Why Don't I Do What Is Best For Me?

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**Scroll to the bottom to see a cool progress story from my friend I reference in the video!**

Summary

Sometimes, even if we think we might be lost, we know exactly what bad habit we have that is not supporting our best life. Whether we are not getting enough sleep, working too much, lacking consistent exercise, or eating too much quantity of food, when push comes to shove and we ask ourselves what we can do better, we usually have an answer or two.

In this video, I give 3 takeaways on how to adhere to the practices you already know will help you.

So, if our buddhi (wisdom) knows what we should be doing, why don't we just do it? The answer to that is, we can. We just have to practice it so that we can feel the benefits. Otherwise we will not be motivated to make the change. Motivation comes AFTER you feel the awesome results of the practice (whatever it is). If we use our wisdom to make right choices, follow through with right action, and do it consistently, we will feel the benefits and we will be motivated to keep doing it. 

Transcript

Have you ever looked at something about your life and you're just like, "That could really use improving. But for some reason, I'm not doing it." You are zoned in on exactly what you need to change, the things that you're not doing.

You're like, "I know I'm not doing that exercise thing as much as I should be doing everyday. I know that I'm not getting as much sleep as I need to. I know that I'm spending too much time on social media. I know that I have too many beers during the week or wines. I know that and I know that's why I get cranky and why I can't wake up well and why I get sick more often than I should."

Yeah? Did any of those sound familiar? Well, I just spent some time with a really dear friend of mine. She's been my friend since high school and she said to me, "Mon, I just don't feel quite right."

I was like, "Well, you look fantastic!" She's like, "No. I'm 20 pounds overweight." (No. She was not. Maybe three.) But she felt that. She's like, "I feel 20 pounds overweight. I'm sluggish. I'm moody." and I said, "Well, what do you think the problem is?"

She's like, "I know exactly what the problem is," and I said, "Well, what's the problem?"

She's like, "I drink way too much during the week. I do it and I know it's a problem."

I was like, "So change it." "Yeah, I know," she said. "I just need you to tell me what to do."

I was like, "Okay. Stop drinking." And we both cracked up laughing!

Sometimes you just need somebody to tell you what to do and it made me chuckle!

At the same time, it was just this lesson of how we know absolutely what we can be doing better at, right? Even if you never picked up a self help book, even if you never went to a career counselor, even if you never went to a personal trainer—none of those things—even if you just looked inside and asked yourself, "Hey, what can I be doing better for myself?" Where do I seem to have a little bit of a pitfall here in my life, in my health, in my self care, in my exercise, in my daily grieving, in my attitude?"

I bet you could pinpoint it if you sat down and tried. I bet you could even come up with a solution. If we're not exercising everyday, well, there's an opportunity. Spend 15 minutes a day and go do that. But sometimes, we need somebody to give us a little push on the swing.

So with my friend, I said, "Well, how about you do this." I said, "Two weeks, no drinking," and she said okay. Then I said, "After that, why don't you give yourself a drink ticket or two."

She's very pitta, by the way. So she's disciplined as all get out. She's a total chaser. She takes care of herself really, really well yet she has this pitfall. She's like, "Ahh, I'm not in college anymore. I just have to stop!" And I was like, "Dude, you know what to do. But, I'll tell you what to do and then I want you to follow up with me and tell me how you're doing" She's like, "Okay. I can do that."

My 3 tips to help you practice what is best for you

1) Sometimes, we already know what we need to do to improve our health. Listen to that voice. Listen to that little voice inside that says, "Hey, you need to change something." That is your wisdom coming through!

2) Get an accountability partner. You can find somebody who can hold you accountable to what you're trying to do, whether it be your spouse or your kid or your mom or your dad or your best friend or whomever. Get an accountability partner to hold you to that thing.

3) The third thing is be ready to MAKE that change. We can't just dream about it. We can't just wish for it and know that it exists. We actually have to take steps in order to make that change. So whatever it is, if it's exercising, if it's eating more vegetables, if it is taking 10 minutes for yourself everyday to just sit with your eyes closed, do those things. That is what you need for change. If you need some serenity, do that. But start somewhere.

Begin changing or you're going to stay on the same path for a long time and you're gonna know exactly why (how frustrating!). You're gonna go looking at online articles. You might go chase all these external things, but you know what? We got it in here (hand on heart).

We got it. You got it. So look inside. See what that thing is that you could do a little bit better and make a mental commitment to do it. Find an accountability partner and then take some action toward that step. You'll change your life fast. I promise. Once you do it once, you're gonna want to do it all the time with all kinds of other things. So go ahead and do it. Try it.

Let me know what you try and we're gonna keep bringing this Ayurveda to life. 

***I shared this post with my dear friend and she sent me an INSPIRING UPDATE below.***

Note: My friend is in sales. She goes to lots of dinners and client schmoozing, which includes drinking more than she would choose. She knew it felt bad. Here is what she did to change.

Hi Mon! - That’s me! Awesome! I found an accountability partner and it made all the difference! It turned out to be my boss. We worked together for two days in November and during dinner we talked about how tired we are of drinking. We both stopped immediately. I went 24 days. She made it about 14. But we were able to have real conversations about how we feel when we don’t drink and that has made us much more in tune to how we feel and act when we do drink.

Not drinking isn’t realistic for either of us but I have been so much better. I don’t drink during the week and only have a few on weekends. Yay, me! Oh and I found a crutch which has helped a lot. I have an insulated Yeti mug and sometimes in that mug is my favorite tea other times it’s a martini.

The point is that nobody knows and nobody asks as long as you have something in your hands. Huge not to have to deal with the “why are you not drinking” question.