So how did your weekend go? Hopefully your healthy weekend plan rocked! Though no question, ALL of us SLIP at times too. And thats ok! Especially if you turn a slip off track (diet thinking) from a crisis (again - diet thinking) into an opportunity to S.L.I.P. (Stop, Look, Investigate, Plan) and see the healthy lifestyle light at the end of the proverbial tunnel below! The RMS (modified) SLIP technique for transitioning to a healthy lifestyle: As hard as it may seem to believe, the REALITY MEETS SCIENCE (tm) system WELCOMES the opportunity provided by SLIPs! First, keep in mind that NO one has EVER been successful at achieving truly long lasting healthy lifestyle change without feeling theyve slipped off track MANY, (innumerable!) times. BUT, the TRULY dedicated start to look at slips as an OPPORTUNITY to learn! In fact, you can simply remember your SLIPs from now on as simply being an opportunity to: Stop Look Investigate & Plan! So here is each S.L.I.P. step in detail: STOP = stopping the offending behavior – its okay, youre human! Simply stopping, whatever it is – eating cookies, drinking too many calories, laying around too much – whatever! Youre human and simply stopping that behavior is a legitimate start! LOOK = Looking at the situation objectively, in a balanced way – i.e., not expecting to achieve a all or nothing result....prepare yourself to find balance then... INVESTIGATE = Investigating may take the most time and thought. It means to search for an opportunity (i.e. link in the behavior chain) to modify the behavior pattern, in a realistic, do-able way, that would still leave you satisfied/not deprived and feeling potentially better (maybe not immediately, but soon and substantially!). As just one example: would having a Haagen Daaz mini been enough? Did we REALLY just HAVE to buy the whole pint, or that half gallon of Breyers, REALLY? Or if we passed on something are we really depriving ourselves? Maybe youre giving yourself the opportunity to feel better and healthier soon! Its true that much about investigating opportunities for lifestyle change is about immediate gratification vs delayed (but more important) gratification! So keep in mind that patience, after all, is a virtue (a wise man once said). After youre done reading this if you havent already, watch the one minute YouTube video I posted here on how different our last 10 years of life can be based on the decisions we make now! Investing for a healthy body in our retirement years is not much different than investing for a healthy financial retirement (if we ever decide to retire, which is a very personal and important choice). So maybe applying some of this discipline will leave us even more satisfied and happy than what happened previously because weve given in just the right amount and not too much or understood by not giving in were not depriving ourselves as much as investing in a healthy body in the future. That could include not giving in to the urge to skip working out/exercising. And what about the wonderful satisfaction of feeling we are in CONTROL (a very valuable and not so easily available commodity!)! THAT tastes good too! And that means such discipline may include the discipline to throw out or get rid of junk or unnecessarily salty, or fatty or high calorie starchy/sugary addictive food-like products in our homes because we are STRONG enough to know we dont - nor do most other humans - have the willpower to limit ourselves to eating it rarely while its sitting in front of or near us. PLAN = Now we are ready plan for how well deal with similar future situations and give ourselves a chance to try it out. Execute your plan with confidence and calmly (you are STRONGER THAN YOU MAY BELIEVE!), but without over expecting! The plan may work, it may not – or it may work only partially. Whatever the case, the success is IN THE TRYING and then LEARNING. REMEMBER - you should always be prepared to RINSE & REPEAT (tweak and modify) as part of your plan and as often as you need to refine, tweak, adjust and try again! So it is worth repeating - I am not only saying it is OK, per se. I am saying you MUST go out there and EMBRACE your SLIPs, not so much as a crisis (even if they feel so), but as an opportunity to LEARN by simply: STOPPING (the problem behavior) LOOKING (at the situation objectively) INVESTIGATING (where there may be an opportunity to change the pattern) then PLANNING for a similar future situation! And remember you get to rinse and repeat!. Think of it like an opportunity to be Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day! You get to rinse and repeat the SLIP technique as often as necessary until you finally reach your own personal level of perfection. Not Hollywoods version, but OUR REAL WORLD version of perfection, which is far better ! HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES! Now go and MAKE it a GREAT and HEALTHY (mind, body and soul) REALITY MEETS SCIENCE (tm) DAY! #RMS #RealityMeetsScience
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 22:27:01 +0000
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