Do you have the guts to transform?
Show Notes: Episode 1
Do You Have the Guts Podcast
Transformation is mystical to us until we finally find the path forward. If you are like me, you’ve been seeking, searching, trying to flesh it out for a while. Questioning day after day, why am I so stuck? Why can’t I move forward? You might want to transform your health, your weight, your professional life, or just your general life style? Maybe your mindset is literally and figuratively stuck in a rut. You think self love and care is stupid, or something you have no time to invest in. Some of us are often so stuck in judgement of simply where we are and where we think we should be. Our spirit or soul is feeling unsatisfied and discontent, like a why bother type mentality…
I was 43 and my health felt like it was tanking, once again. I’d been through cycles of good and bad, skinny and heavy, feeing great and feeling low…and I made a decision. I decided I’d try things differently. I kept hearing all this ‘crap’ about gratitude and thinking thankful thoughts, and the idea of breathing into my life kept coming up…So that is exactly how I started. 5 deep breaths in and 5 grateful thoughts before my feet hit the floor in the morning. Sometimes it was easy, others it was not. About week 2 I had the hang of it and I was doing 10 breaths and 10 thoughts…then I remember 60 deep belly breaths and 10 thoughts - that took more time. I cannot tell you when life changed exactly, but it did. My perspective changed, my mind opened up to the decision to truly choose what I was thinking to change my life.
Let’s see if we can figure out the why and the path forward today. We have to start by starting - can’t stay in the same spot with expectations of a different outcome.
Today we are talking about why transformation isn’t coming, why change isn’t coming, or why it hasn’t lasted. Specifically we are talking about what’s missing - the missing link or links that are keeping you stuck in indecision city, unsatisfied with your progress and your potential.
Transform Your Life
Transformation is not only about your body. It’s not only about your mind. It’s not only about your spirit. It is about all 3 of these elements that create you being in sync and harmony to propel you forward.
This was one of the biggest aha moments I’ve ever had.
Think about it. We are usually exceptional in one category but rarely all 3 if we feel stuck. Maybe your strategies to move forward are brilliant - so your mind and even your mindset might be rocking. Maybe your overall physical health is good enough that you know you can get to that next level of movement and maybe you are already an exceptional runner, yogi or someone who has no issue moving on a daily basis. How about your spirit? Is that side of you in tune with the rest? Maybe your spirit is ON POINT, but you hate your body…Or your body and spirit are great but you are a mindset mess.
My point is that it takes all 3 of these elements that comprise you to work in harmony to create true and lasting transformation. Caring for all three and getting them in tune together will generate a true shift in everything - even in your identity.
Who are you, really?
According to Michael Singer in his book The Untethered Soul, we are not our bodies. We live in them though. We are not our minds…though we utilize our brain in every second of the day. We are the witness to both. His book does a wonderful job of helping separate who you really are as the witness, or spirit creating your body and mind. Yes, you heard me right! YOU are the soul, the cosmic dust, the spirit that is the witness to all that is happening in your life. You compute and calculate your life through your brain power and you move through emotions and feelings using your body, but YOU my friend, the real you, are the witness to it all! I’d like to offer you this new way of thinking. It can take a minute to adjust to, but it will make more and more sense if you’re open to the idea.
If you will open your heart to the path of connecting all 3 in your pursuit of transformation, you will yield new and delightful results.
Transforming Your Body
Do you give it any love and appreciation for carrying you around all day? Have you thought about that? As a girl who turned 43 and still hated my body, the concept of being grateful for it even though it didn’t look exactly like I wanted, I can relate if you’re not sitting in appreciation for the body you’ve got right now.
Your body is the container for all of your positive and negative self talk. No matter how badly you speak to it or treat it, it still gets up and moves for you each and every day. Your heart beats without fail. You chew and digest your food to extract whatever nutrients possible without thought. Do you ever sit in awe and wonder with regards to how your body moves forward in its plight day in and day out regardless of your love, care or gratitude for it.
