Tag Archives: New Year

You Only Need One Thing to Make 2013 Your Year!

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Love YourselfHappy New Year!

You may be spending this day reflecting on 2012, and setting intentions and making resolutions for 2013.

Would you consider adding something to your list?

How about putting “Love Yourself” at the very top?

This is the primary intention I’m setting for myself in 2013.

I thought I had “loving myself” down. But as I’ve challenged myself to step up in a big way to better serve you, some of those old, negative voices have resurfaced. My business is expanding rapidly, and I’m learning how to up-level my energy to meet the new flow of clients and income.

And this has been a huge gift.

Because it is a vivid reminder of the pain I used to feel on a daily basis as I struggled with my weight. Feeling this old self-doubt and self-criticism has absolutely reinforced my focus and commitment to not only step up my own self-love—but to help you Love Your Way Slim.

No woman deserves to feel this self-inflicted pain.

Fortunately I have the tools, resources, and support to transform my inner critic so that it becomes a powerfully supportive—and loving—ally.

There are a lot of misconceptions about self-love. Self-love is not about conceit or thinking you are “higher and mightier” than anyone else.

In fact, when you are coming from a true place of self-love, it spills over onto everyone—and everything—else.

And a huge bonus! Loving yourself generates positive physical processes that are not only good for your health, but make it easier to release weight.

Loving yourself actually inspires loving action—towards yourself and others.

When you recognize and acknowledge your own intrinsic value, you automatically see it in others. When you feel an abundance of love there is no need to limit the love you give in any way.

So my wish for you in 2013 is that you make loving yourself your number one priority. 

With much love, appreciation, and wishes for 2013 to be your year,

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Hanna Goss, CPC, ELI-MP

Don’t forget to register today for my FREE tele-class to help you revolutionize your weight-loss resolution (so it finally works)!

Transform Your New Year’s Resolution

to Lose Weight!

Make 2013 the Year

You Finally Get the Body You Want 

January 2, 2013, 8 p.m. USA Eastern 

In this content-rich seminar you’ll discover:

  • The Top 5 Ways You are Unknowingly Sabotaging Your Efforts to Lose Weight
  • Why Your Weight is Still a Struggle for You and How to Break the Rebound Weight-gain Cycle Once and For All
  • The Surprising Power You Have to Successfully Lose Weight and Improve the Life of You and Your Family
  • 3 Easy Tips to Transform Your New Year’s Resolution and Turn it into a Reality
  • An Exciting NEW Opportunity to “Love Your Way Slim”
  • And much more . . .

Sign up for the call here! loveyourwayslim.com/transformyourresolution/

Let me help you make 2013 the year you mark “losing weight” off your list of New Year’s Resolutions forever!

Together we can do it!

Wellness Tip of the Day

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Wellness Tip of the Day

Put loving yourself at the top of your list of resolutions. Self-love spills over onto everyone and everything else—including your body.

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My blog is moving! To keep following my posts after January 15, follow my new blog, at LoveYourWaySlim.com. I look forward to continuing the journey with you!

3 Easy Tips to Create a Slimmer You in 2013

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ScaleOver this holiday week, you may have found yourself eating, and eating, and eating!

And you may be beating yourself up about it.

But telling yourself how horrible you are truly is NOT helpful—and it could very well end up making you feel so bad about yourself that you unknowingly sabotage your future efforts to lose weight. 

It will probably go something like this:

You feel fat. You may even feel desperate to lose weight. Every time you feel how tight your clothes are, all you can think about is how much you hate your body.

You know you need to diet and exercise so that you can drop some weight, but it’s the end of the year, right? Why start now?

You make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight. You decide that on January 2nd you are going to start dieting and exercising.

Between now and then you keep eating, and eating, and eating. You are trying to cram in every food you love to prepare for months of hunger and deprivation.

You feel bloated, headachy, and slightly sick.

And you hate yourself even more. You feel ashamed that you’ve let your weight get out of hand—again.

On January 2, you force yourself to work out and you start a diet that drastically cuts the amount of food you’ve been eating.

Each day gets harder and harder.

Maybe your diet lasts for a day or two, or for a week or two, or maybe you are even successful at meeting your goal.

And then you feel your control slip.

You just can’t maintain the rigid diet and exercise “rules” you’ve set in place. You’re tired of being hungry. Your tired of feeling deprived. Your tired of feeling like you aren’t fully living your life.

