We may reach our full height in inches by the end of our teenage years, but in so many other areas, we have endless room to grow.<\/p>\n
To take positive steps forward, you must first open your mind and accept that although you\u2019re wonderful as you are, you can still move to higher places and expand your personal horizons.<\/p>\n
As you think about the ways you want to grow, visualize where you want to be. Compile a \u201cfuture statement,\u201d which can be a writing, picture, drawing, or collage, that represents where you hope to be in six months, a year, or more,\u201d says Stetson University Health Sciences Professor Ronette Lategan-Potgieter. Then, focus in on different areas of your life\u2014nutrition, emotional health, social network, and professional development.<\/p>\n
Advance your health with fitness and nutrition\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In terms of fitness, manual therapist and movement coach Aaron Alexander suggests assessing the shape of your home environment. \u201cInstead of a wall-mounted big screen TV and high dining table, consider throwing down a comfy rug and placing some self-care items in the space\u2014a foam roller, medicine ball, yoga mat,\u201d he says. \u201cMaybe mount a pullup bar in a doorway you regularly walk through.\u201d By making your home conducive to exercise, you will be more likely to spend time moving in that space.<\/p>\n For personal growth, it\u2019s important to make room in your life for meditation, too. Mindfulness and meditation teacher Joree Rose says you can make your practice your own. \u201cIt\u2019s OK if you\u2019re not sitting on a cushion for 20 to 40 minutes per day,\u201d she says. \u201cMeet yourself where you are, be it in your car, on a walk, cooking, or doing chores. The key is to create stillness and silence, so you can get out of your head and into the present moment.\u201d<\/p>\n For all your fitness practices, accountability–whether that means planning to meet a workout partner for a 2:00 hike or making an appointment in your calendar for a yoga class–also helps. A great way to stay accountable to yourself and others is with a fitness monitor. You\u2019ll ensure you get to your 10,000 steps, and by linking the device to friends and family, you\u2019ll get additional encouragement.<\/p>\n No matter what, keep moving, Alexander says. \u201cWe are designed to go through a wide range of motion, not to just be sitting flexed at 90 degrees all day.\u201d<\/p>\n To support fitness, Lategan-Potgieter reminds us of the importance of diet. To grow nutritionally, stay away from processed foods, aim to get your five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and avoid eating too close to bedtime. Reach for a piece of fresh produce whenever you have the urge to eat something salty or sweet. As a reminder, she suggests wearing five or more bracelets on one arm and swapping them to the other arm for every piece of produce you consume in a day.<\/p>\n Progress in your profession<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Just like we want to grow personally, most of us also strive to grow professionally as well. To do this, Jennifer Thompson, PhD, Professor of Psychology at The Chicago School, suggests planning for obstacles. \u201cMost people say, \u2018I want to go for a promotion or get on a special project and they try X to get it. X gets blocked, they think there\u2019s no hope, and they are done,\u201d she says. To up your chances for success, now and in the future, write down every single way you can get to that work goal; then take it one step further and plan what you will do if one of those steps gets blocked,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Planning for obstacles works in other areas of life, too. \u201cWhen you want to eat a bad food late at night, say, \u2018one, I\u2019m going to go to bed early to avoid that, and two, I\u2019m going to have an apple instead,\u201d Thompson says. \u201cThese exercises take five minutes and will open up your mind to all the possible ways you can buffer yourself by having several plan Bs for plan As.\u201d<\/p>\n No matter which area of your life you\u2019re focused on at the time, stay true to yourself. \u201cSet intentions that are congruent with your values,\u201d Rose says. \u201cStudies show respecting your values helps you create new habits that lead to long term change. Don\u2019t focus on what you want to change, focus on what you want to gain<\/em>.\u201d Remember, the sky is the limit\u2014there\u2019s always room for personal growth.<\/p>\n Sidebar: <\/strong><\/p>\n Quick things you can do to foster personal growth, courtesy of California-based therapist and mindfulness and meditation teacher, Joree Rose:<\/p>\n We may reach our full height in inches by the end of our teenage years, but in so many other areas, we have endless room to grow. To take positive steps forward, you must first open your mind and accept that although you\u2019re wonderful as you are, you can still move to higher places and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[229,230,189,231,219,232,233,159],"class_list":["post-15385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mindful-living-en-nl","tag-bedtime","tag-change","tag-fitness","tag-growth","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-personal","tag-vegetables"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n\n