Tag: mind

You have an inner rebel.

Everyone does. It’s the part of you that puts up a fight every time you try to cut calories, do insane amounts of exercise, and make superficial New Year’s resolutions.

It’s a big player in why you’ve failed many times in the past. But that doesn’t make it a bad thing! In fact, your inner rebel is your biggest asset…if you allow it to be.

See, your inner rebel aims to protect you from absurdity.

Doing Weight Watchers-style programs, forcing yourself to do insane amounts of exercise, demonizing sugar, relying on willpower, and adopting all of the other superficial dieting strategies is an absurd way to live. And your inner rebel knows that.

By the way, your inner rebel can’t be defeated. The more you suppress it, the louder its temper tantrums become. Success depends on channeling your inner rebel by listening to what it’s telling you and allowing it to act on your behalf.

Right now, there’s a good chance you’re trying to defeat your inner rebel on two fronts…

1. You’re going to war with your body in terms of food and lifestyle. This pisses your inner rebel off.

2. Whenever you have an opportunity to make authentic changes, you can’t get comfortable with going against the grain. This is a fear-based suppression of your inner rebel.

What would happen if you flipped this script?

What would happen if you stopped going to war with yourself and adopted an authentic approach to health and wellness?

I’ll tell you: Your inner rebel would stop going to war with you.

What would happen if you allowed your inner rebel to go to war with the mainstream bullshit going on around you? If you allowed it to wholly reject our processed food supply, the obsessive dieting strategies, perfectionism, the rampant search for magic pills, and the obsession with unrealistic body image?

I’ll tell you: Your inner rebel would empower you with self-confidence in a way that you’ve never experienced before. And it would free you from the prison of people-pleasing.

Do you feel uncomfortable traveling in the opposite direction of the herd? Do you feel like you’re stepping on toes when you tell people that you prefer real food? Do you find yourself jumping from diet to diet with everyone else, tuning in to Dr. Oz, and trying to find that (nonexistent) “missing link” to getting a body and life you love?

Do you feel out of step because of your lifestyle choices? Do you feel self-conscious? Do you feel lonely in your health journey?

These are all signs that you’re allowing fear to suppress your inner rebel when you should be allowing your inner rebel to charge forward.

The true rebel doesn’t care what others think. If the rebel has to be alone, the rebel will be alone. If the rebel is attacked, the rebel will stand up taller. The rebel does this because the rebel is concerned about doing what’s right and couldn’t care less about doing what’s popular.

The rebel will do other things that you’ll find highly beneficial. It will help you recruit other rebels. It will inspire others around you who are desperate for authenticity. It will strengthen your relationships. It will give you a sense of inner peace even in times of perceived chaos.

Your ability to channel your inner rebel will make or break your success because the mainstream is a lost cause. If you want to win, you must go against the grain. It’s true with nutrition, with parenting, with finances, with relationships…even with the type of shoes you wear.

If you can’t channel your inner rebel and allow it to fight shoulder to shoulder with you, the herd will swallow you whole.

You’ve seen this. You know people who are slogging through life on autopilot. They do everything the mainstream does and never diverge in any meaningful way. Don’t be that person!

Live your life! Your life. Authentically. Regardless of what everyone else is doing. And the only way to do that is to channel your inner rebel.