Before you know it, you’ve regained the weight you’ve lost—and then some.

This time next year, you find yourself putting “losing weight” at the top of your list of New Year’s resolutions—again.

It’s time to say, “ENOUGH!”

There is another way! And you don’t have to follow rigid rules, feel hungry and deprived to get the body you want. (Honestly!)

The first tip  is to ease up on the self-criticism.

This makes sense when you think about the the foundation principle that Energy Attracts Like Energy (also known at the Law of Attraction).

If you spend all your time thinking about the fact that you don’t have the body you want, you are actually creating more life experiences where you are unhappy with your body.

Begin using this Universal Law to work for you instead of against you! 

Start today by focusing on what you can appreciate about your body. By focusing on what is working and what you do like, you will create more opportunities to appreciate and love your body.

The second tip  is to ease up (just slightly!) on the food intake.

This is not the last time you will be able to eat your favorite foods. (I promise!) When you take off the pressure of “never being able to eat this again!” there is not the frenzy to shove everything in now before the “diet deadline.”

Eat what actually feels good. What you really want in this moment. What you can really savor.

There is more than enough. There is plenty. You can still eat your favorite foods AND lose weight. 

Taking the self-imposed pressure off means you will eat less, enjoy more, and start the year maybe not quite as heavy and physically hung-over as you would be otherwise.

You will feel better and have some momentum going on January 2, so beginning to implement some healthier eating doesn’t come as such a shock to your system.

The third tip is to take baby steps.

If going to the extreme of implementing rigid rules and drastically reduced calories is going to make you feel deprived and resentful—and ultimately send your efforts to create the body you want on the skids—then why go that route?

What if instead you committed to eating a little bit healthier today? Or getting in a 10 minute walktoday? And you celebrated what you did, instead of what you didn’t do? Would making that same commitment be a little easier tomorrow? What would your wellness journey look like next week? Next month? In six months?

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

What step are you willing to take on your wellness journey today?

When you just keep taking those small steps, it’s not too much time before you have achieved your New Year’s Resolution and have created the body—and lifestyle—you want!

Together we can do it!

I’m offering a FREE tele-class to help you revolutionize your weight-loss resolution (so it finally works)!

Transform Your New Year’s Resolution

to Lose Weight!

Make 2013 the Year

You Finally Get the Body You Want  

 

January 2, 2013, 8 p.m. USA Eastern

In this content-rich seminar you’ll discover:

  • The Top 5 Ways You are Unknowingly Sabotaging Your Efforts to Lose Weight
  • Why Your Weight is Still a Struggle for You and How to Break the Rebound Weight-gain Cycle Once and For All
  • The Surprising Power You Have to Successfully Lose Weight and Improve the Life of You and Your Family
  • 3 Easy Tips to Transform Your New Year’s Resolution and Turn it into a Reality
  • An Exciting NEW Opportunity to “Love Your Way Slim”
  • Plus Much More…

Simply register by filling out the form at loveyourwayslim.com/transformyourresolution/ and you’ll receive access to this free call.

 

Turn Your New Year’s Resolution to Lose Weight into Reality!

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Confetti

Chances are, losing weight is on your list of New Year’s Resolutions—again!

One of the reasons that New Year’s resolutions are often dead by February 1 is that unknowingly, people are focused on what they don’t want.

For instance, you may be focused on being too fat, or that you aren’t thin enough, fit enough, or healthy enough.

And even though you set the resolution to lose weight, get fit, and healthy, the majority of your thoughts and energy are still focused on the fact that you lack what your resolution is focused on.

When you think about the foundation principle that Energy Attracts Like Energy (also known at the Law of Attraction), you can begin to see that thoughts are our mental capital to invest wherever we want, with the dividends being our future life-experiences.

For instance, when you invest the majority of your mental capital on the fact that you don’t have the body you want, you are actually building the account that creates more life experiences where you are unhappy with your body.

If you invest that mental capital in the belief that your body is already wonderful and is getting better and better, your account includes an increase in life experiences of an ever improving body.

The challenge is, it’s often difficult to recognize where you are investing your thoughts.

It seems like if you are focused on how much you want to be slim you should get the body you want.

No wonder it is incredibly frustrating and discouraging to think you are getting the body you want only to continue to struggle with your weight.

But your life experiences—and body—are always letting you know where you are investing most of your mental capital.

