Drink Less, Live More

Well here we are the final day of 2017. Time to say goodbye to the year that just passed. Saying goodbye can sometimes be difficult, but letting go of the past, and looking towards the future, will keep you moving towards your new goals. So much of the advertising and sales these days is around organizing. Seems everyone is looking to clean out their homes and begin the New Year with a fresh start. Some may love the feeling of de-cluttering and organizing, yet others have a difficult time saying goodbye. If you want to become a new version of yourself in 2018 you will have to say goodbye - maybe to tangible items, maybe to relationships, and most definitely to old thoughts. Take some time to do an inventory. Keep the items and thoughts you truly love. You know that shirt you got 2 years ago as a gift and you never wore it - donate it - let someone else enjoy it. There are likely a number of items you have that you find some reason to hold on to them. If these items ...

As you take time to reflect over the past year I want you to keep in mind the past does not affect you today. This is an interesting concept so it may take some time to set in. The only way your past exists is in your thoughts about it now. So what you are currently thinking about it affects you, but what happened to you in the past does not. So how do you want to tell your story moving forward? All your thoughts are optional. Most have been programmed unconsciously and are good ones to keep - for example - brush your teeth and shower, look both ways before crossing a street, it’s good to be kind. Some thoughts however, are not useful, as you look forward to your new year and staying on track for your goals. These thoughts may include - it’s nearly impossible to lose weight, it’s always more fun drinking, I can't do that. So what do you want to program in your brain? Think about all these thoughts and decide on purpose which ones you will want to keep in the New Y...

I really enjoy this time of year. It is time to look back and reflect on what has happened in the last 12 months. Often times people will consider what “happened to” them, but this year I encourage you to look at the last 12 months in a way that asks your brain what you were thinking along the way to create the results you see. If you find yourself looking back at your year and wish it was different I encourage you to learn more about the tools to will show you how your thoughts create your results. If you continue to have the same thoughts going into the New Year you will create the same results. Instead of making resolutions, set goals and start asking yourself really fantastic questions on how you will get there. For example - if you are looking to drink less - ask yourself what ways you will feel amazing each morning you wake up knowing you honored the plan you made. Don’t ask yourself how you are going to possibly get through the night without that last drink. Your br...

Welcome back to Thinking about Drinking Thursday, where we discuss tools to help you drink less. If you are a highly functioning gal who has decided to just cut back on your drinking - this is for you. If you have been saying you want to drink less, but haven't been successful I want to help by sharing some tools with you. That glass of wine is calling your name after a long day - between work, the holidays, the weather - you take first sip, deep sigh out, relax your shoulder, and start to make you feel better about all of it. Interestingly, none of “it” changes. Your brain thinks everything is better because you are reinforcing the learned behavior of over desire and dopamine hit, but imagine if you didn’t have to buffer to feel better. Right now you may have a false idea that the only way to feel better is alcohol, but you will learn if you cut back it’s ok to feel bored, anxious, or unhappy at times - it’s really not the end of the world. Becoming aware o...

Welcome to the final Mindful Weighs Wednesday of 2017! These last couple months have been so exciting and I look forward to the next year. Hopefully everyone has enjoyed the holiday season, and is looking forward to an amazing 2018! During this time of year you may find yourself with leftover cookies, cakes, candies and struggle with what to do. You are trying to lose weight, yet you have these fantastic treats that were given as gifts - what do you do? If you have thoughts like “Eating sweets is part of life”, “Cutting back is painful”, or “I can’t waste this”, you may notice yourself continuously going to the platter for more. So the struggle becomes, you have a thought you want to lose weight, yet you also have the above thoughts that give you feelings that drive actions such as eating the cookies, which in the end does not support what you really want. I encourage you to take a look at one of those thoughts - “I can’t waste this” - and really dig into it. What comes ...

