Walking in Balance

It takes several weeks to create a new habit, or make your new stretch your comfort zone . One thing that helped me significantly, was to create a goal surrounding the practice of physical activity each day. I chose to do yoga every day, and it didn't matter to me whether I did 1 sun salutation or 2 hours of yoga, it would qualify as meeting my goal. The goal for a streak should be something, that regardless of the external context (rain or shine) or internal context (sick or healthy), you can complete. Keep it simple! I used an app, called Streaks, to track my progress each day. For $4.99 on IOS devices, this app  allows you to track multiple behaviors and sends reminders each day to help you stay on track. There is something very motivating about not wanting to break the streak. Even when I was sick, I would reflect on my number - especially when it started to get high, that I did not want to lose my momentum and progress. It was very important that I had a goal that was do-...

I was blessed with one of the biggest lessons I learned on this wellness journey during my first week. In looking at the ultimate goals of physical activity for the program I was on, I needed to reach 2,000 calories burned. Being an over-achiever AND an idealist, when asked what my custom goal would be for the week, I said, "I will work on getting 2,000 calories burned by physical activity." My coach, Melissa, said, "Let's make that something that is really attainable and easy for your first week." In other words, she lovingly said, "Pump ya brakes, girl."She understood this principle well. Here's how it works: I was a total couch potato, who got winded walking in a grocery store. If I set my goal too high, I would get easily stressed, overwhelmed, would fail, feel like a failure, then go off plan. This cycle was actually something I had experienced countless times and had never been aware of in this way. That's me, 1 year ago, holding the...

One of the first lessons I learned on the wellness journey, is that success in wellness does not just happen. This seems to be common sense, but I found it was not at all how I functioned when it came to wellness, food, and exercise. Before this journey, I would rarely pack my lunch and if I did, it was a little haphazard what I would put in my lunch bag. I did not plan for physical exercise. I really thought that it would just be natural - go for a walk when you get a break from work, etc. The problem is that we do not get breaks at work where we would choose to incorporate something very new into our schedule...unless we plan. Planning became the key to success in several ways. I would enter workout times, even taking walks into my phone calendar. Sometimes I would put in several options in one day (e.g., a class at the gym, and a workout time at home) in case one of those did not work out. I also would plan out, the day before, my food for the next day. I would pack m...

One of the first things that I attempted when first starting my journey was to seriously inspect the struggle I was having with being healthy. It's an incredibly common experience to feel at a total loss with our own struggles - even as trained and experienced counselors, we have our own blind spots with our own issues. I knew that I wanted to be healthy, so why couldn't I adopt the strategies to get there? This is me balancing academic work and being a mother.  I'm working hard and caring for everyone.   Wonder what could be my struggle? Anyone, see who I am not taking care of here? As a counselor, when someone tells me that they are struggling with a behavior, there are many approaches to looking at that struggle - some approaches are gentler in their techniques than others, but many steer the counselor and client towards looking at the function of the behavior. The idea is that the behavior, no matter how much you WANT to get rid of it, has an important func...

My first lesson was how to set a wellness goal that was meaningful and would actually work. This means setting a goal that is so meaningful to you that it is something you love, that is motivating, and keeps you on your path, even when you want to wander off of it. For me, setting a goal of looking more attractive to others (as in the thin, socially acceptable ideal) will always fail. Similarly, setting the goal to make others happy or set an example for my children as the main focus would also fail. I was not doing this for myself, I was doing it for other's approval. I have done this in the past and never made progress. Similarly, setting weight loss as the main goal was also missing the point. Weight is correlated with fitness, but it is not the defining factor of fitness. Also, focusing too much on the physical is imbalanced with the changes needed to mind and spirit. It makes it seem as if the body can be different, all problems will be solved. Nothing can be furth...

Naomi Furtado Photography When I turned 39, I had a bit of an existential awakening. I was going to turn 40 the next year and after having two children, I had blood pressure issues with each pregnancy. When I spoke to my midwife, she told me that pregnancy is like a crystal ball. It reveals what happens to your body when under stress, so it was likely that I would have blood pressure problems when I aged. Seeing what my parents and brothers had experienced with heart problems, I knew that I needed to act now. I saw how hard it was to be on so much medication, to have double/triple/quadruple bypasses and I knew that if I did not change my path, I would end up at that destination. So, I started my journey. I just did not know what I was doing! I may have a Ph.D. from Yale, be a full Professor in Counseling and School Psychology, but none of that training told me how to take care of myself. I had excelled in so many areas, while feeling as though I had failed in one of the mo...