A good way to tell where you are investing your thoughts and energy is by paying attention to how you feel. Focusing on lack feels like yearning or even desperation.

This is why wanting often gets a bad rap; people confuse wanting with yearning. A feeling of lack alwaysfeels bad.

Wanting is a feeling of confidence that you will get the thing you desire. It’s knowing the goal you have set is yours. It’s enjoying the thought of what you want and being thrilled as you watch the process of life shifting to help you achieve your goal. It’s feeling engaged and excited to do the things you can do to bring your request to fruition and letting go of what you can’t control with an absolute knowing that the Universe (God, Source Energy, All-That-Is, Higher Coach—whatever works for you.) is happily engaging all of its incredible resources on your behalf.

But it can be hard to shift your focus from yearning for something to thriving in the process of life that will bring you to your goal.

Often it is easier to move yourself forward by shifting your mental capital from losing weight (or whatever your goal is) and to instead investing it in more general life accounts, such as feeling good most of the time, loving and laughing more easily, and enjoying your life more.

You are still investing your mental capital towards achieving your New Year’s Resolution, but there is less risk that the investments aren’t going into the account you truly intend. You can tell if you are investing more wisely because you feel good.

The bottom line is, Yes! Make the New Year’s resolutions, but pay attention to how you feel, and think about diversifying you mental and energetic investments so that you get a better return.

You can tell you are putting your mental capital where you want because you get the immediate bonus of feeling good right now.

Together we can do it!

I’m offering a FREE tele-class to help you revolutionize your weight-loss resolution (so it finally works)!

Transform Your New Year’s Resolution

to Lose Weight!

Make 2013 the Year

You Finally Get the Body You Want  

 January 2, 2013, 8 p.m. USA Eastern

 In this content-rich seminar you’ll discover:

  • The Top 5 Ways You are Unknowingly Sabotaging Your Efforts to Lose Weight
  • Why Your Weight is Still a Struggle for You and How to Break the Rebound Weight-gain Cycle Once and For All
  • The Surprising Power You Have to Successfully Lose Weight and Improve the Life of You and Your Family
  • 3 Easy Tips to Transform Your New Year’s Resolution and Turn it into a Reality
  • An Exciting NEW Opportunity to “Love Your Way Slim”
  • Plus Much More…

Simply register by filling out the form at loveyourwayslim.com/transformyourresolution/ and you’ll receive access to this free call.

Take a Step Towards the Healthy and Happy Holidays You Want

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Decisions
There’s a lot of tempting food around this time of year.

Many of the women I work with feel out of control with their eating, or rebellious about holding back on holiday treats, or rationalize that “it’s just once a year.”

So you eat. And eat.

And then you mentally beat yourself up. 

We’re not talking about a little, “Oh, I shouldn’t have eaten that.”

What often happens is a full-blown attack. 

We’re talking guilt. You say things to yourself like:

  • “I am so weak.”
  • “I’m so stupid.”
  • “I’m ugly.”
  • “I’m fat.”
  • “I hate my body.” 

You say things that are totally and completely UNTRUE! You say things to yourself that you would never say to anyone else. 

And it is a painful place to be.

I love the Dan Millman quote:

“You began life with a natural, complete sense of worth. (Have you ever met an infant with self-worth issues?) But as you grow, you serve as your own judge, deducting points when you misunderstand the nature of living, and learning—when you forget you are a human-in-training and that making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable sins.”

Let me repeat the key sentence:

“Making mistakes and having slips of integrity and mediocre moments are a part of life, not unforgivable sins.”

This absolutely includes eating what you judge to be “bad” over the holidays. Or not being at what you feel is your optimal weight. Or not looking like a super model.

Beating yourself up is NOT helpful.

And it could very well end up making you feel so bad that you just give-up trying to eat healthy until the New Year.

If you found yourself driving in the wrong direction, would you just keep going for weeks trying to find your destination? Would you tell yourself how horrible you are because you’re not there?

Would you say to yourself, “Oh well. I’m lost. I might as well just keep driving until January 2?”

Think of all the extra miles you would add-on to the trip, and the possible damage that could be done to your car?

You can make a different choice. 

And there are lots of options. You can:

  • Pull over and ask for directions.
  • Turn around right now.
  • Start driving in what you know is the right direction, and focus on enjoying the occasional detour.

Often you put off taking care of yourself until Monday, the first of the year, or some deadline that is later.

