January 2008 eNewsletter from The Smart Route

Posted On: Monday January 7, 2008

Welcome to the New Year issue of the Smart Route Newsletter, January 2008, the publication that aims to propel you to ultimate health of mind and body.

In this issue we take a look at New Years Resolutions and how to ensure their achievement is celebrated in December. As many of us have set a New Years Resolution of reducing our weight we look at 10 ways to beat comfort eating.

As this is our first newsletter we will also look at life coaching explaining what it is and how it can help you, not just with your resolutions but with anything you want in life. In future issues we will explore NLP, Hypnosis, Life coaching, Nutritional Therapy and Blood Microscopy.

Also this month we start with our regular features: TheSmartRoute to Happiness introduces everyday tips to increase your enjoyment of life, your self esteem and to eliminate negative thinking patterns; TheSmartRoute to Better Communication looks at ways to improve your relationships and have a positive influence on others; TheSmartRoute to a Better Body includes exercise tips, strategies for an alkalising lifestyle, recipes and much more.

Next month sees the launch of our Questions & Answers section so if you have any questions at all related to matters of physical, emotional or mental health or would like coaching advice in the areas of relationships, career, work/life balance etc please send us an e-mail at tracy.smart@smartroute.co.uk.

SUCCESSFUL NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

It’s that time of year again when most of us vow to take something up, give something up or change some aspect of our lives. Follow these tips to make sure your resolutions are successful this year:

1. WRITE IT DOWN

Committimg something to paper and keeping it somewhere (or many places) where you will see it regularly keeps your mind focussed.

2. WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

Your mind doesn’t know how to distinguish negatives and it’s impossible not to do something without doing the something you’re not supposed to be doing. Think about what happens when you tell somebody ‘Don’t look over there’ – they look because ‘don’t’ by itself is meaningless so they ‘look over there’ before their brain registers that they weren’t supposed to. Help your subconscious out therefore by turning your negatvies into positives. For example instead of ‘I don’t want to be hard up this year’ say ‘I want to have enough money to enjoy life this year’, instead of ‘I don’t want to be fat’ say ‘I want to be slim’.

In the same way, your subconscious mind hates the thought of losing anything so saying you want to lose weight puts you at immediate disadvantage. Tell yourself you want to become slim and you will!

You get what you focus on in life so make sure you keep your mind focussed on the things you want – money not poverty, slimness not weight – by keeping constant vigil on your language.

3. BE DEFINATE AND CONSICE WITH YOUR GOALS

You must know what you want if you are to get it. If your goal is simply to have more money you would have achieved that if I gave you a £1 coin! Be very clear and definate about what you want, by when you want it and how exactly you will know when you have achieved it.

4. STATE YOUR GOAL IN THE PRESENT TENSE

If you say ‘I will…’ or ‘I’m going to…’ as far as your subconscious mind is concerned you will always be ‘going to’. Writing down a clearly defined, time stated goal with positive language, in the present tense gives absolute instruction to your subconscious which will then do all it can to ensure you reach your goal. Using emotionally charged words helps to. A slimming goal for example could be written ‘It is now 1st June 2008 and I am ecstatically looking at the scales showing 9 stone 7 pounds.’

5. MAKE YOUR GOALS ACHIEVABLE

I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t reach for the stars, I absolutely think you should and break your big goal down into smaller steps with timelines and action plans for each. Every journey starts with a single step and nothing breeds success more than success – by recognising and rewarding small achievements you will have reached your goal quickly and effortlessly.

In the same way, concentrate on one goal at a time. Remember you have 12 months to complete them, why ruin your chances of success by taking on too much at once? Prioritise your resolutions and gain at least some measure of success or be certain your habits have changed before you tackle the next one on your list.

6. VISUALISE

Take some time out each day to get in touch with your goal using all your senses. Relax, take some deep breaths, close your eyes and see yourself in your minds eye having already achieved your goal. What will you look like? What will you see around you? Who will be with you? What will you hear? What will you feel, both around you and emotionally, inside yourself? Make your visualisation bigger and brighter, turn up the colour and the volume and the feelings of success. This only takes a few minutes and is a great start to the day.

7. SHARE YOUR RESOLUTION

Tell all your family, friends, workmates etc what you hope to achieve this year. You will be surprised at the ways in which they will offer help and they can provide tremendous support if your own motivation should flag. Better yet, try the ‘buddy system’. If you and a friend share the same resolution enlist each others help. Arrange regular chats so you keep each other on track, share advice and tips and motivate each other towards success. Experience shows that those who enlist the help of a life coach usually reach their goals. Also, formulating plans and being held accountable by a professional who won’t let you off the hook in the way your friends might can’t help but empower you to success. See our website to find out more…

8. MAKE A LIST OF YOUR RESOURCES

List all the people, places, things that can help you attain your goal – and use them! For example if you want to become slimmer you might list: ‘My buddy’; ‘Local Running Club’; ‘gym’; and of course ‘TheSmartNutritionist’. See our website for details of how we can help you reach your ideal weight

9. TAKE ACTION

None of these things will propel you forward unless you take action. A good tip is to fast forward to December 2008 and imagine your life having successfully achieved your resolutiions, now. Pick the best outcome for yourself, one you’d be delighted with this time next year then ask yourself, how did you get there? What were the changes you made? How did you make sure those changes lasted? What kind of qualities did you need to gain in order to become that person? Did you have a role model, a buddy, a coach? Now, when you’ve identified these things, write them all down and, feeling excited and enthusiastic now about your future, schedule your actions and commit to them.

