What is Positivity?

Positive Psychology is becoming better known but is often confused with the pursuit of happiness just for the sake of pleasure. We all know that every day and every season and every lifetime is a mixture of happy and less happy moments and times. Negativity is easy to recignize! So what is positivity and how do we know if we are living it or not?

Barbara Frederickson, PhD and Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, has spent more than 20 years studying this topic, working with hundreds of people, and in her groundbreaking book, ‘Positivity’, (2009), she shares her studies with us.

According to her, there are 10 forms of positivity, and we all experience these in different ways. The last one in her list is love. Why? Because it encompasses all of the 9 other forms on the list! Positivity is Joy, Gratitude, Serenity, Interest, Hope, Pride, Amusement, Inspiration, Awe, and Love.

Positivity is delicate and can disappear in a moment, but by cultivating our conscious attitude and perspective, we can nourish positivity in ourselves and see it become more and more a part of our natural way of seeing things.

Coaching questions: where do you find elements of positivity in your life? Where can you incorporate more of them today?

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How Ecologically Sustainable is Your Healthy Habits Lifestyle?

We all talk about food, nutrition, calories, vitamins, weight loss, but here is something to consider. How ecologically sustainable are you being?

I recently had a powder diet pudding envelope in my hands and saw that over 35 ingredients went into the powder. That would mean that the ingredients came from 35 places, before being brought to the factory, mixed together at the factory, then packaged and transported to the supermarket and to my kitchen. And, you might ask, does this pudding really qualify as ‘food’? And how much gas and electricity and packaging has been used on the way?

The New York Times, August 9, 2010, points out an important new trend: ‘the growing influence of so called ‘Lohas’ consumers, which stands for lifestyles of health and sustainability, a marketing term coined about a decade ago to describe consumers whose environmental and social concerns guide their purchases. Roughly 19% of American adults are counted as Lohas consumers and they are credited with spending nearly $ 300 billion on sustainable products and services in 2008, according to the Natural Marketing Institute, a market research firm.’

How ‘Lohas’ are you? I know that I just discovered an organic market of local produce on Saturday mornings, just a short walk from where I live. Some fruit and vegetables from there will do my body, and the planet, a lot of good. Join the growing number of Lohas and keep yourself and your environment healthy….

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How Can Your Heros be of Help to You?

Take a few moments and think about who your heroes were when you were a child, or who they may be right now. A Superhero? A great leader, sportsman, actor, thinker or writer? Or your favorite grandmother or ‘the unknown soldier?’

Heros inspire us and help us see greatness that is out of the ordinary. What is it about your special hero that inspires you? A helpful exercise is to ask yourself what are the parts of that character that especially stand out for you. Regardless of which hero, you might come up with character traits such as bravery, goodness, honesty, humor, integrity, creativity, humbleness, consistency….

Once we see the admirable character traits as apart from the hero image itself, we are looking at character traits that we all have in ourselves, to a greater or lesser extent. Usually our heros help us to identify these parts of ourselves that are important to us, where we are already brave, consistent, humble, or creative.

Out of the roughly 120 character strengths that are identified in our society in the western world today, around 5 or 6 will be more relevant to you than others. Whereas for one of us, bravery may be quite important, for others, it might be hope or curiosity, playfulness or joy. No one character trait is ‘better’ than the other and your combination of 5-6 important values is part of what makes you unique AND of great contribution to the world around you.

Your favorite hero will most probably help you to understand yourself better, to locate what are your values and how you can use them yourself to get further along in your goals of a happy lifestyle. Where can you use more of your strengths today? What would your hero do when faced with your problems? How can you be more like your hero right now? How does your heart ‘jump’ when you imagine you really were more like your heros?

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2 Antidotes to Anxiety, According to the Dalai Lama

(From the book: ‘The Art of Happiness’, 1998)

“In discussing the antidotes to anxiety, the Dalai Lama offers 2 remedies, each working on a different level. The first involves actively combatting chronic rumination and worry by applying a counteractive thought: reminding oneself, ‘If there is a solution to the problem, there is no need to worry. If there is no solution, there is no sense in worrying either.’

The second antidote is a more broad-spectrum remedy. It involves the transformation of one’s underlying motivation, rather than emphasizing the achievement of worldly sucess, money, or power.

Standing back and simply making sure that you mean no harm and that your motivation is sincere can help reduce anxiety in ordinary daily situations.”