Then when you get there, you may do well for a couple of days, only to feel overwhelmed and deprived and find yourself back to your old eating and exercise habits.

What if, instead, you committed to eating just a little bit healthier today?

Or moving your body in some way for 10 minutes?

Or celebrated all that you did that was healthy, instead of the few things you didn’t do?

  • Would that feel like you were headed in the right direction?
  • Would your self-talk be more supportive?
  • Would that make it easier to keep going tomorrow? Next week? On January 2? 

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

—Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC – 531 BC)

Don’t just keep driving in the wrong direction by putting off eating healthy and exercising until everything is perfect.

The only perfect time to start taking care of yourself is right now. Even if it’s just one tiny step towards the body—and life—you want.

Together we can do it!

Create the Holidays You Want

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I was thinking that I would blog today about getting back on track with food after the big Thanksgiving meal most of us Americans ate yesterday. But as I sat down to write, I realized that for many people, it’s their emotional wellness that is more strained today then their waistbands.

There’s a lot about the holidays that can impact people’s wellness—whether it’s gaining weight, or having your emotional wellness impacted by depression, overwhelment, and stress, as well as challenging relationships.

The typical things that can throw people out of balance–and have them reaching for extra helpings of their favorite comfort food–during the holidays include:

  • Unmet expectations—you might be trying to live up to a romanticized notion of how the holidays should be, either from your memories of when you were a kid or from how the holidays are portrayed in the movies. Or you may be trying to make everything perfect—for yourself or for others. This is something Mom’s can really struggle with because they want to make things perfect for their kids.
  • Other people’s expectations—you can be dealing with expectations of how you should act, or your perception of other people’s expectations. You may really struggle with feeling like you’re disappointing people, or feel like they have a negative perception of you that you can use as a reason to feel bad about yourself.
  • Dwelling on negative things—you might have previous holiday-related disappointments or difficult times that haunt you this time of year.
  • Challenging relationships—tensions often run high during the holidays and there may be family misunderstandings and conflicts, particularly if you’re spending a lot more time together than usual. Or you may be facing the holidays without a loved one, which can also leave you feeling lonely and sad.
  • Extra physical demands—all the shopping, decorating, socializing, cooking, sending out holiday cards—the list goes on and on—can leave you wiped out. Particularly if you feel like you have to do it all yourself. Being exhausted increases stress. Exercise and sleep—those good solutions for stress and fatigue—may take a back seat to chores and errands.

Having a different experience over the holidays is really about making different choices.

Here are some tips for creating the holidays you want:

  • Define what the holidays really mean to you and how you want to feel. Then make that vision your priority. Let go of anything that doesn’t create that vision and feeling.
  • Take care of you! Take the time to meditate, exercise, and get enough rest so that you have mental clarity and physical energy. Taking care of you enables you to take care of others–and be the version of you that others actually want to be around!
  • Focus on the best qualities of everyone you love and forgive them for not being perfect. And most importantly, forgive yourself for not being perfect!
  • Let go of the responsibility for anyone else’s happiness. I know it’s hard to hear and even harder to believe, but this includes your kids!
  • Release the need to do everything yourself and either ask for help or let things go. That means not criticizing your partner when they do things differently then how you would have done them. Done equals beautiful!
  • Focus on all the things you appreciate. If you can only do one thing, do this!
  • Focus on all the reasons you want to start the New Year feeling great. Write down the reminders and read them when you start to feel stressed.
  • Celebrate each tiny thing that you do that creates your balanced and fulfilled holiday experience. Taking a stress-relieving bath, going for a walk, not snapping at your kids–all wins!
  • Reach out for support to help you get through the challenges you are facing. It can be hard to ask for what you need, but this is not the time to go it alone. Seek the support of a friend, hire a coach, or reach out to a free on-line support community, like http://www.transformation.com/.

Ultimately, getting through the holidays feeling healthy and happy is about letting go of the need to be perfect. It’s reaching for the hope and belief that life can get better and better.

Yesterday was just one day in your hopefully very long life. If it didn’t go as well as you hoped, for whatever reason, what can you do today to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep making progress toward the body–and life–you want?

Together we can do it!

Nine Tips To Break the Holiday Stress Tradition

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Many of you may be traveling over the next week or have visitors coming to you to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving.

While the focus is on the feast, it may be your emotional wellness that is more strained than your waistband.

The holidays—the time that’s supposed to be so magical and wonderful—are often the hardest time of year.

