April 17, 2018
Glow15: 3 Ways Positivity Can Change Your Health
Writen by Naomi Whittel |
Published on: April 17, 2018
What you’re thinking right now has the power to become your reality. It’s so simple yet something we often take for granted. Think about the type of self-dialogue you have on a daily basis. If it’s positive and affirms your value in the world, my hunch is that you find pleasure in your job, family or community. On the contrary, self-talk that’s negative is inherently limiting. If you tell yourself the story you can’t do something or achieve specific goals I bet you won’t. Your success starts with realizing that your thoughts become the things that define your life.
The things you think will be hard, will be. The things you think will be fun, will be. As we go through life, we develop our own personal autopilot mode of thinking. If you tend towards optimism, a positive outlook is intuitive for you. If not, don’t despair – you have the power to jump off the bandwagon of a negative story continually playing on repeat in your mind. With a little reflection and a lot of care, you can accomplish those dreams and become the person you want to be!
My Story
As I developed the program for my new book Glow15, I happened to be undergoing impossible stress. In fact, it was more stress than I’d ever experienced. You would think that with all the stress my body was under the program I was creating wouldn’t work for me. But I was so excited and optimistic about the science underlying the strategies in the program that I had a positive experience! Instead of seeing the signs of accelerated aging—as should be expected with increased anxiety and the type of negative thinking commonly associated with high stress—the opposite held true. The stubborn weight I had gained disappeared, my skin became clearer and brighter, and my energy levels tripled! I attribute my success not only to the integrity of the program itself but also to the power of the mind-body connection.
Choose Good Thoughts
Most of us think that health is a result of exercise and eating our vegetables but what’s behind those actions? What makes one person able to stick to a healthy diet and not another? If one person entertains thoughts of cookies, pizza and processed foods as normal everyday types of foods and the other person views those same foods as being once in while a type of treats, who do you think is more likely to have a higher intake of fruits and veggies? If one person thinks preparing a nutrient – dense meal of greens, wild fish and bright orange sweet potato is a normal part of daily tasks and finds the act of preparing food fun while his friend maintains the belief that those foods are a dreaded chore to prepare or not worthy of the time they take to make, who do you think is going to eat that meal more regularly for dinner?
Your thoughts become actions. And your actions become the moments your life is made up of.
Choose good thoughts.
3 Ways Positivity Can Change Your Health
Approach challenges from a place of curiosity instead of doubt. Instead of “I can’t do X” try “I wonder what doing X would feel like?”
Don’t give up, just set smaller goals. Say you can’t do a pull-up, but you know weight training is important. Instead of giving up, hold yourself on the bar and strengthen your grip. Build your confidence with smaller goals and slowly work your way up to bigger ones. Before you know it, the “big” goals will feel small, and you’ll have bigger ones to achieve – that self-doubt will be a thing of the past!
Make yourself a deal. Sometimes it takes seeing to believe. Say you don’t think a particular strategy will work for you. Does it feel too good to be true? Instead of letting your mind talk yourself out of trying it, how about give it a chance to make the experience speak for itself. Promise yourself that if you keep an open mind and genuinely give it your best shot and you still don’t feel better or have success with the thing, then you will reward yourself for merely trying. For example, say you have intense cravings, and you want to banish them. You hear that Intermittent Fasting Protein Cycling may help. But you aren’t sure it’ll work for you. Give it your best shot for at least 15 days and if it works – that’s a win! If it doesn’t feel good for you, but you seriously gave it your all, perhaps you treat yourself to a massage, an hour with your favorite book or a new herbal tea you’ve been eyeing. Either way, you win! (Then, refer to # 1 and #2 to try again!).
The goal here is for you to see the large impact your mind has on your actions. By taking responsibility for your thoughts, you stand in a power pose. You control your thoughts – they don’t control you. This simple yet complex change in mindset is one of the most instrumental players in getting and maintaining your dreams in life. So many of us “wish” for good health. Here is an opportunity to reclaim your seat at the boardroom table of your health. Why wish when you can design! You have everything you need to be the successful artist of your life – you can paint your masterpiece with some consistent positive thinking!
Looking for more inspiration? Please read my book, Glow15 to learn six simple ways you can create significant change in your life in just 15 days or join the Glow15 Group on Facebook!