10. VISUAL REMINDERS

As well as keeping your written resolutiions somewhere you’ll regularly see them why not create yourself a vision board? Use photos of yourself and pictures of images, places, things and words that inspire you. You can individualise it with paint and glitter if you want – go for it! And why stop at one? Creating boards for each area of your life will propel you towards the future you deserve.

11. AVOID OBSTACLES

Using the above process of looking back to the future, identify any obstacles you may encounter along the way and work out ways to sidestep them. Make a list so your future self has all the tools necessary for success.

12. REWARD YOURSELF

Recognise each achievement, however small and reward yourself appropriately. Make a list of things you love, from buying a new nail polish, taking a bubble bath, walking in the woods, through to the big ones for your ultimate success like taking an exotic holiday!

13. CHECK YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL

If your self confidence and/or self esteem is low you won’t believe you can achieve your goals and, sure enough, this doubt will prevent you from success, feeding even further your limiting beliefs about yourself. Not only do you fail to reach your dreams you feel even worse about yourself. If this is you, tackle this area of your life first. See our website for details of how we can boost your self confidence and self esteem

14. DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Take a few minutes on a regular basis to be grateful for all you already have in your life. The Universe/God/Allah likes to hear of our good news as well as of our desires and research shows that when people are grateful they are more likely to be optimistic and optimism focuses our minds in a positive way.

Finally, don’t get downhearted or beat yourself up if you suffer setbacks. See them instead as learning opportunities, review what went wrong, commit to put it right and get right back on with it. Have a fantastic 2008!

BREAKTHROUGH TO SUCCESS!

Perhaps you are like other people, in that you have made concerted efforts to change certain aspects of your life, but time and time again you find yourself falling back into old patterns of behaviour that no longer serve you. Maybe you have had the intention of taking charge of your finances, or your physical health. Maybe you have wanted to create a fulfilling relationship, create the lifestyle you desire, or to get ahead in your career. Yet something is holding you back. For FREE tickets to a life changing weekend seminar

WHAT IS LIFE COACHING?

If you struggle to achieve your aims and create the life you dream of, if you find it hard to become or stay motivated or if you find yourself feeling negative, life coaching can help in any area of your life. Life Coaching can help you with many, in fact most, of life’s issues including improving your relationship, becoming slim and healthy, improving your career, addressing your work/life balance, managing stress, organising your life, work, home, dealing with bereavement and many others.

It involves a trained life coach asking you to identify your aims, which can often change during the sessions as it also helps you identify what you don’t want in life or what you may be doing to please others. Your coach then helps you achieve your aims by opening your mind to new methods.

It’s not about changing yourself, it’s about becoming yourself. Who we become determines our happiness.

Life coaching is a way of empowering you to bridge the gap between where you are now and the life you desire and deserve.

Here at Thesmartlifecoach we believe that we all have everything we need within us to run our lives successfully. The trouble is that sometimes we place barriers and challenges in our own way that leave us with what we feel are insurmountable problems. Thesmartlifecoach can guide you through these barriers empowering you to create the life you want. We will help you understand yourself better, identify the things holding you back and find the best ways for you, as an individual to move forward.

The urge for change often doesn’t motivate or last long enough for us to take the necessary action to follow through. It seems easier to stay the same. But what will this cost you? What if things are still the same in 5, 10 or even 20 years?

Coaching is a partnership between coach and client, holding you accountable and providing ongoing support and encouragement so that you can’t help but make progress towards the things you focus on – your goals and dreams.

We firmly believe that effective coaching needs to be holistic and individual to each person, taking into account their life as a whole and not just focusing on isolated behaviours.

Whether you choose face-to-face, telephone or e-mail consultations, our practitioners will guide and support you as you work towards the transformation you are looking for.

Our coaching is not about being judgemental or placing blame, nor does it involve analysis of past events. Instead we look at the ‘now’ and the future and concentrate on developing the inner you so you can get your life back on track or move it up to the next level.

Depending on your own particular life challenges and circumstances we may recommend combing coaching with some NLP techniques and/or hypnosis.

DON’T JUST LET LIFE HAPPEN, CREATE THE LIFE YOU DESERVE!

Visit the website to find out more…

10 WAYS TO BEAT COMFORT EATING

1. Change Your Habits

Review the times you are most likely to comfort eat and change your habits. For example, if you know that the first thing you do when you get home from work is sit down with a cuppa and some biscuits cut out the sitting down and do something else instead. It could be as simple and mundane as loading the washing machine, anything that changes your routine will move your mind away from food.

