Loving the Chaos

This month’s 10 in 2010 challenge is to Be Still.

Your challenge for the month has been to create 10 minutes of stillness in your day.

Next week we’ll add a new challenge.

What have been the benefits of creating a little quiet space in your day?

Are you tuning into things that you might otherwise have missed?

Doing a body scan is another way to be still and increase your awareness. Imagine running an invisible scanner over your body to detect areas of tension or other sensations. While there are certainly benefits to doing a more comprehensive body scan which could take 30 minutes or longer, here’s a quick activity to try:

Close your eyes. Beginning with your toes and moving up the length of your body, ask yourself, “Where am I tense?”

If you discover a tight area, contract the muscles there for a few seconds and then release. Continue moving up your body until you reach the top of your head.

Please take a minute to post a comment  and share your thoughts about being still.

Remember you can always find all of the previous 10 in 2010 tips posted  in the 10 in 2010 category on the right hand side.

This month’s 10 in 2010 challenge is to Move More.

Your challenge for the month is to incorporate 15 minutes of physical activity into your day.

Next week we’ll add in a new challenge.

So how’s it been moving more this month?

Are you more aware of how active you are?

The whole idea behind moving more is to create an active lifestyle.

Here are some other ways that you can do that:

• take the stairs for 3 flights or less
• walk when you are going somewhere less than a mile away
• give up the remote control
• walk to your co-worker’s office rather than emailing or phoning

Its small choices made consistently that will create a more active lifestyle. Each one may not seem like that big a deal, but over time it all adds up.

Please take a minute to post a comment about this month’s move more challenge.

Remember you can always find all of the previous 10 in 2010 tips posted. They are located in the 10 in 2010 category on the right hand side.

This month’s 10 in 2010 challenge is to Move More.

Your challenge for the month is to incorporate 15 minutes of physical activity into your day.

One over looked fitness component is flexibility.

Everyone likes to skip the stretching part.

Why is flexibility so important?

It helps prevent injury, alleviate stiffness, maintain a good range of motion, and prevent pain.

Some of the minor aches and pains you feel as you get older may actually be a result of decreased flexibility.

You can use your 15 minutes moving more this month by working on your flexibility through stretching or yoga.

Please take a minute to post a comment and share how you stay flexible…or what gets in the way.

Remember you can always find all of the previous 10 in 2010 tips posted located in the 10 in 2010 category on the right hand side.

This month’s 10 in 2010 challenge is to Move More.

Here’s the simple change to make:

incorporate 15 minutes of physical activity into your day

Why would you want to move more?

First it improves your quality of life – it reduces stress, improves your mood and helps you sleep better.

Exercise reduces your risk for certain diseases including high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Many of the physical complaints have as they grow older have little to do with aging and more to do with lack of exercise. If you don’t keep your body moving, you lose flexibility, balance, stamina, strength and quite likely gain weight.

You probably fall into one of 2 categories:

• you already have a regular and consistent exercise program
• you don’t and you have excuses that include too busy/not enough time/no motivation

For anyone who is a regular exerciser, consider how you could incorporate additional fitness elements into your routine – add a little strength training or stretching.

For those of you who don’t have a regular and consistent exercise program, now’s the time to start!

The easiest way to move more?

Go for a walk.

Simply put on your running shoes and walk for 15 minutes.

Take a walk around the block and see what’s happening in your neighbourhood.

Walk your dog.

Go for a stroll after dinner.

Get some co-workers to walk during lunch hour.

Mix it up and try each of the above by doing a different walk each day.

If you are too busy to commit to a 15 minute walk each day, it’s time to re-evaluate your commitment to your health. Remember the choices you make now directly impact the quality of your life today and especially as you get older. If you don’t want to be a crotchety senior citizen, get moving now!

Of course if you have been a couch potato for a while, or are unsure about your fitness level, start slowly and consult your doctor.

AND

Congrats to Shelley Gosse of Edmonton AB who is the May 10 in 2010 draw winner. We’ll be sending Shelley some positive thinking goodies.

Remember you can always find all of the previous 10 in 2010 tips located in the 10 in 2010 category on the right hand side.

This month’s 10 in 2010 challenge is to Think Positive.

Your challenge for the month is to do one positive thinking activity each day.

Next week we’ll add in a new challenge.

Did you know…

When you talk to yourself, you actually believe what you say.

That’s why positive self talk is so important. Most of us have internal chatter than can be quite negative. It might sound something like this:

How could I be so stupid?

Things never work out.

I knew it would be a disaster.

I’m so fat.

I can’t do this.

The problem is we carry on this negative self talk without even realizing it. The first step in replacing your negative internal chatter with something more positive is to become aware of what you are actually saying to yourself.

Start eavesdropping on yourself.

Would you make the same comments out loud?

Would you say the same things to your best friend or your children?

