Dare to Be Healthy Series: Step 4

Created By Susan Anderson

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

So How's It Going?
If you have arrived here at Step 4 of the Dare to Be Healthy Challenge, it means you have done quite a bit so far to get this new life program off the ground. So Hooray! Cheers! Yaaay! Time to pat yourself a little bit on the back. Just a word of caution: I would not suggest moving onto this step until you have gotten into the rhythm of the prior steps. Which means... You are reviewing every now and again Step 1, creating your new vision of yourself. You are working with active awareness to achieve the daily contract with yourself. You are writing everyday for 5 minutes in your journal. Once these have become established, daily routines in your life you are ready for the next step

Going to Try With A Little Help From My Friends
John Lennon had it right! With a little help from our friends, our life's journey can be much better--fuller, happier, enriched, supported...and we can accomplish extraordinary feats. When we are facing life struggles, they are easier to handle knowing we have a friend nearby. When we have something wonderful to celebrate, the joy is greater when sharing with a friend. When we are just getting tired of the same-ness of day in and day out routine, humor, joy and fun become part of the equation, if we are walking the same path with a friend. Have I convinced you yet?

What Is Your Weakest Link?
When I wake up in the morning and say to myself, I am getting a shower and then going to the gym, by the time I have brushed my teeth, at least 10 great excuse have surfaced as to why that can't happen. So my success rate rapidly decreases to about 25% for weekly attendance, (cough, cough) if I am lucky. BUT when I am paired with a friend, a partner, who is depending on me to have someone to share a workout with, suddenly my success rate reaches about 95%. For me it is the gym and workouts, for someone else maybe its the food plan, for another person it may be the stress in their life. Regardless of what we may consider at this moment in time to be our weakest link, it suddenly becomes reinforced with greater strength in numbers...one friend, accepting this Dare to Be Healthy Challenge..is fabulous! Several friends in an online community supporting each other is fabulous plus!

So Here's The Task
Find a friend who is looking to make healthy lifestyle changes. Invite them to take the challenge. Have them look over the program. If they decide to participate, ask them to be your Dare to Be Healthy Partner. If they agree, then together write out an agreement of how you will support each other. I am not here yet, since I am writing this program as I go along...I'll be back hopefully in a few days, now I have to go out and find a friend...

So Final Question...
As Mr. Rogers used to say...Will you be my friend? Post a comment, join in and lets mobilize an online support group. I would hate to take this walk all by myself when I know that there are others out there that would also benefit from a supporting friend as well.

Read more!

Dare to Be Healthy Series: Step 3

The Once a Day Look in the Mirror

Let's Review First
Alright, you should only be back here now if you have written your 1 paragraph pledge to commit yourself to this program and have those pieces of paper plastered all over the place. Ok, ok, yes, you can start will a few postings, but promise yourself you will put them in very strategic places. Posting in the garage if you don't spend much time there, or if it is not place of temptation to lead you astray, is not a really good idea. Right now I have my pledge posted on the bathroom mirror, the fridge, by the TV, in my car, on a kitchen cabinet, in my wallet and as a bookmark in the book I am reading. I want to keep this first and foremost in my mind's eye as I walk through each day. It won't guarantee that I will always make the best decision, but will will guarantee that I am making a conscious choice about that decision.

Mirror Mirror On the Wall
The next step in the program is the daily look into the mirror, not the literal one hanging around, but feel free to look there too. It is the figurative mirror. Remember in Step 1 we jotted down our thoughts, ideas, doodles, etc about a healthy new image we are creating? Well we are going to go back to that book and commit to a daily review of our actions. Ah, how many of these daily things are going to be required everyday? Well I didn't say this was going to be easy. But it does require making some lifestyle changes that hopefully will develop into new habits.

We Don't Know Where We Are Going, Unless We Know Where We Have Been
The reason to make a daily commitment to recording our program experiences is to help us stay the course in several ways. It is about recognizing the pitfalls, it is about venting, it is about patting ourselves on the back, it is about translating thought energy into action energy. So what are the guidelines?

5 Minutes A Day
Decide on a time of day you can easily fit 5 minutes in for this reflection time. Maybe it will be the first thing in the morning, or as a mid afternoon break, or in the evening. What ever you decide this has to be a cornerstone of your program, meaning that everything else will rest upon your ability to keep this aspect of the course going. It is very important to establish this new routine so it easily and effortlessly incorporates into your life. Hey, you in the back there, I hear the grumbling! Let's face it, 5 minutes a day is very doable, so no complaining!!!

So once I decide on the time slot, what do I use it for you may be asking?
Good question! We use the 5 minutes to reflect upon how the program has worked for us over the last 24 hours. We rate the day on a scale of 1-5. A very challenging day, with difficulty holding on, would qualify as a 1 and a very successful day, which we sailed through easily would represent a 5. We make the call for what goes on in between. Remember we are assessing what we have been doing so far in the steps we have taken. So that means we can use our personal commitment pledge as a guideline if needed.

