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Be Your True Self and Design the Life You Love
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News From: InnerBrilliance Coaching
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June 27, 2011
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Greetings!
As the summer temperatures rise, I feel my energy rise too. I'm more motivated to go for what I want. But my energy still wanes sometimes. So this month, I focus on how your energy levels can impact getting what you want in life. We often talk about "not having enough time" to get things done. But, it can be our limited or unfocused energy that inhibits us from getting what we want.
In this newsletter, I share how taking care of yourself especially with solid nutrition and consistent exercise can help generate energy and ultimately the life results you desire. You'll find tips and positive habits you can easily integrate in to your life that can make a huge impact.
I'm going to start and end with examples of ways I'm taking care of myself. First, I'll tell you about my trip to Arizona (at the Canyon Ranch Spa in Tucson) and how it reminded me why self-care and rejuvenation is important as well as how to include it in daily life. I end with how not achieving my fitness goals led me to actually progress further by developing new and better goals.
I hope this information will leave you with some effective ideas to help you feel energized too.
Take Care,
Rosie Guagliardo
InnerBrilliance Coaching
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Canyon Ranch Spa
In the last newsletter, I wrote about finding energy, motivation, and happiness by deciding what you wanted to keep and/or get rid of in your life. Going to Canyon Ranch Spa (and visiting my friend who works there now) represented what I wanted more of in my life which was rejuvenation. In this case, rejuvenation came in the form of taking care of myself and staying connected to friends...knowing that rejuvenation via honoring my values would generate energy, motivation, and happiness.
The concept of rejuvenation can sometimes be distorted. People think they don't have time to rejuvenate or relax. They wait to find the time. This perspective can leave you too tired and drained to find the right/best way to recover from your active life. You might choose "easier" (but not as energizing) ways to relax such as online surfing or vegging out in front of the TV versus a rejuvenating activity like reading a book or going for a walk.
Another distortion surrounding the concept of rejuvenation is that you have to always be working hard to get results and you can't be "lazy" or "selfish" by taking time to recover. But focusing on activities that nourish you will allow you to serve yourself and others better because you can be present in the moment.
So what activities will you commit to that can help you re-fuel? Write down three rejuvenating activities you want to incorporate in your life and schedule them in to your calendar. Make the appointment with yourself to take care of yourself - daily and weekly. And of course, take longer stretches of time to recover once a quarter. I know that even just preparing for my rejuvenation period (whether it's 30 minutes a day or a weekend away with a friend) gets me energized. Below is a picture of me arriving at Canyon Ranch. I'm not even there yet, and I'm blissful. In advance of my trip, I scheduled great lectures and services that I knew would leave me relaxed and motivated to come back home and be my best. (In fact, check out all Canyon Ranch has to offer.)
If scheduling time to rejuvenate is too big of a leap for you at this point, just write down activities that make you feel happier (such as: calling a friend, going for a run, etc) each on a separate piece of paper. Then put the pieces of paper in a box and pick one whenever you need a pick me up. Enjoy!
 | | The Path From Healthy Leads To Happy |
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Exercise and Nutrition Tips
Taking a significant amount of time out of your routine to rejuvenate is as important as taking small moments to consistently revitalize your body (and ultimately your mind and spirit) with exercise and nutrition. Below are some tips and approaches to include healthy habits in your life.
Tips
Although I'm not a health expert, I know from my studies and practices that the following tips (and ideally habits) would make a difference in how you feel and they're easy to incorporate in to your life.
- Include the following 3 exercise components in to your routine:
- Aerobic exercise, strength training, and flexibility movements. (Start off with a 20 minute walk and stretch for 3 minutes a day.)
- Stretch/cool down after exercising:
- Your muscles need to release the lactic acid (basically toxins) that build up in your body while exercising. The best time to do that is after you just exercised. So take a few minutes to stretch and cool down. If you don't do it after you exercise, your body will have to work extra hard to release the toxins throughout your day. Have you ever noticed being tired later in the day (or sore the next day) after a big workout? It's probably because you didn't cool down...trust me, I've noticed a difference in my energy level after a hard workout with a cool down. I'm no longer tired hours later. For a more detailed explanation of how cooling down after exercise can help maintain your energy, click here.
- Eat leafy greens (and obviously, all colorful vegetables):
- Spinach, kale, arugula, dandelion - yes, dandelion. The darker the greens, the more nutrients!
