Tag: mindset

How to Have a Healthier and Happier New Year.

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Have a healthier and happier 2018 by reshaping your body attitude

One-third of people make new year’s resolution to change their body, and approximately 80% of them will fail. Most of these resolution makers claim that what they want to be happy and healthier in the new year.

However, hating on yourself will not make you happier or healthier, and it isn’t going to encourage your resolution to succeed in the long term.

Research shows what makes people happier and healthier is body acceptance, not body hatred.[1]  So, instead of centering your resolution around negative thoughts of your body, work on approval.

A better resolution: lose the critical thoughts about your body.

Feeling bad about your body will not encourage you to get healthy/lose those 10 lb./start exercising.

How do you know if your resolution is body negative?

  • It makes you feel ashamed of your body or how you look.
  • It paints yourself in a negative light.
  • If you wouldn’t recommend the resolution to a friend.
  • The resolution includes denying yourself of things or punishment.

Where to start with body acceptance: Body neutral statements

For example: If you’ve hated on your thighs for your whole life it is not feasible to all the sudden be able to stand in front of the mirror and exclaim your love for them. Your brain is smarter than that. So, start where you are. If you cannot find something positive to say, say something neutral. Like

“These are my legs.”
“My legs are strong.”

And if you just aren’t there yet with a body part, find a body part you don’t hate.

“My skin is smooth.”
“I like the shape of my shoulders.”

Or even announce what your body has accomplished.

“This belly grew another human being.”
“My legs carry and support me.”
“These arms hold my children and show them love.”

Focus on the positive rather than singling out the negative.

The benefits of this will go far beyond positive body image. Body acceptance can help improved mood, self-esteem, and reduced disorder eating behaviors. When you feel good about yourself, you are happier, and take better care of yourself.

If you want to experience more happiness in the new year, start with ditching the body-hating resolutions. Instead, adopt a more body positive attitude. And if that feels too tricky start with some body-neutral statements.

 

 

[1] Florida State University. (2017, December 21). Resolving to have a happier, healthier 2018? Reshape your body attitudes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 31, 2017

7 Ways to Start a Gratitude Practice

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I know thanksgiving is over, and you are sick of hearing about being thankful, but hear me out for a minute.  While expressing our gratitude over the holidays is all good and well, we need (yes, NEED) to be practicing it the other 365 days a year. I mean, don’t you want to feel more joy, happiness, and over all better wellbeing all year long? Scientific studies have shown that gratitude practice leads to:

  • More meaningful relationships
  • Increased productivity at work
  • Better physical health
  • Reduced depression
  • Increases happiness
  • Heighten sense of wellbeing
  • Increased over all enjoyment of one’s life
  • Increased hope and purpose
  • Increased empathy

A pretty good sales pitch for gratitude, right? But now how do you do it? Just like working out and healthy eating, we need to make gratitude a habit.  Here are 7 ways you can have more thankfulness in your day, pick one (or all).

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“There are many beautiful reasons to be HAPPY.” My gratitude journal.

 

 

  1. Gratitude journal. Yeah, you’ve heard this before. We all know we are supposed to write down 5 things we are thankful for.  But if you find yourself writing something along the lines of “I’m thankful for my significant other, my kids, my job, my dog… oh yeah and coffee” Then I encourage you to change it up a bit.  Pick just one topic and write 5 things about that topic you are thankful for.  For example here is one I wrote about my husband:

He supports me and all my crazy ideas.

He is a great father to our boys.He tells the best bed time stories to the boys, so I can have a few minutes alone every night.

He can grill one mean steak.

He is always encouraging me to be and do more.

He cleans my car for me (and if you know me you know this is HUGE).

2.  Acknowledge others. Truly listen to them and look them in eye.  And not just with your boss, do this with the barista at your coffee shop, your waitress, the kid who checks you in at the gym. Do this with every one you come in contact with.  Put down your phone, look them in the eye and honestly thank them.

3.  Show gratitude to yourself.  Seriously. Stop comparing yourself to others. Instead recognize what you have accomplished. When someone complements you, accept it.  If you feel uncomfortable just smile and say thank you. Do not try to talk them out of it or explain the compliment. Take the compliment.

4.  Make sure all your loved ones know you are grateful for them. Randomly pick one person a day, and make sure you let them know you are grateful for them.

5.  Send out hand written thank you notes.

6.  At least once a day, tell someone who is important in your life how important they are.  Pick one person per day, and send them a text, email, DM, snap, whatever and just let them you know are grateful they are part of your life.

7.  Smile. So simple, yet so powerful. And it’s contagious.

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Ok so I know I said gratitude 365, but let’s be honest here. No one, and I mean no one is able to count their blessings and be thankful every single day of the year. We all have those days. Heck we are not robots.  We have good days and bad.  However, when we are in the habit of practicing gratitude regularly, it can help with the bad days.  They may not last as long or be as bad.   Regular gratitude practice can act as a life raft and help float us through the darker days.

It’s not that you have to be active in your gratitude practice on the days you don’t even want to get out of bed (that would be crazy!) to reap the benefits.  If you have been practicing thankfulness up until this point, then that is what will help the crappy day not be as bad or last as long. Research shows gratitude can help those suffering with major catastrophic health events (like cancers and heart attacks) so, imagine what it can do for the average person just dealing with a super crappy day?

All you have to do is pick one of the 7 ideas mentioned above and give it a go for a few weeks.  Maybe if you find it’s not so bad, try adding in another.  If you do, leave me a comment or drop me a line and let me know how it went.  I’d love to hear.  And if you already have an established gratitude practice, tell me how you do it.  I enjoy hearing how other include thankfulness in their lives.

 

 

references

Bolier L, H. M. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC Public Health., 119.

Emmons RA1, M. M. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. J Pers Soc Psychol. , 377-89.

Lambert NM, C. M. (2010). Benefits of expressing gratitude: expressing gratitude to a partner changes one’s view of the relationship. Psychol Sci., 574-80.