Every January, and a few times throughout the year, I used to strategize an elaborate health and fitness plan.
I’d commit to a certain number of cardio workouts at various durations and intensities, a certain number of weight training sessions, and a certain number of recovery-type sessions like Pilates.
The further I felt from my goal, the more structured and elaborate my plans got.
Although my training schedule looked awesome (on paper), as you might imagine I was as successful as most who write new years resolutions – adding my name to the 90% who fail.
I’m a trainer and I like working out, so why was I struggling???
My plan was too complicated, too far from my current reality, too fueled with the New Year “high” to last any length of time, and most importantly the undertone energy was “I’m not enough and need to be/look better”.
Yuck!
Surprisingly to myself at the time, it turned out that rather than more strategy, discipline and will power, what I actually needed was permission.
…Permission to let go of pressures and expectations to look a certain way; or to weigh a certain number.
…Permission to stop comparing myself to others; to return to my own desires and truth; and just do me.
AND…
…Permission to stop hating, blaming, hiding and shaming my body; to forgive it for all the ways I felt it had betrayed me and made me miserable; and to begin befriending it with genuine gratitude for all it still allowed me to DO and BE.
Once given, the rest became history.
Below is the manifesto that poured out of me many years ago, and helped change more than I could have imagined. I share below in case it inspires you, and then a process for writing your own.
The Fitness Manifesto That Changed Everything
So Beautiful, how does this relate to you?
Do you ever fall into the New Years reso trap? Or perhaps you’ve had so much experience that you no longer write those nasty things?
Either way, you likely have an area of your life that you’d like more competence, joy, peace or flow with.
And you likely have deeper desires for your life that you’re not fully in touch with.
Here’s where a Personal Manifesto can really turn up your personal power.
Look to the kinds of things you might be inclined to put on a New Year’s Reso list (if you wrote one). Then, rather than doing so, I invite you to write your own Manifesto.
This is very different than an “I need to…”, an “I should….”, or an “I want to…” list.
It is a claiming of your deepest, truest desires, from an inner source of truth, wisdom and love. It carries the power to remove what’s standing in your way and open flow in a way that no to-do list or action plan can touch.
To Write Your Own Powerful Manifesto:
1- Start by choosing your theme/focus – it can be general, or specific to any area of life you’d like improved (eg. Fitness, Career, Relationships, Food, Body, etc.).
- Write your theme at the top of your page.
- Don’t worry, it can change later, so no need to spend a ton of time here.
2- Set a 5-minute timer (of course you can take longer if needed, but this short time-frame can help you get to the essence quickly). Remember:
- What you’re calling forth is already there and inside you. It doesn’t need hours of reflection, giving you another item for your every-growing to-do list.
- It’s amazing what can flow out within a few short minutes when we’re truly tapped into our deeper vision. This can often be done very quickly, and refined after.
3- Write in the present tense as though it’s already your current reality.
- Doing this, and then reading it daily is how you experience it before it even happens, and claim it into being.
4- Caution: ensure this doesn’t turn into a “to-do” list.
- Keep the actions minimal, in favor of the experience and feelings you long for.
- Notice what needs to be released in order to experience what you want.
- Include any and all permissions needed.