Motivation In Two Forms

You've heard me say many times that motivation is a myth, that nobody is motivated all the time and that we just have to make the decision to make the change that makes the difference.

Well, that is true... to an extent.

We've all felt that exhilarating burst of energy that motivates and inspires us into action.

Whether it's making a call we know we need to get over & done with, or the call we've been looking forward to.

We're either scared or excited, and those two feelings share a lot in common, physiologically. Our interpretation is key. 

Sometimes it's just a matter of reframing to use our energy states to achieve the results we want.

Which brings me to how motivation works, in its two forms - Away From and Towards.

We are either motivated to move away from a troubling or painful situation or towards a sought-after or rewarding situation. They both serve a purpose and have their benefits.
Once you get clear on your "why", you can nail your "what".

Weight loss is one I hear a lot from clients; they were significantly overweight and they took steps to lose weight but as they got closer to their goal, they just didn't seem to have the motivation they started with.

Other clients started with a heath & fitness, rather than a weight loss, goal and they seemed to power on through from one goal to the next.

This is how Away From and Towards motivation works: when you're moving AWAY from pain & whatever it is you DON'T want, the further you get from it, the more comfortable you feel.

Almost like you're feet are far enough from the fire that you can relax, you don't have to do the work any more.

Away From motivation is a great way to START whatever changes you're looking to make.

You are really clear about what you don't want, but it's ultimately a negative motivation and lasting change takes more than that.

Towards motivation is the goal you have in your mind, your heart & your soul.

It drives you onwards even when you've made good progress because it's a shining, positive motivator even on days when you don't feel like it.
It literally pulls you towards your goal!

You may start out wanting to change your current health situation but what will keep you going once you've made those changes, is the thought of feeling even better, moving well when you're older & avoiding some of the common pitfalls of aging, like falls & immobility.

The other major benefit of Towards motivation is that it encourages you rather than criticises you, it brings you along rather than punishes you, it helps you rather than hurts you.

It really is the only way to maintain a kind, self-caring & consistent approach to your goals.

Being kind to yourself is about doing the good stuff, even when you don't feel like it.

Because you are so very worth it.

Honour Your Body, Your Life, Your Self.

Dr Karl is on Triple J this week with a guest, talking about the science of weight loss & this is a topic close to my heart.

You may not know this but I used to have an eating disorder & probably a fair bit of associated body dysmorphia (when you have a distorted view of how your body looks).

When I was in high school, I learned to be bulimic; other girls showed me how you could throw up after eating to not gain weight. I thought it was a magical formula until I found myself living a miserable life. Then I started to make the changes that made the difference to save my life.

This, combined with my Mum being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes around the age I am now (early 40’s) made me sit up & take note of my health.

I did not want to follow in my Mum’s health-footsteps.

It didn’t happen immediately, but I started on the path that has led me to become a Fitness Trainer & Health Educator.

I know how it feels to not want to exercise, to complain about working out, and when I was training to be a trainer, I still remember the time where I actually started to enjoy working out.

That feeling of “yeah!” after a workout has stayed with me and once you get that, you don’t want to give it up.

Now I’m glad I went through that process because I empathise with clients who do the same. Although now I allow them to bring their ‘don’t want to’s’ and complaints, (they can even swear a lot), but they still do the workouts.
And they feel so much better at the end.

I also remember the point in my life where I realised I was choosing exactly what I wanted, so why couldn’t I choose what was good for me.
So I did.

I started eating better and actually enjoying it, moving more & feeling great for it.

When I had my son 11 years ago, I put on 40kg. Four Zero.

It was no mystery, I ate EVERYTHING, and then I ate theirs. When I had a 3.6kg baby, I had to take stock and decide; did I want to keep these extra kilos that made me feel so uncomfortable?
Was this related to my eating disorder so many years ago?

I made a conscious decision to love my body, to fuel it well & to exercise. If my body never returned to its previous state then so be it, but I was damn sure I would do everything possible to treat myself well & be happy with the outcome.

A lot changes in a woman’s body after children & we are so exposed to unrealistic images in the media (celebrities don’t even look like they do in the magazines!!).

So what if our bodies aren’t the same as pre-kids?
Are we going to be miserable for the rest of our lives?
Missing out on all the joy & richness in our lives?

