Thursday 4 August 2011

Record It

Hey hey, two blogs in a week, what's going on!? Well, I've been spurred on by the great reaction I've had to the first one on sleep. Hope it was food for thought, and some of you are managing better nights.

Today we're looking broader - food, sleep, moods,exercise, stress levels;the full works! And why the best way of taking a close look at your life is to record it!

Yes, write it down, all the detail, every day. What happens when you read back through your notes is that it comes into your conscious mind, and this makes it very difficult to ignore!

Take for example those biscuits you snack on in the office; that glass of wine before dinner that 'doesn't count', and the second helping of pudding! It's very easy to forget that these things have passed your lips...........unless you write it down!

This is the first task I set new clients; to give me an overview of what's going on in their lives. I love receiving this information, it says SO much about them (don't panic Jo!!)

How about allocating a week to writing everything down, and I mean everything.
Include the following in your journal :

- all food that passes your lips

- the time you eat

- how your food makes you feel, half an hour and an hour and a half after eating

- all the drinks that pass your lips, including water

- your sleep patterns, when you go to bed, how soon you fell asleep,whether you woke in the night, what time you woke in the morning, how you felt when you woke up

- your stress levels, what's happening in your life to make you stressed, can you pinpoint it? how are you managing it currently?

- your moods! Do you fly off the handle, are you always chilled? Does anything you do/eat make a difference to this?

- your exercise habits; do you fit it in daily? do you not manage any at all? Do you enjoy what you do, or do you just do it because you feel you should??

Ok, so record all of this and read it back through. Whether you're trained or not you will see some 'stuff' that possibly shocks you and pulls you up to take some notice! A wake up call - don't we all need one of those every now and again to get us back on track?

It is then possible with the conscious mind to make small changes each week for the better. If you try to change everything all at once it will overload your system and you'll give up really quickly. Make one small change a week and watch the profound difference in your life. Really.

I'm more than happy if you want to email me your weeks journal; I'll analyse it for free and give you some pointers. Go on ,dare you!

The person closest to me in my life right now wasn't in a good place when I met him. We did all the client/therapist stuff and he lost over two stone in three months by making minor changes for the better. He's never looked back - how lucky was he to have met me! LOL!!

To summarise, try keeping notes of what you're doing if you're challenged by any aspects of your life and review after a week. You're guaranteed a wake up call and it's always a good thing!


Look forward to hearing from you very soon.
RXX

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