Friday, January 9, 2015

Intentions, Motives and Truth

We had a wonderful start of the New Year in the HOPE Program!  We began our 2015 session talking about three things to consider as our new year begins to unfold. 

*Last year has passed, and we can learn many lessons from our disappointments and gain momentum from our accomplishments. This is a new year, with all the hopes and dreams available to each one of us.  Now is the time to set INTENTIONS in order to achieve the very things we would like to occur in our lives.

*Human behavior is almost always motivated by unseen needs that move us into action.  Physical needs are easier to understand than emotional needs, however just as important and powerful.  Understanding underlying MOTIVES are extremely important on the journey of lifestyle change.  Take time to identify the need behind the behavior.

*And lastly, let's take time to see how far our roots go into TRUTH.  If our roots go into the soil of shame, blame and co-dependency (our thinking), then it will produce the same in our emotions which dictates our behavior.  If our roots are growing into the rich soil of love, acceptance and healing, it will produce healthy fruit (our behavior) in our lives as well.  This is a good time to look at the fruit that our lives are producing and be willing to till the soil.

TOOL:  What are you going to sew into your soil that will add health to it?

Also, Christiane introduced us to our new extra hour that follows HOPE from 1p - 2p.  It is called HOPE Lifestyle, and will alternate with nutrition one week and then fitness the next week.  She will be with us the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month helping us with the nutrition piece on our journey. On the fitness weeks, which will be the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, our instructor will be Laura Trumbull.  Here is a small introduction on both of the women that we are so blessed to have instructing us in HOPE Lifestyle. 
 
Christiane Matey HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition
Christiane Matey has a degree A.S., Culinary Arts from The Culinary Institute of America  and B.S., Dietetics from Kansas State University.  Christiane has been in the restaurant industry her whole life cooking from New York City, Boston to London.  She is a private chef and wellness coach for her own practice The Fit Chef and works now at the Harris YMCA with HOPE Lifestyle - Nutrition.

Laura Trumbull HOPE Lifestyle - Fitness


Laura had weight and eating issues at one time and is VERY excited about working HOPE Lifestyle - Fitness. She teaches many different FUN dance and fitness formats, from chair aerobics and other chair exercises, DISCOrobics, Zumba and Bellydancing, as well as strength, low impact and a little Yoga. She will meet each one of us right where we are and will talk to us the first session to see what will be helpful to each of us in terms of the fitness piece of our journey 
 
Christiane was absolutely great! She has interesting information and the way she delivers it includes us all in the conversation. Here is her summary of the first HOPE Lifestyle class:

Today we discussed new year’s intentions and how to focus on making small changes. When we focus on the big picture our intentions become unattainable. For example, I want to lose 60 pounds. Sure, that can be done but how.It is especially important that we focus on baby steps. Changing something about your diet like eating fish 2 times a week or parking further from the store can make a difference over the course of a few months. Another intention towards losing weight could be cooking more at home or eating more often but smaller meals. A good way to look at this is that 1 pound of body fat = 3500 calories. That means finding 500 calories a day for one week by either swapping out beef for fish or parking further from the Y can help you lose a pound a week. Keeping intentions attainable and realistic is a recipe for success.

 

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