A mind exercise to help you improve your mental health, and relationship with exercise and nutrition.
Yesterday while on a call with a new client,
And discussing the mind,
I asked her to stand up, walk around her office, and while walking, repeat 5 times
'‘I can’t walk around my office’'.
Baffled and confused, she did it.
After sitting back down, I explained to her that the exercise she did, disobeying her mind on purpose, is a cognitive exercise that has been shown in research to be very effective for treating anxiety, depression, and even emotional eating.
Here’s why:
A lot of the time,
We get entangled in our thoughts,
Believe them to be factual, and as a result, they then dictate our mood and actions.
‘’I’m not feeling up for working out today’’ often results in you not doing it.
‘’I can’t stick to my diet’’ often results in you falling off the bandwagon.
‘’I am anxious’’ often results in you feeling more anxious.
This exercise, consciously disobeying your mind on purpose,
When done regularly,
Helps you disentangle from such thoughts, recognise that they aren’t always facts and that you don’t always have to do what your mind encourages you to do.
As I’m writing this line,
I’m repeating to myself
‘’I can’t write a sentence’’.
This morning while walking down the stairs, I said to myself ‘’I can’t walk down the stairs’’
And when I get up after writing this blog post to do some stretching,
I will tell myself that ‘’I can’t stretch or workout’’.
As a result of practicing this exercise regularly, now when similar thoughts involuntarily spring to mind, I don’t succumb or give in to them, and they have less of an impact on my mood and actions.
A seemingly strange exercise, but it helps, and if it helps, is it really strange?
Give it a try yourself over the coming days.
Get up and do something ‘trivial’,
Like washing your hands,
And while doing it, say to yourself 5 times ‘’I can’t wash my hands’’.
As you’re reading something on social media, say to yourself ‘‘I can’t read, I can’t read’’.
Do the opposite, do it often and do it regularly over the coming days.
The more you do it consciously, the sooner you’ll begin to do and apply it unconsciously to thoughts that you don’t choose; you know the ones that randomly spring to mind and hold you back from doing the things that you know are good for you mentally, emotionally and physically?
Do it for at least 7 days, and as you do, you’ll begin to notice a positive change in how you relate to your mind.
Note: the approach you’re taking with this exercise isn’t one of resistance; you’re not fighting back against your thoughts. Rather, you're just training yourself to realise that thoughts are just thoughts and that they don’t have to dictate your actions or life.
If you would like to learn more of these cognitive exercises that you can apply to working out, nutrition, and your mental well-being, while simultaneously working to lose between 10 - 16 lbs in the next 30 days, then click here to book a quick call with me.
Kind regards,
Coach Alan
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