Start With Mental Fitness
Mental Fitness is the best predictor of health, happiness, and how you perform relative to your potential. When you're not mentally fit, you experience stress, anxiety, and frustration much more often than you feel joy, peace, and ease. During these times, your work-life balance is out of whack, and relationships naturally suffer.
Sound familiar?
As a whole, interconnected human, it's impossible to maintain optimal physical health (no matter how much you run, bike, or exercise overall) when you're constantly stressed. Simply put, staying on top of your game is impossible when stress is winning.
The good news is that you CAN learn to change the inner workings of your body-mind connection to improve Mental Fitness. For example, you can learn to self-regulate the hormones your body secretes that create 'stressed' versus 'feeling great' conditions.
Cortisol, the stress hormone, is secreted like a slow drip when we're constantly stressed. It's subtle, and we're often unaware of its impacts because we've become conditioned to accepting 'stressed' as 'life.' Chronic cortisol secretion wreaks havoc on our immune system, weakens muscles and bones, and significantly contributes to lifestyle-related diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. Cortisol levels increase with negative emotions and decrease with positive emotions.
In contrast, atrial natriuretic hormone (ANP), nicknamed the 'balance hormone,' is secreted when we create internal conditions associated with heart awareness, regulated breathing, and positive feelings. ANP secretion regulates blood vessels, adrenal glands, and regulatory centers in the brain. It turns on the parasympathetic nervous system and positively affects the immune system. Experiments suggest that it can even influence motivation and behavior! Wowzer!
I find body-mind connections fascinating and am encouraged by how much we CAN do to optimize our human experience. Understanding what we can control (just about everything internally!) and can't (just about everything externally!) and being picky about how we use that information is crucial in creating a joyful, healthy, balanced, and meaningful life.
One tool I've used during the past year with clients (and myself) is the Positive Intelligence Mental Fitness training and app. This evidence-based approach to self-regulation was developed by Shirzad Chamine, author of the New York Times best-selling book Positive Intelligence and Stanford University lecturer. I like the content's practical application and that the app supports the self-regulatory practice. You can re-wire your brain in seven weeks to experience more positivity and improve performance, relationships, and wellbeing. The work is done most effectively in a coach-supported POD (small group of 2–12).
I'm excited to share that my first public POD will start in October (until now, I've been leading private groups and clients through this program). To learn more, attend a Mental Fitness Lunch & Learn with me on September 20th at noon, or schedule a 1:1 complimentary session with me.
Becoming a Positive Intelligence Coach has profoundly influenced my approach to helping people claim their power and enhance wellbeing. I can't wait to share this with you!
Namaste,
Colleen