A flat stomach is not an achievement.
A life well-lived, full of love, adventure, curiosity & laughter, sure is.

I want that for you.

If you have never exercised or unsure about how to start, please get in touch.

I'm here to help.

Wisdom of the Elders

I attended a beautiful funeral service this week to honour a man who spent his 90 years on this planet creating a wonderful legacy; his family.

He was my partner’s grandfather and although I had only known him in the last couple of years of his life, he welcomed me & my son into the family as though we had been there forever.

Despite his deteriorating health, he still loved coming out to family dinner every Sunday night and was always interested in what the kids (his great-grandchildren) had been up to and what was new in his (now adult) grandchildren’s lives.

I had more than a few opportunities to chat with this lovely man about his past and I recall him telling me how he built the house he & his wife lived in for over 50 years. He was 25 at the time.

I was super-impressed by this and told him so. With modesty typical of his generation, he was a little surprised that I considered this a notable achievement.

“But Pa”, I said, “some 25 years old these days can barely function as adults in the world, let alone build their own house!” He considered this and quietly acknowledged that perhaps it was an achievement, but certainly not one to brag about.

(Can I tell you, if I BUILT MY OWN HOUSE, I would be writing that in fairy lights across the front of the building!!!)

I never knew my grandparents & am acutely aware of the power, wisdom & love they can have in our lives & the lives of future generations.

There are so many lessons & much wisdom from the elders in our families & wider circles, even if some of it is never spoken aloud. Look for the lessons, then do your very best to live them.

Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself

I came across the work of Patricia Lynn Reilly many years ago & her poem, Imagine A Woman In Love With Herself, resonated so deeply with me that I return to both the poem & the meditations when I need a reminder of unconditional self-regard, to embrace wholeness rather than perfection.

I shared this poem several years ago and found it resonated with women (and men) who had never heard it before and over the coming weeks, I will re-share it with you.

I especially love reading this poem out loud because the stanzas that hold the most meaning can be the most difficult to speak aloud, but the process of doing this is powerful & working through the accompanying meditations is transformative.

Patricia Lynn Reilly writes in her Introduction, “our beloved planet is in desperate need of women who have moved from self-loathing to self-love, from self-criticism to self-celebration. Women who design woman-affirming solutions to the challenges confronting human kind as it enters the 21^st century. Women who use their personal and communal resources to give birth to images of inclusion, poems of truth, rituals of healing, experiences of transformation, relationships of equality and households of compassion. Women full of themselves!”

Isn’t that wonderful? J

For the next month, enjoy this fabulous poem, delight in each stanza & if you find one that especially resonates with you, get in touch & I’ll send you the accompanying meditation.

I’m putting together a workshop based on the poem; if you’re interested, please get in touch.

Be full of your Self!

Big love,
Kim

Beautiful Reality

I went to Wanderlust last weekend with a brilliant bunch of great people, including some big people in small bodies, (which is how I usually refer to children).

It’s a Mindfulness Triathlon which, instead of the usual swim/bike/run, was  5kms walk or run, just over an hour of yoga and meditation to finish.

Melbourne turned on a spectacular day and the walk along Beaconsfield Parade was a great opportunity to catch up on news & share stories. The big people in small bodies also enjoyed playing peek-a-boo from inside their prams.

Doing yoga with 2700 other people, all on our mats, ready to move in a conscious & joyful way had a profound impact on me. When the instructor pointed out that we were all here for a purpose, that we were all connected at that moment, I felt tears in my eyes.

Connection is more than just being with people, to feel connection even with yourself, you really need to pay attention.

I felt part of the bigger whole, I felt connected to each of the people around me, and it felt beautiful. There were people of all shapes, sizes and levels of flexibility who were doing their thing in the sunshine. This got me thinking later about what we think of as real, in terms of our health, fitness and body image.

What we see in the media isn’t real.
Hollywood & celebrities exist to pretend; their job is to sell stories, images and ideas that aren’t real for the purpose of marketing.

One way they do this is by marketing a sense of dissatisfaction with our own, not always glamourous, non-photo-shopped, messy, real lives.  There’s even a marketing term for this, called a ‘pain point’. Hit someone’s ‘pain point’, the theory goes, and they’ll buy what you’re selling as the solution to their problem.