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water:
- For example, if you weigh 115 pounds, cut that amount in half and drink that many ounces in water a day (in this case, that would be 57.5 ounces or about 7 glasses of water).
- Chew your food:
- There are enzymes in your saliva that help digest your food. So when you chew and swallow quickly, you're not giving yourself a chance to get those digestive juices flowing.
Approach
Your approach to incorporating these tips is probably just as important as actually doing what is noted above. If you can incorporate these tips/habits in your life in a natural, motivating, and easy way, you'll be more likely to do them. So below are some ideas:
- Take one small step towards the new habit. (Just buy the spinach. Then see what happens once it's in your fridge. Just go for a 10 minute walk and maybe it'll turn to 20 minutes while you're out there.)
- Stretch/push yourself. Your body will assume it has to work harder and it will learn to compensate for that extra push up you're doing. Then next time, you can do more push-ups!
- Do it consistently. (Just think, you brush your teeth every day. It's just a habit now, but it wasn't always that way.)
- Increase your good habits over time (slowly replacing the bad ones). It's hard to make changes, so strive for making positive changes that outweigh your negative habits. You like sweets? Ok, have your dessert but make sure you eat a lot of leafy greens that week. You'll see a change in your health. You can deal with your sweet tooth later...when you've built up your healthy habits and your body will more likely start craving those colorful vegetables.
- Use a mobile app to track your fitness habits and progress. I use "LoseIt" on my iPhone. You can go to LoseIt.com online if you want to use your computer. Studies actually show people using mobile apps are more likely to lose weight than those who use paper logs. Bottom line: track your behavior any way you can and you'll be more likely to make progress towards your goals. Check out my note (and blog below) to hear about my unexpected results from tracking my goals with LoseIt.
- Make it fun! If you're having fun, you're more likely to continue the behavior and be motivated to make it a positive habit.
Most importantly, (I'll say it again) make it fun! Grab a friend, buy colorful workout clothes, take a cooking class to learn how to make those leafy greens. And enjoy!
If you have time, check out Deepak Chopra's book Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide. It provides a practical guide on harnessing your mind for healing your body and leaving you energized. He combines his knowledge of physics and Western medicine with an ancient Indian medical system for leading a healthy life.
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Not Achieving Your Goals? Good!
An important aspect of achieving your goals is checking them periodically to confirm they're appropriate goals for you. Read my latest blog entry for an example of how not achieving my fitness goals led me to actually create a goal that honors my values more closely and therefore a goal I'm more excited about pursuing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Life Coaching? Wikkipedia Definition: Life coaching is a practice of assisting clients to determine and achieve personal goals. A coach will use a variety of methods, tailored to the client, to move through the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, and coaches are not therapists (although therapists may be coaches). It's a partnership where a coach helps to uncover what you truly want and helps move you toward action or deepens your learning about a situation. For more information on how it works, click here. Who hires a Life Coach? You might want to hire a life coach if you ask yourself these questions:
- How can I have a happier and more fulfilling life?
- How can I be heard and have someone believe in me? How do I realize my goals and dreams that I know I could accomplish with some support?
- How can I find the energy to achieve my full potential and get motivated? I know I have so much potential that I'm not tapping into for various reasons.
- How can I express my true gifts and talents "waiting" to be offered to the world and incorporate them into my everyday life?
- How do I show the "real" me to coworkers, friends, and family?
- How do I find out who the "real" me is? What really makes ME happy?
- How do I make a change for a real difference in my life?
For more information on who hires a life coach, click here. For more information on the proven results and benefits of life coaching, click here. |
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About InnerBrilliance Coaching & Rosie
 | | Rosie Guagliardo |
InnerBrilliance Coaching Services provides a safe, trusting environment for
creative and resourceful people to find their true purpose. Within that environment, we'll shine a light on your life so you can see it more clearly - your goals, your motivations, what holds you back and what propels you forward, ultimately illuminating a path to help you realize your full potential.
Rosie has trained at Coachville and is a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute recognized by the International Coaching Federation as an accredited coaches training school. She has also received the CPCC accreditation from the Coaches Training Institute and the ACC accreditation from the International Coaching Federation. She graduated with a bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences from Northwestern University where she majored in Psychology and International Studies.
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