2. Enjoy Yourself!

Make a list of things you could do instead of eating and keep it somewhere you will see it on a regular basis to remind yourself. When the urge to eat hits choose something off your list: walking; shopping; phoning a friend; painting your nails; making love. Being active will re-focus your mind and doing something you love helps look after yourself and increase your happiness which should stop you turning to food for comfort. Just be sure to rotate these new activities so you don’t swap one habit for another, expensive one.

3. Keep a Journal

We often use food to alter our moods, for example reaching for the chocolate after a row! Recognising your negative feelings by writing them down may help you gain some objectivity and help you resist the temptation to eat. No probem is solved by eating sugary, fatty foods. In fact, don’t you just feel worse afterwards and the problem is still there?

4. Eat Healthily

Whilst sugary and fatty foods may give you a short burst of energy eating healthily will boost your mood in the long term. The right type of unsaturated fatty acids and zinc are great for increasing your feel good factor. Nuts and seeds, oily fish, beans and pulses are all good choices. So, make yourself a three bean salad or crunch on some nuts when you feel the urge to snack.

5. Don’t B Blue

Not consuming enough B vitamins, including folic acid, B2, B6 and B12 can increase your chances of developing depression which of course can lead to comfort eating. Brown rice, nuts, soya flour, legumes, watercress, cabbage, asparagus, avocados, lentils, broccoli, red kidney beans and cauliflower are all good sources of B Vitamins. Should you choose to supplement a multi vitamin/mineral would be advised unless you seek the advice of a nutritionist for your individual needs. A good all round, organic supplement is Dr Young’s Greens, telephone 0161 443 4820 for details. For details of a nutritional consultation visit our website

6. Excercise

Studies show that regular exercise could be just as effective as anti-depressants for lifting mood and doing an activity you enjoy should distract your mind from the thought of food. You also get to increase your fitness and feel better about yourself!

7. Increase Your Self Esteem

Experience shows that comfort eating has more to do with trying to fill an emotional hole than it does with food. If you feel undervalued, unloved or unworthy you are more likely to reach for sugary and fatty foods which then make you feel even worse about yourself. If you feel you have underlying issues counselling and psychotherapy can often help. Call the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy on 0870 443 5252 for details. Alternatively, life coaching can often help raise self acceptance. See our website for details

8. Use NLP or Hypnotherapy

Many techniques in Neuro-Linguistic Programming can help overcome comfort eating from changing a food like into a dislike to challenging negative beliefs, to changing a behaviour. Many of these are combined with Hypnotherapy to help re-programme your subconscious mind to that of a healthy, regular eater.

9. Learn to Relax

Comfort eating is often used as an ineffective way to manage stress. Tackle daily stresses in other ways. Try meditatiion, yoga, stress relief seminars, walking or reading.

10. A Bit of What You Fancy….

The occassional taste bud treat isn’t going to do you much harm as long as it doesn’t reform into a habit. If you fancy a piece of chocolate after a particularly bad day indulge yourself – just make sure it is of the best quality, organic, dark type and take only a small amount, taking your time to savour it.

THESMARTROUTE TO HAPPINESS

You Are Enough

Sure, you may want to make improvements in your life – I hope you do. There may be new skills you want to learn, goals you want to reach and who you are is already enough. Whenever you notice yourself being negative, unkind and critical of yourself, STOP, say ‘thank-you’ to that part of you for noticing the areas in which you could potentialy make improvements then say “I am enough”. Remind yourself of this often, make it a daily affirmation, write it in your journal. As you become truly aware of this fact you’ll feel happier and happier.

THESMARTROUTE TO BETTER COMMUNICATION

This month’s communicatiion tip……..

‘You might become aware of ____ when you ____’

You might become aware of it, which presupposes it’s already there, and all you have to do to find out is the bit after the “when you”. You might become aware of a deepening sense of happiness when you practice the tip above. You might become aware of just how excellent I am at my job when you read this report. You might become aware of how perfectly suited this house is to you when you take a look around.

Try using this during January – you might become aware of amazing results!

THESMARTROUTE TO A BETTER BODY

Recipe

Cabbage and Bean Hotpot
Preparation time 30 mins
Cooking time 1 hour 45 mins

Large can aduki beans (or pinto)
½ tbspn olive oil
1 ½ medium onions
90g/3oz carrots, scrubbed and sliced into rings
275g/6oz hard white cabbage shredded
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
450nl/ ¾ pint hot vegetable stock
375g/75 oz red potatoes

Preheat the oven to 220C, 425F, gas mark 7. Boil the potatoes whole in their skins and allow to cool.

Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onions, carrots and cabbage, covered for about 5 mins. Add black pepper, a little salt and the hot stock. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 mins. Drain the beans and stir into the cabbage mixture.

Spoon the mixture into a large shallow casserole. Slice the cooked potatoes and layer over the top of the cabbage casserole. Bake near the top of the oven for about 30 mins until potatoes browned and crisp.

That’s it for this month. We hope you enjoyed reading our newsletter and learnt some things you can use in your daily life to propel you towards Ultimate Health of Mind and Body.

Until next month,

I wish you love, joy and pH health

Tracy Smart