Wanting With Your Heart vs. Your Brain

We all say, “I really wanna lose 5 pounds,” or “I really have to quit eating cookies every day.”  But do we really mean it?  There is a huge difference between wanting something deeply, with all of your heart versus wanting something with your brain.  Perhaps you think you want something, but is it truly important to you?  Do you feel it with all of your body, like you’ve never felt anything before, or is it fleeting?

It’s easy to get frustrated when a pair of skinny jeans don’t fit quite as well as they fit last fall when you first slid them on.  That frustration may make you tell one of you girlfriends later that day that you really gotta work on flattening out your tummy, but the next thing you know, you are sipping on a glass of wine and indulging in truffle fries and pasta.  When something takes over your body in an all consuming way, there is nothing that is going to stop you… not even wine or truffle fries!

Next time you say you want to lose a dress size or you wanna lose a few pounds, ask yourself, do you REALLY want it?  If you do, you will be willing to give up a few things in order to accomplish that goal.  You will be willing to make the changes and take the steps necessary to get to this goal.  You know that you want it with your heart.

But if you aren’t willing to make sacrifices necessary to achieve your goal, then maybe you just want it with your brain.  It’s okay to want something with your brain – we all do it!  In my brain I want to run a sub 24 minute 5k, but I’m not willing to put the time in to get there.  I’m not going to table it, it can still be a goal, but right now I don’t want it with my heart.  You can do the same.

Perhaps you just found an old pair of jeans and you tried them on and they are a little too snug to wear.  But you know that to get into those skinny jeans you are going to have to give up your weekly wine night with your girlfriends in exchange for an extra sweat sesh with your trainer, but you are totally enjoying wine night lately and feel like it’s something that is really beneficial to you right now mentally and emotionally.  THAT’S OKAY!!!  If you tried to give up your girls night and forced yourself back into the gym for the 6th day in a row, it’s possible you would grow resentful of the gym and aggravated because you are missing your one true release in the week.  It’s just not worth it because then, your plan could completely backfire and you may refuse to even look at your gym because you are so sick of it and you end up drinking every single night because, why not?!

If you want something with your heart, then you will take every step necessary to get what you want and NOTHING will stand in your way.  This happens pretty naturally.  These are the women who want up before anyone else in the house is up so they can get in an uninterrupted workout.  These are the women who bring their own food to family gatherings because they can’t undo their hard work by eating pizza and pasta bowls.  When you want something with you heart you make other arrangements, you schedule your workouts into you day in INK, and when things come up, your workout is non-negotiable.  At no point do you feel resentful towards what you have to give up or the extra effort you have to give to get to where you want.

If you don’t quite want something with your heart yet, but it’s something you find yourself thinking about often, then you are almost there.  The fact that the thought continues to seep back into your brain says something.  Perhaps now is the time to write down all of the reasons you can possibly come up with, why you want to achieve that goal.  Is it to be a good role model for your kids?  Will it make your life easier now?  Will it help you age more gracefully?  Is it going to help you feel happy and better about yourself?  How will it help you feel better?  Write it all down in DETAIL.  The more details the better!  Fill the page!!  Tear off your reasons and place each one strategically throughout your house as reminders.  Talk about it to loved ones, and if you voice why this is important to you then I guarantee they will be on board, which could be exactly what you need.  Don’t brush it under the rug just yet.. meditate on it and you will come to want it with your heart.

Now I want you to tell me, when have you had something shift from being a brain want to a heart want?

How did that want make that shift?  Leave a comment below.

Your Coach,
Kyra