Choose an Empowering Outlook

This week’s principle is another mindset principle. Why do we spend so much time here? Because this is how lasting change begins – by strengthening our mindset.  This principle builds on both “Healthy Fit Preceeds being Healthy and Fit” and “Life is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy”. This principle states Choose an Empowering Outlook.

We’ve all heard the metaphors: Glass Half Full – Glass Half Empty; High Road – Low Road; Bright Train – Dark Train; Lemons or Lemonade.

The crux of each of these metaphors is CHOICE - when faced with a situation WE get to choose our response …it may be consciously taken or we may be on autopilot, but we do choose.

We can find the good or positive in a situation or we can focus on the obstacles, the negative, and the bad. Our results, really our life, depend on how we interpret and respond to a situation.   What we chose becomes our reality so we choose our reality. So why not chose the story that supports your desired results?

Here are a couple of examples showing different interpretations or thoughts:

We can say… I’ll always have weight problems
Or we can say… I’m always learning new ways to help me maintain a healthy weight.

We could say...being fit is just too much work
Or we can say... learning how to be fit and healthy is fun and rewarding.

One will keep you where you are, the second will allow you to create a new reality. Do you hear and feel the difference? In the first our energy is lowered, the 2nd is empowering.

Increasing our awareness of when our thoughts are not leading us in a positive direction and readjusting our thinking is the first step to rewriting our life.

QUESTIONS FOR THE BLOG…

• What thought or thoughts did you catch yourself thinking this week? Share it? And share at least one way you can rewrite this to be more positive and empowering.
• Was there something that you heard growing up that still has a hold over you? A limiting thought? Again, share it, rewrite it. By sharing on the blog you are taking the first step to releasing it’s hold over you.

ABUNDANT HEALTHY ACTIONS…

• Make a list of stories/beliefs/thoughts that don’t serve you. Take one and rewrite it. Imagine yourself using a new pair of glasses to see an old problem or challenge from a fresh perspective. How might a wise grandmother deal with the issue?
• When talking with a friend, do you notice when they say something limiting about themself. Use this as an opportunity to say…what about thinking about it this way…sometimes by helping someone else rewrite their story we increase our ability to rewrite our own.

Life is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy

This week’s Abundant Healthy Living Principle is that ‘Life is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy’,

You have heard it said many ways … ‘Thoughts Become Things, Choose Them Wisely, ‘What You Think About, You Bring About, and so on.

This principle is both empowering and overwhelming. On one hand, it is wonderful that we can steer our life in the direction we want. On the other, some people find it hard to accept that they are totally responsible for their own outcome!

The trick here is to think the right thoughts. If you are constantly thinking, saying or even feeling defeated about being over weight or sedentary you will continue to get more of the same. This principle is very closely tied to Healthy Fit Thinking precedes being Healthy and Fit so a great place to begin is with the list on the Mindset Tab above

Really listen to your self talk this week. Are you telling yourself the things that will create the vibrant, healthy YOU that you want to be? Awareness is a catalyst for change, so once you know what you are telling yourself, you can change your words to make them work for you!!

QUESTIONS FOR THE BLOG

• What is most prominent statement that is alive and well and sending you in the wrong direction?

• What is one thing you could do this week that would change, even a little bit, how you feel about yourself?

• Tell us one action item you will make this week to change your thinking.

ABUNDANT HEALTHY LIVING ACTION

• Ask a trusted friend or your partner if you are putting negative messages about yourself into the world. Ask them to share one with you.

• Journal about the Abundant Healthy Fit lifestyle you see yourself living.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

How many of us remember our parents and or grandparents sharing the following nugget of wisdom - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." 

Well, perhaps we all need to fully embrace that bit of wisdom when we are working on our goals.  To try, try again is another way of saying Recommit.  Recommitting is a key principle to living abundantly and healthfully.  This key principle of the program recognizes that each day is not going to be perfect. You are not going to go through every day eating the exact right things and getting in the perfect amount of exercise. And there are going to be days where the call of the wine or the chocolate or the nap was just too hard to ignore.

Perfection is a skill I have not yet mastered. But, with healthy fit thinking, just because you have a less than perfect day you  should chuck all of your progress and slide back into old habits. They key is to confront the behavior and realign yourself with your goals. In the words of an old 70s song – one bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch girl. It’s the same with healthy fit thinking. One bad choice does not negate the work you have done.

We must recognize that feeling guilty or quitting doesn’t mesh with what we know is possible. What does work is to recommit each time you falter, stumble, or give in to the siren call of wine, chocolate or other temptations. Sit with that weak moment for a minute. Acknowledge it. Understand it. Remember how you feel. This will allow you to move forward with awareness and will develop your ability to resist the urges in the future.