If your body is in need of repair or healing, think about that. It’s often just a disconnected thing to us that we don’t appreciate and we only judge, yet it still comes through on demand and on cue for us.
I have a few questions for you to consider.
Are you giving your body what it needs to sustain, to change or to heal?
Do you have a strategy for your body? Do you move it, breathe deeply regularly?
Do you offer your body sound sleep for repair and healing?
Do you offer your body useful nutrition in the form of food and or supplements to help it thrive and change?
Our bodies are living, breathing, hard working homes that house our spirit and our minds. Our body functions from water and the nutrients we provide. If it’s not functioning properly, get aware of what it needs to support you, and support your body. It’s a two way street. You might need to add nutrients, and you might need to remove toxins. Do you need to add water? You know we are comprised of 75% water…most of us don’t get enough. Taking care of your body is only going to help your spirit and mind thrive.
Transforming Your Mind
How’s your mindset? Again, we are more than our conscious minds…as I mentioned earlier. However, we see the world through the lens of our thoughts and mindset. Did you know that 95% of our thoughts are background noise playing almost all of the time and MOST of us are not even aware. We’re not aware of the background noise (80% of which is typically negative) or the fact that we create the the thoughts we’re thinking at any given moment…well perhaps we didn’t create them, but we observed and adopted them for ourselves over time.
Are you aware of your thoughts? And how aware are you? Perhaps you’ve been chasing your exercise routine with incredible and thoughtful planning, but where are your thoughts concerning your body and even your exercise plan? Are you aware of what you think? If you’re continuously lacking exercise, saying you’ll start and putting it off, or falling out of routine, your thoughts and mindset are holding you back.
I have a few reasons to offer you as to why that is happening.
Our brains are incredible computing machines that have been evolving for hundreds of thousands of years. Our brain has a specific regimen for us and it’s main goal is to protect us. It strives to keep us safe, comfortable and …It’s also an organ that is trained by our thoughts to pick out what is safe, and what is important to us. It will literally pick out and show us evidence to reinforce our repeating thoughts. This part of the brain is called the reticular activating system and it’s been honed in humans to sort through all of the incessant information and data coming at us day in and day out - to the tune of 3 GB a day! It only alerts us when it sees something we’ve trained it to know is important. It lets the sound of our name being called in…and a few other ingrained activities. So what is your brain, or your RAS, letting into your mind on a daily basis? What evidence is is showing you every day? What have you programmed it to notice with your thoughts? Have you ever considered that? You have programmed this part of your brain AND you have the power to change the programming.
Considering this, let’s think about what your brain is saying to you day in and day out? Is it encouraging you to get up at 5 am and hit the gym? Is it telling you to GO FOR IT when you have an idea at work? … Or is it holding you back and keeping you comfortable and safe…that is it’s default programming afterall. And as i mentioned, we program this RAS in our brains!
Truth is, we’ve all created an inner story and we’ve been building it since we were around 6 or 7 years old. Parents, teachers, and caretakers have all taken a part in seeding a thought or two or three that we’ve grown up with and often into. By the time we are 30 years old, we are individuals with entire belief systems planted by well meaning and sometimes not so well meaning adults from our past. I’ll offer you a few thoughts I’ve had over the years…
I’m just heavy, it runs in my family
I’m not build to lift weights or run…it’s not in my genetics
I’m just not creative anymore
I’ll start Monday
I can’t change the way I eat, I don’t have time.
Eating nutritious food is too expensive
This is life after 40 - it’s just how it is.
I’m not the kind of person who XX you fill in the blank.
