Heart Quiz

I took this heart quiz here are my results:

 

Will beat 108,056 times, pump 1,585 gallons of blood, and push that blood nearly 8,178 miles throughout my body!

Created by MyFitnessPal.com

 

My word of the year; abundance

Yesterday I was sharing a meal with a friend, and at the same time picking up some flower essence to support my goals. You may ask what a flower essence is, here is a description fromMarrisa’s website who is the one I get such things from:

Flower essences are energetic remedies made from flowers. They are similar to the idea of homeopathy, yet different. Many people are familiar with the Bach Flower Rescue Remedy as it is the most common and oldest commercial flower essence. It is used for stress, upset, fear, trauma, shock and grief. It is also often used for pets when they are stressed with a trip to the vet, fireworks, lightening or other trauma.

The one I am currently using is abundance. As I was explaining why I was using it, I realized as I spoke it had much deeper significance than I originally intendend. My friend asked me if this was my word of the year, since resolutions are still somewhat on our minds. In that moment I decided that yes, this is my word of the year.

Abundance in health.

Abundance in love.

Abundance in time.

Abundance in fun.

Abundance in friends.

Abundance in wealth.

Abundance in success.

What would you choose your word of the year to live by to be?

 

This gives me hope for the future… just amazing

I was in the grocery store yesterday and I picked up a copy of the new National Geographic because the feature interested me. The article looks at bionics; have a look yourself, truly amazing. Some people really are changing the world.

National geographic: Bionics

Do not forget to post a comment, and send me your testimonials. 🙂

 

Stretching and meditation

Yesterday I wrote about all the components of fitness, but today I wanted to further emphasize the importance of stretching. When we stretch our bodies we invite relaxation, not only in the body but also the mind. Those who come to my stretch class know that by the end of the class the mind is quieter, thoughts are more calm, and your body feels great! In a gym setting you will see people stretch 10-15 seconds, muscle their way into it, but he reality is that a stressed out muscle can not relax therefore can not stretch. Comparatively a stressed out mind can not relax and therefore can not expand and grow.

Stretching the body allows you to be present within it, check in with yourself if you will. Expanding the mind offers the opportunity to explore yourself. The next time you are in a yoga or stretch class, relax. Do not force it, just be, and see where your flexibility of body, and openness of mind takes you.

Happy stretching.

 

Benefits of napping

I am not a morning person, as my clients know 9 am is the earliest I will train, but I am happy to work well into the evening. We all have different sleeping patterns and getting enough of it is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. One of my favorite sleeping behaviors is napping; often given a bad rap, nothing beats a nap to get you back on your feet when feeling tired mid day. We often relegate napping to young children and the elderly, but napping can provide many benefits. The average recommended napping duration is about 20 minutes. Here is a great link with lots of useful information on napping.

Happy sleep!

 

Relapse: Returning to older behaviors, learning opportunities, transcendence

Along the way to permanent cessation or stable reduction of a bad habit, most people experience relapse. In fact, it is much more common to have at least one relapse than not. Relapse is often accompanied by feelings of discouragement and seeing oneself as a failure. While relapse can be discouraging, the majority of people who successfully quit do not follow a straight path to a life time free of self-destructive bad habits. Rather, they cycle through the five stages several times before achieving a stable life style change. Consequently, the Stages of Change Model considers relapse to be normal.

There is a real risk that people who relapse will experience an immediate sense of failure that can seriously undermine their self-confidence. The important thing is that if they do slip not to give up and fall back on the unhealthy habits. Rather, they should analyze how the slip happened and use it as an opportunity to learn how to cope differently. In fact, relapses can be important opportunities for learning and becoming stronger.

Relapsing is like falling off a horse the best thing you can do is get right back on again. However, if you do relapse, it is important that you do not fall back to the precontemplation or contemplation stages. Rather, restart the process again at preparation, action or even the maintenance stages. People who have relapsed may need to learn to anticipate high-risk situations and  more effectively, control  and navigate environmental cues that tempt them to engage in their bad habits . It is important to learn how to handle unexpected episodes of stress without returning to the bad habit. This gives them a stronger sense of self control and the ability to get back on track.

