Last week we talked about possible difficulty in maintaining a change e.g. during holidays 😬. There might appear other obstacles and that’s why I highly encourage you to create new implementation intentions! 🤗 This tool shouldn’t be underrated!
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Task for today: Create new implementation intentions – if you need to remind youreslf how to do it check out step 10 of our Smiley Future 😉. This time make those intentions about maintaining the change. They may differ from the first ones you’ve created in the beginning of our challege then. So don’t skip that step! I promise you it is worth doing it!
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Next week: Create new reward system
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrrow”
Tag: psychological excercise
Smiley Future – Step 62
How to maintain change? 🤔
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First hint is so obvious that it is actually common to miss out on by thinking „it will all work out itself” 🤷🏼♀️. And here it is: think how do you plan to maintain the change.
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Write your answer down and create a initial plan, of course using SMART method (see step 6) 🧐
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Task for today: focus on first 2 criteria of SMART method and try making your plan specific and measurable 📏📐
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For example, if you lost weight, improved your stamina 💪 and started having new nutritional habits, now in order to maintain it you probably don’t need to keep working out as often as you have but you can’t just sit down and get back to lazy life on sofa! 😉
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So you might (and should) plan to work out e.g. 3 times a week instead of 5-6. Choose form of your workouts (fitness, gym, jogging?) and plan it out in your calendar 📅
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If you e.g. learned a new language you also need to keep working on it, practicing etc .
Same with every finished project! 😉
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Now let’s have that coffee, a small bite of a macaroon and get to work! 😀
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Next week: Create new plan
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrrow”
Smiley Future – Step 61
We’ve got only last couple of steps ahead! 😀 That’s why now we’re gonna learn how to maintain what we’ve built/changed 🤔.
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Let’s start with some theory 🧐. Psychologists examining motivation have been trying to establish how to proceed life changes. They’ve been wondering what phases we can divide change into, what is important and needed in each phase 🤔. In 1982 James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente described what is called the transtheoretical model of change also known as wheel of change in which they extracted such phases:
➡️ 1. Phase of initial contemplation – when we don’t realize that we need a change 😅
➡️ 2. Phase of contemplation – when we realize there’s a problem and need of change and start considering all pros and cons 🤔
➡️ 3. Phase of preparing for change (our first 13 steps) 🤗
➡️ 4. Phase of action – we’re now completing this phase! 💪
➡️ 5. Phase of maintaining – we’re entering this phase just now and we’ve got new challenge ahead: how to maintain change? 🤔 What to do so as not to come back to old habits? 🤷🏼♀️
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We’re gonna focus on that subject for next couple (and last) of steps 😊. Before we move on to propper hints, here’s task for today: analyze what you’ve accomplished with out previous steps, what you’ve managed to change 🤔. How does this change impact you today? Is it better than on step 1? 😉
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Next week: How to maintain change?
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrrow”
Smiley Future – Step 58
Let’s continue learning about gratitude 🙏. Today I want you to try out this excercise that is great for practicing self-love and crucial for people who work on their body or try to lose weight 😊.
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Question for today: what are your grateful for in your body? 🤔
Sit down comfortably and bring your whole attention to gratitude towards your body.
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If nothing comes to your mind here’s an example: feel grateful for your feet 👣 that carry you every day, for your legs thanks to which you can walk, run and dance 💃, for your stomach that digests, cleanses and nourishes 🤗, for your back that carry you tall and proud 😎 or let you safely curl up and hide when you need it, for your arms and hands 🤲 thanks to which you can work, hold, hug, pet. Feel grateful for your voice 💬 thanks to which you can express your thoughts and feelings, sing, shout or laugh, for your eyes 👀 that let you see, for your ears 👂 that let your hear, for nose 👃 and tongue 👅 that can taste, that ease your appetite and ability to appreciate smells and flavours.
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If you want, you can try out this excercise in a form of meditation or relaxation 🧘🏼♀️ – lay down in a comfortable position, close your eyes, let your body loose and think what are you grateful for in your body, thank it, thank yourself 🤗
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Next week: Gratitude for what’s not material
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 54
Time for last excercise in our mindfullness series 🧘🏼♀️ – careful submergence. The purpose of this exercise is to cultivate the satisfaction of being here and now 🙏 and to avoid constant feeling of struggle (or boredom) that overwhelms us everyday 😉.
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Instead of waiting for the end of boring routine tasks 🙄 in order to do something differnt, try experiencing that routine in a totally new way 🤩.
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For example, when you’re cleaning the house 💨 bring your attention to every little detail of different activities: feel the smooth moves while vacuuming 💫, feel your muscles work while washing the dishes 💥, notice what the objects you touch look like 👀, what do they feel like etc.
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This whole excercise is about fresh new creative look on activities well-known to you and experiencing them in a totally new way instead of treating them as a burdensome obstacle standing on your way to the next tasks 🤗.
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If you want you can choose another routine activity instead of cleaning of course 😉. But who knows, maybe even cleaning will turn out to be a fun experience? Try it out! 🤗
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Write down your reflections and conclusions after this excercise 📝
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Next week: Do you feel gratitude?
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 53
Today I want you to practice an excercise that increases awarness by listening 👂.
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Key element of this excercise is not to judge what you hear – listening without the impact of the past or of the future 😉. Lots of things that we feel are connected to the past. For example, we don’t like some song because it reminds us of some difficult moment 😥.
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That’s why today I want you to listen to something new, something you don’t know yet 🤗. It will let you focus on attentive experience by listening.
