Walking the walk.

​I'm all about having good intentions. I think it's really important.

And yet at the same time intention does no good without action.
I have to admit I have these insights as I laid awake worrying about the election results. Whoever you voted for is unimportant.

But did you know that 46% of all registered voters did not vote? So I wonder who they wanted to win. Because they might have had a desire or intention but they didn't take action. And I especially wonder who would have won if they had. 

Now to share with you a little bit about my mind (and my crazy) I have to tell you that while I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about either candidate I have a weird deep-seated fear Donald Trump will get us involved in a war. This is probably not rational.

And I've actually seen people say that they were glad Hillary wasn't elected because she would have taken us into World War 3. So obviously people on either side have irrational fears about the opposite candidate. 

None the less I woke up knowing he had won and felt like instead of working on my business I should move to the woods and become a doomsday prepper. 
That's not rational. I realize that. 

And the way that the intention plays in with this is that I'm in a phase in my business where I'm setting up a foundation for further growth.

I have my one-on-one clients, but I want to keep growing. I want to add more clients and I want to offer more opportunities to help people change their relationship with food. My next two steps are online group classes and a book. Those are my intentions. 

And yet as I lay there freaking out thinking I shouldn't work on my business at all, I realized it didn't really make sense. 

My business is my intention. 
And instead of getting worried about something un-founded in reality, I need to take action to serve my intention.

And this IN TURN, led me to realize that I have certain habits and paths in my day-to-day life that I've set up... and that are NOT serving my intention. 

Those day to day actions are not in alignment with my intention. Despite that fact that I've actually been WORRIED about my day to day habits... I hadn't actually changed them.
Thinking about those people who did not vote and the fact that they probably had an opinion made it really clear to me all of my action needs to be in alignment with my intention. 

So... I cancelled my gym membership which isn't that close to my house. I printed out a coupon to the gym that is close to my house.

I transferred my youngest son from the farther away preschool to the closer preschool. I called that preschool and asked if siblings have priority. (Yes! They said that they would do that for my older son.) 

This is where all of my actions are now aligning for the intention that I have. 

Instead of just worrying about how far I"m driving or worrying about which school my kids should be in... I did what I could to start changing things.

In one day I did everything in my power to stop myself from driving all around town and to give myself the opportunity to be focused so that my actions can be in alignment with my intention.  

Can I control everything? No. I still have to wait for my son's name to get called up on the wait list. But I did what I could to ensure that he'll get called on the wait list.

My actions are in alignment with my intention.

How does this relate to health? It all goes back to this:
should have could have would have.

Saying that you should lose weight or saying that you should stop eating sugar is an intention. But it's not action.

Reading a book about health? That's action.

Calling a friend to set a goal to go to the gym together? That's action. 

Giving yourself an honest assessment of what you actually need to achieve your goals? That's action. 

And that's really the first step. So often I see people believing the excuses they tell themselves, and believing the stories that justify their current behavior. And that will never align your actions with your intentions. 

Just like I had to actually CHANGE my gym membership and CHANGE my son's preschool, despite the stories I was telling myself about what I "should" do... you have to CHANGE patterns to CHANGE there results. 
I could have just focused on the preschool and not changed my gym membership because "I like my friends at the gym." 

 But I still would have been driving all over town and I wouldn't have been achieving my goal.
I have to get honest with myself about what would really serve me best in order to achieve my intention.
What's your intention?
What action will you take to make it reality?