We are a little over a month into the new year – long enough for many people to have given up on, forgotten about or, decided it took too much work, to commit to the changes they were going to create for themselves in 2013. Change is challenging for most. The older we get, the more set in our ways we become, the clearer our focus must be in order to reprogram our minds and habits to create a different outcome.
Many people share common goals of fat loss, having more energy, being stronger, being leaner. The reality is that if doing what you have always done was going to create the look and feel you desire, you would already have it. You must be prepared to step outside of how you currently eat, exercise and think to make a change. There simply is no other way to do it.
Number one: get very clear. You must have a crystal clear vision about why you want to change. What will you have in your life, once you create this ideal body, that you don’t currently have? Alternately, what WON’T you have in your life when that happens? These visions can give you an emotional tug to motivate you to make needed changes.
If your desire is to strut around in the sun come May 24, and have your bikini wonder where you have been all its life, you have a place to start. Close your eyes and imagine how that hot long weekend will play out. Feel the sun on your face, the cool wet water as you dip your toes in the lake for the first time this season. See your legs, your butt, your lean tight abs. Visualize how beautiful and amazing you look and feel. Inhale the feeling of joy surging through your body, proud of your efforts in the past four months to create your healthy, fit body. You worked it, fueled it, loved it, and co-created this meat suit in which you now strut around proudly.
Now envision what that day would look like if your choices were different – for example, if you consumed pizza, bread, cookies, pasta, pop, booze more often than you know is good for you over the upcoming four months. See yourself on the dock as the person who decided the couch was more appealing than completing an intense full body workout daily. I bet you are not in a bikini. I bet you are covered up. You may have wanted to frolic in the water, but you can’t stand the idea of exposing your body. You might feel like all eyes are on you, and not in a good way. Oh, how you’ll wish you had made better decisions to prepare for this day. Fortunately, there is still plenty of time and you have plenty of choices. The question is which path you want to follow.
You see, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be leaner, stronger or healthier. The system breaks down when people underestimate the effort and dedication it will take to change. It breaks down when people don’t believe they can do it from the start. Their initial efforts fail because they don’t see the big picture and they get sucked into wanting what’s easy and habitual (like that pizza).
It’s a journey to reprogram your mind and habits to effortlessly make different choices. Be gentle with yourself. Keep your end result always in the forefront of your mind to fall back on when you want to eat that brownie or to watch Big Bang Theory instead of getting a good sweat on. The body you desire is already inside you. I know this and soon you will too. See the body you wish to create in your mind daily, feed it as if you already created it and it has to be. There is no other way.
Sandra O’Brien is mother to the world’s three most fabulous children. She is also a Law of Attraction Life Coach, Personal Trainer, yoga instructor,and Reiki healer. She is creator of Muskoka Goddess, offering hot yoga, tabata bootcamps, personal training and coaching. She created the Goddess Creation system, a female fitness program to blowtorch body fat, sculpt sexy lean muscle and empower women everywhere to be the best version of themselves, inside and out. She enjoys the ocean, fire walking, reading, long walks, meditation, men in linen shirts, integrity, laughter, sunsets and a full moon.
Banner image courtesy of Vivek Chugh