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 Tools for a
Balanced Lifestyle
A Program of Recovery from Weight Related Problems
Going for the 3 increases: Increase of Health; Increase of Happiness and
Increase of Energy
Chapter 1: Getting Started
on Your Balanced Lifestyle
II. Affirmations of Commitment to Change
When you are deciding to
change your lifestyle to one which is more balanced and healthy, you will be
fighting the messages and beliefs which you have hidden in your mind since you
were a little child. These messages are typically negative and do not encourage
you to pursue the balanced lifestyle in this program. The first task you need to
accomplish to assist you to be successful in your lifestyle change is to change
the messages in your mind which sabotage or unravel your good intentions to
change. To do this you need to first use the ALERT system to identify the
irrational beliefs which hold you captive to negative thinking about yourself
and your desire to change and grow.
To do an ALERT you need to
first Assess what is causing you anxiety, panic or stress. In this
situation what is causing such stress is that you are want to change your
lifestyle and this includes changing your relationship with food, implementing
an exercise program into your life and changing the ways you relate to yourself
and your body. This will be very stressful if you have a number of messages or
old scripts in you brain which tell you that you will never be able to
accomplish this goal. Once you have assessed what is causing the stress,
then you need to Lessen the impact of the stressor by identifying
the sick, irrational, unrealistic, non-reality based thinking which underlies
your beliefs feelings about the stressor. You need to identify what irrational
messages you have in your head about food, weight loss, exercise, body image,
thinness, size, appearances, diets, etc. You then need to Ease out of the
stressor by developing new rational, realistic, reality based, healthy messages
which are affirmations which you can use in self-talk and visualizations which
teach you a new way to think about, image and feel about things which are
involved in developing a balanced lifestyle. Once you have identified the new
self-talk messages you can Relax by breathing in the new messages and
breathing out the old stale ones. As you become more relaxed and less anxious
about pursuing your balanced lifestyle changes your can then Take Action
to implement the changes needed.
Once you have "ALERTed"
out what the old messages are you then need to change these messages into new
healthy self-affirmations which you need to then consistently tell yourself for
the rest of your life to keep your efforts at balancing your lifestyle on track.
The use of the ALERT system in identifying the unhealthy old self messages will
assist you to reduce the anxiety, stress or panic you feel as you begin the
process of lifestyle change.
What follows are sample
negative self-scripts which keep people stuck in their unhealthy lifestyles.
After each negative message you will find sample affirmations which utilize the
I am... I can... and the I will... sentence stems. Put the messages which you need to hear your self say on 3 by
5 index cards and keep them handy to repeat to yourself throughout the course of every day you need until these new
messages become habitual ways of thinking about the change in lifestyle you want
to accomplish. You can also put
these affirmations on an audio tape in your own voice to
listen to throughout the day so as to help motivate you and to keep you
on track in your efforts to establish a balanced lifestyle for yourself.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am willing to spend
the time, energy and resources
needed to change my lifestyle.
-
I can spend time, energy
and resources necessary to change my lifestyle, because I deserve it.
-
I will spend the time,
energy and resources necessary to change my lifestyle.
-
I need to spend time,
energy and resources to change my lifestyle.
-
To change one's
lifestyle takes a great deal of personal time, energy and resources.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am beautiful.
-
I can acknowledge my
beauty every day of my life.
-
I will acknowledge my
beauty every day; of my life.
-
I accept myself
unconditionally.
-
I can accept myself
unconditionally every day of my life.
-
I will accept myself
unconditionally every day of my life.
-
I accept myself as a
human being who needs to change my lifestyle so that others will be able to
see the beauty I possess.
-
I accept myself as
beautiful and am making a commitment to let that beauty shine for others by
changing my lifestyle.
-
I am willing to do what
is necessary to change my lifestyle so that my beauty will shine more.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am able to change my
lifestyle despite the failures in the past.
-
I can change my
lifestyle despite my failures in the past.
-
I will change my
lifestyle despite my failures in the past.
-
I am changing my
lifestyle by ridding myself of guilt over my past.
-
I can change my
lifestyle without resorting to use of guilt to motivate me.
-
I will change my
lifestyle without using guilt as a motivator.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am developing a new
relationship with food and incorporating exercise in my life to change my
lifestyle so that I can be healthier, have more energy and feel better about
myself.
-
I can develop a new
relationship with food and increase the
level of exercise in my life.
-
I will develop a new
relationship with food and increase the level of exercise in my life.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am able to loss weight
and gain a balanced lifestyle by not going on a diet.
-
I can lose weight and
get my life in balance by not going on a diet.
-
I will lose weight and
get my life in balance by not going on a diet.
-
I will lose weight by
developing a new relationship with food and increasing the exercise and
physical activity in my life.
-
I am free of diets.
-
I love myself enough to
cut back on the foods which keep me out of balance.
-
I love myself enough to
increase my exercise and physical activity when I choose to eat foods or
large amounts of food which put me out of balance.
-
I will work at keep my
body's bank account in balance.
