The Desire to be Healthy & Whole

Inside each one of us is a desire to be healthy, whole, happy, free, and peaceful. But sometimes the demands of life and other setbacks or loss can get in the way of feeling these things. If you are reading this, you likely share something in common with the other leaders I work with: competing priorities, big responsibilities, lots of stressors or life changes, body aches, heartaches, and big goals and dreams still left to achieve. Trying to balance it all is exhausting and overwhelming at times. To help manage the overwhelm, I invite you to pause here and do a little reflection on your current mindset and skill set: Do they support your health and well-being or get in the way of your health and well-being??

I can’t give you just one approach to magically take away your competing demands or just one insight that will create instantaneous health and happiness. What I can offer is a continuous place for you to pause, reflect, and explore new thoughts and behaviors to support you on your ever-changing, LeaderHealth journey.

Today, let’s explore a few questions about your beliefs and capacity for achieving health and well-being. Do you believe you deserve to be healthy, whole, happy, free and peaceful? If you answered YES, move on to the next bolded question. If you answered NO or hesitated, What old life experiences or familial history created this present day belief? What thoughts and scripts do you find yourself saying internally that reinforce that you don’t deserve to be healthy and whole??

A recent example from a 48 year old, male executive, “All the men in my family die before 60, so that’s my fate”. He said this as he contemplates getting healthier or not. The feeling of being pre-defeated by his family health history, and the belief that he is going to die at the same age lead to the belief and mindset of? ‘why bother making healthy changes?’.

Another example from a 52 year old male executive, “I feel better than I ever have and I am more in shape than I was in my 20’s and 30’s. I have a history of obesity and heart disease in my family and I am on the right path to ensure my health outcomes are different from theirs.”?

The difference in these two mindsets heavily influences their feelings and behaviors related to creating a healthy, whole life.??

Do you believe you have the capacity to continue growing, changing, and adding to your skillset to achieve your current health and wellness goals? If Yes, great! You are on track. This means that you have the right mindset to make progress in combination with the motivation to acquire new skills, tools, and methods to help you on your journey.?

The first question is about the mindsets and beliefs that take root within based on past experiences and/or familial history, which can limit or enhance how we take action toward our desires. The second is about our belief in our capacity and skills to create, get, or build what we need to match our desires. It takes both mindset and skillset to make improvements in our lives and to get what we deeply desire. If you look at all that you have already achieved, you will see that you had to get your mind right first, and then you had to add in the right knowledge, skills and experience to get results.?

If you have been in your career at least 20 years, it is likely that you are more aware of your health, wellness, and the trade offs you have made in pursuit of your dreams and goals. In the first 20 years of your career, those trade-offs felt normal, expected, and were rewarded. At some point, the tradeoffs and rewards start to diminish in their emotional significance. Yes, the rewards are still nice and ever-present, but they start to lose their luster as other parts of life start to call for more attention and growth. It is at this stage that I see high-achieving, growth-minded individuals and leaders ready to do deeper work on their LeaderHealth. This work begins with an acknowledgement of the current aches and pains and a determination to stop trading health for success. Reach out if you are ready to do the deeper work to fulfill your dreams and desires.?

Your LeaderHealth Journey can start today! Reach out if you want to have a conversation about your LeaderHealth.

Live and Lead in a New Way,

Dr. Shanna?

Want to dive more into this topic? You are personally invited to join me for a Free Webinar Series. The LeaderHealth? Reset Webinar Series - A Balanced Body.

Dr. Shanna Teel & Co. is a leadership, talent, and organizational development consulting firm. In Dr. Teel’s career she has been a Partner and Executive in three leadership development consulting firms. She holds a dual Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology and clinical psychology; a post-graduate certificate in neuroscience and nutrition-science; and she has over 25 years of experience as a business consultant, executive coach, and facilitator of adult and organizational transformation. She specializes in the areas of executive and leadership development and coaching; culture change; neuroscience; and health and wellness for leaders. She is a registered yoga teacher and sits on several non-profit boards that promote healthy, conscious living and leadership.

LeaderHealth? = Business Health

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