STRUCTURE

I am involved with a new membership website that is called the Comfort Cafe and Life Spa. It is very robust interactive site that includes mini seminars, topics of the week, topics of the month resources etc. There is a lot of content and a lot of interactivity. I will be on the site forums as a 'roving comforter' reading entries and giving gentle support where needed. I can see this as a fun 'extra' to my coaching AND I get so much rich content. At the first of every month Jennifer Louden gives a 1 hour teleconference discussing the theme for the month and her reflections and advice. The theme for this month was self-trust. Very interesting thoughts about how we can trust ourselves either to honor our own commitments or to recognize when we've veered from our path and either reconnect or seek help. She recommends that there are 4 criteria with which we can develop self trust.

1. Sincerity - what can I honestly and sincerely achieve. So if you say, I'll run a marathon this year and you know you either don't have the time to dedicate or the desire to do it...then you are not setting a sincere goal.


2. Reliability - willingness to fulfill the goal (the stick to-itness). If you find that the challenge is a bit to stretching to go it alone, seek help or support of a friend. For example, to quit smoking is something the more than likely requires outside support


3. Competence - the time, energy and resources with which to accomplish the tasks.


4. Care - love and self kindness. Treat yourself as you'd treat a friend.

She also noted that if you experience some of the following, you are sending warning signs that you are not trusting yourself: fear, worry, overwhelm, rushing, hyper productivity, rigidity (there is only one way to accomplish this), beating yourself up, or not time for rest. If you notice this about yourself...stop, reflect and see what about your situation are you not 'trusting yourself' and see about redirecting, changing your expectation or seeking help.

Jennifer covered an immense amount of information (my mom said maybe too much).

Another monthly objective is to set an intention (in one word). For example, my intention for the year is "allow" but from a month to month area, you can find something that will help guide you forward. I have found that January was an amorphous blob so my 'opposite of that' that I CRAVE is "structure"...so that is my intention for the month. I, in fact, have spent some time detailing my month, knowing what I have to do daily, weekly and monthly and made a few 'lists' that I can refer to provide the structure I need. On top of that, I've set a mini achievable goal of 'moving' everyday for at least 10 minutes. I know you think that 10 minutes might be a little too lenient, but for me right now I want consistency and I believe that I will NOT talk myself out of 10 minutes. I MIGHT talk myself out of 30, so I've reduced the number to ensure that it will be done. I also will reward myself daily for keeping to my movement goal...Internet time is my reward (writing this blog doesn't count).

So, I've just provided a lot of 'chatter' about lots of the things that are interesting to me at the moment. I am OFF to do my movement with my friend up the street (30 minute walk)...Mondays are a good day for us to walk/run together...after that our weeks are a bit scattered and not reliable. I'll be checking write blog and movement off my daily list....check, check...DONE!