The goal of The Reprogrammed Systems Approach is to help us understand how our decisions impact the health of our bodies so that we become capable of making the healthy decision. In turn, this allows us the opportunity to build a healthy body that supports our ability to live our desired lives.
This is in contrast to the status quo of the modern world that is a life spent making unhealthy decisions, leading the body down the path of poor health and modern disease. This is the path that involves the steady decline of the body as its sub-systems each deteriorate over time, eventually leading to the arrival of one or more disease diagnoses and the dependence on our medical system.
Understanding the healthy decision is an important step on our journey to good health. However, no one ever got anywhere by simply having knowledge. To create real change, we must form a valid understanding and then take aligned action with this knowledge.
Making a healthy decision:
- Understand what the healthy decision is
- Take aligned action with this knowledge
This means that it is not simply enough to understand what would be a healthy decision. We must also be able to get ourselves to make these decisions in our own lives, which for most individuals means that it’s time to embrace some significant lifestyle changes.
Now, there are different ways that we can think of to discuss how we can get ourselves to make important lifestyle changes. I could speak to you from a dieting perspective (what specific diet plan shall you take on?), or perhaps a building habits perspective (what specific actions shall you build into your day?). I could volunteer a specific supportive program (here’s what to do and we’re here to guide you along the way) or hand you a pdf with step-by-step instructions for what exactly to do as you go about your day (take this step and then that step).
Each perspective has its own positives and drawbacks – none is necessarily the right perspective (although I will say that some may be more useful than others).
For today, I am not going to go with any of these more traditional options and instead will speak to you from a perspective aligned with the work accomplished in the stress pathways series – that being the perspective that is taking on obstacles in such a way that we come out the other side as an improved individual.
Before jumping into it, let me be clear on one thing: the answer to creating lifestyle change is not found in a simple blog post. As much as I would love to give you everything you need to know so that you can walk away having the ability to create all the change you need – well, that’s just not possible.
Instead, what I can give you today is an understanding of a process that I believe to hold significant value for making the change we desire.
From this point, it’s then up to you as to where you take it.
So, that’s what we’re going to take on today: work on developing an understanding of a process that you can use to make a change in your life, along with some options for taking on the challenge that is actually making that change.
Stress and Obstacles – The path to change
In the stress pathways series, we examined how our interaction with obstacles (what we tend to think of as stress), can either be beneficial or detrimental to our health and well-being.
The distinguishing factor?
What eventually qualifies the outcome of stressful situations is what happens once the stress impacts the body.
Stress has the ability to take us down, especially when it piles up or comes at us in too heavy of a dose. Stress can be burdensome. It can break us.
It also has the power to build us up. To create us. To change us into the people that we want to be.
As a matter of fact, it happens to be the path through which we improve. Like it or not, the way us human beings have been designed is to improve only when put under a load. There really is no other way.
So, when it comes to talking about lifestyle change in the name of becoming healthier individuals, one way we can think about it is by examining the obstacles that we are taking on in our lives and by asking ourselves if these obstacles are making us the people we want to become.
The key to positive lifestyle change: what obstacles am I taking on in my life? Are these obstacles building me up or breaking me down?
If we can master this skill, we then have the ability to navigate our way through life continuously choosing a path that leads to improvement, enabling us to step away from the path that leads towards poor health and modern disease and instead choose a life of good health.
The art and science of choosing obstacles
When it comes to making decisions about which obstacles we plan to take on, it helps to understand that choosing obstacles to take on is both an art and a science.
Science
The science comes into play for obvious reasons: if we want to head in a beneficial direction, then we need some data to help direct us. If we don’t have any idea of where to go, it’s not very possible to choose the right direction to aim for.
The science of choosing obstacles begins with the information discussed in Part 2 of the stress management series.
As a quick recap, what we learned about interacting with obstacles via stress pathways is:
- The right level of stress applied to a particular system leads to improvement
- Too much stress on any particular system leads to damage
This means that, if we want to improve, we need to apply the right level of stress to the right system.
For example, to get stronger, we need to lift enough weight such that the muscle gets the signal to improve; however, if we lift too much weight, we will just end up injured.
Or, to pass a test, we must study enough such that we learn the material; however, if we spend too much time studying, we end up with fried brains that don’t function when we need to actually take the test.
This is something that we are all familiar with. However, it is worth repeating because if we mess this up, then all of our efforts will be futile. If we are going to create beneficial change, then we need to make sure that we are basing our judgments on valid information.