The problem with this is when the marketing convinces you that you have the problem in the first place. Hands up who had heard of a thigh-gap in 2000? Hands down if you understand that it’s not an achievement.

I’m all for feeling your best and looking your best but not at the expense of your sense of self, not when your happiness depends on a number on a scale or on the tag of your clothing.

What about the sass in your step, the fire in your eyes, the spark in your soul? These are all so much more important that the size of your dress.

Tying self-worth to body image can be dangerous. If you’re eating fresh, healthy food, exercising 3-4 times a week, are active enough to keep up with your kids and live your great life, then your body is perfect as it is. 

You are amazing.

“It is only through extensive and continual conditioning that an intelligent human being comes to see herself as an ornament, whose first priority is the attainment of a slender body, rather than as a complete human being who has myriad other concerns and unlimited potential”

Our Loyal & Generous Bodies

We are constantly assulted with false body images of celebrities, models and other media, designed to have a certain "look", a look that is unacheiveable and unrealistic, even for the people being portrayed.

Have you seen The Dove Film? With this level of unreality surrounding us, is it any wonder we can be so self-critical? No one can live up to this image, nor should we make ourselves crazy and unhappy in trying.

I work with so many wonderful men and women who make the commitment to themselves to value their fitness every  single day.
They have made the small changes that make a big difference to their health and have learned how to take better care of themselves and their families.

They have grown in understanding of the body's natural state of health and work with the body rather than fighting it, resenting it or hating it. Asking them to love and appreciate the body they currently live in has been challenging for many.

We have such a hard time perceiving ourselves in a positive way. We allow others to influence what we believe we should look like and in turn allow this to determine how we treat ourselves.

Gratitude for the benefits of healthy movement, the ability to create and care for our children and loved ones, feeling our aliveness, all starts to shift our thinking and brings us to a greater awareness of how we can take better care of ourselves.

The difficulty in appreciating our bodies was eloquently described by a beautiful woman who has recently acheived what most of us would consider an a amazing feat - climbing to basecamp at Mt Everest.

"You know, I bore people to death with telling them that I realised climbing to Basecamp (only a few weeks ago) how loyal and generous this body is and I talk to it as it if is letting me down constantly. While it isn't.

It got me up a few mountains, yeah I am not as fit as I used to be, or as thin or muscular as I used to be, and I have a layer of pudge on my stomach that refuses to budge.

But I am 48 and dang it, the stuff this body can do is pretty amazing. Most of the things on that list I can do. And more. It's a matter of seeing things differently, I have come to realise."

See yourself as the unique and beautiful creature that you are and live accordingly.

Health and fitness is NOT about what you look like - it is about how you care for yourself, mind and body.

Make the Change that Makes the Difference

Conscious Fitness

Starting a training program can seem daunting at the beginning, there is a lot to learn about the exercise techniques, how to perform each movement, even how to breathe for optimal results.

Your body may move in ways you have not experienced before and you may feel uncertain, even anxious about what you are being asked to do.

Training with MET Fitness is more than just moving your arms and legs about and calling it exercise; our programs are designed to improve your strength and posture and teach you to be more conscious of how you move in your training session and in everyday life.

We often dissociate physical activity from our thoughts and feelings, but as many MET Fitness clients will attest, they notice profound changes in the way they think and feel in the whole of their lives, as a direct result of participation in their training program.

The word whole comes from the same root as the word health and by inquiring into deeper causes of our health problems, not ‘what’ but how we eat, drink, exercise and go about living our lives, we give ourselves the ability to influence our health in a profound and lasting way.

Increased personal neglect contributes to increased reliance on symptomatic ‘fixes’ such as drugs or surgery. What is required are new ways of thinking, feeling and being in our bodies with an awareness that we operate as whole rather than a collection of our parts.

Criticism vs Cooperation

By confronting learning opportunities with wonder instead of fear and being comfortable with the idea of not knowing while we are learning, we give ourselves the space to observe, receive feedback and alter our habitual patterns, creating new ways of moving and being.
We usually think that controlling ourselves is the best way to effect changes in our lives or improve ourselves, when what is needed most is cooperation.
Overemphasis on knowing, as opposed to learning, makes looking good in the short term more important that being good in the long term.

