metrorun Last week I was talking to a friend as we visited the sauna together. She recounted how she never really learned to swim because of a long-standing fear of putting her head below water. I remarked on her awareness of those past events that limited her present-day ability to swim and then told her it is never too late if she really wanted to learn. We left it at that for the day.
My point for you here is not about swimming, nor taking regular saunas (although I recommend both for a variety of reasons), but rather on the power of awareness.
As I encounter more and more people in my coaching work, I recognize that there is most always a desire to change/fix/alter some “thing” – a habit, state of being, health marker, etc. And yet, if we can’t get to recognize the beliefs, values and emotions around the very thing we want to change, we will not be successful. I believe this is why many coaches fail!
It’s like a car with a slow leak in the front left tire. Every couple of days, you could simply add more air – the band-aid approach – OR you could take a bit more time to figure out why the tire is leaking air and fix the root cause. Deep down some part of us knows what we need to do, and yet, we don’t always take the time and effort to do just that. Needless to say, a good coach can help you explore the details to get to the root cause faster, but so can the practice of mindfulness.
I have developed a mindfulness practice over many years which I rely on daily to provide me with better awareness over my thoughts and actions, and about a year ago, I discovered the Healthy Minds Innovations Website (https://hminnovations.org/) and app (the link is accessible from the website). It is a nonprofit affiliated with the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was started in 2014 by Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist, driven by a mission to translate science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being.
What can mindfulness teach us? The art of paying attention. Mindfulness is nothing more than paying attention moment-by-moment. It can be applied to everything in our lives, including word choice, thoughts, food choice, purchasing habits, etc.
Mindfulness has taught me a lot about hunger and cravings, which is why I am excited to launch my 4-week Fasting Accelerator (10/22-11/12) teaching participants about Intermittent Fasting using the practices of Mindfulness.
Here are some of the benefits of this method of eating:
- Weight loss
- It can reduce insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar by 3-6% and insulin levels by 20-32%
- Reduces risk of inflammation
- Reduces “bad” LDL cholesterol and blood triglycerides
- Reduces blood pressure
- Reduces body fat percentage
- Boosts your immune system
– > These are the last days before a price increase for the Fasting Accelerator. You can sign up for this introduction to Time Restricted Eating for just $97 until Sept. 1, when the price goes to $117 for this 4-week guided program. Read more and register here. https://go.juliebergfeld.com
And I’d love to hear about your mindfulness practices. What does mindfulness provide you? Hit REPLY and tell me.
Did you know that you can set up a free 30-minute consult with me at any time? This will be a no-obligations zoom session to review your current state, talk about goals and boundaries and to see if we are a good fit to be coaching together. Schedule here: https://calendly.com/juliebergfeld/30-min-discovery