Are you aware of your thoughts, what you are saying to yourself (95% of the time) in the background on a daily basis? Each example above is a story you may have created from a thought that was seeded by someone else entirely - not by you. I didn’t birth those beliefs about me,, but I adopted them during my young adulthood…as so many of us have. Now, Only 5-10% of people are aware of their thoughts and their stories, and ultimately what is holding them back or keeping them stuck in life. They may know they need to exercise and eat better, and that they are very critical of themselves - but they have no idea why they can’t change. They are not aware of their thoughts, stories and beliefs about themselves. They have no idea that their brain is searching for & providing evidence to prove these beliefs to them day in and day out.
I’ve spent several years getting aware of my thoughts, finding my origin stories and cleaning up my RAS. Do you have the guts to become aware of your thoughts? I’ve done it and though it was a simple process, it wasn’t easy. It still isn’t always easy, but becoming aware of how I think has changed my identity as a person. I’m no longer the type of person who gives up after a 2 week cycle…I’ve become the type of person who shows up and sticks with the day in and day out of what I’m going for.
Transforming Your Spirit
How do you even identify your spirit you might ask? It’s the real you inside who has all of the answers. It’s the real you deep down who has that gut instinct or feeling and simply KNOWS you can do this, you just haven’t figured it out yet. Your spirit is your essence, the real you that you hear cheerleading from time to time inside. It’s the part of you that is non-physical too, the part created from stardust and what seems like magic when we take a deep dive into the conception and creation of two tiny cells becoming a living, breathing grown up person. Your spirit is the witness who has so often been quieted and even silenced by the time we are living a practical, joyless, disgruntled and stuck life.
Now that you know what your spirit it is…Are you connecting to your spirit? Do you take any time through the day to just breathe deeply and let go of the incessant thoughts and tune in to YOU?
Do you have any physical movement practices that help you let go of thinking so that you concentrate on how hard it is to breathe and make breathing easier. For example, when runners run, they have to breathe in slowly and out slowly to keep their heart at a rate that’s sustainable for the long haul. After a time, this can take up their entire awareness - removing all thought from the act of running. Yogi’s are similar in that they must concentrate so acutely on each muscle, how it’s feeling and deepening the stretch, breathing through the pain…that they let go of the thoughts grooved into the brain. They can’t think as they concentrate so intently on their breath.
And this process doesn’t HAVE to have a physical component. You know what I am going to say! Meditation! The act of releasing incessant thoughts, the background soundtrack…that is meditation.
Anyone who meditates isn’t good at it when they begin. They sit and overcome their body to an extent that their thoughts settle and quiet. It’s SO RARE for a body to want to sit quietly and just concentrate on breathing. We’ve been training ourselves in busy work for YEARS, so all of a sudden you want it to be still and take it easy…but not sleep? Most people begin the practice (it’s called a practice because it’s never really finished…) Over and over they hear, see and recognize the thoughts, and they let them go over and over just like the runner lets go to concentrate on breathing and the yogi lets go to concentrate on breathing…EVENTUALLY in meditation it becomes and feels natural for thoughts to float away as a person sits and dials into their breath, dial in to relaxation, dial into the imagination.
Prayer or repeating a mantra also moves the thoughts away from the ego and activity of the day and into relaxation and stillness. Guided meditations are a great place to start. The entire point is to take your awareness away from the hectic busy thoughts that do not serve you and the person you’re wanting to become. Removing the junk of the day, to allow your spirit connection to you in the physical world. This is connecting to your spirit.
Why bother? Well, your spirit might have some incredible advice, it might offer you acceptance and rest. All of those thoughts and emotions and feelings you deal with throughout the day are most likely blocking you from your spirit. Taking time to tune in to your inner wisdom is so so often missing in us as we strive for transformation. We feel like we are doing all the things, but in reality we are only working on 2/3rds of our being, not the whole.
This occurred to me one evening as I worked on being nice to my body and calming my mind. This was new to me, and I was determined to meditate. I just knew something great would come from it and that’s the first thing I heard. “…You haven’t tried this before. You’ve never worked on your spirit….” And it began that day. Working as hard for a steadfast spirit as I was working for a positive mindset and strong body changed everything. I began a meditation practice that evening and for over 100 days I sat in a still, quite space for 30 minutes twice a day and worked on releasing thoughts. It worked wonders. We’ll talk more on how to in future episodes.
