{"id":6193,"date":"2017-01-31T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/?p=6193"},"modified":"2017-01-20T11:32:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T16:32:51","slug":"jump-start-your-health-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/self-image\/jump-start-your-health-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Jump Start your Health Changes!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQL7wt2VCb7E1-NnuDIh5OkLoxUBLFGLWqT63urE3AZmVSprqV_hA\" alt=\"Image result for goals\" width=\"479\" height=\"328\" \/><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Select a goal.<\/strong> Choose a goal that is the best fit for you. It may not be the first goal you feel you <em>should<\/em> choose. But you&#8217;re much more likely to succeed if you set priorities that are compelling to you and feel attainable at present.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask a big question.<\/strong> Do I have a big dream that pairs with my goal? A big dream might be running a marathon or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, wiggling back into a closet full of clothes you love, cutting back on blood pressure medication, or playing games and sports energetically with your children. One word to the wise: if you can&#8217;t articulate a big dream, don&#8217;t get hung up on this step. You can still succeed in moving toward your goal through these other approaches.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pick your choice for change.<\/strong> Select a choice that feels like a sure bet. Do you want to eat healthier, stick to exercise, diet more effectively, ease stress? It&#8217;s best to concentrate on just one choice at a time. When a certain change fits into your life comfortably, you can then focus on the next change.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Commit yourself.<\/strong> Make a written or verbal promise to yourself and one or two supporters you don&#8217;t want to let down: your partner or child, a teacher, doctor, boss, or friends. That will encourage you to slog through tough spots. Be explicit about the change you&#8217;ve chosen and why it matters to you. If it&#8217;s a step toward a bigger goal, include that, too. <em>I&#8217;m making a commitment to my health by planning to take a mindful walk, two days a week. This is my first step to a bigger goal: doing a stress-reducing activity every day (and it helps me meet another goal: getting a half-hour of exercise every day). I want to do this because I sleep better, my mood improves, and I&#8217;m more patient with family and friends when I ease the stress in my life.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Scout out easy obstacles.<\/strong> Maybe you&#8217;d love to try meditating, but can&#8217;t imagine having the time to do it. Or perhaps your hopes for eating healthier run aground if you&#8217;re hungry when you walk through the door at night, or your kitchen cabinets and refrigerator aren&#8217;t well-stocked with healthy foods.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brainstorm ways to leap over obstacles.<\/strong> Now think about ways to overcome those roadblocks. Not enough time? <em>I&#8217;ll get up 20 minutes early for exercises and fit in a 10-minute walk before lunch.<\/em> Cupboard bare of healthy choices? <em>I&#8217;ll think about five to 10 healthy foods I enjoy and will put them on my grocery list.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Plan a simple reward.<\/strong> Is there a reward you might enjoy for a job well done? For example, if you hit most or all of your marks on planned activities for one week, you&#8217;ll treat yourself to a splurge with money you saved by quitting smoking, a luxurious bath, or just a double helping of trhe iTunes application &#8220;Attaboy.&#8221; Try to steer clear of food rewards, since this approach can be counterproductive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/healthbeat\/7-ways-to-jumpstart-healthy-change-in-your-life\">http:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/healthbeat\/7-ways-to-jumpstart-healthy-change-in-your-life<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Select a goal. Choose a goal that is the best fit for you. It may not be the first goal you feel you should choose. But you&#8217;re much more likely to succeed if you set priorities that are compelling to &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/self-image\/jump-start-your-health-changes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9193321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[313094,313092],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-maintenance","category-self-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paB9fc-1BT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9193321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6193"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6198,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6193\/revisions\/6198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}