Art
The art comes into play because information doesn’t actually do anything on its own – we need to be able to put this information to use in the form of aligned action.
The problem is that this process of taking aligned action is often much more difficult than it should seem to be.
The reason?
I could name a few, but the one I want to focus on is that there is simply no way to have all the answers that we’ll need for the entire journey before we get started.
From our starting point, the best we can ever do is embrace a projection given where we are and where we think we can get based on the information we have. From this point, there’s bound to be some unexpected bends in the road along the way.
The question is then, how do we navigate this journey of our own if we don’t begin with all the right information?
The answer from an obstacle interaction perspective is actually quite easy: if we view every moment as an interaction with an obstacle, then all we ever need to have is a process for interacting with obstacles.
The key to positive lifestyle change: will taking on this next obstacle lead me in the direction I want to go?
Let’s see how this process plays out:
When we begin the process of becoming a healthier individual, we begin with a goal and an idea of actions to take to reach that goal.
For example, the goal may be to lose weight, enhance mental clarity, be able to run a 10k, and/or simply to feel better overall.
We may then choose a handful of specific actions that we will take to achieve these goals, such as eliminating industrial not-so-foods, engaging in aerobic activity for an hour 3-4 times a week, and lifting weights or doing yoga three times a week.
Then, we get started actually performing these actions.
As we move forward through life taking aligned action, there is a good chance that we encounter external challenges that lead to the second-guessing of those previously made decisions.
For example, you may set down one path only to have life throw a curveball at you – a relative gets sick; you get sick; an amazing opportunity pops up and now your schedule is filling up. It could be that you had everything right for the path you had initially chosen, only now you find yourself living a completely different story a week later. What do you do then?
As another example, you may hear from external voices that what you are doing isn’t the best thing you could be doing. Your friend may have heard about an awesome diet or your brother may be immersed in a fantastic workout routine – and these voices may be very motivated to give you their opinion about why you should be taking on this instead. Do you stick to your plan or do you embrace these new ideas?
The point is, no matter how well we plan out our course of action to achieve a goal, there are always going to be external factors that present themselves. The process that is the learning and making of healthy decisions is not a straight line. It is dynamic. As we make our way through life, things change. The world changes. We change. Information surfaces.
The question becomes, what do we do when this happens? Do we stick to our plan – hold out despite external forces pressuring us to change course? Or do we embrace external forces for the good opportunity that they may be presenting to us?
The answer – well, that’s up to you. And, even more, it’s something that you must answer each time you encounter a new obstacle.
This, again, is why we are spending today focusing on a process of choosing obstacles and not a specific plan that should be followed through every time.
Let’s think about the big picture for a moment:
What I want for us isn’t that we get to a clear goal as quickly and efficiently as possible. While this may seem ideal, in practice it often doesn’t work out – maybe we chose a goal that was too easy or we picked a path that is now impossible.
Instead, what I want for us is simply that we keep moving forward in a beneficial direction because this is what works in practice in our real lives. This means that, as we navigate through the world heading in the direction that is becoming a healthier individual, I want us:
- to always be open to listening to other opportunities
- to adapt to new challenges
- to embrace new goals or paths to achieve these goals if they really are the better option
- or to ditch goals or paths to achieve goals if they truly aren’t what’s best.
This process is a balance between sticking to the course of action that we have chosen to reach our desired goal while balancing any bumps or turns along the way.
To accomplish this, we need to be clear on our navigation process. Once we have this clear process outlined for ourselves, then we get to do the real work that is making the journey.
Here’s that process:
The process of making healthier decisoins:
- Understand what the healthy decision is
- Take aligned action with this knowledge
- Reflect
- Learn
- Repeat
Choosing Obstacles
The process of becoming a healthier individual is a continuous cycle that involves understanding, implementation, and reflection that leads to more learning.
Once we have this greater understanding, we can then move forward making the next right decision.
What this means is, the process of becoming a healthier individual is a continuous process of choosing the right obstacle, taking on that obstacle, and reflecting from the other side.
Unfortunately, as I’ve witnessed this unfold in our modern world (remember, this is a world with an overwhelming majority of individuals who are overweight, insulin resistant, and dealing with clinically relevant symptoms making them dependent on medical care) – we as a population do a terrible job of this.
The way we tend to do things in this day and age is to choose obstacles that:
- do not actually lead us to a healthier destination,
- lead us only temporarily to a somewhat healthier destination, and/or
- add significant amounts of stress to our already stressful lives
These sorts of obstacles include things like:
- the choice to take on a specific diet that was outlined by another individual
- the choice to take on a specific exercise routine that was outlined by another individual
- the choice to take on any particular obstacle because another individual told us it was a good idea
Do you see a theme here?
