If You Continue To Do
What You’ve Always Done,
You’ll Continue To Get
What You’ve Always Gotten!
How is your life going? Is it going well?
Do you feel overwhelmed and confused?
Are your behaviors around food out of control?
Are you fairly miserable? Do you feel helpless and hopeless?
If you are uncomfortable, this could lead you to consider making changes. Pay a
visit to Bob's Story
(physical activity example) and look below for an explanation of the Stages
Of Change Model which describes the process of making changes.
However you feel,
just start where you are! You can't be anywhere else.
Ecosystem Weight Management is a process…of AWARENESS,
SELF-HONORING,
ACTION, and SUPPORT...that encourages gradual change.
HOW is it not
working well? Where do your
daily choices lead you? Towards well-being? Towards disease?
HOW do you do you do this to yourself? Consider paying attention. Be tender with
yourself.
Remember: Progress, not perfection!
Developing new patterns is an unfolding process...it blossoms...gradually…
One day at a time!
Are you ready for the adventure? Let’s begin!
Small enjoyable changes,
consistently practiced, lead to sought-after results!
The steps that you
select should be FUN
and enjoyable! Self-care does not have to
be torture. You can learn to celebrate a healthful
lifestyle! In fact,
making FUN your focus will insure that your new patterns naturally become your
new way you create yourlife.
Pay a visit to Small Baby Steps
Lead to Success!
The
thinking that caused the problem cannot be the thinking that solves it. --Albert
Einstein
Problems
cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.
Choose
to THINK and DO something different!
It's All About You....
IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU….
Make healthy choices that fit your lifestyle so you can do the
things you want to do. Be realistic: make small changes over time in what you eat and the level
of activity you do. BE ADVENTUROUS: Expand your tastes to enjoy a variety of foods. BE FLEXIBLE: Balance what you eat and the physical activity you do over
several days. No need to worry about just one meal or one day. BE SENSIBLE: Enjoy all foods, just don’t overdo it. BE ACTIVE: Walk the dog, don’t just watch the dog walk!
LEARNING FROM SETBACKS:
REFRAME SETBACKS: The difference between
perfectionism and excellence is that PERFECTIONISM forbids mistakes;
EXCELLENCE learns from mistakes and makes corrections! Perseverance is the
most important.
Notice what you are doing right (which is probably
most things). Celebrate your successes--no matter how small they seem to be.
Emphasize patience. We are just learning a new
behavior or skill. Celebrate the failure of not meeting your goals. We learn
more from “setbacks” than success!
Invent NEW MISTAKES! Don’t fear them.
Humans are a part of nature. We change in the same way—back
and forth-between old and new—towards a new experience.
No one stage is more important than
another—it’s a process.
Stage of Change
Ways to Motivate Change
Pre-contemplation—Not
even thinking about changing. Not ready
yet!
Increase awareness of the effects of the problem behavior.
HOW are your present choices harmful to you or others? Take
responsibility.
Contemplation—Beginning
to think about risks and benefits of change.
Contemplate &
Prioritize!
Many people experience a "triggering event":
illness, mental or emotional distress. The
goal is to decrease uncertainty about wanting to make changes by
identifying pros (benefits to you) and cons (hassles) of change.
Are the long-term benefits
worth the short-term costs?
What Does It Look Like When Things Are Going Well?
These
times can be filled with guilt, shame, hopelessness, and desperation.
See ideas below on how to sort things out. Get support for yourself.
Preparation—Plan
for a change, but you don’t know what to do. You begin to think of ways to change.
Plan &
Prepare—gather tools for yourself!
Evaluate your life, get
advice and help. Seek information:
perhaps make phone calls, attend
meetings or seminars.
You're in the process of gathering tools for
yourself. Listen to your "self-talk" about the value to you of making
changes.
Make an action plan with specific steps. Set a date.
Identify rewards.
Action—Making
changes. Committing time and energy to practice new behaviors.
Action =
Practice!
Start small. Set
specific, achievable, meaningful, short-term goals. Work to solve problems as they arise.
Action
is PRACTICE. New behaviors will feel uncomfortable to you at first, and you won't
be very skilled at them. You'll make mistakes. New habits are the most
"fragile" to revert back to OLD habits during the first 6 months.
Relapse—Returning
to former patterns. It will happen. Choose to learn from it. Can
last five minutes or five years!
Apply
Positive & Powerful Problem Solving! Learn to cope.
RELAPSE IS NOT FAILURE. IT IS LEARNING.
It can happen at ANY stage, especially between pre-contemplation and
contemplation, and during times of crisis.
Be kind with yourself and honest. NOTICE
what has happened. Determine what you can learn from the
experience, and plan ahead for the future. Problem
solve:
use your knowledge as a tool for your next stage. Keep a journal to notice and
unravel patterns. Plan behavior substitutions.
Don’t give up. Don't give up. Just begin again!
Seek out helpful
resources on this web site.
Maintenance—Continuing
new behaviors with increased confidence. Have awareness of what triggers
a relapse and make plans to avoid it.
Persist with
Patience and have FUN!
Remind yourself of reasons for having
changed--never forget WHY you wanted to do something different.
See Bob's story,
Emotional Area for examples of reasons.
Reevaluate and redefine your tools and your plan.
It will get easier to maintain new behaviors over time. Be patient and persistent.
Change is a process, NOT an event. Practice self
and stress-management skills.Notice if you have fallen back into a chronic,
unhealthy patterns again and use the self-evaluation tools (use the
Daily Personal
Check-In section of this Website).
Congratulate yourself for having the courage to do it!
Create an inspiring reason for your commitment! Perhaps get a notebook and write
down the answers to these questions:
How would you define success for
yourself? What do you want to do or change in your life? How would it
benefit you (or others) to do it?
List some advantages and
disadvantages of keeping things the way they are or doing things
differently:
ASK Yourself:
What are
advantages
of the way things are now? What are
disadvantages
of things right now?
What are the
difficulties
of doing things differently? What would be the
benefits
of doing other things?
I encourage you to take the time to write down the answers to these
questions and consider them for yourself.
After you go through this "sorting out" process, you will have convinced
yourself of the value TO YOU of choosing to make an investment in yourself
to change your life.
To USE the stages of change process to help you make
changes, explore:
Some daily reminders for
making an effort—by reflecting, reading, studying, trying new things out each
week. So in effect, set your
motivation—your reason for making the effort.
For most people the process of
making lasting lifestyle changes takes 1 - 3 years.
Be an explorer…
Have fun!
Think
about why you are making an investment in yourself.
Are you perhaps sick and tired of feeling
sick and tired?
Are you ready to quit fad dieting and
ready to make a long-term investment, a commitment—in you?
Do it—because you deeply care about you.
Do it—because you want your life to be
healthy at all levels: in body, mind, and spirit.
I make a commitment to be open to learning!
I make a commitment to be aware of my
choices and their consequences!
I
make a commitment to be kind to myself!
I
make a commitment to a new way of living!
I make a commitment to celebrate life-long
learning!
Aspirations:
May I trust my limitless ability to grow and may I respect
the progress I’ve already made.
Become who
I truly want to become. Trust that I can do it!
I
love who I am and I love who I am becoming.
Unlock your
potential!
Say YES to your wild & precious life!
You have
within you
All the
answers to the challenges you face.
Become your
own personal lifestyle trainer
Or in
effect, be a gardener to your own mind and life.
Have a deep
confidence in your ability to heal suffering