A new perspective is required.

Cooperating with ourselves

At MET Fitness we focus on deep learning on a physical level that allows us to embody new capabilities for effective action and movement. This embodiment is a developmental process that continues over time, in a continuous cycle of action and practice.

The impatient quest for improvement often results in superficial changes that leave our deeper patterns untouched. Conscious action is critical for transforming our will, thinking, emotions and body; we must be fully conscious to be fully effective for deeper learning.

Deeper learning often produces fewer obvious consequences for long periods of time.
In order to embody new competencies we have to practice continuously for periods of no apparent improvement. In Chinese, learning is expressed by two symbols: the first stands for Take In, the second stands for Practice Constantly. In the West, we are so focused on results that we have little time for Practice Constantly.”

Learning is a lifelong process that doesn’t end when we leave school; it can feel dangerous or scary not knowing and many people prefer the safety of this, rather than questioning, exploring or experiencing anything new in their lives.

We humans are complex beings, we need to experience the unity of our system as a whole, working with our breath and being fully present in our body, to experience conscious activation of the correct muscles for the job.

What we tell ourselves about that feeling can stop us in our tracks and prevent us learning something new and delightful about ourselves, our bodies and our relationships.

There are no mistakes with learning.  You cannot do it wrong. Just keep going.

Imagine A Woman In Love With Herself

The past few weeks I have been posting stanzas to my Facebook page, from the gorgeous poem "Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself", by Patricia Lynn Reilly, encouraging women to celebrate and embrace our wisdom and wholeness.

Women and men alike have responded enthusiastically to the poem, as different stanzas resonated, at various times, relevant to life situations and experiences.

Here it is in it's entirety...


"Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough just as it is.
Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who embraces her sexuality as her own.
A woman who delights in pleasuring herself.
Who experiences her erotic sensations without shame or guilt.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.
A woman who celebrated the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her precious life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who has access to the full range of human emotion.
A woman who expresses her feelings clearly and directly.
Who allows them to pass through her as gracefully as a breath.

Imagine a woman who tells the truth.
A woman who trusts her experience of the world and expresses it.
Who refuses to defer to the thoughts, perceptions, and responses of others.

Imagine a woman who follows her creative impulses.
A woman who produces original creations.
Who refuses to color inside someone elses lines.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her own image and likeness.
Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman who refuses to surrender to gods, gurus, and higher powers.
A woman who has descended into her own inner life.
Who asserts her will in harmony with its impulses and instincts.

Imagine a woman who is interested in her own life.
A woman who embraces her life as teacher, healer, and challenge.
Who is grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty  and grace.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.
A woman who trusts her inner sense of what is right for her.
Who refuses to twist her life out of shape to meet the expectations of others.

Imagine a woman who participates in her own life.
A woman who meets each challenge with creativity.
Who takes action on her own behalf with clarity and strength.

Imagine a woman who has crafted a fully formed solitude.
A woman who is available to herself.
Who chooses friends and lovers with the capacity to respect her solitude.

Imagine a woman who refuses to diminish her life so others will feel better.
A woman who brings the fullness of her years, experience and wisdom into each relationship.
Who expects others to be challenged and blessed by her presence in their lives.

Imagine a woman who assumes equality in her relationships.
A woman who no longer believes she is inferior to men and in need of their salvation.
Who has taken her rightful place beside them in the human community.

Imagine a woman who refuses to use her precious life-energy managing crisis and conflict.
A woman whose relationships deepen in satisfaction and contentment without depleting her.
Who chooses friends and lovers with the necessary skills to navigate through the challenges of life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine a woman who has relinquished the desire for intellectual safety and approval.
A woman who makes a powerful statement with every word she speaks, every action she takes.
Who asserts to herself the right to reorder the world.

Imagine a woman whohas grown in knowledge and love of herself.
A woman who has vowed faithfulness to her own life and capacities.
Who remains loyal to herself. Regardless.

Imagine yourself as this woman."

Self Help Kept Simple.

It's been a while.

Life has been throwing challenges at me on a weekly basis and the benefits of health & fitness have never been more important.

 

Training makes me strong, inside & out.