For example, if you are feeling anxious about a new job interview, or asking someone that you like for a first date, or giving a speech, ask yourself, what is your underlying motivation? Is it only money, power, and fame? or is it a genuine interest to help others, participate fully, contribute to the world, to love and be loved in return? If this is so, then you will find your anxiety decrease because you know that, regardless of the outcome, your intentions are good and you will find the way to express your values, even if it takes some time.

So next time you are worrying or feeling stressed, take a moment to look at the situation from your deepest motivation and see that you are probably operating from a good and strong source. Then you can examine if you can or cannot solve the problem, and find it easier to take a clear and calm path forward.

What are your thoughts? Share them with us in our ‘comments’ section.

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Wellness Coaching on the Rise

This article by Erin Flynn Jay,just published on Coaching Commons, is a great additional insight into this growing profession. Read below…

 

What does the future hold for the wellness coach market?

Three experts weigh in.

The wellness market appears to be on the brink of a shift toward total self-empowerment, requiring more personal wellness responsibility on the part of the consumer. “The implication here is that we, as wellness coaches, must be ready and able to support those clients who are experiencing this changing paradigm,” said Melody Mayo, a wellness coach based in Atlanta. “The wellness coaching market stands to sustain huge increases in clientele as an increasing number of people recognize the importance of lifestyle balance and maintaining real and total health (i.e., not just greater levels of fitness).”

In the past, clients have sought out various forms of health “consultants” to give them direction, but the recent trend shows that people are beginning to move towards creating a lifestyle that fits their individual needs, and that means figuring out how to tailor the approach to the individual–hence, the need for strong wellness coaches. “A strong coach will be able to provide much more than the lip service that has been so prevalent in the wellness industry up until now,” said Mayo. “People want and need to feel like they are in the driver’s seat and, as they become increasingly ready to embrace that responsibility, we need to be prepared to support them.”

As people grow older and more mature and continue to live active lives, their interest in living well becomes more important than living longer. “This is where wellness coaching fits in,” said Margaret Moore, Founder and CEO of Wellcoaches Corporation. “Wellness coaching is a field that barely existed ten years ago and is focused on helping clients develop and sustain robust mental and physical health.”

Moore foresees the next financial crisis will be around healthcare costs and will be even more devastating in scale than the recent financial crisis. “People are spending their health rather than investing in it. Baby boomers are getting to an age where one’s body starts to show signs of wear and tear and if you haven’t taken care of it, it wears out pretty quickly,” Moore said.

With 70 percent of health care costs related to preventable diseases, we have a responsibility to take good care of our health, not just our finances. According to Moore, “If we don’t collectively do this, it’s going to get extremely expensive — both personally and society-wide. People are awakening to realize that pharmaceutical companies aren’t going to cure obesity, diabetes, strokes, and heart disease any time soon, and what remains is to live a health-promoting lifestyle day in day out. They are saying to themselves: It’s up to me. How am I going to do this? And who’s going to pay for my health care in the future?”

The qualifications and training standards for wellness coaches as well as the distinction between wellness coaches and health coaches is under debate.

Moore is working with other leaders to create national standards and certification for health and wellness coaches, a step she sees as crucial to professionalizing the space for consumers and in medicine.

Technology is playing a huge role in the evolution of every industry – nowhere more prominently than in the health and wellness sectors. “Thanks to the Internet and mobile phones, Americans are wired together in an informational network that facilitates remote health/wellness coaching. Delivered at a fraction of the costs of face-to-face care, mobile wellness counseling allows coaches to stay in touch with individuals between appointments,” said Dr. Brian Alman, Founder of TruSage International. “It can also provide the personalized support individuals need to do the ‘finish work’ – i.e. extend the efficacy in order to maintain the last ten percent of any fitness, weight loss or disease management program. Typically, this ‘finish work’ is the hardest to achieve —and the greatest predictor of long-term success.”

Alman said the personalization is as important as the interaction, feedback, monitoring and delivering of content that is experiential for immediate and long-term results. Researchers from San Diego State University have demonstrated cost-savings, improvements in self-care, reduction of medical visits and significant improvements in adherence to medical regimens, including weight loss and wellness programs.

The huge growth of smart-phones, instant messaging and cloud computing allows coaches to deliver the right information on-demand.  “Clients (both businesses and individuals) want convenient access to effective, affordable wellness advice. Digital support (calls, texts, video and messages) helps coaches keep their patients on track and motivate them to stay the course,” said Alman.

The wellness coaching market stands to expand dramatically as more people live longer and continue to recognize the importance of maintaining total health. Mobile technology helps wellness coaches deliver results for their clientele.