If you have relapsed here are some questions to ask yourself:

 

  • What factors were involved in your setback?
  • How can you prevent self sabotage?
  • What did you find encouraging at the onset of your initial change?
  • Do you have a support network to turn to when the going gets tough?
  • What strategies can you devise to support your new habits?
  • What is the next step in your action plan?
  • What did you do to reward yourself with for your small victories and accomplishments?
  • What did you learn from this experience?

 

That covers all the stages of change model, however there is another stage which is not formally part of the model which needs to be mentioned. It is sometimes called transcendence. This is when we have been in the maintenance stage for a prolonged period of time and the unhealthy behaviours are far and well behind us. It is as this point that we can have successfully completed a lifestyle change. Transcendence is change at its best, it is actual transformation.

 

Preparation/Determination: Getting ready to change

In the preparation/determination stage, people have made a commitment to make a change. Their motivation for changing is reflected by statements such as: I have to do something about this, this is serious. Something has to change. What can I do?

This is sort of a research phase: people are now taking small steps toward change. They are trying to gather information (sometimes by reading things like this) about what they will need to do to change their behavior. Or they will call a professional, trying to find out what strategies and resources are available to help them in their attempt. Too often, people skip this stage: they try to move directly from contemplation into action and fall flat on their faces because they have not adequately researched or accepted what it is going to take to make this major lifestyle change.

 

Effectively changing behaviour

Behaviour modification is extensively researched in psychology, out of which theoretical frameworks arise to guide us along to process. One of the more widely used theories of change is the Transtheoretical Model also known as the Stage of Change Model.

Before you begin to make changes in your life, here is a useful theory — call the Stages of Change Model, or SCM about the mind/body stages we go through when we do change. The Stages of Change Model was originally developed in the late 1970ís and early 1980ís by James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente at the University of Rhode Island when they were studying how smokers were able to give up their habits. The SCM model has been applied to a broad range of behaviors including weight loss, injury prevention, overcoming alcohol, and drug problems among others.

In each of the stages, a person has to grapple with a different set of issues and tasks that relate to changing behavior.

The Stages of Change Model has been applied to a broad range of behaviors including weight loss, injury prevention, overcoming alcohol, and drug problems among others.

The idea behind the SCM is that behavior change does not happen in one step. Rather, people tend to progress through different stages on their way to successful change. Also, each of us progresses through the stages at our own rate. So expecting behavior change by simply telling someone, for example, who is still in the “pre-contemplation” stage that he or she must go to a certain number of AA meetings in a certain time period is rather naive (and perhaps counterproductive) because they are not ready to change. Each person must decide for himself or herself when a stage is completed and when it is time to move on to the next stage. Moreover, this decision must come from the inside you (see developing an internal locus of control) — stable, long term change cannot be externally imposed.

 

The Stages

Over the next week we will review each stage, its challenges, and tools and resources to overcome overcome them.

Information sourced from: Addiction Alternatives

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

The there are many factors to getting new habits to stick.  To start my new habit off on the right foot I decided there was no better day to start writing in my blog regularly than today, but it is not as simple as that, you have to implement strategies that will prime you for success.

Firstly, you must want to change, if you are resolving to do something because others tell you, you should then you will not be successful. I have been told by many business professionals that blogging is a great addition to a website and I should really get into the habit of it. To be honest I really did not feel like it until now, which is one of the reasons why I have not been successful at it.

Secondly, are you confident you are able to make the change. It is the single most important factor in determining whether or not you will achieve your resolutions.

Here is a video of a clinical psychologist Wendy Walsh discussing how to be effective at your resolutions.

 

 

Return to blogging

In life we are always presented with opportunities to grow. At first these opportunities may seem like challenges, though in the end we learn and see them for what they are. As a wellness practitioner I have learned that I have to listen to what I tell my clients and take that advice myself. It is every easy to get wrapped up in what we feel we need to get done, when sometimes the opposite is true.

This is partially why I have been absent from my “new” blog, though I have decided that no matter what is thrown my way, I will persevere with this project because not only can I reflect back on what has been happening, but hopeful others may learn form it as well; like a food journal.

All that said, I am happy to be back and explore all the window that have opened when a door was closed. Enjoy the sun, live life to its fullest.

Health and Happiness.