Welcome back to Thinking about Drinking Thursday, where we discuss tools to help you drink less. If you are a highly functioning gal who has decided to just cut back on your drinking - this is for you. If you have been saying you want to drink less, but haven't been successful I want to help by sharing some tools with you. You want to cut back on drinking but do you really believe that is possible? A little less Pinot G - really? Yes, really. You will need to create new beliefs in order to accomplish this goal, and once you do so on purpose, you will blow your own mind. First, become aware of what you currently believe - especially about yourself. You may not even realize sentences like - I can’t do that, I’m not good at this, or I’ve always had a hard time, are really just thoughts. These thoughts come from past beliefs, and are often confused as facts. Get ahold of these negative beliefs and notice how you feel when you think them. These thoughts will disempow...

Welcome to Mindful Weighs Wednesday! I just left a dinner meeting where a young gal was telling a story about how she recently said a couple things during the day which she regretted. Interestingly, she began by telling us how she tends to notice these things each night when, before she goes to sleep she recounts all the things that went wrong throughout her day. I got to thinking … How often do you serve yourself up a turd sandwich? You know - perhaps you eat off protocol - take the cookies, or chips, or anything you know is not really good for your well being, an then on top of that you pile crap like shame and guilt. The negative self talk we often have seems normal because we do it so often. But take a minute and really write down all the thoughts- you’re never going to be skinny, your butt is too big, you are lazy, you have no willpower. Would you want to hang out with somebody who speaks like that all the time? Not likely. If you have kids you may even give the...

Welcome back to Thinking about Drinking Thursday, where we discuss tools to help you drink less. If you are a highly functioning gal who has decided to just cut back on your drinking - this is for you. If you have been saying you want to drink less, but haven't been successful I want to help by sharing some tools with you. We have trained ourselves to feel this desire to drink without conscious control, and now we want to unlearn this habit. This week I want to talk about planning to drink. Yes- we are planning to drink! All of this work is based on strengthening the managing part of your brain (pre-frontal cortex), and using a drink plan will help you do that. Doing this exercise will empower you as you bring awareness to your drinking, and take control of the planning. Here’s how you do it. Let’s say you have a holiday party this weekend. You will want to take at least 24 hours in advance to complete this. It doesn’t matter if you want to have 2 or 22 drinks at t...

Welcome to Mindful Weighs Wednesday! Imagine a world where you can be happy no matter what. For some of you that world would exist if you were able to lose weight, find the right mate, or land a new job. But imagine if none of those external controls were really the source of your happiness. Why we do anything in this world is because we think it will make us feel a certain way - so how do you learn to feel better? Let’s take the example of being thin. Right now you may be someone who thinks you will feel happy when you lose your weight. If being thin equals happiness why are there are a lot of miserable thin people in the world? The difference is, the ideas going through each mind, creates the different feelings. Really take the time to think about this. When you understand every emotion is available to you, you begin to feel empowered knowing you have the option to choose what serves you. You are in charge of how you feel. If you want to feel better, grab better t...

Welcome back to Thinking about Drinking Thursday, where we discuss tools to help you drink less. If you are a highly functioning gal who has decided to just cut back on your drinking - this is for you. If you have been saying you want to drink less, but haven't been successful I want to help by sharing some tools with you. Last week we discussed desire, and why we like to drink. Desire is a learned behavior that most of us have become really good at. We plan to meet our girlfriends for example, which triggers the thought - I want to have a glass of wine, we feel desire, and reward it with a glass of wine. When you have this thought, and reward at the end you will continue to do it because the brain loves to seek pleasure. So how do you unlearn this? In order to unlearn this desire pattern you need to interrupt the model. You need to stop rewarding the thought with a glass of wine and once you stop rewarding the thought, the desire will go away. Recall Pavlov’s dog...

Yes, I did say embrace the junk food! It’s the holiday season and what better time to build the skills you need in order to lose weight. You have decided losing weight is one of your top priorities, and you have temptation after temptation in front of you over the next couple of weeks - now what? Most weight loss programs suggest you control the external environment. The diet mentality will often suggest you get rid of all the junk food, avoid the parties, don’t even take the bread basket, and at all costs avoid anything that may make you feel anxious or uncomfortable. How has that worked out for you so far? In this program we talk about the importance of managing the mind. There are always going to be parties and events you can not control. We actually encourage you to embrace the negative, and develop the skills to take on an urge, allow, and process the feelings that come up. If you avoid these situations because you don’t feel you have enough control you are actuall...