This Monday I thought I'd leave you with links to five of my Pinterest boards. Pinterest is where I find myself when I'm in need of an idea, motivation, or direction.
Focus On Your Breath.Relax Your Mind.Practice Meditation.We hear it all the time. How we should be in the present, meditate, and just breathe. Some of us have a hard time doing so. Some of us don't even know what they mean or how to begin. Some of us might try it and then feel like we're doing it "wrong". Here's where I'll help you. There are some beautiful resources out there that make this process not only easier, but enjoyable. APPSThere are two apps that are just wonderful when it comes to meditation. The first one the left is Calm. This actually came from a website. Calm.com. That is my favorite website. It instantly makes you feel better and excited to dive into your meditation. Calm has guided meditations as well as sounds and images to help your meditation experience. You can also learn about the 7 steps of calm. The voices are pleasant and the images/sounds are relaxing. Now, the app on the right is called Stop, Breathe & Think. In this app you can "check in" with how you are and it will give you a choice of suggested meditations based on how you are. There are free and purchasable meditations. It also lets you track your progress. This keeps track of how often & how long you meditate. Along with what meditations are your favorite, your check-in streak, and your top emotions. I use both of these apps regularly throughout the day. WebsitesA wellness binder is a collection of documentation you need for your fitness journey. This can be done physically in a binder with printouts, in a paper notebook that you divide into sections, or digitally like with OneNote. There are a ton of different ways to do this and to make it your own. We have a lot to cover so let's jump right in! Section #1: Before & AfterHere is where you put your before photos & measurements. I like the way it's outlined on Bodyrock's site {HERE}. They tell you what parts to measure and how to do it. I would copy that down and print it out. Later on you can do a "during" or "after" set of photos & measurements in this section. If you wanted to be super detailed and to see some real progress in more than just your size, I would track fitness ability. For this, you'll do a type of standardized fitness test that you can replicated later on. If you wanted, you can grab something like a military fitness test OR just create your own. For example:
For each take note on not only the numbers, but how easy/hard it is. Make sure to keep form as best you can. A handful of crappy formed push ups don't compare well to one or two good formed ones. Section #2: MotivationAre you too hard on yourself?
I'm going to be honest with you, being hard on myself is a strength and weakness of mine. Mainly a weakness. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar to you:
The list could likely go on. I know that I can't be the only one. Here's something I tried recently. I told someone else that I was good at something. {I know I'm being a bit vague, but I can't exactly talk about the details of my job}. At my job, I felt that the only way I was worth anything is if somebody else told me that I was good at something. I always felt like this, in all areas of my life. I shouldn't need someone else to validate who I am and what I'm good at. I should know that for myself. So I shut out the noise during meditation one day and let myself tell me what I was good at. Then I made those claims public. I told people at work. Then I would put confidence behind my words and answers. In the photo business part of my life, I often get asked, "So are you a photographer?" and I started saying "Yes." Nothing vague about it. I am what I am, I'm not stuck in between anymore and giving so-so and sort of answers. "Do you run?" "Yes, I'm a runner." You can see how this can apply in other areas. You can't imagine the difference this has made in my life and the way I see myself. By no means have I gotten "rid" of that self-criticizing, all-too-hard-on-myself, perfectionist, but I did learn to recognize it and I've started to work on it. In small bits. I dare you to try it. Tell someone what you're good at. Something that you usually wait for others to tell you. Tell them instead. Beat 'em to it. Claim it. Own it. Deep down you know what you're good at. You don't need anyone else to tell you. Value yourself. Because you all know I love my resources, a couple links related to the topic: This is hard for me. I want everyone out there to love health & fitness as much as I do. I want everyone around me to be active and healthy.
I always need to remind myself of this. Remind myself that I can't make anyone want it or do it if that's not where they're at. No matter how many fitblrs you look at, motivating pinterest pages, blogposts about success or easy workouts to try, the only way you're getting anything done is if YOU DO IT. If you get off your seat, step away from your computer and hit the floor to do some random amount of burpees. So do it. Make the leap. If you're reading this right now, get up and do something or pick something {or multiple things} from this list:
Even if you're at work, you can do some of these. Show everyone you have no excuses. Comment with what you did. Prove it with a photo posted on FB, Instagram, Twitter, or a 10sec clip on Giveit100!! #WHOLEBODYBLOG How about a little inspiration this Monday? Some things to check out below: {Above} From lesson #32 in the book below! |