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A Helpful Motivational List!

Here is a great list to hang where you can see it, written by Thomas Leonard, also known as one of the most important individuals in the creation of the coaching profession, the coaching that is not dedicated exclusively to the sporting world but rather to our lives in general.

Coaches look to inspire and enhance the positive in all of us! These 10 items on the list are delightful in helping you carry a great feeling with you throughout your day.

The Zen of Perfect, by Thomas Leonard

1. What is, is perfect.
And, you can perfect it.

2. What isn’t perfect, is perfect.
Because there is something to learn.

3. You are perfect.
Even when you are not.

4. Others are perfect.
Especially when they are not.

5. Life is perfect.
But only when you see that it is.

6. Weaknesses are perfect.
Their perfection is simply unrecognized.

7. Your strengths are perfect.
So, continue to perfect them.

8. What already is perfect is perfect.
Leave it alone.

9. Tragedies are perfect.
We just can’t see the perfection, yet.

10. Perfect is perfect.
Make perfect an art form.

Great food for thought!

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Wellness in 4 Simple Steps

Today’s blogpost is a direct quotation from Alicia Kirschenheiter of Evolution Total Wellness, Inc in New York.  Due to its helpful nature, I quote the article in its entirety! Enjoy…

New to the idea of starting a wellness journey? Well, no pun intended, no worries. Recognizing the need for change and bringing yourself to the right frame of mind, is the hardest step. As a health and wellness professional, I have the opportunity to see clients at all phases of their wellness journeys. Some clients are brand new to wanting to make healthy lifestyle changes, some have been on a rollercoaster for some time and some may just be looking for new and innovative ways to keep the journey interesting. What do all of them have in common? The hardest part of wellness, changing their mind set.

Fitness and nutrition are almost the easy part of a healthy lifestyle. I said almost. No one has ever thought walking lunges for the first time or cutting back on ice cream were easy tasks…but changing your mindset from thinking of health and wellness as a chore to having it as welcome part of life is a primary key to success. Learning to love health, fitness, holistic diet…well that’s then the hardest part.

So now that you know the hardest part, how do you get past it? I focus on a few factors with my clients.

• Know your Motivation – What brought you here? Only you, can motivate you. Making healthy lifestyle choices cannot be for anyone else but yourself. It’s one of the few times in life that being selfish is ok. Finding the internal motivation will keep you focused and driven but trying to change for someone else will make you disappointed if you rely only on their feedback to gauge your success..

• Do What You Love – Health and Wellness…well, can be torturous, if you do the things you hate simply because you think you should. Case in point, if you hate running, why run for cardio? Maybe you’re a biker, a swimmer, a walker or a dancer…do the things you love and you will begin to love what you do. Explore how to incorporate some of your life’s passions into your new search for wellness passion. Many times the lines can cross.

• Support – No man is an island…Getting support for your journey is crucial. Some people fly well solo, but the majority of people need to find that common bond to other people needing to make the same changes they need to make. So seek and yee shall find. Whether a family member, spouse, co-worker, child, friend or pet, form the bond that makes you feel good. But remember while you may share common interests and you may motivate each other, your journey should be unique and special to you to keep the journey personal and on the front burner.

• Lastly – Appreciate Success – What does success look like? How do you know you have reached goal? Well, if you can’t answer what goal is, then how do you know if you have reached it or not? Be specific, write it down, carry it with you and when you make strides toward it celebrate. The wellness journey is a lifelong path, not a destination. So getting healthy and staying healthy is always evolving. Recognizing successes along the path are truly vital.

Success can be joining a fitness class, discovering a new healthy food you enjoy or finding some peace during your day to breath.

Whatever it is recognize it and truly appreciate that you did something great. Anything that you would add?

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How a Good Routine ensures Healthy Life Balance

Christie Maillet at hellobeautiful.com gives us a great mindset tip when it comes to thinking about new routines. ‘Have you ever realized what happens when you start something new? You have so many high expectations for yourself, yet still harbor a mixture of excitement and fear since you don’t know what to expect. ‘ Just sticking with the new routine can be a challenge at first, expecially in something repetitive such as a healthy habits lifestyle change.

‘When you’re in the middle of something that you’ve been doing for a while, the first instinct is to feel comfortable with the routine. You know where you’re going, who you’re dealing with, and you start feeling a bit bolder in how you approach the situation. Stuff you were uncomfortable about at the beginning falls into place and you feel that you can even mix it up a bit, adding your own touch to what once was a learning experience. For example, if you walk to the same job every morning, maybe you take a different route one day now that you know the area better. At first, you were just learning where you were going, but now that the daily routine is in place, there’s room for diversity and change.’

