Who doesn’t want to feel good in their body?  Especially this time of year when the weather is hot and we’re covering less of ourselves for the sake of temperature control.

I want to feel better IN my body and ABOUT my body.  I want to focus on the things I love about it.  I’ve actually already started this and have been doing a little work in this area for about two weeks, but it’s been very inconsistent.  Starting today, I want to begin a few new regular habits.

My official intention is: I want to realize the beauty and perfection that is my body so I may love and respect it in kind*

The habits I intend to practice daily for this month are~

• Get up at the same time every day
• Walk
• Look good 2 feel good
• Take my supplements
• Eat well & with intention/purpose
• Drink 8 glasses of water
• No more than 2 cups of coffee
• Be aware of my posture and the general state of my body

How I intend to implement these new habits into my daily life.

We must remember that intentions are very powerful things, but if we’re not living in alignment with our intentions, they can fall short fast.  You cannot change if you don’t change.  Duh, right?  But really.  You can intend to create change, but if you don’t initiate the change, it cannot happen.  In other words, you can’t continue doing what you always do and then wonder why change doesn’t come.

This is where I, like many others, fall short with my intentions sometimes.  I know what I want, I just don’t follow through and do anything to initiate the change, or I do, but I don’t sustain the momentum, usually because habits fall off a little at a time.

There must be a plan.  That’s what you would do with anything else in life you wanted to move toward.  You would make a plan of action.  That is exactly what I am going to do to ensure my own success.

First, getting up at the same time every day.

I’ve been having some sleeping issues lately and I know it’s directly related to my body and how I feel in and about it, so a regular waking time in the morning is going to be essential in my success.

This is also why I am cutting my caffeine intake down to two cups of coffee per day.  And no caffeine after 3pm.

I’m going to walk.

I feel so much better when I get regular exercise.  I have a hard time just walking though.  Somewhere in my head there’s a voice saying that if I walk, I might as well run or that the walking isn’t making any difference when I know darn well that it is.  It can be easy to talk ourselves out of exercise, but walking is easy, doesn’t take a lot of time, and I’m operating on a “No Excuses” train of thought this month.  I’m going to sit down and get down a couple affirmations that I can apply during my walk too.

Look good 2 feel good!

After a morning walk, it’s natural to go freshen up, especially in the summer when sweat isn’t only associated with physical exertion.  This is where “Look good 2 feel good” comes in.  When I put a little effort into my appearance, it completely changes my entire outlook.  However, often if I’m not leaving the house, I’ll stay in sweat pants all day.  I don’t want to add to an image of laziness in my own head.  Just making the extra effort to look nice makes me feel better, regardless of what I do that day.  Besides, it’s nice to be able to walk out the door at the drop of a hat without having to wear one.

I am placing my supplements in the area where I sit to brush my hair and don my necklace and earrings, so it will become part of this daily process.

To ensure I’m drinking all 8 glasses of water, I’ll pre measure and refrigerate it before bed so it’s cold and good to go in the morning.  I’m also keeping a cut up lemon in a container in the fridge so it can be readily added to my water.  I LOVE lemon water!

I want to make a more regular practice of becoming aware of my posture and the state of my body.

My upper back goes out a lot and I get a lot of tension and stress in my neck that brings on headaches.  I want to not only become aware of my posture, but I want to sit straighter on purpose and recite a healing affirmation with it.  I’m thinking something like “Relaxed, aligned, and feeling fine!”

I’m need a cue to become aware, and I was thinking maybe a bracelet or some such thing that I can use to remind me when I look at it or touch it or something like that.  I’m open to suggestions :)

Eat well with intention/purpose.

Last but most certainly not least.  I am keeping more fresh fruits and veggies in my house.  I am cooking good quality and good tasting food for my family.  This is incredibly important.  I do this on a regular basis already, except for the extra snack foods in my life.  For this month I’m eliminating them.  Well, not eliminating snacks, but DEFINITELY making some different choices, like walnuts with a little dark chocolate instead of the Snickers bar.  Snickers really satisfies my ass… literally.

One down side of cooking and eating really great food is having it taste SO good, in fact, that you eat roughly three times what you should.  I am guilty of this often.  I love food.  I know it’s not AS bad that what I’m overeating is garlic olive oil sauteed asparagus, but that’s still a lot of extra fat and calories.  Not to mislead you into thinking I’m some oddball who only overeats vegetables.  If it tastes REALLY good, I will eat too much.

I’m going to start by making sure that at least 3/4 of my plate is filled with food that originated from the ground.  Then, when I eat, that 3/4 is going to be what I eat first and foremost, because I may be full and eat less meat by the time I get to it.

The intention and purpose is my favorite part.  I try to do this, but forget and chat at the table and lose all track of what I’ve been shoveling into my face.  I will take care to be more present when I eat.  And no more second helpings.  I mindlessly eat when I go for seconds.  I will be sure to taste and enjoy my food, and pay close attention to signals I may be receiving from my stomach.

So that about wraps it up.  I’m going to keep a journal through this.  Just deciding to do this and going into it with a plan of action has me feeling better about myself already :)

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My affirmation until Sunday, 7-25-10 on the Full Moon~
As I focus upon being happy, all other joy filled things in my life expand*

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