-
I will balance the
deposits of calories and fat grams into my body's bank account with the
withdrawals of exercise and physical activity.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am able to implement
an exercise program in my life which is reasonable and healthy for me.
-
I can exercise in a
healthy and reasonable way.
-
I will exercise in order
to balance my body's bank account.
-
I am committing to make
room in my day for exercise and physical activity.
-
I can exercise
consistently and learn to enjoy it.
-
I will exercise
consistently in order to feel better.
-
I will exercise
consistently because I deserve it.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am committing to a
life time of balancing my life.
-
I can take time to do
what I need to do to lose weight and balance my life.
-
I will allow myself
the time needed to lose weight and balance my life.
-
I will grow in patience
with myself as I take the time needed to change and grow.
-
I am able to have
patience to face the tasks ahead of me to put balance into my life.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am going to stop being
critical and judgmental of myself.
-
I can reward myself for
the internal changes I make and not judge myself on the externals.
-
I will reward myself for
the efforts I am making because I am worth the effort.
-
I am changing my
lifestyle for me and no one else.
-
I will stay off of a
scale during the next two years.
-
I will measure my
success in balancing my lifestyle on my internals and not my externals.
-
I am growing in a guilt
free lifestyle.
-
I am able to do good
things for myself.
-
I will let go of the
need to be self-critical and self-judgmental in my efforts to balance my
life.
-
I will do what it takes
to change and will reward those internal changes as they come.
-
I recognize that a
balanced lifestyle comes first by changing the way I think about myself.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I love myself enough to
do what is necessary to balance my life.
-
I can grow in self love
and do what I need to do to put my life into balance.
-
I will love and nurture
myself internally as I put my life into balance.
-
I love myself enough to
do what is necessary to put my life into balance.
-
I will live a guilt free
lifestyle.
-
I will do what I need to
do to balance my life because I am worth it.
-
I will change the way I
live my life because I deserve it.
-
I am changing the way I
live my life for me and no one else.
-
I will not use
self-criticism and self-deprecation in order to motivate myself.
-
I will love and nurture
myself to grow in the commitment to do what is healthy for me.
-
I will accomplish more
in changing my lifestyle by being self-loving and self- forgiving.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am willing to let
others see my body today the
way it is rather than what I wish it was.
-
I can let others see my
body just the way it is.
-
I will let others see my
body just the way it is.
-
My body is me and I am
acceptable, loveable and beautiful.
-
My body is undergoing a
change due to the change in lifestyle which I have begun.
-
My body will continue to
change as I balance my lifestyle.
-
My body is worth being
seen and heard by others.
-
I accept my body today
just the way it is, because it is me.
-
I love myself, therefore
I love my body for what it is.
-
I love myself enough to
do what is necessary to help my body to become healthier.
-
I have a lot to offer
others and I will make myself present to them.
-
I will overcome my need
to be invisible in order to help myself grow in self-confidence and
self-love.
-
I will overcome my "Achilles heel" of embarrassment
over my body.
-
I will do what I need to
do to accept my body as worth being seen and heard.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
I am a human being and
do not expect myself to be perfect in changing and balancing my lifestyle.
-
I can accept that I will
not be perfect in changing and balancing my lifestyle
-
I will accept that there
is no need to be perfect in my efforts to change and balance my lifestyle.
-
I am aware that relapse
and slips are a part of recovery and I will get back on the
"wagon" as soon as I fall off in my attempts to change and balance
my lifestyle.
-
I accept that the
Balanced Lifestyle Program is a program for human beings who are fallible
and imperfect and that there is no need for me to be obsessed with doing it
perfectly.
-
I can only do what is
humanly possible to change, grow and get my lifestyle into balance.
-
I will measure my
changes in this program by the changes in attitude and the increase in
exercise and physical activity I accomplish.
-
I am giving up my need
to punish and humiliate myself because I view myself as a failure for not
being perfect.
-
I let go of the need to
have a perfect body in order for me to love myself.
-
I will continue to love
myself even if I slip or relapse in my efforts to balance my life.
-
I will utilize the tools
of self-forgiveness and letting go of shame and guilt in order for me to
accept that I am a human being who will fail and make mistakes in my efforts
to change.
Old Message:
New Affirmations:
-
It is ok that I am using
a group to support my efforts to change and balance my lifestyle.
-
I can reach out to
others in my support group for support as I work at changing my lifestyle.
-
I will reach out to
others in my support group for support as I work at changing my lifestyle.
-
I can utilize the
emotional support of others as I make changes in my life.
-
I will accept the
emotional support of others as I make changes in my life.
-
It is healthy for me to
reach out to others for support as I make changes in my life.
-
It is important for me
to be open and honest with my feeling with the support people in my life so
that they can provide me the emotional support when I really need it.
Related Tools for Coping Readings:
1. Self-
Esteem Seekers Anonymous
2. Tools
for Personal Growth
3. Growing
Down: Tools for Healing the Inner Child
Click below to get to the next section of
Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Getting Started on
Your Balanced Lifestyle
Click below to get back to Table of Contents
for Tools for Balanced Lifestyle
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