Change your internal dialogue, change your life.
So many of us stay stuck not living to our fullest potential because we simply do not believe we can.
One of the most powerful ways to propel yourself forward is to change your internal dialogue, which includes your conscious thoughts and the language you use about your capacity. As you change these, you will begin to influence your subconscious thoughts. I often remind my clients that, speaking is believing, and believing is speaking.
“Speaking is believing, and believing is speaking.”
Start with your words. Eliminate words such as ‘can’t’ and ‘impossible’ from your vocabulary. Start first by recognizing when you want to use these words, and then analyze why you want to use them. What is it that feels so impossible to you? Maybe there is some truth there, but maybe there is also some excuse making occurring. The old adage, the truth will set you free, is really true. When we fearlessly face the truths and lies we tell ourselves, then and only then, do we have the capacity to act. Pick new ways of articulating what is going on, and for things that you really want to happen, shift your mindset from, ‘if it will happen…’, to, ‘when it will happen…’.
This mindset shift is so fundamental in our pursuit for success with anything. This greatly applies to your eating and nutrition goals. So many of my clients say things such as, “if I were able to start doing x”, or, “I can’t do x because of y”. These statements are failure bound and limit any potential of going down a new path.
“Be realistic with change.”
Finally, be realistic with change. Success does not happen overnight and fixing years of poor eating habits will also not be fixed instantanously. It is important to avoid unrealistic expectations when we are shifting our mindsets. Just as it is unlikely to become a millionaire tomorrow when you have an average income today, it is unlikely that you will be eating perfectly tomorrow if today needs work. Rather, shifting your language and mindset looks more like saying, “when I am eating better…”, acknowledging that progress will come, with lots of hard work, overtime.
Other very helpful, mindset shifting ways of thinking about your nutrition goals include: I will, I can, I have.
“I am
I can
I will
I have”
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An example from my life that I am working on is not allowing myself to say, “I don’t have time”. I used to say this all the time and consequently what happened was, I didn’t have time for anything. I no longer allow myself to say this and since I have made this mindset shift I feel as if both time has slowed down, and, that I have more time for everything I want in my life. I like to refer to this as an abundance mindset. It really works!
“Start from an abunance mindset. ”
I followed this exact process:
If I feel like I am about to say, “I don’t have time”, I stop and ask myself, is it really true? Then I think about what I could do to make space in my life for this thing, and this is the magic in this process! When we stop the automatic limiting thoughts that enter our minds, such as, “I don’t have time”, it opens up the gates for positive and productive generation of ideas to problem solve.
“When we stop the automatic limiting thoughts, we open up space for positive and productive generation of ideas to problem solve.”
I was able to make time for all the things I used to think I did not have time for by planning, getting granular with my time, setting boundaries on what I will and will not do, and by finding strategies to hold myself to the standard I set. All this was possible once I stopped the automatic limiting thought that I did not have enough time.
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So start monitoring the thoughts you have related to food, nutrition, and your health goals. If you want to lose weight, do you really believe you can? What do you say to yourself everyday about your potential to achieve your weight loss goal? If you want to be an active person, do you really believe you can? When you see an active person, do you feel as though you are different from them? If you want to do meal prep on a regular basis, do you really believe you can? Your language and your thoughts will tell you a lot about your internal motivation and your truest desires. If you find many limiting thoughts when you start examining this landscape, begin simply by observing and making note of them in a non-judgemental way. It can feel overwhelming, but this is one of the most essential steps to making change. The next step is to practice changing your language, and then the magic will start. Don’t say, “I can’t do that”, ask rather, “how can I do that?”
Happy shifting, and, as always, you can do anything, you just have to put your mind to it.
Sincerely,
Your Mindful Dietitian
