Christine Deakers

Every woman has a unique relationship with her body. Whether you’re running a 10K every weekend or trying to better your health and spirit, the inner monologue in your head is a powerful voice that influences your self-esteem and choices. Read my previous Body Compass post to consider other ways of thinking to help you with motivation for staying committed to self-care and a healthy life. Here are my three questions to consider and ask yourself to keep that inner monologue positive and in-control!

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1. When you make a choice, whether in the kitchen, at work, or with your friends, ask yourself “how does this make me feel?”

When you’re proud of a good choice or accomplishment, cherish that moment by acknowledging your small good choice. Relish in the feeling longer than you usually do. Don’t just brush off the feeling, but sit with it as long as possible. By holding onto ‘feel good moments,’ you create good associations with your new habits. This is all in an effort to create new neuro pathways, associations to change those new habits into how things are typically done for you. Positivity accrues more positivity.

 2. “Is this a choice?”

When you give yourself a choice you feel less restricted or deprived. By recognizing that your decisions are choices you’ve made or will make, it empowers you to feel you have a say in the matter. Recognize that this decision is how you choose to live your life, and if it’s not the choice you want to make to live a healthy life, then realize you have the power to make different decisions. There are always circumstances that make things difficult, but by imbuing your life with more empowerment, you can help remove the perspective that you’re a victim and without control.

 3. “How will I feel at the end of this decision?”

Of course some questions are more complex, which means some decisions longer to make. However, as a simple example, consider the food choices or lifestyle choices you make on a regular basis. If your goal is to drop a pants size and you’re weighing whether or not you want to go to the gym, ask yourself “How will I feel at the end of my workout?” I’ve never known anyone to regret taking the time to ask this question. By associating the results with the behavior and how it works toward your end goal, it’s much easier to make the good choices that may seem like a chore at the time. Once you build a strong connection between a behavior and a result, what seems like a chore may become more of a pleasure as you try to live a healthy life.

The reverse can be thought of in the same way. Let’s say you’re grappling with a craving, but don’t want to let a high-calorie dessert throw you off the wagon. Thinking about how you’ll feel after eating the dessert might help you make the choice to say no because you know it will negatively impact your greater health goal. While I’ve never been in Alcoholics Anonymous, the program has a saying that can be related to this advice: “Think through the drink.” By thinking through your decision you’re able to predict and understand why or why not you should make a choice. Often by the time you’ve really considered the choice, your impulse has been mollified and you can make more of a rational choice than one made out of passion, and live a healthy life.

 

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