 

Taking care of myself and my health means I can move more easily through difficult life circumstances.

 

These rules work in so many ways.

 

 1. Don’t eat what you don’t need.

 2. Stop doing what doesn’t work.

 3. In most instances, the solution is you.

 4. Getting offended is optional. As is getting off your arse. See how that works?

 5. Changing fifty things at once is a bad plan.

 6. Knowing isn’t doing. Do more.

 7. Joining a gym isn’t attending a gym.

 8. Being smart is not the same as doing smart.

 9. Intentions aren’t actions. Stop intending.

 10. You won’t undo three decades of bad choices in three weeks. Be realistic.

 11. Be more committed to success than comfort.

 12. Control your controllables and let go of the rest.

It's That Time of Year Again

The Christmas indulgence has ended and here we are in 2012. 

Magazine covers shout about The Body Issue, newspaper articles advise on the latest 'detox' or 'diet' that will shed kilos fast, all suggesting that we should be remorseful for the traditional culinary delights that accompany our relaxed holiday celebrations.

At the very least, the implication is that we are certainly not okay to start this year exactly as we are.

I disagree.

You are exactly where you are supposed to be this year and you are perfectly capable of making the choices you need to, to reach your goals. 

The question is, what do you REALLY want in your life? 

What is it that you are doing or not doing that is holding you back from living the life you know you can have?

Change happens in  a moment, and it happens over and over again.

It is the moment where you make a different choice for yourself, where you wake up to the unhelpful decisions you made in the past and truly choose what you want in your life.

Own your freedom and your choices and delight in it.

YOU have this power. No one else will do it for you.

Happy New Year to you.

Challenge Yourself - Just Enough

We can scare ourselves into inaction by thinking we need to make GREAT BIG radical changes all at once.

It is the small, sustainable changes we put in place each day, one at a time, that make the biggest difference in our lives.

There is a small but dedicated group of training clients who have taken on the MET Fitness 6 Week Challenge, making changes to the way they eat, train and take care of themselves.

There is another group, who are quietly watching from the sidelines, perhaps waiting to see how this goes, wondering if they could take on the Challenge for themselves.

The thought of making changes to our daily habits can be daunting; it took the Challengers a couple of weeks to get used to the idea, prepare themselves mentally, emotionally and physically, and put in place the planning they knew they needed for success.

I am so impressed with the thought, creativity, dedication and consistency shown by the Challengers over the past four weeks; they are learning to pay attention to the quality of food they choose to put into their bodies and they have made fitness a regular part of their day.

They are beginning to understand that it is not about being 'perfect', it is about paying attention to your life - YOU get to decide how you live!

I am equally impressed with the continuing curiosity, learning and desire shown by the observing group, to live healthier lives, to find ways of making that work for them. 

Making changes in your life that you know need to happen takes time - making the decision to start takes an instant.

Change one thing for a week to give yourself that sense of achievement and the confidence to know you can reach the next goal, and the next.

Whatever your health or fitness challenge, write it down, make a plan and set the date. Go!

 

Start Your Own (Healthy) Revolution

"Dontcha know talkin' about a revolution sounds... like a whisper" and if you were listening to music in the late 1980's you will recognise these Tracey Chapman lyrics. 


However, you may not recognise the truth of this statement in relation to your health and well being. 


It's that little voice inside that very quietly tells you that YOU DO know exactly the right things to be healthier, fitter, happier.
 
It often pipes up when you're partaking in a particularly unhealthy practice, or in those quiet moments of reflection.


Listen to that voice. 


That voice knows you better than you think.


Too often we ignore that quiet voice or it is drowned out by our 'inner teenager' who loudly shouts:


"but I DESERVE it', 
"No one tells ME what to do", 
"I can have it if I WANT to",
"but I'm SO (insert feeling here), I just NEED this".




Start to view living a healthier life as a revolutionary act, where YOU reclaim your responsibility for your own well-being and daily choices.


Learn the difference between what you want and what you need.


Learn that saying 'no' to your 'wants' while meeting your needs, gives you a profound sense of mastery over YOUR life.

Challenge your 'usual' habits, particularly when you are feeling tired, stressed, sad, angry; examine your responses and find out what you do instead of rest, relaxation, or dealing with difficult feelings.

