In this video I revisit the idea that things like body fat, pain and even illness can be indicators of emotional stresses we have not dealt with. Our emotional indicators serve us well. Much like pain indicators that help get our attention so we can deal with injury, emotional indicators aim to gain our attention about perspectives or points of focus that are steering us in unproductive and undesirable directions. Since most people learn that the outside world is responsible for how they feel (“that driver cutting me off MADE me mad” or “my body looking the way it does MAKES me insecure”), they often don’t head the message coming from the negative feeling. If you don’t listen to the indicator, the indicator will get bigger and usually show up in a place where you will take notice–like in your body (since we are so physically focused). Your extra ten pounds or your achy back just might be indications of your resistance to something else in your life–something you have not dealt with. So, don’t kill the messenger–figure out what this “problem” is indicating and deal with that problem by making peace with it (and allow yourself to see the solution that was born because of your observation of the problem). By eliminating the problem you eliminate the need for the indicator (body fat, pain, illness). Not only will you start to allow the changes you want from your body but you will have the benefit of having closed the gap (from problem to solution/desire) on another problem in your life.

I did a post on this about 6 months ago and thought it was worth revisiting because of the power of choice. In this video I talk about how important it is to choose your current body situation. Doing so allows you to accept where you are rather than resist it. When you accept where you are you have the power to choose something else. To conitnue to want something else because you don’t want to be where you are only causes you to perpetuate your current reality. You are where you are–don’t make it wrong. It’s exactly where you should be. You made choices along the way (that contributed to your current state) that were the best you could do from where you stood. Now choose where you are so you can freely choose the next chapter, which is a healthy, happy and lean version of yourself.

In this video I offer a perspective you might use to help you make peace with your current body weight “problem.” Understand that when you have negative emotion tied to the observation of your current body state you are giving a lot energy to the problem. The fact that you feel negative emotion when observing or thinking about your current body situation is an indicator that you are seeing your situation in a limited way (negative emotion is your internal BS detector). In order to justify your limited view you will have to continue to perpetuate the situation you are experiencing to prove the story true. Your story about where you are going has to be stronger than the story about where you are. Seeing where you are as a result of offering your time, effort, love and passion to something else–something really important (like a family or business)–that took your time away from your body and health can help you see that where you are is just the culmination of putting other things first and now that you can finally put yourself first and take care of YOU, it’s is important to be kind to yourself relative to how you ended up in your current state. Make peace with where you are so you can leave where you are behind!!

In this video I talk about how, as a trainer and MAT practitioner, I can’t help my clients if I am seeing where they are, what they are experiencing or what they are doing as problems. Doing so puts me at the same level of the problem and I can’t offer any solutions if I am invested or focused on the problem myself. Even if I did offer some solutions they would be more in the guise of trying to fix a problem, which perpetuates the problem, rather than guiding toward an end-result solution. It is important to take this same approach when trying to help yourself change your body or health. It also helps to understand that the “problem” is a problem because it is an important subject to you. Problems actually help us to get clarity about things in our life. Clarity is a good thing. So is purpose. When you know what you don’t like you often get clarity about what you would prefer. When you shift your focus from the problem to what it is you would prefer you shift to following a new purpose…a positive purpose. Focus more on what your problem has helped determine you prefer than the problem itself and you will get where you want to go much faster!

In this video I talk about how often people start an exercise and diet program with the a list of things they NEED to do in order to change their body. Their is a big difference between NEEDING to do something and WANTING to do something. NEEDING suggests that they are going to take the lesser of two evils (the bigger being the body or health they don’t want any more)–meaning, they are willing to do something they don’t want in order to get rid of something worse . When you can change the perspective to doing actions that you WANT to do, or even better, GET TO DO, then your success at sticking to those actions are much, much greater because you will be doing something that enriches your life (the solution) rather than doing something to get away from your problem. Know what you want, why you want it and choose actions that you GET TO DO and you will be successful.

In this video I talk about how important it is to be inspired by the actions you take to get to your weight loss goals as doing anything you don’t like will work against you. By writing a list of everything you think you need to do to get to your goal (exercise, diet, hydration, habits, sleep and meditation/visualization) you can go through each item and determine whether you are really inspired to take that action or not. If not, you need to eliminate that action, find another equally effective action that you like or become inspired by that action. One way to change how you feel about the action is to make a list of the benefits and results those actions would provide. By doing this you can see more of the positive end results this actions would produce and that might help you to get excited about the action. If not, you at least have a template that would allow you to find a more inspiring action that has similar benefits and results. Don’t waste your time and effort doing something you aren’t inspired to do! It’s just not worth it!

In this video I talk about how exercising and eating well are reflections of someone who cares about themself–not just what they look like but how they feel about who they are. In fact, the activities (or lack thereof) that got you into your current body predicament are more than likely perfect reflections of the way you have been treating yourself mentally and emotionally. Someone who beats themself up, feels inadequate or not good enough resonates with being lazy, eating unhealthy and things that got your body looking and feeling negative. Exercising and eating nourishing foods are things someone who cares for themself does. This is why when someone tries to take actions of exercise and eating well while they feel bad about themself often fail to either make significant changes or the changes they do make don’t stick for long. Be the person you want to be first then take actions that resonate with that person.

In this video I talk about how to take your end-result goal and why you want that goal and give it more life by adding more to it. Knowing what you want and why you want it will help to establish a good base for daily visualization, which is important in helping to reprogram or rewire your brain so it has a strong program to follow. By adding thoughts about what you will be doing, hearing, and wearing once you are at your goal will help to give depth to your vision. The more time you can spend thinking about what you want with great visual imagery the stronger the neural networks in your brain will be surrounding this subject. The stronger the idea of what you want is in your head the more it becomes a reality in your experience. You are simply teaching your brain what to look for. When you look for success it’s much easier to find it!

In this video I talk about how if you lack the belief that you can get to your goal in the time you wish then you won’t get there. If you ask yourself why you lack belief you will see that you have a story surrounding a limiting belief. This belief was more than likely picked up from an unreliable source–whether it was yourself or someone else, it was someone who didn’t fully understand the implications of one’s thoughts and emotions on the body and subconscious mind. I offer some questions to ask yourself about where those beliefs came from to challenge their validity as well as another strategy to help you find success in other places. The more you believe you can achieve your goal the better state your body will be in–energetically, emotionally and chemically–thus, allowing for more effortless change. When you lose the resistance with your thoughts, beliefs and emotions, you will lose the resistance to change!

In this video I, once again, talk about how important it is to make peace with your current body situation so you stop giving life and energy to the problem. I also provide some simple questions that are aimed at challenging the story that is causing your negative emotion in hopes that you can make peace with the problem and leave it behind. These questions are based on the idea that your body is not causing your negative emotion, but rather, it is your interpretation of your body that has you feeling bad. Feeling negative emotion is supposed to get your attention so you can identify when it is time to shift your focus–it’s just that most of us weren’t taught how to challenge our BS stories. Negative emotions also helps us to identify things that important to us and show us two points of relativity–that is, the problem and the solution. The question is, are you going to keep your focus on the problem or shift your attention to the solution that was born out having had the problem in the first place?