‘Over time, it’s possible that something you never expected to feel so natural can become a part of your daily consciousness. Time and routine are closely connected – you need time in order to adjust to a routine and feel comfortable in new avenues. Once the comfort-factor happens, it’s only a matter of time before you feel a sense of balance. From then on, it’s your inner resilience which determines how you stay on top of your stride.’

So the initial effort is comforted by the new routine, and the long term success is based on not getting so comfortable that you end up back tracking on your vows to do a better job. ‘Putting your big guns doiwn and staying neutral through and experience may seem tempting, but in this world, staying tough and trying your best from start to finish is what differentiates yourself from the crowd. It’s the humble ones who stay upbeat and true to their own diligence that ultimately get the most out of a situation. If you don’t have the staying power to finish what you started with a bang, then aren’t you merely a mediocre version of yourself?’ Food for thought…….

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10 Great Tips to Your Best Healthy Self, part II

11) Be patient with yourself. Changing old habits and replacing them with new ones takes time and effort, it helps to know this from the beginning. A healthy weight is a lifelong dedication, not a seasonal or short term effort. It is normal to gain some weight in increasing years but that is not the same thing as completely ‘letting go’. Another way of phrasing this is by saying that good eating is the best preventative medicine on the planet and should be treated as such. The right food at the right ‘dosage’ at the right time for the right person.

12) Turn your thinking upside down. We live in a world where we tend to identify our point of view from ‘here’ and envision a better state, an ideal state, as something over ‘there’. The path to get there connects the 2 points, even if the path is not a straight one. Just to encourage a new perspective, try taking the ‘there’ and bring it into the now. If I am the trim, energetic, well-slept, happy, achieved person, then eating that triple ice cream now is not consistent with what I have chosen to BE. Putting the future into the present in any number of little ways brings the ideal state closer to the now.

13) Get help and support. There are any number of ways to do this but research has shown that your chance of reaching your goal is as high as 95% if you have your plan, accountability built into that plan, and, better yet, specific dates with your support team/person. My experience as a health coach most certainly can confirm that.

14) Have a look at some statistics. An average woman, according to the British Department of Health, consumes 1,940 calories a day to maintain reasonable weight. Eating just 100 additional calories a day will result, all factors being equal, in a weight gain of 4.7 kilos (about 10 pounds) in the course of 1 year! But, if you reduce your daily calorie intake by 100 calories by skipping a little something here and there, you use this equation to work in your favor and could reduce weight without suffering all too much. This is where meal-makeovers come in handy.

15) Steady does it. Keep your meals on a schedule to keep blood sugar levels as even as possible, not asking your body to constantly compensate your irregular schedule. It is interesting to know that your brain weighs just about 3 pounds (2% of your body weight on average) but uses up 25% of the body’s blood sugar to ‘feed’ itself. Mental fuzziness, headaches, lack of concentration, irritability arise when blood sugar level collapses. The resulting urge to eat a big meal puts your good intentions in the danger zone.

16) Balance, balance. Nobody is perfect, so why try to be? Instead of trying too hard, a good way to look at your healthy habit program is as a program proportioned at 80/20. 80% would be the combination of the healthy habits in the everyday and 20% saved for a dessert, or an alcoholic beverage, a lazy Sunday in front of the TV, or a day when you stayed up late to finish a special project. With this attitude, over time, we’re avoiding the ‘disaster’ mindset that heads us down the dangerous ‘all or nothing’ path.

17) Variety.  Eat food of all different colors and from high, medium, and low sources. Avoid processed foods at all cost. If a convenience food calls your attention, read the label of ingredients and ask yourself, if your great grandmother were with you at that moment, if she would recognize anything on that label as food. And, as a general rule, if the labels are calling out to you with words like ‘healthy’, ‘omega 3′, ‘no cholesterol’, just stroll over to the fruit section at the grocers and see the quiet, patient, label-less fruit with all their goodness just awaiting you.

18)  What’s your coachable goal? Eating right means aligning your values with your actions and discovering the strategies that will lead you to your balanced life. Take care to identify your goals (go to the gym 3 times a week) as opposed to your general wishes (have more energy, be a more fun person), as opposed to vague intentions that are not anchored (try to drink more water, lose weight because I ‘should’, etc. Your health coach will give you some guidelines so that each step feels good and feels right and represents the real ‘you’.

