Body Mind Matters: New Beginnings, Part Three

When new goals are created, it’s important to look closely at what’s going on in our lives and understand how those circumstances might affect our choices. I’d like to focus here on how to keep our goals realistic and how to move forward by paying attention to the current realities of our lives.

Many times goals are created with the best of intentions, but in hindsight, we leave out some of the important elements of our day-to-day life. Because of this, momentum may be lost when those crucial details are not included in the crafting of our goals. For example, a client of mine wanted to start running again after the birth of her daughter. She used to run regularly and felt it was the best way to get back into shape. She initially set it up in her mind that she would go back to her old program of running five days a week in the early morning with a baby jogger and was excited about the possibility of getting her pre-baby body back.

However, when we talked about the reality of her life and I had her tune into how her body felt about the goal, the response was different. She reported that she felt physically nervous and tense about being able to keep up the pace because of the lack of sleep and fatigue she was feeling from the care of her new baby. We then used her body, asking step by step, what she really could do to move towards this goal in a much more realistic manner. She worked out that she would start on the weekends, by first trying one day with the jogger and one day on her own. This decision all came from having her tune into the reality of her life and then paying attention to her body’s reaction as she shaped a realistic goal. (Read more about tuning into the body in New Beginnings, Part One.)

Finally, tracking the progression of goals, no matter how subtle, will keep us going when we feel stuck. There are five key strategies that are important to focus on while we create and set our goals in motion.

Honor Your Nature
What is your natural rhythm or personality style? When you think about your goals, work with your nature and think about how to support it. Do you approach goals better by yourself, one-on-one or with a group?