For now, what steps are you willing to take to transform and to become?
Tiny Steps for Your Body, Mind & Soul
Body - Tiny steps for your body might include gratitude body talk, movement, nutrition, or supplementation. If food rules you, there are ways to overcome and heal - physically and mentally. I’ve been there.
Mind - A 1st tiny step for your mind is getting aware of what it is saying to you. Simply put on an imaginary white lab coat as a scientist would and approach this from an objective state. That means it is what it is - not good, not bad. You’re simply looking to see WHAT IS happening in your brain…Don’t buy in to what your mind is saying and don’t judge it or get down on yourself . Your job in this first tiny step is to listen and become aware of what is on repeat in your head. You cannot change what you are not aware of, and the better you know you and what/how/when you think the thing…the better you can become at changing and shifting your thinking…which leads to changing your emotions…which changes how you FEEL.
Spirit - How are you willing to connect to your spirit? It doesn’t have to be a gargantuan step, this too can be tiny…and in fact, that is what I recomend. How about a deep breath or two in and out before that first sip of coffee in the morning? Or 5 deep belly breaths in and out before your feet hit the floor in the morning. Believe it or not, my entire transformation was born from 10 belly breaths and 10 grateful thoughts before my feet hit the floor in the morning. Really want to get connected? Find a REALLY good (even great) memory or create a future vision that fills you up with joy…FINE tune the details down to what you’re wearing, how you feel, the smells and sights around you…and how it FEELS to live this experience in your mind…and practice reliving it over and over for 30-90 seconds a day. Simply replay this magnificent memory or vision over and over for up to 90 seconds a day and see what happens. This isn’t really a beginner step, but hey, what do you have to lose? Take your time in crafting it…this is a form of visualization if you’re creating a future memory and trying to feel how good it feels in the current moment. The outcome might surprise you. AND - it’s a bit easier than jumping into stillness and thoughtlessness….which will also come if you’ll allow it to. Don’t dive in too deep at first - just a quick 1-5 minutes to start is GREAT. Work your way up from there. A designated spot for this is also helpful-a cozy chair, comfy resting spot…or your car if it’s the only quite spot you’ve got!
I hope this introduction to finding a transformative path forward has resonated with you. I challenge you to determine and implement a tiny step for your body, mind and soul this week to begin connecting to your path foward out of stuckville!
For the record I’ll be 47 in just a few short days, so I’ve been living this transformed life for right at 4 years now and the truths I’ve uncovered about how my body, mind and spirit create a synergy in my life are undeniable!. It’s time to start healing from the inside out. Do you have the guts to try?
Thank you for listening today. If you’d take the time to subscribe & leave a rating with a review, I’d be so grateful. Community is one thing that I find as exciting as transformation and we need more peeps in our community supporting one another in a growth mindset! Your review will help spread the word! If you’d like to become a part of my Consistency Club, a 100% free group in Facebook, please visit my website at BecomeTheNew.com to sign up!
Healing from the inside out is a great place to start in your transformation journey. As I tuned into my spirit, I found healing in surprising places. Through a friend’s advice, I found a simple gut health regimen took me to new levels that I found shocking. Our guts are home to a micro biome that includes MORE microbes than you can imagine! These little guys thrive on what we feed them. There are microbes that thrive on the nutritious food you eat and microbes that thrive on the junk. if you’re eating a diet filled with sugar and processed foods guess which side you’re feeding! And guess how that makes you feel. The gut health system I use will help you overcome cravings, sugar, processed foods and more if you’ve got the guts to try! If you’re interested in affordable gut health that supports transformation , check out my website at BecomeTheNew.com.
Healing from the inside out came with tuning into my spirit!