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➡️ 1. As soon as you pick some new song put your headphones on, close your eyes and sit down in a comfortable position 😊
➡️ 2. Try not to judge the song right away by its genre, artis tor songwriter. Ignore all those labels and dive deep into the sounds during whole song 🎶
➡️ 3. Let yourself explore new aspect of listening to music 😍. Even if at first you don’t like it, try to set aside this feeling and let your conciousness fully dive into the sounds you hear. Soak into the melody 😊
➡️ 4. Explore the song by bringing your attention from one instrument (voice) to another 🎷. Notice them not only together but seperately. If there are vocal parts in the song focus on the sound of the voice, its scale and tone. If there is more than one voice also try to hear each one of them seperately 😊
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How did you like that excercise? Have you managed to experience music without judging it, from another perspective, with mindfullness? Write down your observations, reflections and conclusions 📝
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Next week: Practicing mindfullness: submergence
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
P.s. I started a Creative Challenge on my Instagram – come join us!
Smiley Future – Step 52
How do you find mindfullness practice so far? 🤔 Today I want us to practice mindful awarness 🤩. This excercise is to boost your awarness while doing everyday, normal activities and to appreciate their results 😉.
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Think of something that happens couple times a day everyday, something that you take for granted and don’t bring any attention to 🤷🏼♀️. It can be e.g. opening door 🚪. For one day, everytime you grab a handle stop for a second and bring your attention to where you are, how you feel and where do these doors lead you to 🤔.
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A moment that you choose doesn’t have to be a physical activity. You can focus on a point where a negative thought appears 💭. Stop then, notice your emotions and that thought – see if it’s needed and then push it away 👊🏻.
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It can be a moment right before a meal – before you start eating bring your attention to smell 👃, color of the meal 👀 or focus on the fact of how good it is to eat a meal with family or friends ❤.
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This excercise helps you switch from automatic thinking 🧠 to experiencing mindfullness and gratitude for every little (and so far – boring) thing or action 🤗.
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Next week: Practicing mindfullness: listening 👂
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 51
Let’s continue practicing mindfullness 🧘🏼♀️. Next excercise is careful observation 👀. It lets you notice and appreciate simple, obvious elements of reality and it serves you to feel that you’re a part of a beautiful natural environment what tends to slip out in everyday rush 😉.
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➡️ 1. Pick an element of nature in your close surroundings and focus on that for a minute or two. It can be a flower 🌸, a tree 🌳, an insect 🐞, clouds ☁️, moon 🌚…anything
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➡️ 2. Don’t do anything else ❌ just watch the element 👀. Relax and observe it as long as your concentration lets you.
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➡️ 3. Look at the chosen element as if you’ve seen it for the first time 😁
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➡️ 4. Explore every aspect of that chosen element. Let its presence soak you completely 🤗
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How do you feel after that excercise? Do any new thoughts, discoveries come to your mind?
Write them down! 😊
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Next week: Practicing mindfullness: awareness
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 48
Second part of our emotions vs willpower section ☝️
Do you react totally differently than how you’ve planned when you’re angry, mad or feeling any other strong emotion? 🤷🏼♀️ It happens to all of us, that’s why last week we’ve talked about overcoming sadness and today we’ll look closer on how anger 🤬 has an impact on your willpower.
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I encorage you to reflect 🤔 and answer those questions:
➡️ What do you do when you’re angry? 😡 What are your ways to get the anger out, to calm down? 🧘🏼♀️ Does anger have an impact on your motivation, willpower? If yes, how?
➡️ When you’re mad do any sabotaging thoughts appear? What are they? Create helpful reaction to them 😊
➡️ What can you do to feel anger without sabotaging your goals and complicating realizing your goal? 🧐 Do you suppress anger and use harmful to you ways (and to your goal) to release the tension? If yes, try finding a solution for that. Create (and write down) a strategy for constructive feeling and overcoming anger and calming yourself down in difficult moments 🤗
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Whenever I feel angry I try to workout 💪 (if possible at the moment) to get the anger out. This way I am even more pumped and get a good workout session 💦 but I also do not end up doing something unfavorable to me like e.g. reaching for unhealthy comfort food or alcohol 😉
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Have you ever tried working out when feeling mad? What are your ways to overcome anger? 😊
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Next week: What is mindfullness
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
Smiley Future – Step 47
Next couple of steps will be about a very important subject – a connection between emotions and your will power and perseverance 💪
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Have you noticed that when you’re angry, mad or feeling any other strong emotion you tend to react totally differently than how you’ve planned? 🤔 We all know it and it is worth taking a closer look on how emotions influence your willpower. Today we’ll start with sadness 😞
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Try answering those questions:
➡️ What do you do when you’re sad? What are your needs to get through the sadness and soothe it? Do you tend to make yourself feel better by eating 🍕🍰🍫? Do you sometimes resign from some important to you actions to reach your goal because of sadness? 😰
➡️ When you’re sad do some sabotaging thoughts appear? Create helpful reactions for them 😉
➡️ What can you do to get through sadness without resigning from your goals and giving up? If you tend to ‘eat the emotions away’ (we all know the term ‘comfort food’ right? 😅) try finding a solution for it. For example change unhealthy snacks 🍿🍫🌭 for healthy ones 🍎🥜🥗 or try finding another ways to soothe the sadness other than eating 👍. Maybe a conversation with someone close to you 💬, watching a comedy 🎬 or a relaxing bath 🛀? You know yourself best! 🤗
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If this excercise is difficult to you and you’ll feel tense 😬, take couple deep breaths when you’re done with the questions, relax your body and have a rest 😘
Next week: Anger vs willpower
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Source: @chodakowskaewa‘s new book “90 days – design your tomorrow”
How to be HAPPY 