I’ve lived with insomnia for almost a decade. It started with hitting my head on a chair. “Nothing more than a mild concussion,” they said. If only that had meant it wouldn’t affect me for the rest of my life. It’s a rare night when I can fall asleep easily and stay asleep through the night; and about once a month I just won’t be able to sleep at all.
Insomnia can be caused by a number of things. Aging alone decreases the neurotransmitters and affects sleep patterns. I am getting older! Stress and anxiety don’t help, and neither does chronic illness. Check. Check. And Check. Add indigestion and medications (or better yet indigestion caused by medications) and you can end up with serious issues with insomnia.
Lucky me, I have all of that!
But, insomnia is about more than just lost sleep; insomnia impairs your cognitive functioning, your behaviors, and your emotions. Insomnia affects every facet of your life, and it can often feel like nothing helps.
You follow all the instructions for great sleep hygiene, making sure the room is completely dark, the TV is off an hour before bed, you avoid electronics, take a warm bath, etc. Yet sleep still doesn’t come. Or you fall asleep only to wake up again two hours later. It seems like no matter how many sheep you count, you just can’t get back to sleep. But, I have found one thing you’ve probably not tried that really can help me get to sleep, or get back to sleep, and stay asleep—meditation.
Meditation is a practice, based on Eastern theology, of clearing the mind and focusing on a specific thought, to change the way you think. Meditation has been shown to be a powerful tool to help not only aid with insomnia, but improve self-confidence, develop positive emotions, reduce anxiety, and improve immune response (Sun, Kang, Wang, & Zeng, 2013).
Meditation is quite easy to learn thanks to the large number of apps available that offer meditation training. Typically, the apps allow you to choose a focus and most offer meditation to help calm you and help you fall asleep.
To find these apps visit the app store for your device and search for “meditation.” You’ll find several free apps, so just try a few until you find one you like.
I’ve tried a few of these apps and I’ve found that they can be really helpful. The meditations typically begin by telling you to clear your mind, they then provide you with guided imagery to help you focus your mind on an image that calms you and lulls you into sleep.
If you have a busy mind, like I do, it can be difficult to clear it and really focus on the imagery. I struggled, often finding my thoughts wavering back to real life, but the more that I practiced the easier it got to return to the focus provided by the meditation.
Often when I wake up in the middle of the night I will plug my headphones in and turn on one of these meditation apps and before I know it I’m back in a restful state and asleep; sometimes I won’t wake again until morning.
I find that when I’m using meditation regularly, I sleep better and stay calmer during the day.
These apps will typically allow you to choose to play a meditation once or have it repeat. Often, when I’ve chosen the latter I will wake up in the morning to find that it is still playing and I’ve slept right through it. I also find that when I use these meditations to help me sleep I wake up in a more restful state with less anxiety.
I will also use meditation during the day to help calm my nerves when I’m feeling anxious or stressed. A simple 15-minute meditation really helps clear the mind and leaves me refreshed, focused, and ready to face the day again. This decreased stress during the day may also contribute to the reduced insomnia later.
Proper sleep is associated with increased production, higher quality of life, improved cognitive functioning, improved life satisfaction and happiness, and decreased inflammation (Irwin, et al., 2013).
Insomnia often prevents our ability to get this proper sleep, but meditation can help. By learning to use meditation to conquer your insomnia you will find that you not only sleep better at night, but you wake up more refreshed, less stressed, and with higher mental functioning. Using meditation during the day can also help reduce your stress and aid in conquering insomnia.

Most people have struggled with self-esteem issues at some point in their lives. Sadly, many people compare themselves to the best of the best: movie stars, sports heroes, and supermodels. This unrealistic and unhealthy comparison can set anyone up for a sense of perceived failure.
Supermodels are a very small population, and even they are made to appear more flawless with the help of computerized editing. As you gaze upon picture-perfect images in magazines, it’s no wonder you may become more critical about the way you look in comparison.
With obesity on the rise and activity at an all-time low, there may appear to be an even a bigger wedge between reality and Hollywood’s standards. As a result, you can easily be left feeling very discouraged and insecure.
If this sounds familiar, implementing an exercise plan may give you the confidence boost you need.
Exercise will make you feel better.

One of the most common complaints inactive people have is that they simply do not feel well. Not only does an inactive lifestyle lend itself to low energy and sickness, a sedentary life increases the risk for numerous health issues, including high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, cancer, obesity, and heart disease. As you begin to exercise, you will quickly notice a variety of immediate benefits, beginning with improved sleep and increased energy. The longer you exercise, the more health benefits you will discover.
In addition to improving the way you feel physically, exercise also improves the way you look. Since many people are not happy with their bodies, making any physical improvement is always welcomed. Even if you do not lose weight, regular exercise can increase muscle tone and reduce body fat.

Whether you are getting stronger, faster, or leaner, each victory will take your self-esteem to the next level. This sense of accomplishment can give you the added assurance you need to pursue your dreams and set higher goals both in and out of the gym.
Nothing builds self-confidence like gaining physical strength and power. As you attempt new exercises and complete more difficult workouts, you begin to accomplish tasks in the gym that seemed impossible in the very beginning. The more you challenge your body, the more you uncover your true potential. Even the smallest accomplishment can result in a huge mental boost.

Stress and anxiety can take a toll on your self-esteem. Ironically, people who need to exercise the most feel they do not have the time to work out.
However, if they did work out, they would be surprised how much exercise would help them handle stress and manage their time. Multiple studies have followed the psychological effects exercise has on a person’s mental status. Researchers have found that exercise reduces depression and anxiety and helps people manage stress. As you handle life’s stresses better, you are able to relax more and get better sleep so you are refreshed for the next day. When your thoughts are not consumed with worry, you are able to focus on your daily tasks. As a result, you are more productive and more in control, giving you an increased sense of accomplishment.
While it is always best to consult a physician to rule out any mental-health or body-image disorders, exercise has been proven to be a very successful remedy for low self-esteem.