Among a western world that appears to be bountiful in food, we find ourselves battling obesity and disease. This is certainly no secret as you see overweight and obese individuals often. However, are you aware that globally 821 million are considered to be staving and undernourished. To add insult to injury, 1/3 of all food produced globally is lost or wasted every year. In theory we could potentially end starvation if together we were able to stop waste and increase transportation efficiencies. The irony is tragic at best. Were you aware of these facts, or was your attention being consumed elsewhere?
What does this have to do with a brain game, Lumosity? As I found myself utilizing this app’s brain baseline test one morning I was offer a statement that made me reflect on Personal Training (as most things commonly do). Attention is a limited resource. We all decide what is worth paying attention to and what is not. This division allows us to execute tasks at hand and organize our life. Yet, this same method of selective attention also allows us to ignore things very easily. Perhaps we ignore how amazing our loving spouse is because we have our attention focused on work, finances, hobbies, or even worse another “potential mate”. This example probably generated some anxiety or frustration, and for good reason-what a prick right? Due to attention’s limited availability we must concentrate on our core values if we wish to produce a life worth living. Otherwise life can feel like quicksand. The higher the lack of attention is on the things that matter most to you, the deeper you’re pulled and trapped in the life-sucking moist sand.
Your attention needs to be deliberate. Time is also a limited resource, and we all are aware that we will be done one day. To maximize our time here on this planet I think we would all benefit from being healthy, active, able, and disease-free. That is why I became a Fitness Professional. It was through my own personal journey from being fat, unhappy, lazy, and self-conscious that I learned what life felt like when your health is not a priority. Life was hard, each morning I had to muster up the strength just to get out of bed and participate in this world. I felt as though I couldn’t do a lot of the things my friends were doing especially sports and pool activities because of my negative self-image. I knew something had to change. I decided to start paying attention to the ways I ate, thought, moved, breathed, slept, and hydrated. I finally was able to see how much more I could accomplish with the new found energy, zest, and ability health and fitness granted me. You see my attention needed to shift if this would be a lifelong sustainable difference.
If you don’t pay any attention to your health, you are no different than the person who pays no attention to their loving spouse. You’re body wants to be nourished, active, and strong. When you neglect your health a cascade of issues arise. These issues can range from immobility, pain and disease, to chronic fatigue and depression. Your brain and body are in a relationship just like you and the loving spouse. There needs to be attention directed towards fueling, hydrating, and moving your body appropriately. There also needs to be attention directed towards thinking positive dream-affirmative thoughts, as well as achieving an adequate nights rest for your cognitive well-being. Together when the two partners of this relationship (brain & body) receive the attention they desire you will find yourself a happier, healthier person overall.
Where to start focusing your attention for improved health and fitness?
Start focusing on how you feel. All too often people focus on the way you look. The way you look is a long term byproduct of the way you feel. As you become aware of your current internal function and feeling you can begin to make some changes to minor details in your life and track the way you feel as you continue to alter your choices. Start with the things that have the least barrier to enter-sleep and thinking. If you concentrate on developing a good bed time routine you will start to recharge your batteries fully. Approximately 9 million Americans use prescription sleep aids, not to mention how many millions more use the store bought sleep aids. Thirty minutes before you’d like to fall asleep turn off the phone, dim the lights, keep noises to a low volume and begin to settle down your external environment so you can settle down your internal environment. This is going to allow your body to naturally produce its own sleep medication-melatonin. Pay attention to how your body feels over the next couple days as you begin to get quality sleep. Naturally your mood and energy levels should rise slightly. Next free thing to focus your attention on once you’ve mastered your sleep is your thinking. Refer to the article I wrote to improve your thinking dramatically: “We Think Like Robots. Use It To Your Advantage To Improve Your Health”. As you begin to think more positive about yourself and your environment you’ll quickly evolve to a happier more enthusiastic and optimistic individual. This will increase your attention to positive vibes and you will refuse to accept negativity. The negative self-talk often stops people from reaching their potential to get healthy long term. Continue making small changes in your life and pay attention as those changes are altering your internal function and feeling. Chase the positive nutrition related feelings mentioned in my other article “Traversing The Grocery Store In Today’s State”. Slowly stitch all of these strategies together over time with constant deliberate attention. You’ll achieve a body that is fit, able, happy, and healthy permanently. I hope you’re enjoying the content I’m producing, if you are please check out my podcast as I know you’ll love it too!
Cantrell Coaching LLC 