“You are not behind! I don’t want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?” This is the tag line on the emails from www.flylady.net . This phrase recurs to me often when working with clients. I revise it to, “You are not behind! You don’t need to try to catch up, just jump in where you are.”
“Where are you now?” and “where do you want to be and go?” are basic questions for knowing how to get started on any journey. Your journey toward heart health and wellbeing is the same. You cannot change where you came from, your past; you can acknowledge it and also honestly look at where you are now. It is important to accept where you are as the place to move forward from. You would probably compassionately accept another even if s/he has not been a model of healthy behavior. Use that compassion for yourself. What are you doing to deal with your heart disease, to minimize your risk for a future cardiac event? How much physical activity do you get on a weekly basis? How much saturated fat do you eat on a regular basis, whether daily or weekly? At this point just acknowledge without judging yourself.
And, where do you want to be? What do you want your life to look like? Imagine your best life, what would it look like? Allow yourself a couple of minutes to really envision it. Now, imagine it even better, 10 times better and fuller than the first vision. What would that life look like? Feel like? Again allow yourself time to really get a sense of this 10 times better life. What would you be experiencing? What would the people around you be experiencing? What is the impact you are having? Who are you in this vision? HOLD THAT THOUGHT. With compassion, allow yourself to enjoy the vision.
Does this vision draw you to it? Are you excited about the possibility it offers you? Perhaps you’re even restless to get started on making it come into being. What is the essence of what you are trying to experience in this vision? This energy will help your path for change become more clear. Don’t let the saboteurs enter into this vision. You can achieve.
You know where you are and where you want to go. And if where you want to go is only vague then keep imagining. What needs to change to get you closer to your vision, whether the vision is vague or clear? Perhaps it is time to develop a strategy for achievement. All along in the process having an ally to explore with and support you enhances your chances for success; contact Heart of Well Being to increase your odds of achieving what you want. The blog post of Dec. 15, 2011, related to resolutions and SMART goals outlines a process for developing strategies. Here are a couple of other tips.
Start small. A good start is 15 minutes a day devoted to your health and reaching your vision. As the FlyLady says, “I can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes.”
Make a commitment you can keep and renew it regularly whether daily, several times a day, every other day or weekly. When renewing your commitment, renew your vision of what it is you want to achieve and who you want to be. Imagining allows you to practice who you want to be. The more frequently you recommit, the stronger the commitment will become.
Doing and Being reinforcing each other so that you achieve more of what you want and become more of who you want to be. It starts with compassion for yourself in every present moment and it will surely spread out to others.
It is never too late to be who you might have been. ~George Eliot
Merry Christmas! Start today Becoming Your Healthiest You, living aligned with your heart’s desire in 2012.
M.S. Nursing
203 744.YOU3 (9683)
Your blog post on letting go of the past and moving forward toward postive change is “spot-on”, as our British brothers and sisters might say.Beautifully articulated and upbeat…just in time for the new year!
Thanks Ed, compassion toward ourselves and others can be very freeing.