We all have a choice

The title says it all, we all have a choice. It doesn't matter whether it's your life, fitness, career, or any other type of decision the choice is yours whether you choose to be positive or negative about it. For years I made excuses about not making my decisions correctly, I don't have gas, I don't have a gym membership, I have nobody to work out with, all of the excuses under the sun you could think of I gave for not taking my fitness journey seriously. Not only that but I chose day after day to have a poor me attitude about my fitness journey and about life in general. We all have that type of friend who no matter how many times you tell them they don't look fat, they are pretty or whatever else they always have something to complain about, they're having a bad day, a bad week, or a bad life. 

I am lucky enough to have a mirror of a friend to show me the truth about how I was behaving. But for years I chose to be oblivious,nto how I was behaving, I chose to not look into the "mirror" and it wasn't until recently that I got a dose of my own medicine where it hit me that we have a choice to either live each day positively or negatively. you know the saying you're only one work out away from a good mood? I firmly believe this  is true, sure I still have days where I'm tired from work or I've had problems with patients or with family or anything else that seems to go wrong in a day, everyone has bad days, everyone has problems that that they are faced with every single day it's how you choose to react to these problems that really defines you. LOL it's like Reese Witherspoon says: exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, happy people don't just shoot their husbands. 

Now in order to lead a more positive life by choice you have to choose to eliminate the negativity and drama from your life, it's not always easy. I recently had to make a choice to remove certain friends from not only my  Facebook but my life completely. It's something that I've struggled with but if you are serious about living a positive life and incorporating that into your fitness journey it's a sacrifice that needs to be made. One thing I'm trying to do is make sure I see the positive in every situation, It's not always easy but I found that it makes my life a lot better and genuinely makes me a happy person, and when you are happy you you attract positivity. You get back what you put out as I say. I'm sad it took me this long to really grasp the concept but now that I have it I don't intend to go back to negativity land. 

So back to the daily choice, not everyone has time for the gym, I have days where I don't get off in time and I know the gym is going to be packed, so instead of just saying screw it, I will just do my workout at home. Maybe I won't be able to do the exact workout but some workout is better than no workout at all. I mean think about it, they recommend 30 minutes a day of exercise, that still leaves you with 23 hours and 30 minutes to do whatever you want! Personally I love vegging out watching food nextwork and going through my Instagram feed for new makeup, hair, recipe or workout ideas. That's my ideal wind down after a long day. 

So what can you do if you feel the negativity bug creeping up on you after a day filled with problems and no solutions? It's simple really. Close your eyes and focus on a positive thought, it can be anything you want, a cheat meal, a memory, a person, whatever! While your focusing on that happy thought and letting the warmth wash over you take a deep breath in through your nose while counting to three (I know I know a non multitaskers nightmare 😉 but you can do it) and then blow it out through your mouth slowly. You will do this 3x. This action helps reset your system and essentially puts you into your higher brain function or third brain as my friend Ann teaches ( this technique is used in heart mapping, and is actually taught to high level people at Redken where she worked and she was kind enough to teach it to me during one of our sessions, I was hooked up to s heart monitor and everything and you could see on the screen my levels, it was pretty cool to see the changes after doing this exercise) I can't explain it but you can actually feel stress leaving your body and you instantly feel better, calmer and more focused.  So in closing if the only thing you get from this is the knowledge that you have a choice to be happy everyday then my mission is complete!! 

This is showing how your emotions effect your heart rate and brain function, the top is someone who is stressed and not thinking clearly, the. Bottom is someone who is currently functioning at a higher level and are currently using their 3rd brain

Showing how the signals of stress apply to our brains and our thought process

And finally showing the levels work and what they do.

Goals Goals Goals

I've been asked a lot recently how I stay motivated. The truth is there is no concrete method to keep your motivation in check, and I'm definitely not the strongest willed person, just the other day I had a huge elephant ear, (I did share it with 3 people so I didn't eat it all myself) there are days when I get off work and I've had a crappy day and the last thing I wanna do is go to a crowded gym and work out. But the truth is I know what works for me, it's about small steps, telling myself I'll go workout for 15 minutes if I still feel like I don't wanna work out after that time I will leave, 9 times out of 10 I end up staying for at least an hour and I feel better, and that 1 time I don't stay? I walk away knowing I gave it a shot. I also have a movationsl board to help me keep focus of my goals, I'm a visual person so having lists and boards and goals like that really help me. Pinterest and Instagram also keep me motivated by following fitness type boards and people because all I have to do is scroll through either of them when I feel a binge coming on and it gets me right back into check. Not to mention it's great for new exercises, recipes or just visual quotes and motivation. My biggest obstacle will always be food, I eat too much, I eat to little, I don't eat the right stuff, I eat the right stuff but them I am still hungry so I eat way more then I should, portions are wrong, too much sodium, too many carbs, the list goes on and on, I know all the excuses people give for not eating right because I've used them myself. I'm starting to get better but everyday is a challenge, not to just grab subway after a long day, skip lunch and breakfast because I'm in a hurry. I've realized just how important some or any form of meal prepping is, whether it's creating a drawer of go to healthy snacks or portioning out meat so when you need to make dinner you can just defrost it and cook it quickly, fitness really is a lifestyle not just s quick fix. One of my goals for my fitness group is to have a meal prep swap night where everyone brings on of their healthy meals they've already prepped and can swap them for others along with recipes and ideas. I'm also hoping to host a healthy recipe swap where every time I make a new healthy/tasty alternative for people to make at home, however I need to find a place to host these events because right now my house is definitely not a good meeting point. 2015 may have started off rough but that doesn't mean it will have to end the same way! What are some of you goals and motivational tools that help you? I love hearing everyone's ideas!