When we take on obstacles designed or selected by other individuals, we often end up in a situation where we are not actually taking on what will benefit us the most. Choices like this result in an inadequate amount of stress applied in a way that doesn’t really lead down the ideal path.
For example, taking on a whole exercise routine designed by another individual might create for your own self as a significant amount of stress that leads to some results – but these may be insufficient and/or temporary.
Or, taking on a specific diet may turn your world upside down for a few weeks, leaving you with a few dropped pounds and a burned out mind and metabolism.
What I want for you is an ability to achieve the specific results you desire. Just as important, I want to ensure that these results aren’t a temporary destination, but rather, a stepping stone to an even better destination.
The Art of Choosing Obstacles
This means that, when it comes to choosing obstacles that will lead us towards a healthier body, what we need to know is:
- the type of obstacle that will lead us to the desired destination
- the amount of stress to apply to successfully achieve this desired outcome
If you are going to accomplish this, then you need clarity on what may work for your body. This is accomplished by understanding what tends to work for most individuals. This is gained by understanding the science.
If you are going to accomplish this, you will also need one more crucial piece to the process – the ability to navigate your own self down your own path. Which, once again, is better viewed as an art.
Once we understand what the healthy decision is, we then take on the task that is aligning with this knowledge.
The best we can ever do at any particular moment is to embrace a projection given where we are and where we think we can get based on the information we have.
From this point, we only have the ability to choose our next action.
From that point, the future is its own.
So, even if we have a solid idea of which obstacles will allow us to achieve a desired outcome, and even if we have an idea of how much stress we can take on, what we know today is bound to be different than what we know or need to know tomorrow.
This means that the process of taking aligned action is not going to be achieved by understanding everything that we can in this moment.
The process of taking aligned action needs another element – an element that will enable us to move forward through the process.
What exactly does this movement look like?
First is the actual application of the information we already have – that is, the ability to get ourselves to take aligned action with the information we have.
Second is the ability to continuously take in new information, accepting that which we deem to be even more useful than that which we had already embraced while discarding all that which we deem to be irrelevant.
This is where we need to introduce art into the process as we balance sticking to the data and our previously developed plan vs. incorporating new data and changing our course.
Applying the art and science of choosing obstacles in our own lives
As I explained in the beginning of this article, this process is not something that you are going to conquer today. Rather, this is a skill that you will develop over time, if you decide to devote your time to it.
To take this on, I have two items for you today.
The first is an opportunity to join in The Reprogramming Process at a level of your choosing.
The second is a way to jump in right now with a practice in the application of these lessons.
Let’s take a look at that first item:
The Reprogramming Process is my program for helping us all learn to make the healthy decision and take aligned action that produced results.
- free version – with resources here to guide you.
- launching of the paid version
And now, for that second item:
A Practice
At the beginning of the stress management series, I gave you a practice that you could use to help you understand where you are at with your current load of stress. This involved answering some simple questions about the state of our lives right now:
- what routines have you found yourself in that may be negatively impacting your health or well-being?
- what activities do you find yourself wishing you would change (and yet can’t find the will to do so)?
- what activities seem to be taking away from your life – your health, your joy, your well-being?
- what could be added in to benefit your life?
- what tasks are you proud of?
- what activities bringing you joy?
With that exercise, I simply asked that you answer these questions and take in the way the answers made you feel. Now, I wish to bring this exercise back into the picture as we move forward taking action.
So now, I ask you to reflect on these answers once more (or, if you never did the exercise, do it now). This time around, listen into the feelings surrounding these answers for the signs that they are:
- signs propelling you forward down a path of improvement
- signs urging you to take a step back and release certain stressors from your lie
- signs for certain activities that bring real value to your life
It may be the case that you are continuously frustrated with finding yourself with your hand in the cookie jar. You’ve promised yourself a million times that you would stop eating cookies. Eating cookies may provide immediate pleasure (yum!) but afterward, you’re left feeling crappy, both physically (thank you sugar and refined grains) and mentally (I let myself down again).
Or, it may be the case that a few times a week you and your children bake cookies and enjoy one of them (okay, maybe two) as you sit around and talk about your day.
The question becomes, do you need to give up cookies?
The answer? Well, don’t ask me – this one is for you to decide, and I suggest that you ask it to yourself and take a moment to receive the answer.