[Current O.W.W.L. Journey] Getting back up off the floor
Last month was a tough month for me. I shut myself down. I was afraid. I had the experience of being tired of striving, struggling, and suffering. I fell down on the floor and couldn’t get up. I needed help.
Wanting to quit, drive, or suffer is a common theme of my clients who are confronted with too much possibility, especially when they stretch beyond their comfort zones. The quitter theme was rampant for me last month. I even told my coach, “I want to quit!”.
But like most things, “Quit, Drive, Suffer” is a choice.
So I went to my training conference in Tucson last week. It was for training, yes, but more so it was for escaping misery. However, not wanting to stay in this mud, I gave myself a three-fold intention:
- Find my motivation
- Find my direction
- Find the people to help me
Good news! I found all three! Here are the factors that helped me, and I write them not only to share with you for your success, but also to reinforce them for me.
- Set the intention to shift my state
- Take some time off
- Surround myself with positive people who care about me and want me to win
- Ask for support (emotional)
- Listen to the coaching (action)
- Take care of myself
I’m excited to share with you that I am taking my business to the next level. What is the next level for you and your business or life?
Found my mojo!
Success Stories
“You’re relaxed, less driven, more peaceful, goal focused, more engaged in really understanding what’s going on in your world rather then just reacting to stuff, engaged in the inquiry for self, increased awareness for self and increased possibility for self, not reactive, skin/eyes are clearer, taking better care of presentation like using makeup, in more action regarding health like seeing your doctor, cooking more.”
[Current Weight Loss Journey] Update on marathon
Thank you for some very insightful comments and questions from readers about my marathon decision. Anthony Robbins teaches that we have several needs as human beings: certainty, variety, significance, love, growth, and contribution. As I reflected on the question of whether to continue with my commitment to walking a marathon, I reviewed my own needs accordingly.
I know that my motivators in movement, as well as life in general, consist of both variety and certainty. Certainty implies a constancy, or sameness. Variety implies difference. So it would seem these are at odds with each other. However, I know from experience and being aware of how I operate that consistency motivates me when I am consistent with scheduling movement every morning and that variety motivates me when I can switch from one activity to another based upon my mood and energy level on any given day.
Since marathon training requires workout consistency regarding lengthening distances, I have decided NOT to pursue that goal at this time. I much prefer a potpourri of Zumba, Jazzercise, walking, tennis, golf, bicycle, swimming, weights, etc. to a routine of walking so many miles so many days a week.
[Success Tip] Are you Slipping, Sliding, or Binging? Here’s how to escape.
In working with numerous clients as well as my O.W.L. Certification and Training students, I work with many people who get off track with their goals and commitments and don’t know how to get back on. They beat themselves up for not being “perfect” and the self-deprecation and remorse is worse than getting off track. Using the terminology of 12-step programs, here are some tips to help you navigate your departure and get back on plan.
Success Tip: Your process is perfect when you are actually in process.
We’ll use weight loss and food as examples, but this could also be applied to spending off budget or any other compulsion that deters you from your goals.
First, let’s define the terms:
- A slip is eating something not on plan just once. So going off your plan just once is a slip because it doesn’t lead to anything worse. When you get right back on track, no harm is done.
- A slide is eating off plan a couple of times in a series, not stopping after the one time. A slide can set you back in your weight goals, but it is a minor detraction and can be remedied by renewing your commitment and getting back on plan. Conscious choice is your empowerment tool.
- Binging is when you keep going with eating off plan; you don’t stop with the slip or the slide. With a binge you give away your personal power and allow your sabotage patterns to run your life instead. You are in full blown victim mentality. The harm here is huge! Not only do you deter from your weight goal, but you also have emotional backlash such as self-recrimination, lowered self-esteem, guilt, remorse, etc. And it’s a vicious cycle. You might be tempted to spiral down into resignation with a worse binge, which makes emotional damage harder to heal.
So how do you get back on track from these?
Here are your tips:
- Have compassion for yourself; you are human, not a robot! Remember, your process is perfect.
- Practice exploring “What’s so, what’s missing, what’s next?”
- Evoke your presence and awareness to determine what happened…What’s so?
- Ask yourself what went wrong…What’s missing?
- Recommit to your goal and determine what the next step will be toward that goal.
Warmly,
PS: Coming Soon…my new book is in it’s revision stages: ‘Lose Weight for Life: 9 Unconscious Reasons You Can’t Keep the Weight Off and What to Do About It’. I’ll keep you posted when it’s done!
Success Story
I want to acknowledge Janis Pullen today for being a freaking AWESOME coach! She helped me see that I was playing a game I couldn’t possibly win (in the empowered sense of the word). Together we designed a new game complete with rules I love and prizes that feed my spirit.
Specifically, she was an impeccably insightful listener, patient yet interruptive when necessary, lavished me with acknowledgement, and was so creative I wanted to play along.
Thank you, Janis!
– Dinah Snow, Certified Money, Marketing, and Soul Coach,
President-elect, International Coach Federation – Colorado
OWL Success Tips: How to Get Unstuck Now
Are you stuck? Want to have your next breakthrough with a simple practice? The practice is to follow instructions without resisting.
OWL Success Tips: Follow instructions without hesitation for one week and see what happens
Humans try to make simple things hard; then we struggle. However, brilliant people make hard things simple. One way to simplify and to have a new breakthrough is this: Follow instructions. Whether we’re talking about instructions for assembling a toy, practices from your coach, sticking to your nutritional plan, insights from your wise inner self, or any other kind of instruction, practice FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS.
Do you resist following instructions because your monkey brain is thinking of all the reasons why you should not? Give it up!
Einstein said…
Problems can not be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.
It is in the following of instructions that you gain new awareness.
I predict your life will get easier, simpler, and more peaceful when you let go of that resistance and just try it. Then watch to see what beautiful breakthroughs come your way.
Here’s to your next breakthrough!
My Current Weight Loss Journey:
Week 26 – Shedding the Weight Excuses
Our weather has been very cold with snow storms and wind. Winter is here. I do not want to walk in this weather at 7:00 am or at noon or at any time. So I make up excuses.
The problem with excuses is that they weigh us down, just as regrets, finances, incompletion, or anything else weighs us down.
Good news: We can shed the weight of excuses easily and quickly.
I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Excuses can be traded in immediately for Choice. If you don’t want to walk, don’t walk. If you want to get fat and flabby, get fat and flabby. If you want to stay fit, stay fit. You don’t need to give anyone any excuse for what you choose. All you need to do is choose.
As they say, this is not nuclear science. Just remember that whenever you choose, you empower yourself. And remember, too, that when you don’t choose, you are really choosing. You’re just not conscious that a non-choice is a choice.
Happy ending: I choose not to walk in freezing weather. I choose to be fit. I choose the recumbent bicycle and the weights. I choose to walk when the weather gets back up above 40.
Happy choosing,
Just Released!
Lose Weight for Life:
9 Unconscious reasons you can’t keep the weight off and what to do about it
ORDER NOW
9 Unconscious reasons you can’t keep the weight off and what to do about it
ORDER NOW