Your wellness story can be whatever you want it to be.
The critical part of determining what level of wellness you want is programming your mind to believe it.
Our personal wellness story is ever-changing, just like our yoga practice. Some days we can balance in headstand for 10 minutes and other days we’re lucky to lift our big toe off the ground.
Why is this?!
It probably has to do with what thoughts are going on in your head, what you ate that day, or even how your close relationships with your partner and friends are going.
It’s all related.
And we’re going to get to the bottom of what is working well with your wellness routine and what needs some fine-tuning.
The Energy Of Wellness
Think of the energy sources you take in on a daily basis. The news you consume, what you read on Instagram, the blaring horn of a car on the highway, they all can affect your mindset and perhaps influence your thought patterns.
What about the foods you eat? Your headstand is probably a lot easier after eating veggies rather than french fries.
The foods we eat can give us the right energy and the wrong.
Now consider how you may feel before a yoga class or a meditation session and then compare it to afterward.
What has changed?
More than likely your body feels more relaxed by bringing attention to it, your breath is controlled and intentional, and you feel simply more at peace.
Now, how do you feel when you don’t practice regularly? Yep, me too, not awesome.
Wellness is a flow of energy. It changes with what we do in our lives.
Think of the chakras. If one chakra is blocked, the other higher chakras won’t be functioning at their highest potential either.
The energy we consume influences our wellness.
How To Determine Your Wellness Story
All of the internal and external energy we feed ourselves comes from our own internal software system. We don’t see things how they truly are, we see them as we are.
Our brains default to what is comfortable or familiar. We’ve trained it to do so. And this is because it’s our way of keeping ourselves safe. It’s what we know for how to survive.
So, if something isn’t working in our wellness story, we need to re-write it.
We need to reprogram our brains to shift it from what’s normal and not working, to a new normal and working to better ourselves.
As with any new journey, you need to start at the end to know where you’re going.
What do you want your new wellness story to be?
Some ideas for you:
- Feel stronger
- Healthy eating habits
- Positive mindset
- A strong relationship with yourself
- A strong relationship with those close to you
- High energy
- Glowing skin
- Motivated
What is it that calls you to make a change? This is your time to be completely selfish and choose what you want. No one else.
It helps me to think about the end of a yoga practice, or any other form of ritual that makes me feel the most like myself.
What is that feeling for you?
From there, we work backward to map it out.
Wellness Mind Mapping
Your thoughts affect your words, your words affect your behavior, your behavior affects your character.
It’s time to write your wellness story, starting with your thoughts and beliefs.
Consider these questions. Take your time to write them down or mental bookmark it.
- Start with your endpoint; At the end of each day, I want to feel:
- I can educate myself more to feel this way by doing:
- Every day I do this to feel my best:
- Every week I do this to feel my best:
- The foods I eat are:
- My usual physical activity is:
- To nurture myself I do:
- For fun, I commit to doing:
- My mental well-being feels like:
- My physical body feels like:
- The people I hang out with the most make me feel:
- I read this to feel empowered and inspired:
- I feel the most present when I am:
The failure to plan is a plan to fail. To rewrite your wellness story, you need to plan to change your beliefs and your daily activities to achieve your end goal.
Remember, you’re reprograming your brain.
Consider:
- The barriers that slow me do are:
- My plan to overcome these barriers are:
- To overcome negative thoughts that I can achieve my goal, I will:
- I am responsible for my life; what do I need to let go of to move forward:
- Who or what in my life won’t support my new lifestyle?
You’ll see that all of these prompts are written in the present form. This is done intentionally so that your brain believes it to be true. Think, say, or write these down daily.
Your brain will believe what you tell it.
Start Your Wellness Story Today
Now that you know your endpoint, let’s start on the route to your wellness story.
In yoga, we simply start wherever we are. There is no competition or the need to prove anything. We just simply have to be ourselves in the moment and act truthfully for what we need.
Start rewriting your wellness story:
- What three things can you do that take you closer to your wellness goal?
- What is one initiative you can this week do to rewrite your wellness story that supports your mind, body, and spirit?
- Write down a specific plan to achieve this initiative this week.
- Plan what you will do the following week.
- Ask yourself, are you willing to commit to these actions today?
To train your brain to change its “normal”, you have to practice your new normal consistently.
First, believe that you are your new wellness story and then practice it, daily.
Your wellness story can be whatever you want it to be.
Isn’t that exciting?
If headstand is still on your bucket list, I got you covered. Read here.
