What do you want for Christmas? (Healthy Living DIY)

What do you want any day of the year?

If you grew up in a home where scarcity was the rule, perhaps the phrase "you can't have everything you want" rings a bell. If you grew up in a home where it was considered noble to sacrifice your desires, you may recognize the same phrase. Sometimes, I'll even wager it was tinged with "so who do you think you are that you deserve to have what you want?"

If this type of thinking has a place in your past, have you considered lately whether it's affecting your future? Unless you've taken steps to change your thinking, I'd be willing to assert with confidence that your desires are not being met right now.

Why?

Because you're operating from a "rule" that says you can't have what you want -- regardless of what it is! If this is true for you, you may find that it's challenging to even acknowledge what you do want.

(Since you believe that whatever it is will be permanently out of reach, it's less painful to pretend you only want what you already have ... which by definition cannot be what you really want. You can't have that, remember?)

Guess what? No matter what, unless you change that rule, you are virtually guaranteed to sabotage your chances of creating the life you say you desire.

Let's look a little deeper.

Try this.

Make a list of what you want. Pretend you're a kid with a Christmas list and a rich uncle. No limits. Go on, just take out a piece of scrap paper or open up something you can write in. Go through the major areas of your life:

Career
Relationships
Home
Finances
Hobbies
Health & Fitness
Etc. (Add or subtract categories as you wish)

Write down the main things you want in each area. Be specific. Want money in the investment account that's to fund your retirement? Great! How much?

Then, review your list. For each entry, ask yourself these two questions:

Is this what I really want? Or what I think I can get?
Is this what I really want? Or what I think I should want?

What do you really want?

How accurate would you say your list is?

Have you dampened your desires so well that even making an honest list is difficult? If so, revisit that list another time or two until it starts looking more like the real thing.

Then, once you've identified what you really want, ask the big question. What are you willing to do in order to make it happen? We'll talk more about that part in a few days. Stay tuned.

Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!

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