Welcome to my blog on staying healthy. I’m creating this blog to:
· Share ideas that keep us on the healthy path
· Share what’s blocking us and come up with ways to overcome the obstacles
· Support each other
How you can participate: You can join in whatever way you wish – as a reader, as a participant to the blog (by comments or even guest posts), or just support me in person. If you want to comment, you can use your real first name or any name you wish to remain anonymous. You can become a follower by clicking the Follow button on the right. If you like this blog, send a link to your health-conscious friends.
Posting: I’ll post something about exercise, eating or general health every Sunday. It may be a longer post, like this post, or just a small tip I’ve picked up.
Today’s topic: Removing Barriers - What we say to 
ourselves
I’m in a health slump right now. Most of 2010 I was rigorous at eating right and exercising. Since Thanksgiving it’s been a downward slide. So before I regain all that hard-lost weight and lose my muscle, I decided I needed something to keep me at it. I noticed one of my roadblocks lately when the alarm goes of at 5:26 is my thoughts. I stick my arm out of the covers and it’s cold and I’m tired. So my inner dialogue starts, “I wanna stay here where it’s warm and cozy,” “I didn’t get much sleep last night, I’ll let the snooze go off just one more time.”
ourselvesI’m in a health slump right now. Most of 2010 I was rigorous at eating right and exercising. Since Thanksgiving it’s been a downward slide. So before I regain all that hard-lost weight and lose my muscle, I decided I needed something to keep me at it. I noticed one of my roadblocks lately when the alarm goes of at 5:26 is my thoughts. I stick my arm out of the covers and it’s cold and I’m tired. So my inner dialogue starts, “I wanna stay here where it’s warm and cozy,” “I didn’t get much sleep last night, I’ll let the snooze go off just one more time.”
At night, the time I use to do strength training the inner dialog is like this, “I really go home late, I have these other things to do tonight,” or “I’m too tired.”
So, how do I smash that negative self-talk barrier? Some ideas off the top of my head:
- Yell Just Do It! (Nike’s slogan). The minute I start that destructive self-talk, yell “Just Do It” to myself – that’s gotten me to keep moving in the past.
- Replace the negative thought with a positive one. For me, the carrot works better than the stick. I want to replace the negative talk with images of how good I’ll look or how much energy I’ll have, or being able to hike magnificent places like Bryce Canyon all day give me the incentive to get my body moving.I took NeuroLinguisticProgramming (NLP) several years ago and replacing negative thoughts is called the Swish Technique – swishing the negative thought and replacing it with a positive thought. Duh! Why didn’t I think of this sooner? It does work if you practice it. Here’s a link to how to do the Swish Technique.
- Remind myself to ignore those thoughts. Or I can just take the Zen perspective. Reminding myself that my thoughts are not me and I can just ignore them; treat them like clouds that drift through my brain.
What about you? Do you say things to yourself, and listen? What do you do to combat the negative self-talk?
