Part of having a delicious life is about loving the skin you’re in. Finding movement that feels right for you can help you love your body that much more. When you take care of your body with vitality-building exercises, you are rewarded with higher energy levels and more positive emotions (not to mention a sexy hot bod).
I work out in the morning because I know there’s no way of getting out of it. At 6:00am, I’m too sleepy to reason with myself. If I make myself just get up and do it, I’m already 10 minutes into the workout by the time I fully wake up, and then I’m not resisting working out.
Sometimes I have an awesome workout. And sometimes I want to die. Most of the times, I like working out. But sometimes, if I’ve stayed up too late the night before (like last night), I really don’t want to get out of bed. I think about hitting the snooze button. But then I get up anyway.
Why? Because the best - and only - way to get in shape is to consistently put one foot in front of another. That means, just show up.
Even if it’s not your best workout day, or if you can only work out for 20 minutes. Or 15. At least you showed up. That’s 15 more minutes than you would have done had you stayed in bed. And once you get into the habit, you won’t think twice about skipping a workout. It will become second nature like brushing your teeth, just another step in your routine.
It takes about 21 days to ingrain a new habit. Once you do something consistently each day for about 3 weeks, it becomes part of your daily routine. If you continue past that time, you’re probably going to keep the habit for quite a while.
I’m 19 days into my new workout routine. I’ve noticed that the shape of my body is starting to change. All of my pants are loose, and most everything else in my wardrobe fits well or is moving to the “too big” side. And while I’m sleepy today, my overall energy has definitely increased over the past few weeks.
I highly recommend trying a new workout routine and committing to it for at least 3 weeks. Try something that challenges you. If you’ve been a runner forever, take up a new cardio sport such as biking or swimming. If you lift weights, try yoga. If you’re a weight lifter, try Tai Chi. Even if you’re in amazing shape, you may be surprised how difficult a new type exercise can be. And, if you’ve been bored with your same old routine, you might find yourself loving working out again.
Something to get you started (if you’re in New York City/Brooklyn):
Want to kick start a new diet or exercise routine? Try my week-long cleanse class - a quick, flexible, easy way to get moving. The class starts May 7, so sign up today!
Every day I wake up more sore. Back, arms calves, hamstrings. Everything aches. But it’s all good.
I’ve been doing the P90X workout for about five days. Started on Monday, and plan on doing each and every work out religiously through the end. I like a good workout. I’m not afraid of sweat, fatigue, or muscle aches. It’s been a while since I did a hard core workout. The last time I was working this hard was when I was training with Traditional Tribal Fitness outside in the park. This P90X workout is not unlike Kiki’s own tribal invention of using your own body mass to strength train every part of your body. But this time, I’m doing it in my own living room.
I have to admit that the informercial totally sold me. Yes, I am a marketer as well as a health coach, but I still bought into it. I know from my own experience that hard workouts work and the before and after shots and success stories sealed it. The women all slimmed down without looking bulky after all of the ab work, pull ups and jumping.
I will write more about my progress as I get further into the workout schedule.
Did you get your laughter for today? There are many benefits you can get just from laughing - it boosts your immune system, relieves stress, stretches your facial muscles, relieves tension in the head, neck and jaw, and can be good for alleviating headaches.
Besides all of those tangible benefits, there are many other that come with regular laughter. I think we could all use a little more merriment in our lives. Life is not all that serious, yet so many of us take everything so seriously all the time.
I want to start one of these laughter clubs - or find one to join near where I live.
It’s the last day of 2007, and everyone is getting ready to start fresh with a new year. What will you do differently?
First, acknowledge yourself for everything that you’ve accomplished over the past 365 days. If you have a list of goals that you wrote out at the beginning of the year, look over them and see how you did. Were you able to accomplish everything you wanted and more? Or did you fall short? If you did what you wanted, give yourself a nice pat on the back for all the good work you did over the year. If not, think about why you fell short. Maybe your goals were too ambitious, or maybe you didn’t focus on them on a regular basis. Whatever you decide, see how you can do better next year.
Then take the time to renew your list of goals, adding on fresh priorities and getting rid of old ideas that no longer suit you. The more specific you can get about what you want, the better your chances for achieving it. Then keep your list where you will be able to review it on a daily basis to keep your goals top of mind.
What are your goals for 2008? How do you plan to achieve them?
For many people, exercise is not be high on the list of to-dos. But taking time to move each day gets the blood and lymph moving, helps you move toxins out of your body, and can contribute to your overall mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
You don’t need to run a marathon to get the exercise your body needs. Start out with a brisk walk or leisurely bike ride. Once you get in the habit, you’ll love how your daily movement makes you feel.
