What prevents us from taking action when there is something that we want to do to improve our health?
How often do you find something positive for your health and think it’ll be nurturing? “Right, I’m going to do that…. tomorrow…next week
…
- as soon as the kids go back to school.
- Once the holidays come around,
- if I can get my partner to do it with me
But how often do those days never come?
I work with people every day, witnessing what prevents us from taking action.
What holds us back?
Discomfort and disinterest, mostly, which is just avoidance. Avoidance can be a story that you are telling yourself.
For mothers it can often be that;
“I just need to get this done for the kids”
For the business person it will be;
“I have so much on right now”
There are endless reasons why and there always will be if that is what you want. But why do we do that? Countless reasons persist for prioritizing others or tasks over our health, but why? Why compromise well-being when it’s avoidable?
Because of those stories, these excuses come out of a deeper feeling that we have inside of us.
What do I do?
Over time, I’ve realized that I prioritize my body’s needs, regardless of the hour or ongoing tasks. I’ll use my phone or take a note to ensure I take action for the necessary change. Avoiding delay, immediate action generates momentum, fostering further progress and building momentum for the tasks at hand.
Why?…
Let’s break it down.
Firstly, because it is something that I WANT to do.
Something that I feel strongly will support my existence. After all, when my body functions optimally, all my actions, whether self-oriented or benefiting others, operate at their peak capacity. Thriving means more for myself and others. Optimal functioning leads to increased personal resources and the capacity to give.
And secondly, because I have learned to notice the ways that I create roadblocks for myself.
Delay risks prolonged inaction, potentially leading to severe health consequences that might prove irreversible if not addressed promptly. But luckily, I also know how to get around those roadblocks.
Aren’t we crazy as humans that we have to do that… anyway here’s a little real-life example so you can understand what it is I’m saying.
One evening, while washing my face before bed, I noticed that my skin’s health seemed less vibrant than usual. Through trial and error I have discovered that consuming chlorophyll-rich foods, such as leafy greens, positively impacts my skin. After washing my face, immediately—this is vital –I immediately, and importantly, put leafy greens in the fridge’s front. This prompts me to eat them that day. Alternatively, I prioritise leafy greens by listing them first or placing a related recipe on my counter.
So what made me change?
For me, it hasn’t been a mental change in attitude but a response that has come out of my body. In the past, I had feelings of disgust for myself, and that had the effect of my not wanting to be healthy.
But the body naturally wants to survive and so under all the stories, the natural response is there to do what is needed for optimal health. It is there in every living thing on the planet.
It is a felt desire.
A desire that had been covered up in all of us. Through the unique style of mediation – that is in the Undo App – I have stripped anyway the self-denial, self-disinterest and self-disgust and what is left is the desire for optimal health. This is not something that I TRIED or planned to do but is just is something that got uncovered.
While reading this, you might assume that vanity drives me. To some extent, it does, but that’s just the surface of it. It is just an idea. What makes me want to act is a feeling, and my skin is a vital organ of my body that speaks to me daily about the overall condition of my health. If those signs are ignored in the long term, that can and more often than not does have serious consequences.
For me, this has been a phenomenal change, a shift that answered the question, ‘What Prevents Us from Taking Action?’ I was someone who used to often have a can of Coke in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and so I was chronically ill and was taking medication daily. Understanding what was holding me back allowed me to break through those barriers. Since I started meditating in this way 20 years ago, I have had a total of 3 medications (that lasted only a few days).