Part of this is because of the temptation of all the extra food around.

This leads to inner conflict. You may want to celebrate with food, but then you feel guilty about it. Or maybe you’re successful at resisting all that temptation, but then feel deprived and resentful. Or you may rebel at restraining your eating and binge on everything in sight.

There may also be the stress caused by your perception of family expectations that you don’t feel like you can live up to.

Or worse, your own expectations that everything has to be perfect.

This may mean you pack too much into your to-do list.

The result is you’re challenged when your priorities aren’t shared by others, which results in family tension. Again, you might turn to food to try to comfort yourself and deal with the stressful feelings.

You put your own self-care at the bottom of the list so you aren’t taking care of you.

It may also mean you spend too much time on details that don’t really matter and miss out on the things that do. This could look like staying up late trying to get every dish looking perfect, but then you are so tired that you scream at your kids the next morning. What’s really more important to you? Having a perfect dish, or getting enough rest to be a great Mom?

All of this can lead to a physical and emotional hangover.

There’s a lot about this time of year that can impact your wellness—whether it’s gaining weight, or having your emotional wellness impacted by depression, overwhelment, and stress, as well as challenging relationships.

Here are 9 things that you can do to break the holiday stress tradition:

  1. Take time for you. Make this your number 1 priority. Schedule your calendar around taking even 5 to 15 minutes every day to meditate or exercise, or just lounge in a bubble bath. And make sure you get enough rest so that you can maintain the best possible version of you.
  2. Love the ones your with. It’s easy to criticize when your expectations aren’t being met, so spend at least a few minutes every day focused on the best qualities of everyone you love and forgive them for not being perfect. And most importantly forgive yourself for not being perfect.
  3. You are only responsible for you. Release yourself from the responsibility for anyone else’s happiness. Their reaction is their reaction. You are in control of how you react.
  4. Align your actions with your priorities. Prioritize your to-do list so that what you’re doing aligns with what you truly want out of the holidays. Beautiful dish or great Mom? What do you really want? What will your kids really remember?
  5. Release the need to do everything yourself and either ask for help or let things go. This may mean paying a few dollars to have the store wrap your packages, or being OK with the wrapping job your partner does.
  6. Focus on all the things you appreciate in your life. There is so much that you already have that is amazing. Pay more attention to what you do have rather than resenting what you don’t.
  7. Focus on all the reasons you want to start the New Year feeling great. Do you really enjoy the emotional and physical hangover you have on January 2? What would change if you started the New Year, energized, happy, and satisfied?
  8. Celebrate each tiny thing that you do that creates your balanced and fulfilled holiday experience. So you don’t get a workout in every day. Did you do it 3 days this week? Did you park at the far end of the lot and walk? Did you go for a walk around the block when Uncle Ralph started in on that story you’ve heard 1,000 times before? Count and celebrate even the smallest thing!
  9. Reach out for support to help you get through the challenges you’re facing. This is not the time to go it alone. If you need support, ask a friend, hire a coach, or log-in to a free on-line support community, like transformation.com.

Ultimately, getting through the holidays feeling healthy and happy is about letting go of the need to be perfect. It’s reaching for the hope and belief that life can get better and better. It’s prioritizing your time to match up with what you really want.

Together we can do it!

 

 

Were You a Halloween Candy Victor or Victim?

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A pumpkin created by Villafane Studios http://guardian.tumblr.com/

Halloween is the traditional start of holiday bingeing.

After two months eating and drinking too much of everything, women typically start the New Year feeling horrible about themselves, and with a desperate desire to be slimmer.

But few of those “Go on a diet” resolutions make it past January and statistics show that those few pounds gained Between October 31 and January 2 are never lost and actually accumulates over the years.

Unaddressed, those pounds—and the associated negative thoughts and emotions about your body and yourself—can have a detrimental impact on your wellness and wellbeing.

So how did you do last night? Were you the victor over the Halloween candy—or a victim?

If you were the victor, woo hoo! Way to go! You are starting the holiday season on the right foot and are on track to feel and be your best on New Year’s Day.

If not—and you feel guilty about it—let it go. It’s not the end of the world. And the great news is you get a brand new day today to make new choices.

Regardless if you were victor or victim, the question is, “What do you do from here?”

Step 1: Get rid of leftover candy. (That does not mean eat it!)

Many of my clients will eat even the candy they hate—because they don’t want to waste it.