Be kind to yourself. Love yourself where you are.

Abundant Healthy Activities:
1. When you feel as if you have lost your focus - allow yourself to sit with what it feels like.  Are you frustrated, disappointed, angry?  What is going on in your world that was a precursor to the loss of focus?  Commit that information to memory.  Learn from it.  Blog about it.  Journal about. 
2. Challenge your self to go one day without the need to recommit.  Then go one more.  And one more.  When you reach a week without recommitting, take yourself for a "love me" activity - a pedicure, a massage, a walk in the park, buy a bouquet of gorgeous flowers for yourself.  Then, sit with that feeling of accomplishment.  Blog about it.  Journal about it.  Compare the two feelings.  Awareness is key.

It would have been easy.....

Last night my husband brought all the fixins for banana splits with him on our visit to the grand-kids. It was a special day... school's almost out, results from the aptitude tests are back (woo hoo!) and the kids sense summer's almost here. They love Grampa. They love Thursday nights with the G-Parents. So imagine their surprise when they watched the bananas split from top to bottom, the strawberry ice cream, the cool whip, etc etc etc... they were overjoyed. I WAS overjoyed that they had so much fun. "Hey," he said, "Want one....?" "No thanks," I replied.. and meant it when I said - "I'm fine." And I was. I am.

There was a time when it would have been impossible for me to turn down a scoop of strawberry ice cream. Not so any more. Now that Abundant Healthy Living principles are part of my breathing, waking, thinking, choosing, I make choices without having to stretch to catch the ball. It felt good. Thank you Gerri, Tee, San, and all my AHL buddies for making it possible to make a healthy choice and not feel cheated.

Prue

Daily Reminder - Healthy & Fit Mindset Principles

I found a way to keep myself reminded of the Healthy & Fit Mindset Principles on a daily basis.
On my computer I scheduled under an 8 AM appointment, on a daily recurring basis, "Healthy & Fit Mindset Principles" Important - Read! When I open the appointment the full list of principles is there. I'm on the computer every morning and this keeps those principles right at hand and on my mind.

Be Aware of Your Choices: Poison or Fuel?

Everything we consume either fuels the body or slows it down. Are you giving yourself the high test or the cheap stuff? For each and every bite or sip you take, evaluate whether the substance is Fuel for your body or Poison. Don’t beat yourself up; just note in your mind … Fuel or Poison. You may find that this simple shift of awareness starts you on the path of making better and better choices.

 

QUESTIONS FOR THE BLOG ...

• Are there specific circumstances that make you reach for ‘poison’?
• What eating habits do you have that you can trace back to your childhood? Do these habits encourage eating fuel or poison?
• What do you feed your MIND and SPIRIT? What do you read and listen to? Who do you spend time with?

ABUNDANT HEALTHY ACTION ...

• Be aware of everything you eat – ask yourself – is this poison or is this fuel. Start out by increasing your awareness of what you normally do. Remember, no judgment, only awareness.
• Challenge yourself to go one day eating and drinking ONLY fuel. How do you feel at the end of the day?!

Want some help when you're craving something in the poison category?   Find out how Arbonne can help with these Figure 8 support products:

• nrgGO3! Fizzing Beverage Tablets – if you hate drinking water then try adding our Fizzy Tabs to your water – they will boost energy, control appetite and increase metabolism and you’ll drink more water in the process too! 2 flavors that you can even blend to get a 3rd flavor – well worth incorporating.
• On the Go! Weight Loss Chews – take a look at these if you tend to reach for unhealthy snacks between meals. These will provide an energy boost as well as control appetite.

Healthy Fit Thinking PRECEDES Being Healthy and Fit!

This simple statement is profoundly life changing. We must develop the mindset of a healthy fit person before we become a healthy fit person. This is why so much of our program is about creating new beliefs about ourselves, the food we eat and what we do for physical activity.

Have you been stuck in the pattern of thinking you will exercise every day when you have more time, more energy or just plain feel better? We must take the healthy fit actions to get there.

QUESTIONS FOR THE BLOG ...

What is your favorite healthy food? Share suggestions or recipes.

What is something you love to do that will stretch and tone you?

What is your top reason for wanting to be healthy and fit?

ABUNDANT HEALTHY ACTION ...

Create a list of how you think an Abundantly Healthy Fit person thinks or you can just borrow the one we have created and posted on the AHL ACTION PAGE.Create as much awareness around the list as possible. Read it each morning, put it on the fridge, the pantry, your planner, your mirror or even in your car.

Pick at least one day this week to make every choice a healthy fit choice or thought! If it goes well, keep adding days. We can't wait to hear about this on the Blog!