Continued … read the previous part HERE or begin reading from the beginning of my Coaching Program HERE.
(from previous post) Each category has 3 teaching elements that we will be looking at. We will discover reasonable action steps for you to implement into your life. Working on all these areas will provide your body with the necessary resources and fuel to initiate an innate healing response.
You have probably heard that mindset plays a role in healing any condition in the body. We have heard it before but what it actually means and what that looks like, is still a mystery for most.
When we see the doctor for our health concerns, we get recommendations while at the appointment, but as soon as we are out the door, we are alone. Still facing our situation without support. There is a gap in our current health care system to take care of our thoughts, emotions and giving us guidance on how to navigate our situation after the appointment. So we go from appointment to appointment without reaching the change we would like to see.
My coaching program is filling this gap, as you are not alone between appointments. My guidance is ongoing, while you are in the program and will support you in your biggest struggles. Mindset is most often overlooked in our current health care system, but in my experience, is one of the most important aspects to look at.
The latest research reveals that mindset plays a much bigger role in recovery and overcoming adverse health effects, as previously thought. And yet, mindset is still the number 1 reason, Why do we fail in our attempts to support our bodies’ recovery? Because we are lacking the skills and often the awareness to change our mindset from victim, being stuck, feeling unworthy to empowered, knowledgeable, aware and confident. But the bold truth is, that healing cannot occur if we remain in the same mindset and in the same belief system we were in, when our body started to develop the condition we are now suffering from.
We grew up with our stories, the stories we got told as young kids, the stories we adopted as young adults and the stories we grew comfortable with, as we were getting older. Our reality is what we made it to be. But what if we get stuck in our stories, what if it causes dissonance between our and the “other” reality around us? That’s when our story does not serve us anymore. If we fail to recognize that, our body gets into a state of disease.
Here are typical examples of stories we tell ourselves:
“I always eat bread for breakfast. If I don’t have bread, it’s not a real breakfast”
“I was always chubby, and so was my entire family. We are born that way and it will always be like this. So I don’t even need start trying to loose weight. It won’t work.”
“I’ve tried many diets before, all of them failed. I just don’t have the willpower to follow through. I’ve come to accept that, I now know, that it won’t work for me anyway”
Can you relate to these examples? Those are stories we tell ourselves that will keep us stuck, unable to create real change to reverse our chronic health condition.
When working with my clients, we are identifying the stories, that might be blocking the healing process and shed light on its meaning. Discovering tools and mindset practices will help to rewrite these stories and help the brain rewire towards a healthier mindset, and the chance to establish a long lasting change.
Learning to support our body with loving language will also benefit a positive mindset. If we tend to talk negatively about ourselves and often let ourselves know that we are a failure, dumb, stupid, an idiot or not worthy, we are blocking our natural healing abilities. Our body believes everything we say and therefore will listen to our wish to remain a failure, dumb, stupid, idiot or unworthy. No need to support you to heal.
Changing the language that we speak to ourselves will have a positive impact on our abilities to overcome our condition.
Always remember, we ALL are worthy, unique, intelligent, gifted and special. We all are. No exception. So start changing your narrative and tell your body that you are in awe about its capabilities on a daily basis. Because the truth is, our bodies are miracles. So complex, sophisticated, smart and loving towards us, that it does its best on a daily basis to keep us alive and well. That deserves the greatest love language we can come up with. On a daily basis. Be thankful and humble. You are a true miracle. Start behaving like one.
When we are diving deep into our narrative to uncover what is not serving us anymore, we begin to see a trend of things like negative fake worry, fear of missing out (FOMO) or scarcity thinking, to name a few. We will be working with these discoveries and come up with tools to change these thought patterns towards healthier versions.
Our limiting beliefs keep the door closed to real change. Long lasting change. Change that we need to signal our body that we are out of the danger zone, that it’s time to let go of negative feedback loops in the body. That’s when true magic happens. Sometimes it is the most powerful discovery in my sessions and brings the greatest change.
Once we have made the decision to move forward and strive towards change and getting the health results we desire and deserve, we start to self-sabotage. Our body gets uncomfortable to leave our comfort zone and in order to keep our homeostasis (balance), it brings on negative thoughts or events to bring us back to the status quo. Some people fail right there and then because their self-sabotage was so impactful. Here are some examples to illustrate self-sabotaging behaviour:
- Right after committing and investing in a health coaching program, Amanda chose to take on more responsibility at work and with that, longer working hours. The time she intended on spending on herself to tackle her long-standing chronic condition, was taken up by her being in the office. She jumped all in into her new role and decided to hold off on her goal to work on her health.
- After seeing amazing initial results on a new weight-loss program, which made Heather feel better, sleep better and look better, she decided that it was time to take a break from her new lifestyle. She indulged in comfort foods and socialized with her “old” friends, who did not support her health efforts in the first place. Not long after, she went back to her old routine and soon gained back the weight.
- As a mum of 3 kids, Janine put everyone before herself. First she’d attend to the kids, then to the husband and if there is time left, then maybe to herself, but most likely that time would be spent attending to house keeping activities. Janine made great progress on her mindset work and was soon able to change her perspective and carve out time for herself. This was a major accomplishment for her, one that she was surprised that she could ever establish and follow-through with. But at the same time it shocked her system to the core. Because her belief systems collided with the new way she felt and intended to live, she soon felt guilty of her accomplishment, doubting her decision and finally dove right in to take care of a family conflict – that wasn’t hers – to get rid of her guilt and to prove herself that her family still needed to come first.
This self-sabotaging behaviour is innate to all of us. Recognizing the mechanism behind it can bring long-lasting change, as we become aware of this dynamic. Only then do we have a chance to keep our path and to continue to honor our body and thanking it for its efforts, to keep our established balance and at the same time, encouraging it to keep moving into this new direction.
The knowledge about how the mindset works, how we work, what triggers us, our obstacles on our way to change, is what will give us the confidence we need to implement our new lifestyle. Owning our decision and sticking with it will become much easier once we understand.
This is what we are working towards in the Coaching Program, so that you will succeed on your health journey and become your own success story.
Read the next chapter on STRESS, coming soon!