This, my fabulous readers, is faulty thinking. One of the things that holds women back from creating the body and life of their dreams is accepting those limiting beliefs they have picked up from others as Truth.

The Truth is this candy in your body is just as wasteful as putting it in the trash. You can either waste it, or you waist it.

If you can’t give the candy away—throw it away!

Step 2: Decide to take Response-Ability.

As I wrote about in yesterday’s blog, whether you realize it or not, you do have Response-Ability. You have the power to choose what you put in your mouth.

Regardless if your husband brought home your favorite candy, or you didn’t have a single trick or treater, or the candy is super tempting, the candy is not going to knock you to the floor and jump into your mouth against your will.

Whether you realize it or not, you do have the power to make a different choice.

But you have to want to make a different choice.

Step 3: Figure out what it is about being slim that you want.

What feels more compelling? The goal to lose 30 pounds or to eat the candy right in front of you?

Of course it’s the candy!

So you need to look inside for a super compelling reason why skipping the candy feels better.

Step 4: What is your plan?

How are you going to deal with the temptations? How are you going to make sure you aren’t too hungry at parties? How can you ensure there’s something healthy on the Thanksgiving menu?

And know this doesn’t mean all or nothing. This doesn’t mean depriving yourself and not enjoying the holidays. This means figuring out before hand how you can live the holidays that will feel best to you—and then follow through with that plan.

If Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without a piece of pumpkin pie, then by all means plan to have the pie! But what other choices do you need to make so that pie is part of your healthy holiday eating plan?

Yesterday was just one day in your hopefully very long life. If you ate more calories than you wanted, what can you do today to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep making progress on your wellness journey?

What can you do to ensure that you feel like a victor come January 2?

Together we can do it!

  • Are you struggling with your weight?
  • Are you worried about holiday weight gain?
  • Are you ready to get the body you really want?

I am excited to offer 2 coaching spaces to help you love your way slim. If you are serious about transforming your mind and body, email me at hannagoss@goss-coaching.com by November 11 to schedule your complimentary breakthrough session. These powerful, empowering sessions are available on a limited basis.

Don’t wait till January 2 to take inspired action. Start creating the body—and life—you want today.

Love Your Way Slim for the Holidays

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Are you struggling with your weight? 

Are you worried about holiday weight gain? 

Are you ready to get the body you really want? 

I’m excited to announce that I have 3 coaching spaces open to help you love your way slim.

If you are serious about transforming your mind and body so that:

  • You start the New Year energized, fit, and feeling fabulous.
  • You break the cycle of losing and regaining the same 30 pounds—once and for all.
  • You feel confident and sexy in your clothes—and out.

Secure your spot now by emailing me athannagoss@goss-coaching.com by November 11 to schedule your complimentary breakthrough session. These powerful sessions are available on a limited basis.

Don’t wait till Jan 2 to take inspired action. Start creating the body—and life—you want today.

Together we can do it!

Love Your Way Through the Holidays—Part 4

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This is the last in a four-part series on going from Halloween to New Year’s with balance, grace, and fulfillment.

In yesterday’s blog, you looked at ways to keep yourself motivated to follow your plan from Halloween to New Year’s.

Today, I’ll share how I’ll be loving my way through the holidays.

Having a different experience over the holidays takes awareness, planning, and celebrating the smallest victories. If you haven’t already followed each of the steps I’ve laid out over the past four days, think about what your answers to these questions would be.

Step 1: Look at Past Experiences

What are those things that typically knock you for a loop?

My biggest challenges over the holidays include the extra temptation of all the treats that are around from Halloween to New Year’s, my perception of family expectations, and worse, my own expectations that everything has to be magical and perfect.

This makes me pack too much into my to-do list and I get challenged when my priorities aren’t shared by others, which results in stress and feelings of resentment. 

What do the holidays mean to you?

They mean unconditional love, recognizing and celebrating the magic in life, others, and myself. They mean having fun, relaxing, and laughing with friends and family. They mean being content and at peace.

When you compare what the holidays truly mean to you and your biggest challenges, what are the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that come up?

Stress and unmet expectations—my own and others. Having to have everything be perfect—decorations, sending out cards, gifts, and food, etc. Not wanting to feel deprived. Wanting to feel loved. The feeling that there’s too much to do. The feeling that people won’t love me if I’m not perfect.

What are the internal values that you truly want to honor over the holidays?