Start to change those responses. Get help if you need to.

What if you lived in a world where the majority of people were healthy and happy most of the time?

Imagine that future - then start creating it in your own life, one step at a time.

Living Sustainably is Good for You - and Our Planet

I live close enough to be able to walk to where I shop and strong enough to be able to carry my groceries home; for both of those facts I am thankful. 


I was walking to the shops last week, enjoying the sunshine, saying "good afternoon" to the people I passed in my neighbourhood and getting 20 minutes of walking in, when I realised the value of all the things I was getting done at once: 

• I was outside, soaking up my vitamin D content,
  
  
• getting some daily exercise,
  
  
• being a part of my community and
  
  
• doing my small part for the planet by not using my car.
  

I stopped for a chat with an older lady, from whom a walk to the corner was as much as she could manage. She was determined to make it despite her breathing difficulties and deteriorating health that kept her indoors much of the day and she was glad of the rest and a chat with a neighbour.

Walking home with the knowledge of how good that walk had been, not just for me, gave me a good feeling that stayed with me the rest of the day; or maybe it was the exercise buzz.



It's cool the be "green" and "sustainable" these days but when I was growing up, "greenies" were cast as weirdo-hippies who were stuck in the sixties (yes, I'm that old).

Now almost everyone I know takes their own shopping bags to the supermarket, refuses plastic if they can carry their purchases and finds ways to save energy within their home.


My contribution to sustainability is buying clothes only from charity shops; there are already enough clothes in the world and if I can find a unique, recycled item that saves me money, I'm thrilled.

I even managed to do this while in New York earlier this year.

My hot pink trench coat from Hell's Kitchen Flea Market is one of the most beautiful, functional and best-value purchases I've ever made.


This article caught my eye because the family wanted to live more sustainably and ended up really enjoying the experience and each other.


Whether it's your coffee, chocolate or other products, caring about where they come from and deciding with your dollars, makes a difference.


So do what YOU can do to use your car a little less, get out and walk more, re-use where you can and be aware of how your everyday decisions have a wider impact.

Make Room for Joy

Life is busy.

We all have jobs, chores and things we need to do, so when do you make space in your life for what you love - the people, activities and things that bring you joy?

Do you know what and who they are?

When was the last time you felt joyful?

If these questions are difficult to answer, set aside some time to really think about the answers.

Start to make room in your life to allow the joy to happen.

Notice how you're feeling the next time you're with people you love, doing activities you enjoy or simply just relaxing in a peaceful environment.

Take a deep breath, slowly exhale and smile - find your joy more often.

You deserve it.

The Second Half of the Year

Welcome to the second half of the year.

It's a good time to pause and think about what you want to

Do

Be

Have

in 2011.

Make a plan, write a list or set a goal for yourself and take the small steps that lead you there.

Learn a new skill or study something that has always interested you, be more physically active to give yourself more energy and live your great life - start today.

It doesn't have to be a huge life-changing event.

When we work towards & acheive a goal, we get the confidence to know that we CAN do what we say we will, that we CAN do something we previously though impossible.

Expand the possibilities in YOUR life.

Make the Commitment - To Yourself

I've been training a great group of IT officeworkers recently.

We meet at lunchtime in a park near their work and they warm up by running to the park, all ready for a strength training session.

What has impressed me most about this group is their commitment to their own goals, improving their health & fitness by showing up to their sessions no matter what.

Winter in Melbourne can be pretty unpredictable but it hasn't rained on us yet and no matter how cold, grey or windy it's been, there they are twice a week in the park, putting in 100% and really enjoying what they're learning about being fitter and stronger.

One of the guys hasn't really exercised much for about 20 years and was shocked at how difficult the first few sessions felt but his persistence is paying off and after only four weeks of training he is feeling the benefits of increased energy at work, at home and playing with his kids.

We all have busy lives with commitments to work, family and other people.

Make time to give yourself more energy and more vitality to live your great life.

Make a commitment to yourself, you're the only one who can.

Reach Your Goal in Bite Sized Chunks

Since getting back from New York, where I was inspired by so many new experiences and wonderful people, I have been working hard to make my dreams and plans a reality.

