Write Your Own Healthful Lifestyle Maintenance Schedule
Be skilled in the art of learning from every situation—draw forth what is waiting to be born.
Tools To Use As You
Figure Out Your Own
Well-being is attained by little
and little, and nevertheless it is
no little thing itself.
Zeno of Citium (c.335-c.263 B.C.) Greek philosopher
To achieve a healthier weight and keep it off-permanently, (weight and health maintenance), you will need to change the way you live your life. An essential skill and practice is for YOU to become your own personal lifestyle coach. To begin, see How To Use This Site.
This process can be FUN and enjoyable! Self-care should NEVER be torture, or in any way personally disrespectful. You can learn to celebrate a healthful lifestyle! In fact, making FUN your focus will insure that your new patterns naturally become your new way you create your life. Visit CELEBRATE Healthful Eating! Yum! Make It FUN. Make It Colorful!, CELEBRATING The Simple Joys Of Life!, The Power of Fun: Celebrate Enjoyable Ways To Be Active!, An Alphabetical Guide to Zestful Living, and Sprinkle Dollops of Delight and Self-Care Towards Yourself for ideas of how to begin.
My intension is that you DO NO HARM to yourself through your exploring and using any of the materials on the Web site. You guide yourself with intention--the vision to be the happiest and healthiest you can be-- but NOT torture or any form of self-disrespect! Know when to focus out. Stop trying too hard. Make learning all of these new skills more like a enjoying a hobby rather than doing a tedious and difficult job. Practice the ESSENTIAL SKILL (#9) of self-nurturing when you find your "well of reserve" a little depleted and you feel drooped (see below):
Just like your automobile, your body also has a RECOMMENDED MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE. To keep it functioning at peak efficiency and extend its lifespan, manufactures have come up "general maintenance recommendations". This idea is adapted from my Subaru automobile schedule.
I suggest you first set your overall intention of Plant the Garden of Your Life With Seeds of Well-Being, A Daily Reminder, Invest In Yourself: Invent A New Life!, while applying the inner wisdom of Ecosystem Weight Management and use the guidelines of the Daily Personal Check-In .
Perhaps visit: Cultivate Your Spiritual Well-Being! to remind yourself of your life's purpose.
Invest In Yourself.
Make An Ongoing Date With You--Every Day!
Set Aside Time For Your Personal Transformation.
Throughout this web site you have been learning a series of Essential Skills and coming up with a PLAN to fit them into your lifestyle. Now it is time to explore how you can make these changes a PERMANENT part of your new life.
You will also want to come up with ways to get yourself back on track following RELAPSE. See Change? Who Me? How? for ideas on how to be an effective agent of change for yourself.
CONSIDER YOUR MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE (Like your automobile): What do you need to be a healthy, happy camper?
-
Check radiator coolant level & protection: for us, applying stress management techniques, or On The Spot Stress Managers ? Also explore: Do You Experience Overwhelming Circumstances? and keeping your life in balance.
-
Check interior and exterior lights: for us, personal grooming, and accepting, caring for, and honoring the body you have? See 21 Steps to Aging Successfully!, Developing Your Own Internal Loving Voice, Ideas for Self-Nurturing , and CELEBRATING The Simple Joys Of Life!
-
Check brake fluid level: for us, Eating Awareness Training , Stopping When Satisfied?, and Help! I’m bingeing! How can I stop!
-
Checking the automatic transmission/transaxle fluid level and power steering fluid levels: for us, those are the self- management strategies: see Overcoming Your Obstacles to Healthful Eating, Come Up With a Smart Plan For Making Changes In Your Life, Which Puzzle Pieces Contribute to Your Overweight?, Solution-Discovery Worksheet worksheets, and How do you begin to make changes? from Bob's story.
-
Check the battery visually: for us, healthy nutrition choices (Essential Skills, # 5 & #6) fuels an active lifestyle!
-
Check horn operation: for us, being assertive and standing up for your rights, getting support (Essential Skill #10), and keeping in balance.
-
Check operation of wipers & windshield washers: for us, that is vision and insight that comes through practicing the self-management skills and checking inside of ourselves for our own answers.
-
Lastly, check air filter condition: for us, living an active style of life!
-
Remember also that MAKING CHANGES in your life is a PROCESS. You might take 3 steps forward, and 2 steps back. I call it "stumbling in the right direction!" From the Stages Of Change:
Maintenance—Continuing new behaviors with increased confidence. Have awareness of what triggers a relapse and make plans to avoid it.
Remind yourself of reasons for having changed--never forget WHY you wanted to do something different. See Bob's story, Emotional Area for examples of reasons. Reevaluate and redefine your tools and your plan. It will get easier to maintain new behaviors over time. Be patient and persistent. Change is a process, NOT an event. Practice self and stress-management skills. Notice if you have fallen back into a chronic, unhealthy patterns again and use the self-evaluation tools (use the Daily Personal Check-In section of this Web site). Congratulate yourself for having the courage to do it!
-
See also The Ovals--Developing a "Personal Plan of Eating". You'll find ideas on how to AIM FOR The Inner Oval: Healthy Maintenance Schedule, while learning from each time you get off track.
Thoughts On Maintenance
The Journey of a Thousand Miles Starts With The First Step!
Invest in Yourself! Obtain the fruit of personal freedom.
Schedule time for your inner work!
Your choices each day shape your future.
THINK LONG-TERM. WHAT do you want to create? In 1 year? 10 years? 20 years from now? Remember that lifestyle change is a process. Consider CELEBRATING small steps! Acknowledge yourself and give yourself credit. See A Daily Reminder, If You Would Grow, Gratitude List, and Radiate Your Light and Love to the World! .