In my last blog, I shared about how being in pain helped me in creating a flow in how I make time for the things that are important in my life. It meant eliminating many things that were holding me back and adding things that I never thought I would do.

 

I wanted to follow up by sharing with you some specific ways in which I was able to make the change from making excuses to making time.

 

At first, you may need to help from friends or family members who can help you in clearing out the clutter and seeing what areas you need more structure in. I have a friend I really admire and when I watch how she made things happen in her life, I saw what I could add to my own. I started out slowly and so can you.

 

You can do it by setting small weekly goals. Look at areas in your life where you don’t have flow, these are usually things that when you have a flare-up or are in pain, fall behind. It can be as little as creating a laundry routine where you’re doing smaller amounts at a time or as big as creating spreadsheets that help you monitor what you are doing to get closer to your goal. Yes, spreadsheets sound really technical but you can apply them to your health. So if you are starting a new mind-body practice, exercise routine or diet change, you can create small daily goals that you can look at weekly and see your progress. Taking small steps always feels better than the huge overwhelm we get from thinking that we have to change ourselves all at once.

 

Over time, you can look into the future and see how your small goals can become larger goals. You’ll begin to see how you are making progress even if it’s as small as being able to do one more exercise than you could month ago. It will also show you how you’re spending your time. Can you carve out a few hours to do something you enjoy?  You’ll find that you have more time for this because all that stuff that you had to get “done” is actually getting done.

 

If you are looking for more ways to “get stuff done” by using your mind-body connection, I have some great tools in my e-book Listening to Your Gut: Connect with Your Body and Get IBS Relief.

 

It’s all about giving yourself empowerment and freedom of choice. You can create a rhythm in your life, not allowing external circumstances to create your reality. When you realize you have the choice you can then make a commitment to making the time for it or not. It doesn’t have to be a perfect scenario where you get fixed fast, it is simply the feeling of joy you get from engaging in your life again that makes your soul feel alive.

 

Imagine how much better your body will begin to feel when your soul is content.

 

Here are some things to think about:

 

1) How can you create more choices in your life?

 

2) What changes can you make to start creating what you want?

 

3) Start by making a schedule of how you use your time everyday. Include everything. Look at tasks that you could change.  Could you ask for help?

 

4) Can you break things into smaller pieces that follow a predictable schedule so you don’t get overwhelmed?

 

5) Could you simply watch 1 or 2 hours less of TV each week in order to create more self-care time?

 

The more you examine what you do with your time the more you’ll realize there are little spaces of time throughout the day that you can use to work towards your mental and physical health, as well as your dreams.

 

I’d love to hear what you’ve come up with!