If the answer is no, then begin switching the negative comments with more positive ones.

Post a comment and share your positive self talk suggestions.

Remember you can always find all of the previous 10 in 2010 tips posted  located in the 10 in 2010 category on the right hand side.

April Fools’ Day has been around for hundreds of years. On this day, people like to play light-hearted practical jokes and hoaxes on friends and family. Even newspapers get in the game by slipping in a slightly far-fetched story. At some point today, you just might find that you have been tricked, deceived or had the wool pulled over your eyes in some fashion.

Here’s the real question to consider:

Are you fooling yourself?

It’s not the tricks that others pull on you. It’s the one’s you pull on yourself.

I’ll bet that somewhere in your life you are likely fooling yourself – playing a little game of denial.

It sounds something like this:

You can burn the candle at both ends and it won’t take its toll.

You can be a couch potato and make poor food choices and your body won’t mind.

You can avoid meaningful conversations with your loved ones and your relationships won’t suffer.

When you read those statements, you probably think, “Well of course you can’t.” But if you look at your behaviour you just might find that’s exactly what you have been doing.

If you have been playing the denial game for a long time, you might not even realize it.

So how do you know if you are fooling yourself?

You act like there is no cause and effect in your behaviour.

Or perhaps you keep repeating the same behaviour and are surprised that you never get different results.

Ask yourself this:

Are the results I desire a reasonable expectation of my current behaviour?

There’s another way that we hoodwink ourselves. We tend to believe that changing what we’re doing will be complicated or too hard.

Only if you want it to be.

Change begins with one simple step. Begin doing something different and then keep doing it consistently.

Eventually, as my mother used to say, the chickens always come home to roost.

Today’s just as good as any to stop fooling yourself.

Congrats to Jeannette Cholach of Thorhild AB who is the January 10 in 2010 draw winner.

We’ll be sending Jeannette a journal to help her keep track of her 10 in 2010 journey.

Subscribe to the free 10 in 2010 challenge and your name will be entered into our monthly draw.

Remember….

Small steps taken consistently create change.

Habit is overcome by habit.

Thomas à Kempis

What  habit do you need to replace with a better one?

Here’s an interesting headline:

Recession offers potential for more work-life balance.

That’s according to a researcher at the University of Iowa based on what happened during the Depression.

His theory is that as people’s hours are cut at work during the current economic down turn, they will have more time for leisure activities.

Well sure. That makes sense. But actually creating more work-life balance?

I’m not so sure.

It’s one thing to say that when people have more time they will use it for non-work related stuff. If you have six more hours available to you because your shifts have been cut, then of course you will likely spend them with your family or on your own fitness or volunteering in your community.

It’s a completely different thing to say that people will consciously choose more work-life balance.

Life balance comes from making conscious choices about how you spend your time.

It’s about knowing your priorities and then aligning your actions with them. It relies on the same principles whether the economy is turned up, down or inside out.

I’m sure if you could add an extra 2 hours to the day – stretch it to 26 hours – you’d think that there was more potential for work-life balance. But what would likely happen is you would go back to your unbalanced ways once you got used to the extra 2 hours. Unless of course you starting making decisions about how you spend your time based on your priorities.

That’s exactly what will happen as a result of the recession too.

People are considering all kinds of life changes – simplifying things, getting back to basics, enjoying  their leisure time. But they will return to old habits once the economy picks up unless there they make a concerted effort to do something different. During this recession people are reacting to the circumstances, rather than being proactive about creating the kind of life they want.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

You can take this opportunity and begin to create more life balance. You can be proactive. You can begin to do the things that will help you sustain this balance once the economy starts rockin’ and rollin’ again.

Tune in tomorrow for some tips to get you started.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

I love my clients – for a whole bunch of reasons but one of the most delightful is that they say such insightful things. Yesterday I was coaching with a client who was looking at ways to let go of some holiday obligations. You know how it is – the usual running around like crazy, caught up in old habits and feeling overwhelmed.

Then she said:

The holidays are just a microcosm of life.

Insightful! During the holidays…

• Do you find yourself doing things out of habit, guilt or obligation?
• Do you spend time on less significant things at the expense of more important ones?
• Does how you spend your time reflect your priorities?
• Does gift giving become a substitute for something else?
• Are acts of charity just items on your to-do list?

My client’s little insight reminded me of the Zen saying:

How you do one thing is how you do everything.

Chances are if things are a little out of whack during the holidays – overwhelmed, overindulged, over spent, over committed – then likely in some form they are that way during the rest of the year as well.

Give yourself a little gift.

Stop and consider how the holidays are a microcosm for your life. Think about the activities that are a good reflection of you and your values. Think about the activities that don’t align so well with what’s really important.  Now’s a great time to begin planning what simple changes you’d like to make in the new year.

Post a comment and share your holiday insights.