After one of those nights where I tossed and turned all night till 4 am then finally got a few hours sleep from 4-8 am, it was hard to get up and going this morning! I need a LOT of extra UMPH to get me onto the treadmill today for a morning run … I totally needed it though… I am super stiff and sore from all that tossing around and need to loosen up big time. The concept of extra “UMPH” really got me thinking…?
Having extra UMPH applies to all other areas of life too! It often takes an extra push to go a little outside our comfort zone to make progress and change in our life. It could be in our relationships, decisions, finances, business, emotional health, fitness, work, social skills, life skills and more.
I would say as we are heading towards the new year, put a little extra UMPH into some areas of your life and see just how dramatic the positive changes will be! Lets get out of the rut we are living in and make some amazing progress in 2018! Get your excitement and passion for life back again! Pick 3 areas of your life that need it most, then go for it! (And be sure to write them down!… Putting pen to paper, makes the achievement and success more likely!…)
Enjoy your Holiday Season and let’s get ready for a fabulous and incredible 2018 with all that extra “UMPH”!! ??
The only thing between you and your goals is that BS story you keep feeling yourself as to why you can’t do it!! This is what my personal trainer told me this morning during my weighted cardio workout and she is totally right!! How many times did we make excuses and even what we believe is “good reasons” as to why we didn’t achieve our goals! Far too many! …and in fact we tell ourselves these things do many times that we actually start truly believing they are facts! Scary if you really think about it!
I have learned to recognize it when I have come up with a story… such as being too tired, having no money, not enough sleep, not enough time, telling myself I am just an emotional eater (which then somehow made it OK?), sore muscles, feet aching, sore back from a busy day at work, stress from having a 2-year old, lack of sleep, too young, too old, no good at it, not capable, can’t trust the opposite sex, don’t know how…and the story list just goes on and on and on…!! The sad part is that we believe these things, identify with them and let them rule our lives!
I have been through all of these excuses and stories myself! Sometimes when you come from a background of abuse, the stories can get pretty bad. For example, you may believe you are worth nothing, are useless, not loved, not important, not worthy of love and so many more horrible things! You can imagine, that if a person lived with those beliefs (stories) that their life would not be very good, successful or full of happiness! I have had to work hard to overcome many of these stories. It was not easy, but I am proof that it is totally possible to change your perception of yourself and to change how you perceive your past experiences too!
How do I work on overcoming these stories? Keep in mind, this is always a work in progress. My mentor (the late Jim Rohn) speaks about those stories, beliefs and thoughts and uses them as a metaphor like “weeds” growing in a garden. This is a great metaphor because if you think about it….you cannot ignore those weeds because they will totally overtake the whole garden (weeds of the mind). Those weeds need to be removed and even once you get the whole garden cleared out of those weeds…what happens? YES!…those weeds keep trying to come back, so you have to continuously keep pulling out the ones that come up.
This is the same way with those stories…
Once you realize (finally gain insight into yourself) the numerous stories (lies) you have been telling yourself about why you cannot do things or achieve things…its like suddenly noticing your beautiful garden (mind) is packed solid with weeds!! AHA! This was definitely an AHA moment for me. I got myself a coach and started working at getting those weeds pulled out. It took months of work, emotional turmoil and challenging times…but, believe me, I got that darn garden mostly cleared out …out of pure determination. However, I realized that a person has to be well-aware that those weeds (stories, lies) will keep trying to come back and keep an eye on the garden at all times to remove them once they pop up! The lesson here was for me NOT to ignore those feelings, but rather allow them to happen, recognize them, and realize where they are coming from and correct them immediately.
Having this kind of awareness can totally change your life. Often, to develop this awareness and clean out the garden takes extra help. Don’t hesitate to get help with this (remember, asking for help is a sign of strength). Once you take the time to learn this, then you will start to recognize the stories (lies) once they happen. Once they are recognized, you can stop, identify the lie and replace it with the truth that you know is there. Its a magical process and is definitely worth learning about! Once you get to work on this, you will be blown away at what you are capable of achieving in your life!
There is no feeling like the sense of accomplishment! This morning I officially completed a 30-day challenge that I set up for myself with an awesome core/MMA fighting program! This is just the way I LOVE fitness. Short challenges that push me and keep it totally interesting…and in the comfort of my own home… plus they are professionally developed to give an amazing full body fitness like I never imagined!
This type of core/fighting workout is a great cross-trainer for other types of fitness activities as well… especially court sports, running, horseback riding, hockey, football and so many more… the agility, core strength, leg and upper body strength that you can build without any equipment is astounding!
The beauty of the workout lineup I have available to me through this annual digital access program is that I never get bored, I can keep picking new challenges for myself with different professional programs and trainers as I go! When it is fun and interesting like this…with short term rewards…a person is far more likely to keep it up! I also keep a paper copy of the workout calendar beside my workout area, so that I check off each workout as I complete them… as you see here….
TRACKING workout completion every day builds motivation as you see what you are accomplishing!
As I am sitting here having my superfood shake post-workout this morning, I am thinking that a trip to the spa as a reward for completing this program is totally in order! (Ten Spa in Winnipeg is an amazing place!!) A spa treatment and a day of relaxation! Doesn’t that sound awesome? It feels great to have earned a reward like this… Now just have to decide what program to challenge myself with next! .. Hmmm 🙂
Feed the body AND the mind what it needs every day.
Having my superfood shake after a good MMA Plyo workout this morning… I started thinking about how important nutrients are to our body. Superfood nutrition is essential for maximal energy, to aid weight loss and to boost sense of well-being. Nutrients we take in are only part of the story for the health of our mind though. Our mind needs healthy information fuel as well!
