Putting Pen to Paper

We're over a week into the new year.  How are things going?  Is it easier than you thought or did you binge yesterday on sugar and fat?  Are you hitting the gym or has the cold weather sapped your energy?  Do you feel you have a strong plan or are things falling apart at the seams?  If you are stumbling, it's time to write it down.

There is something more real, more concrete, about things in writing.  It doesn't have to be fancy, no new journal needed, it just has to be kept.  This won't be disposable, not until you are done.  So the back of an old envelope probably isn't going to cut it.  But a simple piece of notebook paper from the kids will.

This scrawling will help keep you on track and is something you can look back on frequently.  Keep it in a place of importance, it will be a mental reminder that YOU are a priority for yourself now. 

Now it's time to figure out your personal style.  What has and hasn't worked for you in the past?  Taking these things into account is very important.  If it hasn't worked in the past, it won't work this time either.

Here are a few ideas:

Keep it simple.  Write down your goal weight, then write down month to month what you plan to lose.  And finally a goal date.

Make a list.  Step by step, how you plan to make your healthy lifestyle successful.  Your overall exercise and eating plan would fit nicely here.

Go visual.  Use pictures to motivate you - what your rewards will be for successes, what you want to look like when you are done or a warm body that makes you want to workout.

Gerard Butler, my warm body

Scotland, my reward

A smaller me

Do it every week.  Instead of laying out a year or 18 months, some people need to focus on now.  Pick a day of the week and use it to map the week to come, each week.

Put it on the wall.  Often it helps if you see your goal every day.  A lot of people put it on their refrigerator, that can be a bit daunting.  But you can put it somewhere else you look at least two or three times a day.

Journal it.  This is a daily look at what you plan to do.  It can be on paper or maybe it's filling out your food journal in advance of the day, making it more likely you will stay on task.

Blog it.  Obviously I do this.  It's a chance to not only put goals out there, but connect with other people on a similar journey.

Hopefully one of those work for you.  Of course, that's just a smattering of ideas.  There are many other ways to chart your course to success.  Whatever you choose, I know you will succeed.

Yours in Health,
Kate

How Does Your Garden Grow?

My thoughts are steeped in ideas for two gardens right now - the one that I cannot touch until the snow abates and the one inside me. 

Yesterday, in utter desperation, I bought seed mats and a hanging strawberry mat from a friend's child for a fundraiser for my home's garden.  I will now have mat rings for my trees, mats for a butterfly sanctuary and the hope of strawberries all staring me in the face when they arrive in April.  Taunting me really.  Because, even though we have lost a lot of snow this last week, there is a couple of more weeks left in our Iowa winter and for all we know, it could snow in April.

Once the last of the white stuff does absorb into the ground, it will be a while before I can go into my yard without losing a shoe to the mud.  But once I can, I have glorious plans for a yard that is green, smart and will bloom all season long.  After this winter, I think I deserve it, we ALL deserve it.

It's also great physically and mentally.  I rip through weeds to workout stress and slowly my worldly concerns are washed away into the dirt and I am free.  When I actually have time I will spend 4, 6, even 8 hours in the yard reworking, maintaining and reinvigorating the yard.  Last year, mid-season, I had to have knee surgery which slowed me down.  My knee is better this year and I hope it will be even better by the time my first seeds are sown.

As for my inner garden, next week the new Intuition Magazine will be hitting stands all over Central Iowa.  There will 8,000 copies with my latest column inside.  I continue to share the truth about my life and I touch on tending my inner garden.  Suffice it to say journaling and meditation are more effective than I would have imagined. 

Perhaps, by the beginning of summer, both me and my yard will be in full bloom.

Yours in health,
Kate

P.S. - Here is a sneak at a piece of the cover for the March/April Intuition Magazine cover - it will give us all hope. :) 

Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Proscrati-Nation

!ntuition Magazine goes to bed on Friday.  Again, I am waiting until the last possible minute to divulge the devils inside my soul.  This time though it's not because I can't figure out how to start, it's that there have been several things happen and I am not sure what to tell.

I am hoping to journal a bit tonight and that it will just reveal itself through my putting pen to paper.  Wish me luck!

Yours in health,
Kate