There is a logical progression (for me, sometimes not so logical) to building my business to support and encourage people on their health & fitness journey.

At times this has felt completely overwhelming, and I remind myself that I went through the same process saving, planning and training for the trip.

Each of us can do what we can do today; breaking down each task into bite-sized chunks that feel manageable is how we achieve smaller milestones, leading to the completion of our larger goal.

My gorgeous friend Vickie was also musing on this very topic a couple of weeks ago in her Storytime blog.

She's a writer and her take on reaching your goals is far more eloquent than mine, but the principle is the same.

Whether you want to write a novel, or improve your health & fitness, doing a little bit of the work you need to do each day, taking it one step at a time will get you there.

Writing for 18 hours straight, when you're uninspired, exhausted, distracted or just plain don't want to, probably isn't the best way to get your novel written.

Making the commitment to writing 800 words each day, even if it's just for editing later on, will get you there.

Working out for two hours every day for a week, if you're not used to that level of training, will likely make you cranky, tired, sore and want to give up on exercise completely.

Doing even 15 minutes of strength training or brisk walking or any activity you enjoy, every day, will leave you feeling fitter and stronger and with more energy to live your great life.

Create a plan, get it done and make it fun!

Fit Your Own Oxygen Mask First

One of the most important lessons I learned recently, while training in New York, was the importance of managing my energy.

I was training solidly for two hours a day most days, from 1 - 3pm and two mornings a week was 7am Bootcamp, which was "only" an hour.

I was also out and about seeing galleries, museums and everything else the city had to offer. With this schedule, I worked out pretty quickly that eating appropriate food, resting when I was tired and paying attention to how I was feeling, physically and emotionally, was very important.

When your energy levels are low, don't try to "get things done" until you've taken care of yourself first. You will still get everything done.

I call this the "airline oxygen mask" situation.

During the safety demonstration on a plane, the reason you fit your own oxygen mask before fitting those of children or other people who rely on you, is because if you fit them first, you will pass out from lack of oxygen and can be of no further use to them.

Managing your energy means getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, eating enough good quality food and keeping your body fit & strong.

Paradoxically, the more you use your energy, the more you have to live your fabulous life. Most importantly is noticing when you need to do each of these things; check in with yourself, assess how you are feeling and take appropriate action to restore yourself.

Managing your energy takes a little more thought and planning than just scrambling through life wondering why you always seem to be exhausted.

The pace of life may not slow down, but taking care of yourself leaves you feeling calmer, more in control and nurtured in the face of anything life throws at you.

Taking time to look after your Self is entirely necessary. Start today.

Happy Cardio

We all have a hard time getting in as much cardiovascular work as our bodies need.

This includes me and sometimes doing the “huffy-puffy work” that gets our hearts & lungs working better, can just be downright dull.

My solution is Happy Cardio.

Questions:

a) do you have happy songs, you know, the ones where you can’t resist moving and dancing about with joy?

b) do you have an iPod or similar device that lets you pump up the volume without disturbing your household?

c) do you have space & time to dance around your house with abandon?

d) do you need to do more cardio?

If you answered “Yes” to any or all of these questions, load up your music player with aforementioned Happy Songs and dance your little heart out!


If you answered no to c) you need to reconsider your life priorities & accommodation choices!


Even just dancing all the way through to two or three songs will give you 10 minutes more cardio work than doing nothing.

It's not about "doing it right" or looking good, it's about moving to the music you enjoy and feeling great!

Listening to your happy songs, it won’t feel like a chore, you will feel great when you finish and for the rest of your day.

So start dancing and let me know how you go.

If Not Dieting, Then What?

Through watching a training DVD on nutrition and weight management I found the wonderful Dr Rick Kausman, a Melbourne GP who takes a sensible and sensitive approach to helping people achieve a healthy weight and more importantly, a healthy attitude towards themselves and living their life.

His website is a breath of fresh air on the subject of health, weight, nutrition and quality of life, with tools, resources and information on other health professionals who support his work.

There are recipes, research information and inspiring personal stories from people who have benefited from him work.

His book, If Not Dieting, Then What, will be available to borrow from me, or you can get your own copy from the website store.

If you are dealing with weight issues, I strongly encourage you to join up to the site (it's free) and use the resources there to help you.