They say “the mind is what the mind is fed”.. mind food doesn’t come in packages though and you can’t buy it at the store. Mind food is your environment–all those countless things that influence our conscious and subconscious thought. The kind of mind food we take in determines our habits, attitudes and personality.
The mind reflects what its environment feeds it just as the body reflects the food you feed it.
Is this really true?
Habits and mannerisms that we have are typically picked up from other people. Just try to find one that isn’t! Even weird little things like the way we walk, words we use, hold a cup, the way we dress, preference for music are all influenced by what we experience and pick up from others.
The most important point here is that even the size of our thinking, our goals, attitudes and personality are formed by the environment. If we have associations with negative people, it makes us think more negative! If we have associations with petty people, it will also develop petty habits in us too! On the other hand…association with people who are big thinkers and ambitious people, can bring those things out in us too!
Certain types of people tend to discourage others and tell them that what they dream of cannot be done. These types of people usually are unsuccessful and are often only mediocre in terms of what they have ever accomplished. Don’t let these type of people discourage you from your dreams!!
The late Jim Rohn, a mentor of mine, states that we become the 5 people we spend the most time with… and if you think about environmental influences and how they affect our behavior and habits, its totally TRUE! “Birds of a feather flock together”…and since how we think is directly affected by the group we are in, be sure you are in the flock that things right!
Besides being around the influence of people, the kind of information we feed our minds every day is also important and influences our brain chemistry, positivity, and belief in ourselves and the world. Watching world news and reading the newspaper full of negativity can be draining on our emotional energy (and we do not realize just how much!). Spending time playing mindless video games, reading fiction and watching extended amounts of TV shows all waste mental energy and all have an impact on our thinking and our potential for success.
So, what would good mind food be?
Listen to motivating podcasts, read inspirational books (or listen to audio books) about how to think bigger and to improve yourself and read inspirational stories of success. Use these stories and books to inspire you, to throw all of that thought poison out of your environment…to help you stay positive and to be a good person. Learn positive ways of being and have your new attitude be your ally towards a happy and successful life and to encourage others! Making the switch to positive mind food for me has completely changed my life, my relationships, my attitude, my belief in the world and myself …and my zest for life!
Overall, clean eating and superfood nutrition are essential for our physical and mental health, to have a healthy weight, avoid chronic disease and to have healthy energy levels. We often forget that the food for our mind is just as important to feel happy, accomplished and positive. Take some time today to think about what you can do to rid yourself of negative influences and to implement some more positive habits to feed your mind in a good way and work at being a good example for others.
COMMENT on this post in the REPLY section of this page with your thoughts!
Being fit is far more than just big muscles and strength! It’s about being able to move, twist, jump, maneuver, run…and more …all without getting injured! The MMA fighters need to do more than just fight to keep up their fitness level, and so should we?. My agility power and a core workout were done this morning with sweat pouring and after it was over I was all smiles because it felt so great! Was a tough workout though!
As we get older, meaning over 40 and beyond, it is incredibly important to work on strength and agility training to maintain our strength, balance, coordination and joint range of motion. Walking is good exercise, but it really is not enough since it doesn’t work the essential muscles or the mind in the ways that agility training does..
Reaction time and coordination slow down as we get older, but we can fight that with only 10-15 min of practise every day. Agility skills help us to react faster, reduce risk for falls and this type of exercises puts pressure on the muscles and bones which help to keep them healthy and strong. With agility training, our posture improves, giving more upright walking stance and confidence and have less discomfort in our back.
The benefits of Tai Chi, yoga, Tai Cheng (take a minute to watch the video) with their slow controlled movements also really help to increase range of motion, balance, co-ordination and flexibility. If you don’t have time or feel comfortable going out to a class for this type of exercises, we have this type of program available on DVD or digital streaming and it can be used at home.
Dancing is also another good exercise to improve agility. It can be very fun and social activity as well, which is a bonus.. Dancing benefits not only our physical agility, but also our mental agility and reduces cognitive decline (BONUS!). There are many kind of dance available and if you would rather dance at home, there are country dance programs that can be done at home as well!
Remember as a kid we used to play hop scotch? Just that little bit of hopping, balancing on one leg really trains the brain and builds agility. Consider playing with your kids or grandkids and reminisce about those fun times and enjoy!! It will feel more like fun than exercise for sure. This morning with my workout (check out my current core blasting fighting program!), we did something called “Hop Squatch” which is very similar to hop scotch, but only with squats between single foot hops! LOL
By being consistent each and every day and working on agility to some degree, we have better posture, strength, balance and even energy! This will make us even more active in other activities, promote weight loss and a higher level of positivity and self-confidence. It is definitely worth working on and no matter what your age, there are exercises that will help! For more assistance finding a program to suit you, contact your local senior services, or contact me about some effective and fun home based programs that will help you out.
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Our message for today is that we all get what we focus on most in life. It’s very true!!
If we focus on what’s wrong, what’s no good, what doesn’t work, what sucks, there’s never any time, I am broke, there is never enough money, problems, what we are mad or sad about, what we don’t like, what we hate, gossip, talking negative about other people,etc. Then we will attract more of this negativity into our life.
Today we are choosing to focus on what is great, what we are thankful for, knowing that there are always solution to everything, smiling, happy for the abundant life that we have, happy for the moments we have, there is lots of time, pleased with life the way it is, and… This way we will attract more happiness and positivity into our life. Sounds like a good plan to me ?
Remember, in this world, we get what we focus on. So, focus on the happy and positive… Then that’s what you will get back??
