With the arrival of a New Year – even if we’re not a “resolutionist” – we do decide to clean things up a bit, don’t you think?  I know I do.  I don’t always wait until January 1st to promise to keep my desk and office in better order or to not throw my clothes down at the end of the bed each night – but to hang them or toss them in the laundry bag.

January 1st is just another day – but what if we could work towards being more conscious – or in current buzz terms – be more mindful?

I’ll relay a story a client told me several months back.  He doesn’t mind that I’m blogging about it so no confidentiality leaks here.  “Jim” (not his real name) and I had been working together for a couple of years.  His goals were simple: to stop dieting, start living  AND to lose unwanted weight and get fitter.  He carefully documented his food intake – more than anyone I have ever worked with.  He modified his behaviours around food and drink and essentially was the perfect client.  His weight loss was painfully slow – but it was coming off AND he was not “dieting” using some crazy methods he had tried before.  His enthusiasm and dedication was unbelievable and he was (and is) a real bright spot in my week.

I was away for a month or so last Fall and when we got back together he told me he had discovered the “magic bullet”.  “Jim!” I said, “do tell”.  He said one word – Invisalign.  He had been told that he needed some orthodontic work done and had a couple of choices.  One was the standard braces and the other was to use the Invisalign technique.  He chose the latter.  This required him to wear the clear plastic ‘mouthguards’ 23hrs/day, only removing them to eat/drink and brush his teeth.  Lo and behold, he lost a couple of pounds – pronto.  Jim realized that he had been engaging in some unconscious eating and drinking that was clearly eliminated with his new ‘appliances’.  The sudden awareness of how much he was not paying attention to snacking and “picking” – even as he documented his food intake daily – was in his face.

It is said that when we log our intake, we underestimate to the tune of 10-50%.  The unconsciousness of what we eat or drink can contribute to the demise of our otherwise noble goals.  If you’re looking for results this year (whatever they may be), perhaps slowing down the action and observing what’s really going on, may be the only thing we really need to do to achieve said results.  Not trying a crazy diet regimen or taking up some super-intense exercise program that might leave you mangled.  Just paying attention and slowing down the decision making process.  Move from being unconsiously conscious to consciously conscious.

What behaviour would you like to change?  What can you do beginning now?  I’m going to put my things away.

LiveSplendidly!