Next is our Atta Girl! or Atta Boy!
We will write down one thing we did successfully during the last twenty four hours. It doesn't have to be this big, major achievement, something small is good. Remember a home is built with a lot of small bricks and not one large stone. It is important to value the small steps we take and recognize that it is about how well we organize these steps that will make this plan work for us.

Zoning In
After that we will write down one thing we would like to improve in our self over the next twenty four hours. It should be simply stated in a positive way, indicating what we would like to incorporate more clearly throughout the next segment of time. It can be something that presented itself as a challenge in the previous days or it could be some aspect of self we are working on developing more fully. The idea is for it to be realistic and manageable for a 24 hour time frame.

Summary
Just these 3 things at this time.
1. Rate the Day
2. Atta Girl! or Atta Boy!
3. Zone In
Later on we will add some additional things. And of course, please don't feel boxed in by the 5 minute time limit, feel free to spend more time in refection anytime you want.

Read more!

Dare to Be Healthy Series: Step 2

Moving Forward, One Day at a Time
Ok so by now you have finished the first step of creating your healthy image in your mind. We will begin to Dare to Do Something Healthy each day as we move forward in our personal challenge to make changes. Remember this: we are looking to make life long changes that stay with us rather than jumping in with a big splash that produces no noticeable long term results.

Commit to the Journey
Today is about writing a contract to yourself to commit to this challenge, to agree to work every day toward self improvement. So here is today’s task- write a one paragraph only contract, that is both inspirational and binding, stating your intention to accomplish to this goal. Include your own personal philosophy that will help you in the days to come. Sign and date it. Make copies and post them everywhere. Put one on the bathroom mirror so it is the first thing you see in the morning, Put a copy on the refrigerator, to help you remember your plan. Put another copy in your purse or wallet so it is there when you are tempted to make a questionable purchase. Think of the strategic places a copy should be within eyeballs view: at work, near the computer, in the car, wherever temptation lurks to pull you off your course.

Why All This Crazy Posting?
Well, we want to be able to keep our plan first and foremost in our mind. We want a positive set of thoughts to replace any self recriminating thinking that may have been occurring previously. The first part of manifesting our new reality is achieved by energizing our thoughts in the format we want to create.

Here is My Personal Contract
I, Susan Anderson, believe my life is an endless stream of opportunities and possibilities for good health, personal happiness and spiritual growth. I today choose to live my life fully from this perspective. I commit to make healthy choices today that empower me to be the person I am meant to be, so my life brings out the best in me and all those whose lives I touch through my actions.

So off you go now...
Do your contact, and come back later to find out the next step. And as always, if you wish to share your personal contract with us, please post a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Read more!

The Year of Creative Energy

Wow! It feels as if we have been shot out of a time cannon from the year 2000 into 2010. It is exciting, depressing, challenging, mysterious and adventurously curious all at once. So the big questions are What will this year bring? and Are we ready for it?


The Year of Creative Energy?
As I was researching the many interpretations of the numerological meaning of 2010, the idea of creativity kept popping up. So I figured, it needed to be summarized. A few short words, were required that could be easily remembered. As I venture into the unknown region of middle middle age, either my memory is getting worn out or I am developing ADD....so a few short words is both good and absolutely necessary.

Not only do the words have to have the shortness requirement, but they need to hit strongly. The magic wand was spun and out came The Year of Creative Energy. It has a nice feel and ring to it, don't you think! So what exactly does this mean?

As I pondered this question, I found myself in a paradoxical state. Normally I have more creative juice flowing through my veins than I know what to do with. The problem has always been to stay focused enough to finish the task once the idea was generated. My tendency too often has been to immediately ride the next creative wave that came crashing into my mind, rather than waiting for the subsequent one, so I could fully complete what I was doing. But over the last few months a strange change has been looming on the horizon.

I can feel it but can't identify it. A change that is edging closer but is still completely out of focus. As I observe this, it has put me into a holding pattern. I feel a transformation of mammoth proportions edging closer but as it does I am in a freeze frame of non-ideas. Now this is really strange. Where once the onslaught of new ideas were streaming in non-stop, it now is difficult to describe it as even a trickle. Have you been experiencing this?

I remember sitting with a group of friends years ago and one said " I have no passion." She felt she needed a passion to keep life interesting and exciting. I thought then, there will never be a time when I am wanting for something exciting to do, there are so many things that excite me that I may never get to them all before this life term expires.

Fast forward to the present and I am struggling with these questions: What really excites me? What do I want to do now with my life? What is it I want to create? And on top of it all, I am pressured by the arrival of 2010 The Year of Creative Energy! So, yes it is very much a paradox! Let me ask, at the risk of being overly redundant, am I alone in this or are you going through something similar?

