Healthy Happy Mind hack
"A healthy outside starts from the inside"
– Robert Urich
HEALTHY HAPPY MIND
The mindset hack to improve any situation or day!
THIS TIME OF YEAR ESPECIALLY, BUT REALLY EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SOMETHING TO THROW YOU OFF AND RUIN YOUR WHOLE DAY.
You might not even realize it happening and then all fo the sudden you think "Why am I down? What happened earlier today? What's going on?"
And it's hard to shake.
It happens to all of us, especially when you have a million things on your to-do list, you're being pulled in all different directions, yet the days seem to get shorter.
This is another opportunity to "flip the script" and put yourself in a better mindset, a better and happier mood, to continue your day and also be that shining light to others that you usually are.
SO WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
It starts with purposely looking back over your life and finding a handful of times that just thinking about them brings a smile to your face, which sends happy signals to your brain.
If you are in the habit of replaying all the bad things, all the bad memories, reacting in a rage to every thing that happens in any given day, let me ask where that takes you?
Ask me how I know!
I want to share with you how I got to this place of creating these happy memories and doing my best (not perfect by any means) to not dwell on the negative, especially things that are so past gone that nothing can be done about them - except to change my response to the thought and learn from the experience.
Ready to dive in? Let's go! 👊
A reminder of the very basics of a Healthy Mindset:
Do you PROCLAIM and identify as the person you want to become?
“I am a healthy person”
That is the first step, what does the HEALTHY you do?
What do HAPPY people do? What do people who UPLIFT me when I'm around them do"
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When I realized I was going in the wrong direction
RECALLING CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
What is not helpful:
A few years ago, I was in Ohio visiting family and was on my Brother and Sister-in-law's front porch catching up. My baby brother was 9 years old when I left home and moved to Texas. We have always kept in touch but he wasn't born yet when I was little, and from the time he was 5, I was living on my own. So we started talking about childhood memories. One was his surprised 5th birthday party at my apartment - lots of little 5 year old running around not quite understanding "hide" for a surprise rather than "hide and seek". Some were in my bedroom closet, some were in the shower! It was a fun trip down memory lane!
THEN - for some unknown reason, I asked them both what their WORSE childhood memory was! I think I have ONE that sticks out and seems like I wanted to talk about it.
Where do you think that landed us, recalled our WORSE childhood memories?!
Right, it took us BACK to being 7 or 4 or 8 and practically reliving it!
I was not traumatized by the incindent, but it DID change how I welcomed my kids' friends into my home, so I LEARNED from it, at least!!
What I started doing after that:
Storing up key FUNNY and great memories that I can recall anytime I need - or want.
Almost ALL involve my mom which is amazing since she's been gone for 13 years, and it brings her right back to me for a few moments.
One of my childhood memories:
One I just really want to share is a Christmas memory from my early teen years. My mom went the extra mile to make every Holiday special. We were never rich but we never went without. Just giving a simple gift was not enough. There were boxes inside boxes insided boxes, so that one gift took forever to get to, but was like opening 3-4 wrapped gifts! This year was no different. Things were really tight financially. I was also at the age to know SHE was santa. She used to help me take on the responsibility of helping the younger siblings to manage expectations.
After we all opened all the gifts under the tree, we were each given an envelope that said go look in the basement. Down the stairs we ran and to our (expecially my) great surprise were four brand new shiny bikes!
She could have just put them infront of the tree, but this made it THAT much more special. And she really pulled a fast on one me because she TOLD me that Christmas would be slim this year.
That's just one, and now that I'm writing this, I think I might just write all the memories down and have them in a book.
One of my laugh-inducing memories with a friend:
One other memory is with a friend that I attended Mass with out of state while we were at a conference. Something happened so funny that we could not stop laughing. We were like 12 year olds, you know how that goes, just looking at each other made us laugh again. That was probably over 15 years ago, and she even texted me about it recently.
My husband is almost as funny as he thinks he is:
My mother-in-law was very opposed to gambling. That didn't keep her grown children from going to the casino on ocassion, they just didn't tell her.
Once when we went with my husband's sister, after we all got home, my husband Johnnie was talking on the phone with his sister and told her that he fessed up and told their mom that they had gone to the casino (spoiler alert, he did NOT!). So when his sister was later talking to their mom, and she asked her what they'd been doing, she told their mom that they were at the casino!!!! Johnnie caused his sister to out herself!
He still gets a smile on his face whenever we talk about that. His smile makes me smile, even though at the time, I'm pretty sure I told him he evil!
MAKE THESE MEMORIES POP UP!
Once I was in the grocery store (one of my least favorite places to be) and although I didn't realize it, I was running thru my funny memories collection in my head. I ran into a friend and she startled me out of my memory recollection by saying "Wow, I'm never that happy when I'm grocery shopping!!!"
I want to encourage you to think back over your life and recall some wonderful memories, write them down if you have to.
Make sure to recall them as often as needed.
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Most of your journey to healthy - Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Relationships, Healthy Finances, Healthy Faith Life, will all boil down to two basic things:
1️⃣ SWAPS - swap out the old habit/food/action with a new one
2️⃣ FLIPPING THE SCRIPT - reframing the situation to create a scenario that fits with and helps to create your true desired outcome.
Everything else, the minor details, falls under these two categories. It is SO MUCH your mindset and deciding for your ultimate goal.
If you want to look more into mindset, jump back into this previous post Get RID of this HOLIDAY Season Mindset that will TANK your health goals
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⏳ The countdown is ON! Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years - let's plan to not only continue on your path to your ultimate health but also to ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS without deprivation OR over indulging!
If you’d like tips on Healthy Food Swaps, check out my Free Guide Ultimate Healthy Swapout Guide
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Remember it's all about your mindset and success strategies, you are not depriving yourself (of unhealthy things), you are creating the future healthy you!
Message me at My Messenger with a situation you'd like to conquer
You can check out my FREE ULTIMATE HEALTHY SWAPOUT GUIDE to get the full scoop.
It's good to surround yourself with others who have the same goals. Do you have someone who would like to do this too? Making a change with a buddy or "running partner" makes it so much easier!
You may want to be part of my FREE online health community of others desiring to up their health game. You'll find recipes, tips and inspiration JOIN MY FREE HEALTH COMMUNITY HERE
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