Coping Skills ~ Feeling Your Way Through Life

This week we looked at the importance of having healthy coping skills to be truly healthy; body soul and spirit!

We took a look at the coping skills that our society uses. Drinking, drugs, shopping, and over eating to name a few. Coping; wrestling or grappling with difficulties and acting to over come them. As we looked closer at our societies list, we realized that we are not coping at all...we're avoiding. Avoiding the pain of the past and present. Instead of overcoming and healing our issues and pain, we are numbing them.

At The Healthy Weigh, we are convinced that unless a person acquires a healthy list of coping skills and begins to use them to heal past and present wounds, they will have temporary success at best.

The feeling wheel was introduced this week as a great tool to identify feelings and begin to process them. For many of us, we are a bit handicapped when it comes to expressing our feelings. We were taught to feel; mad, glad or sad. Identifying our true feelings is the first step to being able to process what's really going on inside of us.

We took a look at anger this week and learned that anger is a secondary feeling...meaning, there's always another primary feeling under the anger. Insecurities, fear, insignificance, you name it and it comes out in the form of anger. They key is to identify the REAL feeling so that we might process what's really going on inside of us. The reason anger shows up so often is that it takes being vulnerable to show our REAL feelings, and who likes to be vulnerable right??? 

The feeling wheel is an easy way to find that primary feeling under the anger. We recommend that you keep your feeling wheel on the inside of a journal so that you can refer to it as often as necessary while you're journaling. It wouldn't be such a bad idea to put it on the fridge so that the whole family could benefit from it!

It takes courage to forge ahead and begin to use real coping skills. What I know is that a mind that is healthy, and emotions that are healed will effect a physical body more than any diet ever could!

Always encouraging you.

Letha

What's In Your Back Pack ~ Controlling What You Can

This week I introduced my favorite lesson on the CD series. I learned about "Back Packs" about 10 years ago, and it was life changing for me.

Learning to control what you can and let go of things you can't control is not only freeing, it's smart!

At first look, clients wonder what "back packs" have to do with weight loss. It doesn't take long to begin to understand the concept. The more you understand about self-control, personal responsibility and emotional ownership, the easier it is to make choices for yourself regarding your weight loss program and your health.

As we begin to look at the 12 things we are responsible for, in control of, and are to take ownership of, I can't help but think about my personal life at present time.  I just married off my only son and I've been been referring to my "back pack" list often lately!  When I first learned about back packs, my son was 10 years old!  I thought at the time that mastering the art of "staying in my own back pack" was the key to raising an independent young man.  I was right, but now, I am keenly aware that "staying in my own back pack" will be the key to not only me moving on and embracing a new season of life, but also allowing my son and his new beautiful wife, to grow and become who they need to be! Back packs never wear out...they just take on a new look! I love it!

Over the years I've seen clients, friends and family, using all their time, and energy on things out side of their control. Those things appear to get bigger and bigger, because we have no control over them, and we appear to get smaller and smaller. The things that we DO have control of...the 12 things in our back pack are the ONLY things that will help us become the women and men we were intended to be. Strong, healthy and full of love.

We looked at the difference between feeling responsible TO others and feeling responsible FOR others. I encourage you to look at the chart on the back of this important control guide and work to become a person who is responsible TO others.

This is a lesson that you will want to share with your children, your spouses and everyone you spend time with. I pray that it will be as life changing for you as it was and still is for me.

Always encouraging you,

Letha

Change Your Thinking ~ Change Your Life!

Last week we learned that in order to change your actions permanently, you have to change your belief system. This week, we're focusing on your thought life.

I tackled 4 things on this weeks message:

Motivation

Goals and Rewards

Positive Thinking

Mental Conditioning

Losing weight and keeping it off for life is one of the hardest things most of us have ever tried to do...so the questions is, How do you prepare for that? This week we are focusing on necessary steps to be successful at not only starting this weight loss journey, but reaching your destination as well!

Motivation:

As I talk with clients week after week, I see a common theme with clients who are not losing weight. They have lost their motivation. Knowing WHY you want to lose weight and keeping those reasons in the fore front of your mind is critical for weight loss success. There are many ways to keep motivation high. What ever those ways are for you, keep doing them! We all have different motives as to why we want to lose weight...the key is to keep motivation alive! Motivation is in the doing! What can you do this week to elevate your motivation?

Goals and Rewards:

Setting goals and rewarding yourself are proven methods in changing your beliefs permanently. Everything we do, we do out of our need to seek pleasure or avoid pain, the problem is, our society believes that over eating is pleasure and eating in moderation is painful. At our Tuesday Team Challenge, I had clients speak out words connected to over eating. I heard, guilt, shame, poor health, pain, and tears. I had clients speak words connected to eating in moderation. I heard, happiness, peace, health, clothes fit, and confidence. That is the truth...we just don't believe it!

Linking pleasure (rewards) to your new healthy life style and pain to your old unhealthy habits will begin to change your belief system and help you keep this weight off.

Rewards are a must!

Positive Thinking:

You won't catch me in a conversation with someone about permanent change, without hearing me talk about our thought life! Choosing positive thoughts will promote positive actions! How we think about ourselves has EVERYTHING to do with losing weight and keeping it off. The good news is that we have a choice every minute of every day about our thoughts. This little girl has it figured out...we could learn a thing or two from her.

Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg

Mental Conditioning:
This is the first week of your mental conditioning exercises. No great accomplishments have happened without first the visions of them! The subconscious mind is powerful. What ever you force into it on a regular basis, it believes. Adding this piece to your Healthy Weigh program could be a key to your success.

Great effort goes into great accomplishments. I encourage you to spend time this week on your thinking...it will change your life!

Always encouraging you.

Letha

Understanding Your Beliefs ~ The Key To Permanent Change

This week at the "Summer Olympics" Team Challenge we began our 6 week look/listen of my CD series and the processing homework that goes along with it. I am excited about introducing the six personal control guides to you one week at a time. A lot of great classes, workshops and support groups have happen at The Healthy Weigh regarding this valuable information, but it's your personal reflection that makes the difference in your weight loss journey!

This week we took a look at our belief systems. How we think about ourselves and the world around us has everything to do with losing weight and keeping it off for life.  Beginning this weight loss journey by looking backwards is crucial. The beliefs we have regarding ourselves, our relationship with food and so many other things, determine our success with losing weight and more importantly keeping it off. The key to changing in the present is understanding our past.

Sometimes we resist looking at our past because we are afraid that in some way we will be dishonoring our  upbringing or our parents. The search for truth, never requires that we dishonor those who raise us. In fact, distorting our memory of those early years through either denial or idealizing is what really dishonors the past, because it makes the past unreal. We must become fearless in our search for the truth, knowing that the truth, truly does set us free. The search for truth is never an excuse to blame or to confront-it's our search, and it's purpose lies within us.

If you've started this journey with us, I want to encourage you to go for it! Don't back away! You'll come away 6 weeks from now with great insight and a positive attitude towards your future.

Being set free is an awesome thing. I hope you'll take the path that leads there.

If you don't own or haven't listened to my series, go to www.healthyweigh.com and click on STORE you can download the series there.

Email me with questions or thoughts...I'd love to hear from you. You can also comment to this blog. I encourage that as well. letha@healthyweigh.com

Until next week.

Always encouraging you.

Letha