So, we're a week into the 100 Day Challenge.
Remember C.L.? She has made daily exercise and increased water intake part of her Massive Action Plan, and she's been on track every day so far.
Remember J.W.? He's actually ahead of his M.A.P.! His goal the first week was to reduce his use by 50% - but he exceeded his week 1 goal and reduced use by 75%.
For those skeptics out there saying "Yeah, but what about in a month? Will they still be taking action?", don't worry - I'll report back to let you know how it's going.
***
On another note, I wanted to briefly mention seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Most people think of this as the Winter Blues - and it can be! But it often begins as hours of sunlight diminish - and even at my relatively stable latitude, it's obvious that winter is coming. (Yes, it's still over 100 degrees outside, but not for as long each day!) But what can make SAD worse is the stress that comes with holidays - starting as early as Halloween!
After all, you have to get the right costume and candy and the perfect pumpkin, and you barely have time to eat all the candy before you have to go out and get a turkey that will feed everyone, cook it to perfection, make Great-Aunt Mabel's artichoke loaf that nobody will eat, deal with hungry and cranky kids while zombie dads watch football, pack up all the leftovers, and be ready to hit the stores and fight the crowds the next day, just so you can scurry home to wrap and pack, then zip to the post office to mail everything, then race back home to bake a batch of cookies, make a million trips for batteries and tape, reproduce the gourmet masterpiece of Thanksgiving, get the kids to pick up their toys and the wrapping paper because company is coming (again), clean up the dog vomit (he got ahold of the cheeseball), and on and on it goes.
If you were describing this process to aliens from another planet, what do you think their reaction would be? Something like, "Why do you do all that?"
Stress alone can lead to depression. With limited daylight, it's like psychologically decreasing the time we have to care for ourselves. Make sure you continue to carve out 15 to 30 minutes a day of YOU-time. If you haven't already been doing it, by all means, START! It's not a guaranteed way to solve all your seasonal woes, but it will make Great-Aunt Mabel's artichoke loaf easier to deal with!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
100 Days Are Under Way!
Welcome to the beginning of the end of the year!
This is the start of the 100 Day Challenge - millions of people all over the world are making the most of the time that's left, being proactive and achieving their goals.
As we wind down the year, I'll post updates about a couple of my clients so you can see how effective the challenge is. Let me introduce them now: C.L. wants to slim down to a size 10/12, while J.W. wants to quit chewing tobacco. As for me (yes, I've got goals and I'm sweating this out just like my clients), I want to dust off the exercise equipment and get rid of the fatigue that settled in over the summer!
Did you miss registration for this year? If you prefer the traditional New Year's Resolutions, why not sign up for Resolution to Reality? Sign up by Resolution Week (December 13-17) to get all the advance information, tips, and secrets to successful goal-setting. Then you're prepared to launch the New Year with all your strategies in place - plus you'll still get 31 days of coaching! More info on this program is coming, or you can call or email if you have any questions.
More soon!
This is the start of the 100 Day Challenge - millions of people all over the world are making the most of the time that's left, being proactive and achieving their goals.
As we wind down the year, I'll post updates about a couple of my clients so you can see how effective the challenge is. Let me introduce them now: C.L. wants to slim down to a size 10/12, while J.W. wants to quit chewing tobacco. As for me (yes, I've got goals and I'm sweating this out just like my clients), I want to dust off the exercise equipment and get rid of the fatigue that settled in over the summer!
Did you miss registration for this year? If you prefer the traditional New Year's Resolutions, why not sign up for Resolution to Reality? Sign up by Resolution Week (December 13-17) to get all the advance information, tips, and secrets to successful goal-setting. Then you're prepared to launch the New Year with all your strategies in place - plus you'll still get 31 days of coaching! More info on this program is coming, or you can call or email if you have any questions.
More soon!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Seven Freudian Ideas I Agree With
I read an article last year, lamenting that the psychological community had dismissed Freud as a wacko. Well, maybe he was and maybe he wasn’t, but the point was that professionals rarely read much of Freud’s work, simply because most of it was never translated from German.
Like most people, I figured Freud was obsessed with incestuous sex and swayed by the Victorian residue of sexism, as well. Not quite true. Here are seven of Freud’s actual beliefs about therapy:
1. Freud believed that treatment should only occur when there was a good rapport between the client and the professional.
2. He didn’t think the professional should seem overly smart or sensitive, because that creates distance. The professional should be personable, sympathetic, and able to help, but not in the same way as a friend or boss.
3. Freud didn’t advocate psychoanalysis (as it’s known today) for every client. He noted that therapy should be tailored to the client’s individual needs.
4. He did believe that talking things out, using a trained professional as a sounding-board, really helped people see things in perspective.
5. Freud advocated professionals using their intuition whenever necessary, and deviating from any particular theoretical perspective when it could help the client.
6. He proposed that clients should spend as much energy accepting their positive attributes as working to tame the negative ones. As well, he said clients should understand both their impulses and their resistances.
7. He believed that there was no such thing as complete healing. Personally, I think he might have phrased it better. Regardless, he never mentioned that healing (aka “recovery” or “change”) was an eternal process. Rather, he seemed to be implying only that healing may come with scars. Hardly a shocker, that – if we don’t come out of a painful experience a little different than how we went in, either it wasn’t that painful or we didn’t learn much!
Like most people, I figured Freud was obsessed with incestuous sex and swayed by the Victorian residue of sexism, as well. Not quite true. Here are seven of Freud’s actual beliefs about therapy:
1. Freud believed that treatment should only occur when there was a good rapport between the client and the professional.
2. He didn’t think the professional should seem overly smart or sensitive, because that creates distance. The professional should be personable, sympathetic, and able to help, but not in the same way as a friend or boss.
3. Freud didn’t advocate psychoanalysis (as it’s known today) for every client. He noted that therapy should be tailored to the client’s individual needs.
4. He did believe that talking things out, using a trained professional as a sounding-board, really helped people see things in perspective.
5. Freud advocated professionals using their intuition whenever necessary, and deviating from any particular theoretical perspective when it could help the client.
6. He proposed that clients should spend as much energy accepting their positive attributes as working to tame the negative ones. As well, he said clients should understand both their impulses and their resistances.
7. He believed that there was no such thing as complete healing. Personally, I think he might have phrased it better. Regardless, he never mentioned that healing (aka “recovery” or “change”) was an eternal process. Rather, he seemed to be implying only that healing may come with scars. Hardly a shocker, that – if we don’t come out of a painful experience a little different than how we went in, either it wasn’t that painful or we didn’t learn much!
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