19) Think holistic. Success in healthy habits will come from all of the parts of you working together. Your mental state, emotional state, physical state and spiritual state are like 4 pillars that hold up a house. Missing any one of these, the roof and the house are unstable and could fall any time. Your sun above you is your guiding light, and your garden is what surrounds you in the everyday. Have a look at all of these as you move forward in achieving life balance.

20) KISS stands for ‘keep it simply simple’. Give yourself positive messages. Reward every success. Look ahead to your goal and stay on that path. Travel this path in the full knowledge that you are in good company.

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10 Tips to Achieving a Steady, Healthy Weight

1) Did you know? The most difficult part of successful weight loss is the first 1-3 years after you have completed your diet. We often see the happy photos of individuals showing how thrilled they are that their pants are WAY too big now. Truth is, a full 80% of dieters re-gain the lost weight and, in repeating the weight loss/weight gain process, the metabolism slows down, making it harder and harder to lose weight each time. A ‘diet’ is only part of the solution. A new lifestyle is the most rewarding and here is where your health coach steps in…

2) Mark Your Objective. Goals are like flowers, they need attention (like a plant needs watering and vitamins) all the time. You make a conscious effort to get to an improvement in your healthy habits, but what you really want is to not throw all that hard work away. If you are maintaining yor weight, weigh yourself frequently to catch small weight gains by being watchful for a few days. Remember the big picture – what is valuable to me? (probably not that doughnut). Think, wait, reflect……

3) Be Constant. Besides the boost that your self-esteem enjoys from sticking to a few new habits consistently, your body will begin to respond as well. Over time, these goals transform themselves into habits and you can move to the next step, however slow these steps may be in becoming part of your daily reality. There is a wonderful new book out called ‘Progress, not Perfection’, a book worth reading and a phrase worth taking to heart.

4) Enjoy your changed habits. Healthy food can be very exciting and adventurous! If you’ve never tried all the possible recipes using the food on your healthy food list, go ahead! Indian food, thai food, organic food, spicy food, fresh fish, awesome vegetarian, sushi. It will take some time to adjust the portion sizes to honor your dedication to reduced calorie intake, but your body and mind will get great satisfaction from a whole new place.

5) Be flexible. A day that did not work out exactly the way you wished is perfectly normal. If you ate too much or did not have time for the midday walk, the best advice is to NOT intend to overcompensate the next day. Wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, say ‘I love you’ and go back to your carefully crafted healthy habits plan – no self-punishment on your agenda….

6) Compensate excess proactively. If you are heading out to a big fiesta, have an apple and a glass of water before leaving to the party. Arrive hungry, but not starving and you will have a lovely dinner at the party, but not 6 plates just out of habit.

7) Eating out can work as well. One recommendation came my way long ago and I have stayed with it ever since. Order 2 dishes and not 3 (first course, second course, dessert). With the main course, order just ONE other course, either first course or dessert and make the ‘extra’ course a raw fruit or vegetable dish. For example, a small green salad to start, or gazpacho. Should the dessert be the dish chosen, then some fruit will do. The main mean can be significantly reduced in calories by cutting extra fat off of the meat, avoiding creamy sauces and  greasy/oily food. Avoiding too much bread, butter, and alcohol will add up to calorie savings that, in the course of the year, will tally up to positive results for you.

8) Your physical activity. There is not much to add to the vast information available to us about getting up and getting moving but anything and everything counts. Grabbing a Snickers chocolate bar equals about 3.5 hours of vigorous exercise to burn it off, all things considered, so we can’t do enough to make sure we’re moving our bodies at home, at work, and in our free time.

9) Think Positive. Positive thinking means looking more at the triumphs than the failures, large or small. Understnad that errors are a natural part of change. A ‘treat’ does not necessarily need to be a sweet snack, for example, how about a trip to the movies with a friend instead? Real change comes with not only ‘thinking positive’ but associating positive thoughts with the healthy and fun activities that match your new lifestyle.

10) Be persistent with change. Accept that controlling your weight for many years is achieved by the little changes that you repeat again and again until they form your daily routine. A client of mine made it his goal to drink only one glass of white wine at dinner and not more. It took over a year to stick with the routine, then go off it once or twice, then back to the goal, then off it on the odd holiday or special event, until the new goal stuck in 99% of all situations he was in! Now, for him, even though it took time, the wine is not an issue any more.

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