There are millions of ways to exercise and eat healthy that exist at our finger tips. There are coaches and trainers, and teachers and experts galore and yet the struggle to do the work is real. If this struggle feels real to you at this moment I have a few questions for you. Hopefully these questions will help you peel back the layers and discover the source of some of the resistance.

What are your wellness beliefs?

When you think about exercise, eating healthy and changing your body, what are the underlying beliefs? What do you think about mental health, emotional and spiritual wellbeing? Do you believe that exercise isn’t fun? Do you believe that eating healthy is too expensive and too time consuming? Do you deep down believe your body will never change? Is what you’ve seen as Spiritual not for you?

As I have discussed before, our beliefs create our thoughts, our thoughts create our emotions, and our emotions fuel our actions. These actions repeated over days, weeks and years create our life. This is why it is so crucial to understand what we truly believe about our wellness journey and our bodies. If you struggle with finding these beliefs, start to notice your thoughts and words when think and/or talk about wellness and your body. All the answers are in the thoughts you regularly think.

Do you believe you can reprogram these beliefs?

After spending some time noticing your thoughts and perhaps uncovering some underlying, possibly not so helpful beliefs, write them down. And then one by one go through and challenge each belief. “Why do I think exercise is awful?”, “Why do I feel I can’t meditate?”, “Why do you fall away from your plans for wellness?”, “Why?, Why?, Why?”.

Keep going deeper into your reasons and perhaps excuses for why you CANNOT.

Notice all thoughts that flow up as you explore. And then ask yourself why again. There is usually a common thread that once identified we can begin to accept and then reprogram.

Common threads are… a lack of self care and/or self love, unworthiness, guilt, shame, fear, lack of trust, unable to see or even daydream about the change, the new. Get clear on your threads.

Next is often the hardest part, loving and accepting the threads of darkness and shadow that dim our ability to love ourselves whole and treat ourselves with compassion and care. There are many practices that explore shadow work but for me I try to keep it SIMPLE… In a quiet and safe space identify the thread (emotion), connect with what that emotion feels like. The more you can allow yourself to FEEL the thread, the less it pulls on you, it just becomes apart of you.

We will never rid ourselves of the dark shadows. That is impossible anytime there is also light. We need them both. The moon herself shines through the darkness with the help of the sun.

Now that you love that unworthiness thread a little bit, can you find a way to move with it. Creating mantras that support can be helpful. For example, “It is my birthright to be worthy”.

Follow the thoughts and emotions into the threads —> then love the shadow parts just a smidgen more —> then reprogram your thoughts and words to find more love and compassion.

Can you create more joy along the way?

As you start to do this work you will notice that changing rooted beliefs that you’ve been backing up with thoughts and emotions and actions for years , can result in some discomfort. This is normal. Discomfort is a normal, natural, and to-be-expected part of all growth and change. When you add on to your house, there is the discomfort of construction. When you grow or start a business there is lots of discomfort in finding customers, employees, and support. When you start a yoga practice there is the discomfort of getting out of your head and into your body. It is for this reason that you must create joy along the way. Make the discomfort more comfortable with music, friends, laughter, yummy healthy food and of course dancing!! Check out this Create Your Own Joy Resource List for more ways to add joy to your everyday wellness work. If you don’t enjoy something it will be very hard to stay consistent.