You made your summertime plans – more exercise, more fun, and LESS junk food.
You started strong.
The block parties kicked off, the travel plans kicked in and before you knew it, you were eating what felt like a lot of 7-layer dip.
Starting to feel the fatigue of staying up past your bed time too many nights in a row, guilt from what has now felt like an overindulgent vacation, and at a loss for the last time you made it to your women's hiking group - you wake up one morning wondering what happened.
Most of us can remember sabotaging our success, our health goals or our self-care plans.
It's a common problem.
We ask ourselves why we are stuck, why we can't seem to follow through, and why we continue to live as a person we don't want to be.
Breaking old patterns, releasing our self-saboteur, and beginning anew is key in creating a life we love.
If you are struggling with consistency, follow through; much less a rocking summer plan then today’s 'skinny' is for you...
3 reasons why your Self Saboteur has all the power and how to make a change
(+ A guided meditation to boot)
We often find ourselves loosing sight of being the person we want to be, feeling stuck, and not sure what to do about it.
Our obstacles seem to grow into our demons, and our true potential succumbs to taking a back seat.
Old, ineffective thought patterns and beliefs – the very things that have blocked you up to this point – will stand out loud and clear as you start to befriend your inner success queen, and finally give her back the drivers seat.
Here are the 3 most common self-sabotaging patterns I see around food, body, and health and what to DO about it.
- Are you afraid of Failure?
A fear of failure or inadequacy can often turn us away from moving forward. The challenge is too much. It’s as if, once we reveal what we really want for ourselves, we have a sacred contract with ourselves to fulfill it.
Wow, that’s a big commitment.
Maybe it is safer to stay stuck.
Naming our goals/intentions/personal commitments, but then not feeling able to follow through is hard to swallow. All of these fears are totally real.
Try this: Ask yourself who has the power – you or your fears? Try naming your fears. Once they are named, recognized and befriended, they become more powerless.
- Are YOU addicted to your suffering?
One common way we sabotage our own success is related to the addictions most of us have to our negative thoughts and beliefs, and to our own suffering.
For many of us, sitting in our own suffering is a pattern that has formed and become a habitual way we move through life. We are more comfortable with our suffering because it is all we know.
Where do you embellish your own suffering?
What do you get out of it?
In some twisted way, we all get something out of complaining, being depressed, or playing the victim.
Maybe we get more attention, maybe we get to be lazy, or maybe we are simply used to feeling this way, so this state has become the place we feel most comfortable.
Try this: Inquire into your own patterns with suffering, and take a closer look. Answer the question honestly – what do you get from your suffering? These old patterns may have started in your childhood, in a relationship, or even in a hard phase of your life. There are many opportunities for these patterns to have become habits, but just as many opportunities to change them with love and awareness.
- Do you CHECK OUT?
Self-soothing is a high priority in our self-care, but checking OUT is a different thing – it means shutting down, turning a blind eye, or avoiding feeling or experiencing the strong emotions that we may be afraid of (including happiness).
If the pattern of checking OUT is a big one for you, taking gradual steps to checking IN is important.
We need reflection, accountability, structure, and support to create a new pattern.
We need to practice.
We need an intuitive relationship with ourselves first.
Try this: Sit with the uncomfortable. Feel. Listen inward. Crack yourself open. Love ALL of you. The way OUT is always IN.
What this means for our relationship with food, health and body is that if we begin to see the discomfort as merely our brain breaking down old neural pathways and creating new ones and then we can welcome this uncomfortable new way as a sign of progress. We can release the inner voice of the self-saboteur if we know what we are listening for, and learning to recognize when SHE is running the show.
To practice, today’s guided meditation will take you deeper inward towards reclaiming your power and releasing your saboteur once and for all.
The Yoga of Eating ~ Full Moon Weekend Retreat Joyful Journey Hotsprings September 16th-18th
Reconnect and restore in the majesty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains with a retreat designed for your health, nourishment, and body-mind-spirit connection.
Soak in the sacred waters of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, enjoy the delicious organic home cooked meals, and share in the sisterhood of connection and ritual.