My connection to my Higher Self. Love, for myself and others. Self-care, so I have the energetic capital to give to others. Being appreciative of myself, others, and all the blessings in my life.

How do youwant to feel over the holidays?

Connected, balanced, happy, content, and loving.

How do you want to be on January 2nd, using the present tense?

I feel energetic and in balance–body, mind, and spirit. I have maintained my weight and I feel strong and fit. My relationships feel good. I appreciate life more. I am eager and excited about this New Year.

Step 2: Planning

Not that I’m clear on what it is that I want, I can start planning.

What do you have to do differently to get more of those feelings and to honor your core values?

  • Ensure that I take the time to meditate, exercise, and rest so that I maintain my connection to my Higher Self and have mental clarity and physical energy.
  • Focus on the best qualities of everyone I love and forgive them for not being perfect. And forgive myself for not being perfect.
  • Release myself from the responsibility for anyone else’s happiness.
  • Prioritize my to-do list so that what I’m doing aligns with what I truly want.
  • Release the need to do everything myself and either ask for help, or let things go.
  • Focus on all the things I appreciate in my life.
  • Focus on all the reasons I want to start the New Year feeling great and choose foods that will support that. But also allow myself to have some treats so that I feel like I’m fully experiencing and enjoying the season. 

What are the obstacles you will face and what do I need to do differently to work around them?

  • Time—So I’ll need to actually schedule those things that are a priority, like meditating, exercising, and some evenings where I just relax. I can focus on doing those things that really match up with my values. I can ask for help with decorating, shopping, and wrapping and shipping presents—and truly acknowledge and appreciate the help that I do get. 
  • Expectations—Since I don’t have control over anyone else’s reactions, I can focus on my own. I can be authentic and loving. I can be fully present. I can acknowledge other’s feelings, and I may have to allow them to feel disappointment. I may have to allow myself to feel disappointment. I can forgive them—and myself—for not being perfect. I can make lists of all the things I love and appreciate about others so those things are clear in my mind when I see them. I can enjoy what is instead of how I think it should be. 
  • Tempting foods and treats—Where I have control over the menu or am bringing something, I can provide healthy foods. I can eat before a party so I’m not as tempted. I can eat healthy foods for most meals and plan to have one meal a week where I allow myself to have treats. I can exercise my resistance muscle—and celebrate my success! I can forgive myself if I do give in and get back on track with healthy eating at my next meal. I can write down all the reasons I want to feel great on January 2nd, and I can read the list every day and carry it with me if I need a reminder of why I am choosing to eat healthy.

When and how are you going to do those things? (Be specific.)

  • This weekend, I will schedule time to meditate every day and exercise six days a week, and work the rest of my schedule around them.
  • I will schedule 5 minutes each day to write and read lists of appreciation.
  • Tonight I will create my list of all the reasons I want to feel great come January 2nd and I will include reading that in my 5 minutes of appreciation. I will carry the list in my purse, in case I need to remind myself why I’m choosing to forgo a treat. Each week, I will plan some downtime in my schedule. I will make getting adequate rest a priority.
  • If I feel stressed or overwhelmed, I will take 15 minutes to meditate and/or ask for help. I can also let go of things that aren’t on my priority list.
  • Every week, I will create a healthy meal plan and based on parties and other activities, I can decide when I will have my treats.

Finally, it’s really important to keep myself motivated and inspired to stay on track, even when things get tough.

How and when will you celebrate all the small things that you are doing to create a balanced and fulfilled holiday experience?

  • I will acknowledge and praise myself each time I meditate and workout. Even if I only get in 10 minutes, I will consider it a win.
  • Each time I face a temptation and choose to stick to my food plan, I will give myself praise. And as a bonus, when I get to January 2 and have maintained my weight and feel great, I will buy myself something I want.
  • When I take time out for rest and relaxation, I will honor the time and will make a point to do something that is truly relaxing.
  • I will celebrate my family and friends and share my appreciation for them. Each time I successfully release an expectation or respond in a more positive way than I would have in the past, I will acknowledge it during my time of appreciation by writing kudos to myself in my journal.
  • I will report to my husband, coach, and fabulous readers how well I am doing, and ask them for their support.

Right here and now, I make the commitment to do these things and to make this year’s holidays’ healthy and happy.

I encourage you to take the time now to think about, plan for, and celebrate your journey from Halloween to New Year’s. How do you want to feel on January 2? What do you need to do to get there?

Together we can do it!