Did you acknowledge yourself yesterday? If not, please go back and do that exercise first before you work on this one. If so, good job! Don’t forget to recognize yourself on regular basis.
What do you want to accomplish next year? Do you have specific goals in mind? Start making them a reality by writing down a list of everything you could possibly imagine happening - and even some things that you think are unimaginable. Pick out your top goals and write them in a list that you can post some place where you will see them on a daily basis. To reinforce this exercise, for each goal you can write out a list of reasons why it is important for you to accomplish it. This way, you will have greater reasons to go for them.
How many times a day do you remember to breathe? None?
The breath is the key to reaching the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system that controls our entire system. By practicing deep breathing exercises, we can learn how to relax and tap into our natural healing abilities.
Make today the first of many days where you start your breathing practice. A simple way to start is by simply pausing your activities and focusing on your breath. This is also the basis for many forms of meditation.
Sit upright on a chair, spine straight. Now, focus on your breathing. Breathe in and watch how you naturally pause at the end of the in breath; then breathe out and notice when you finish and the space in between the out breath and next in breath.
Practice this for five minutes. Now, notice the difference in your mood, emotions and feelings. How do you feel? Are you more calm? Relaxed? Let me know how this practice works for you by leaving a message for me.
Come back to center with a moving meditative practice. Take Yoga, try Tai Chi, Martial Arts, or some other moving meditation that will bring your mind and body back together as one. Yoga uses postures, breathing and meditation to integrate mind, body and soul. Tai Chi focuses on flowing movement to help stimulate the movement of energy (Chi) in the body and improve health. Martial Arts rely on discipline, breathing practices and focus to condition the body and gain strength and power. Whatever you choose, enjoy being fully present in your practice.
Just because it’s cold out doesn’t mean you need to stay holed up until the frost. The fresh air can be exhilirating and will wake you up from winter doldrums. Doing something active like ice skating, building a snowman or going snowshoeing or cross country skiing (if there is any snow to play in) are all fun ways to get active and enjoy the cold weather. Bundle up and get out there for a while - and bring some friends with you to join the winter celebration.
I gave a speech at my Toastmasters meeting this evening based on a quote that I received in e-mail today. The quote:
People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going
-Earl Nightingale, author The Strangest Secret, Lead the Field.
Imagine hitting the open road without a map to reveal where you’re going. It’s the same with trying to succeed without explicit goals established. But once you take the time to write down your goals and action steps to obtaining these goals, you’re more likely to find the professional and personal successes for which you strive.
After receiving it, I realized that I made some major mistakes when I set my goals this year. And I wanted to share some thoughts about how to set better goals so that people don’t make the same mistakes that I made:
1. Get clear on what you want
The more detail you can visualize for a specific outcome, the more likely it is that you can make it happen. That’s because you can actually “see” it in your mind.
When you can visualize yourself shaking the hand of your new boss as you get the job offer, crossing the finish line of the 5k run doing your best time ever, or approaching the podium to receive your first award for Best Table Topics, the goal is so clear to your mind. You can almost see your future before it happens. Visualizing each detail helps you create your own future.
Even if you don’t have all of the action steps that you need to take, the clearer your goals are, the easier it will be for you to achieve them.
2. Write them down and post them somewhere visible
Writing down your goals is a powerful act. Once you translate your thoughts into ideas that go on paper, you are much more likely to achieve whatever it is you set out to do. When you can see it on a regular basis, you are constantly reminded of what it is you want to achieve. That way, it never strays from your mind.
The good thing about at least writing down your goals is that you can sometimes still get them accomplished by just putting them out into the universe. You make them real by taking them out of your head and putting them on paper. Even though I had lost track of my goal list, I had accomplished about half of my goals. But just half – imagine what would have happened if I had posted my list somewhere that I could see every day. What might I have done?
3. Refine your goals
Sometimes you may not have all the details, or once you start working towards a goal, you’ll see that it’s not exactly what you wanted in the first place. That’s ok. It’s better to start acting and correct your direction as you are making progress than it is to wait until you have all of the details.
You could wait forever for the perfect plan to suddenly come to you, and then where would you be? You’d still be at square one, waiting for inspiration. Meanwhile, you would not have learned by experimenting with what wasn’t quite right. Better to fail forward fast than to wait until you perfect your vision.
4. Set time limits
It’s not about just wanting to accomplish a goal; it’s also important to define when you want to accomplish it. When do you want to be a published author? When are you planning on achieving your competent communicator designation in Toastmasters? By when do you want to make a million dollars? All of these time frames will help you determine what steps you need to take and by when you need to take them to achieve everything you want in life.
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