Tuesday 21 February 2012

THE MESSAGES OF LIFE

Have you ever noticed how something you may be avoiding, or hate doing, in your life, is actually trying to tell you something? Let me explain doll....I train two or three times a week at a local gym with a wonderful personal trainer who is probably the only person on the planet who can actually motivate me to exercise. I am generally a couch potato of note, but as the years progress I do realise that if I want to keep in some sort of reasonable shape as I advance into my more mature years, I do need to make a bit of an effort. Ruhan has a way of making our sessions fun and interesting, always changing things and I actually find myself working just that little bit harder, pushing myself a little bit further - yes he is that good! In fact he even motivated me to do my first 5km race (walking) the other day!But there are some things Ruhan cannot get me to do. Using the stationary bike was one of them (give me the treadmill any day) and then there are the "step ups". You know when you have to step up and down onto a box. We use the benches at the gym and they are quite high. Now I have always had a problem with step-ups. There is just something about having all the weight on one leg, pushing up, that makes me feel insecure. I just don't trust that I am strong enough to be able to manage it. So anytime this exercise came up, I refused to do it and being senior in years to Ruhan, he doesn't generally argue with me and gives me something else to do. Then last week I had a session with my life coach (the amazing Mel, you remember). At one point during our chat she said to me "you know Di, if you want to succeed you need to step up to the bigger platform". And she made this upward movement with her hand as she said it. Suddenly it hit me - my refusing to do the "step up" exercises at the gym was a physical manifestation of my refusal to "step up" to the next level in terms of my personal growth! Because of fear. And lack of faith in myself and my abilities, not trusting myself......what a profound insight! The upshot of this is that Ruhan has now made me a box. Lower than the benches at gym and we are starting with baby steps. As my confidence grows so will the step ups. This week at gym I did my first "step up" exercises with Ruhan and Mel cheering me on! It was such a great feeling. Not only that, but I decided to get over myself and did my 10 minutes warm up on the bike and it wasn't so bad after all. It really is all in the mind. So - what in your life is trying to send you a message? What is it that you avoid doing/fear doing and how could that relate to something going on in your life? Would love to hear! 'Til next time doll, blessings as always. xx