.
Changing your mind requires practice. Daily practice. This practice may include but not limit meditation, journaling or taking a walk in nature. Whatever your practice entails it all begins in the mind and goes back to the mind. If you fall of, which is to be expected you get back. You let go of the idea of perfect. There is no perfect. Treat yourself, don’t cheat yourself. Accept what is and do better next time.
It’s often said, change your mind, change your life. I’ve found it to be very true. I remember the days I would wake up and let the weather predict my mood. If it was raining, I was instantly in a bad mood. Silly, isn’t it? Something that is completely out of our control, yet it’s all we seem to talk about and has it’s hold on us. Years later, as I listened to people complaining of the rain, I donned my fuchsia rain boots and headed outside. I laughed out loud in appreciation for the beauty the rain droplets were creating in a nearby puddle. I went so far as to video tape it as a reminder for the next time I fell back into my old way of thinking. If you spent as much time and energy focused towards changing your mind to a more positive state – what would that look like for you?
HABITS
A habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously. We know this. Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form because the behavior patterns we repeat are imprinted in our neural pathways, but it is possible to form new habits through repetition. Just ask me. I’ve been drinking coffee for as long as I can remember. I was a 3 cup a day kind of girl with added cream and sugar. I’ve gone through periods in my life where I removed coffee from my diet because it simply stopped tasting good. Adding in, taking out. Most recently, coffee stopped tasting good again. Do you know that it took me 5 days to continuously tell my brain that this coffee tastes bad, stop drinking it before I literally did?
Why am I telling you this? Because we all have habits. There may come a point for you where something stops tasting good or feeling good, but you keep on doing it. Maybe you feel overwhelm, so you do nothing. This should be a sign that this is a habit, it needs to break, so a new one that is in alignment with your desires can form.
The process by which new behaviors begin to become automatic is what I like to call the ‘habit hook.’ Linking two habits together to build a stronger bond and a solid, sustainable new habit. For example, dropping the kids off at school + heading straight to the gym + having a snack already prepared in your bag post workout. Or, beginning your day with setting an intention + meditating + while sipping your coffee or tea.
This can work in the reverse as well as you unlink negative habits. We need to take back control. We need to stop reacting to cell phones, text messages, our inboxes and the internet and focus on our self care. Then get to that other stuff. We need to create more positivity and avoid negative people and environments. We need to shift our minds to a more positive place to play. We need better habits that work for us and not against us. We need to surround ourselves with motivating people, places and ideas if we are going to sustain and live our best life.
What kind of habits do you have? Are they working for you? Are they working against you? If you made a list of your habits both positive and negative would one list be longer than the other?
COMMITMENT
First, keeping your word is essential to your plan for change.
What you say to yourself and others does count. If you tell yourself that you’re going to do something, do it. If you don’t, you’re broadcasting to the universe that you can’t be trusted or counted on or that you don’t keep your word. These broken promises wear down our self-esteem. Do what you say. If you’re not going to do it, don’t say you are. Have your word be the most important asset you have. Treat it like gold. If you treat it like gold, you’ll be able to create what you want in the world. Each time you do what you say you’re going to do, your training yourself and the universe that you can be counted on. This proves the path in reaching larger goals. Your word, if not taken seriously is nothing but noise. And don’t we have enough noise in the world?
Second exploring what your purpose is and what you would like to be, do or have.
Dharma, or purpose, holds that there are no spare parts in the universe. Each of us enters the world with a unique perspective and set of talents, which enables us to unfold an aspect of natural intelligence that has never been expressed before. When we are living in Dharma, we are in service to ourselves and to those affected by our choices. We know we are in Dharma when we cannot think of anything else we would rather be doing with our life. One of the greatest services we can perform for another person is supporting them in the discovery of their Dharma. This is one of the most important roles that parents and teachers play in their children’s lives, as well as, coaches play in the world. This is one of the many reasons that I love what I do. I’ve adjusted my mindset greatly and practice daily. I’ve given up bad habits to create new ones that align with me and my purpose. My commitment to supporting others in their wellness journey is like nothing I could have ever imagined.
Third, write out your goals and put them somewhere that you see and read every single day. Take out a sheet of paper and pen now. Begin with these four words and leave room in between each word 1)personal 2)professional 3)social and 4)giving. Take some time this evening and complete these goals for yourself for January, February and March and so on. You can take this a step further and be more specific by attaching dates to these goals.
Post these in your office, as your screensaver on your phone or computer or on your bathroom mirror. Look at them daily as to plant these ideas in your subconscious mind. As you begin watching your desires come to fruition, you can’t help but share this contagious exercise. This is one of the most powerful things you can do. I believe it, I live it and I teach it to others.
Do you want the change? Then you must commit.
In closing, I share my passion for nutrition, and watch as my clients discover the transformative power of living a healthy life. I believe the key to living a healthy lifestyle and feeling your best begins with education, support, practice and accountability. Your customized one-on-one sessions is where we take a look at the truths behind what you eat and what you think to implement small shifts which bring about big results. It’s about being open, trying something new and executing your plan. It’s about discovering what motivates you and aligning that with your internal goals so you can experience how good you can feel.
If you would like more support or to learn more about me, you can visit my website at LoveChange and facebook.com/lifeelemental