And that being said, it is time to move along...to begin the thaw from frozen state to flowing water..to fully explore this new landscape..to begin this decade with a blueprint of trying to define what it is I was to create as I move forward. How about you? Where are you in this flow of creative energy? Frozen, thawing or flowing?

Creating is a Verb
Creating is a verb. Energy is a verb. Both will require some type of movement and action in order to manifest into a unique life form. So how do we get there? It involves a bit more than waking up one morning, opening up the bedroom window and shouting loudly out into the world, " Hey world, I am going to be the queen of creative energy today!!" How do I know? I tried it. It didn't work. After almost 10 minutes of trying to blaze a path through the clutter to the window so it could be opened, I was hit with a strong blast of cold air that took my breath away. The words that came streaming out were barely audible. I quickly slammed the window shut. Then I waited and wandered around the house all day. Waiting for what? Why-- that creative light beam to boomerang back from the universe -- to come in and poof! Like magic, ignite me with a fountain of creativity that would put me in a manic state of activity. Hmm, did I mention, it didn't work

Steps to Get Started
So if you have a front row seat at the same show I am currently attending- let's just get up and walk out. Let's start something new. Let's get a fire lit under us. Let's declare "Time for a Change". So what do we do? How do we start? Well with one action step at a time of course!

Here are some suggestions of ways to shake things up a bit, move away from the routine, stir up some creative energy, and hopefully in the process ignite a new passion, perspective, or direction that will propel each of us into new heights of life.

1: Develop a Different Routine
Pick one aspect of your daily ritual of routine and decide to intentionally do it differently. It doesn't have to be a big life altering part of your day just something simple. As a result of this change in routine, it may spark something inside, you may see something in a new way, or you may encounter an opportunity that would have never presented itself before. When we are out of our comfort zone/routine, we see a fresh new canvas before us.

2. Practice Daydreaming
This has always been one of my favorites, daydreaming. The possibilities are endless, like magic anything you want appears. I become it all-- lion tamer, lead actress in a blockbuster movie, head negotiator at the peace talks, Olympic skater, jackpot winner, thrill seeker, astronaut, crime scene investigator, criminal profiler, etc. I can daydream in techno-color with full details and dialog between characters. A lot of great ideas have come from tapping into this pool of resources.

3. Go Some Place with Lots of Eye Candy
Is there a place near by that is just filled with a lot of inspirational things to look at? I can remember last year when we were on a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico I was nearly jumping out of my skin with excitement and really looking forward to getting home to create. The town was just bursting with creative development. Walking through the shops, the streets, the museums, the attractions was such an adrenaline rush of ideas. Find an environment close by to where you live that can do the same thing for you.

4. Problem Solve
Take a nagging problem that tends to occur regularly in your life. Examine it from all angles. Look at ways you can solve the problem in an interesting or unusual manner. I kept getting annoyed at all the stuff we have around the house, so my direction now is to create functional artwork. Using the stuff I no longer want but can't seem to get rid of, I am attempting to recycle and re-purpose it and then sell it online or at craft fairs. Most of what I am making is art work for the yard-- such as bird feeders, birdhouses, yard plaques, signs and decorations.

5. Sit with Mother Nature
When all else seems to fail, finding some time to go out and seek a personal audience with Mother Nature, often provides the right combination needed. A reconnection at this level provides a deep sense of inner balance and harmony which then always helps us to move the clouds away and feel the spirit that flows within and surrounds us completely. When we reunite at this level-- all things are possible.

There you have it, a few ideas to start with, to hopefully get those of us needing some direction a springboard to jump from. I would love to hear from you if you have any ideas to share. I can be contacted at seedsforchange@comcast.net.

So, let's go off and make it one hell of a Creative 2010!

Read more!

Dare to Be Healthy

Author: Susan Anderson

Remember when you were a kid and somewhere along the line you played a version of the game Dare? In some format you would be dared to do something by one of your friends, and usually as a kid it didn’t always involve the best of judgment.

Well this game of dare is a lot more productive and wholesome for you…and it’s called Dare to Be Healthy.

So are you up to the challenge? Can I Dare You to Be Healthy ? Take it one step at a time and see how far you go.

STEP 1
Create Your Healthy Image
So take that first step….I dare you to figure out what a good healthy life looks like to you? What do you look like? What do you see yourself doing? How are YOU feeling- not only physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually? What are you eating? What kinds of thoughts run through your mind? What is your daily mood like? How about your relationships with others, what are they like?

Create the Mind Pictures of This Space.
Then record it somewhere and somehow. If you like to write, put it down on paper, if you like Vision Boards, cut out pictures, if you like to daydream, create the mental movie to keep on file that can be replayed over and over again. Don’t leave out any details.

Tips:
Leave out comparisons to others.
This is all about you, so create this any way you want to
You are the megastar of this new reality.
I DARE you to do this and then come back later to find out what Step 2 is!

PS...Feel free to share your new reality with us, helping each other, inspiring one another, supporting each others efforts creates movement foward for everyone

Read more!