The 5 Tips for Real Sustainable Change

Please tell me you didn’t do that “dry” January thing? In the greyest most dismal month of the year, why would you deprive yourself and for what?

Sure we are all feeling toxic and large and a sort of “what came over me?” hovers around our waistlines and bank accounts. But hard measures rarely pay off.

A client recently told me that going without for a month made her go on a crazy full on binge-fest the very next. Pain rarely is the spur we think it will be.

Joining a really expensive gym will “force me to go”, said another. You may or may not develop a body of Adonis but gyms always remain fiscally fit. They know our fallibility.

So, if you want to really make real and sustainable changes you don’t have to shudder-gulp smoothies, beat your cellulite with a bristle brush or beat up your bulges in shapewear lockdowns.

There are some real esoteric secrets on how to make lasting changes in your life.

I am going to share them with you here and now. You won’t believe your eyes or the screen you are reading this on.

The reason you won’t initially buy into it is because you, like me, have been brought up in a culture where there is apparently no gain without downright agony and suffering is all part of the journey.

This is why quick fixes and extreme measures don’t work. Who wants to keep up a regime that would have the Marquis De Sade wincing and crossing his legs?

The Five Tips to how to make lasting changes in your life

So here is the first secret to getting in better shape with you, your body and your life.

Tip 1. Self-awareness.

Start to notice when you want to obliterate your feelings with food, drink, overwork or other distractions such as gambling, shopping and porn. Are you bored, angry, feeling helpless and hopeless, lonely, frustrated or unloved and unseen?

Sit with the emotion. Feel it entirely. Write it out. Understand where it might be coming from. Know it will pass. Don’t take our stocks and shares in it and invest in its future.

Tip 2 – Be Kind.

Often we have a boot camp sergeant major in our heads driving us, kicking us in the shins for getting a spelling mistake wrong and reciting a roll call of screw-ups and goof-offs until we whimper

“I am not worthy”.

You are. Take things gently, stop hurting yourself with extreme thoughts and actions, talk gently to yourself

“what do I really need right now?”

“I am doing my best”

“I really am more than good enough”.

Tip 3 Mind Your Language

Sometimes our words sabotage our best efforts.

“I am useless at sticking to things”,

“I have no will power”,

becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Try instead

“I am beginning to really look after myself”.

Saying with a sigh

“I have a strict fitness regime I should stick to”

could become more inviting if you say

“I choose a daily health and well-being ritual that makes me look and feel good”.

Tip 4 – Be patient

Small steps lead to giant leaps. Everyone expects overnight results. Small steps + consistency = giant leaps.

Tip 5 – Get Over Yourself

You are not your thoughts nor are you your emotions. We have 60,000 thoughts a day. Be sure to invest in the good ones and don’t take yourself so seriously.

Tomorrow or a week from now you will be feeling differently. Notice your thoughts, embrace the good ones and know what is good for you. It’s all in the knowing.