I really want to start feeling healthier inside & out, and I feel that now, as summer is drawing to a close and the new school year is beginning, is the perfect time to make this committment. So, for my own benefit as well as yours, I compiled this little list from Zen Habits as an inspirational guideline.
- Don’t over-commit. As with all habit change, the smaller you start out, the more likely you are to succeed.
- Appreciate your body. This means making healthy choices in life, exercising and being generally active, eating a balanced and healthy diet, letting your body rest when it’s tired and pampering it every once in a while. Your body is the tool that lets you experience so many wonderful moments in life and you need to do your best when taking care of it. Clearly, balanced living is not possible without a balanced body.
- Stop trying to control every detail of your life. If you continually try to control the things that are out of your control, you end up spending almost all of your time obsessing about health, nutrition and fitness. Too much of this and you can end up in a very bad place: Spending every single waking moment of your life thinking, talking and stressing over your health. And this is NOT healthy.
- Stop trying to change what you can’t. Instead, let go of the wishes you have that things were different. Things aren’t different, and wishing they were different just leads to frustrations. Accept things for what they are, see people for who they are, and work with that reality.
- Try not to constantly compare yourself to others. If you look to the lives of others, you’ll always find yourself lacking. Look instead at what you have, and be grateful. Reduce your needs, and be content. And your life of striving for perfection, for the future, will become a life of balance, of the moment, of inner peace.
- Meditate. When you wake up, in the quiet of the morning, perhaps as your coffee is brewing, get a small cushion and sit on the floor. Even if you’re not a fan of meditation, try to enjoy the silence and allow yourself to find peace before your day even begins: you’ll feel more prepared to face the day ahead of you.
- Don’t over-commit. As with all habit change, the smaller you start out, the more likely you are to succeed.
- Appreciate your body. This means making healthy choices in life, exercising and being generally active, eating a balanced and healthy diet, letting your body rest when it’s tired and pampering it every once in a while. Your body is the tool that lets you experience so many wonderful moments in life and you need to do your best when taking care of it. Clearly, balanced living is not possible without a balanced body.
- Stop trying to control every detail of your life. If you continually try to control the things that are out of your control, you end up spending almost all of your time obsessing about health, nutrition and fitness. Too much of this and you can end up in a very bad place: Spending every single waking moment of your life thinking, talking and stressing over your health. And this is NOT healthy.
- Stop trying to change what you can’t. Instead, let go of the wishes you have that things were different. Things aren’t different, and wishing they were different just leads to frustrations. Accept things for what they are, see people for who they are, and work with that reality.
- Try not to constantly compare yourself to others. If you look to the lives of others, you’ll always find yourself lacking. Look instead at what you have, and be grateful. Reduce your needs, and be content. And your life of striving for perfection, for the future, will become a life of balance, of the moment, of inner peace.
- Meditate. When you wake up, in the quiet of the morning, perhaps as your coffee is brewing, get a small cushion and sit on the floor. Even if you’re not a fan of meditation, try to enjoy the silence and allow yourself to find peace before your day even begins: you’ll feel more prepared to face the day ahead of you.
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