Have you ever failed at something and looked around and wondered why your friend was able to lose weight, or your co-worker got a bonus, or someone reached a milestone in just a few short months that you’ve been striving for years?
We often talk about mindset, but it didn’t click just how important that is until something Lennie McKinney (Pastor of Cross Life Akron) said at church on Sunday. He spoke of Heart Posturing and how that can be the difference between failure and success.
Simply said, heart posturing is setting yourself up to bring a positive transformation out of any circumstance. Pastor Lennie used an example of losing a loved one. If your heart is not focused on God and his will you may find yourself in depression, anger, frustration, and a whole host of other negative emotions. These emotions will ultimately bring you (and your body) negative effects ranging from physical symptoms (weight gain, sleeplessness, anxiety, etc) to spiritual symptoms (wavering faith, lacking closeness with your heavenly Father). BUT if you’ve postured your heart on God and his will you find peace in heart ache, calmness during emotional distress, and a stronger desire to be the positive spiritual influence on your family and friends.
How can we apply this to our health journey?
Lennie calls it “heart posturing”, us trainers call it “getting your mind right”! Whatever words you use, it is essential that you enter everyday with your mind, body, and spirit connected in a way that you know exactly why you are working so hard in the gym, eating clean foods that will nourish and energize your body, getting adequate sleep to keep your body functioning properly, and reducing your stress through positive thoughts.
3 Steps you can take TODAY to reach your health goals:
- Write. Try recording your feelings, struggles, and victories in a book each day. If you are not a writer simply create 3 columns and on the top of the first write “Victories“, on the second “Struggles“, and finally “Today’s Goal“. Each day take 5 minutes in the morning to evaluate your feelings and set your intentions for the day!
- Share. Find someone who you can confide in to share your journey with and who cares enough to lift you up when you are struggling, celebrate every small victory, and even give you a kick in the pants when you need it.
- Take quality time improving yourself. Most of us are so “busy” doing “stuff” that we forget to be intentional about self-improvement. Whatever that is for you, reading, studying, working out, etc make that a priority everyday! Even 10 minutes is shown to boost endorphin levels and have a huge impact on your health! I know for a fact we can all substitute 10 min of TV, Social Media, etc for self improvement!
Let us know if you feel like you are struggling to maintain the right mindset and keep finding yourself falling short of your goals. We would love to help you “get your mind right!”