Recently I have been spending all of my time focussed on getting things handled and done. During this time, I have been approached by a few people with health issues going on. In fact, yesterday I was sharing the things I had tried when, around six months ago, my body was going into hyper-allergy alert.

This is when I noticed something. I have once again been putting my OWN health and well being far down on the list. I have not even just been drinking enough water each day. How can I teach, coach, and remind others about things like this, if I do not take care of myself?

It is not that I eat horribly. Just about every meal is made at home by me, but I see how I have slipped back into a pattern of allowing myself unhealthy carbs (for me), instead of taking the time to make things that are healthier (for me) but less convenient, in the respect of not being grab-and-go. I see how I have allowed my shoulder injury to derail my workouts. There are still many things I can do that do not include using my arm.

The reason I am writing about this is I know I am no where near the only one that falls out of alignment of nourishing my body in healthy ways. When you notice yourself doing this how do you respond?

• Do you beat yourself up?
• Shame yourself?
• Go to the opposite extreme of no excuses and no cheating whatsoever?
• Extreme workouts? 
• Put yourself on a crazy cleanse?

I used to do all of those myself. My pendulum would swing radically from one direction to the other which, in reality, made my body feel like it was on crack. It became a junkie for sugar and crappy food by doing this – always looking for the next hit. Because I am severely sensitive or allergic to most sugar alternatives, I would use it as an excuse to abuse sugar. Then I would fall off the band wagon of good health again.

Do you find yourself also doing similar things in other areas of your life? It is extremely rare for things like this to show up in just one area. This is a pattern more than anything else. The first step in shifting anything is simply identifying the pattern and watching it. You don’t have to change anything at this point other than observe it. Watch how it manifests in every arena it appears. Get curious about it. Perhaps feel into when this pattern started. What do you get out of this pattern? If you did not get anything out of it, you wouldn’t be doing it.

Even if it is an old pattern you have “fixed” before, that does not mean it will not rise back up again. Typically it just means you have not gotten to the heart of the matter. Fixing does not mean shifting. I have learned that fixing is like throwing a bandaid on it, as the underlying issue is still there front-and-center. It is funny how, as a society, we are so obsessed with fixing things versus getting to the underlying piece, creating everything, and shifting this piece.

Take the time to slow down and hear what you are really telling yourself with this pattern. What is the purpose of it? This question has shifted many places in me that were stuck and opened up many doors I would not have seen if I had continued on the direction I was going or just “fixed” the issue.