"We can allow things to shift and change and work for us on automatic, but it does take some conscious intention to make those changes. We can go from having an automatic, unproductive, unhelpful, or even destructive habit to changing the propensity or paving a new pathway that is more comfortable, health-promoting, and useful to us." - Dr. Tonia Winchester

How often do we pause and check in to see if things are working, and importantly if things are working for us?

I share more about this in this Episode of the Wonder with Me Podcast, where you’ll discover how you can assess the results you currently have and reverse engineer what you need to change to get different results.

You’ll also learn what happens inside your nervous system when you observe the world around you and what that means for your behaviors and results!

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute a therapeutic relationship and is not in any way, shape, or form designed or intended  to be therapeutic, clinical, or medical advice.

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If you'd prefer to read an approximate transcript scroll to the bottom of this post.

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LINKS/ SHOW NOTES: 

FROM DR. TONIA

POST: The Surprising Lesson I Learned From a Public Washroom

Episode 52 - Tenacity and Rest and Your Goals

Episode 37 - What’s Going On?

Episode 47 - Turning Thinking into Doing

Episode 40 - What If That One Problematic Thing Was Just Gone?

Episode 44 - Choosing Sustainability Over Discomfort

Dr. Tonia Blog Archives

FREE AUDIO: LISTENERS

WORK TOGETHER

SHIFT session

LIFT session

3 month Breakthrough

FROM OTHERS: 

BOOK: The Metabolism Plan by Lyn-Genet Recitas

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🧠💗💫Thanks for wondering with me today. If you got something good out of this then please forward this episode to people who you know could benefit.

Be sure to subscribe, and if you're really keen when you leave us a rating and review, that helps us help more people.

🙏Thank you in advance for that. If you're wanting more insights about how you can leverage the power of your unconscious mind to go back into healing mode head on over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠toniawinchester.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ where you can find my books: Break Through The Insomnia Cycle and Thinking Kindly and other helpful ideas.

👏Thanks again and we'll connect on the next episode of the Wonder With Me.

In the meantime may you choose to make all your dreams come true.

🧠💗💫 Dr. Tonia Winchester, ND, NLP

Naturopathic DoctorMind-Body Healing Coach

Author: ⁠Break Through The Insomnia Cycle⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Author: ⁠⁠Thinking Kindly⁠

⁠⁠⁠

➕For more post and podcasts head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠coach.toniawinchster.com/posts⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🙋‍♀️What to get in touch? Leave me a voice message right here on Spotify. I love hearing from listeners!

🎵INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC: West My Friend   

APPROXIMATE TRANSCRIPT

This is a retro-sode, which is when I revisit old blog articles from yesteryear and check in about their relevance to see how far we’ve come and also get some good entertainment. And this one does not disappoint! 

I didn’t remember what that lesson was so I read it and interjected current Tonia's thoughts about past Tonia's thoughts. It was good fun revisiting this one. 

The Subtitle was “Is It Working? This blog post was published in the summer of 2013. The title on my original website is called, “The Surprising Lesson I Learned from a Public Washroom.” 

The gist of the story is that on a ferry ride I had an interesting experience in a washroom stall. They had just put in automatically flushing toilets and here’s what happened. When I came into the stall it flushed. When I sat down it flushed again. When I leaned to rip the toilet paper it flushed again. But when it came time to flush when I was actually complete? Nothing. I ended up having to push the flush button on the wall. 

This whole thing begged the question: is what they’re trying to do working in the way they want it to work? It didn’t seem that way. 

Our habits are automatic. Yep the good and the bad ones are happening unconsciously and automatically without us having to think about it. Just because it's automatic doesn't mean it's effective. 

If you’re really wanting change in your health and life, you have to stop and ask yourself these questions

1. Is it working? And 

2. Is it working for you?

Because if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting. And you wouldn't be here if you were happy with what you're getting, am I right?

Picture the start of your day. It probably looks something like this: 

• Wake up

• Going immediately to the washroom

• Promptly make your coffee
  

Because your patterns have been ingrained every day for many decades those neural pathways are strong and well paved. Know this though. Those habits are learned. They were created and practiced over time. 

Here’s the good news. Anything learned can be unlearned. 

The first thing you have to do is notice. In what areas of your life are you not getting the things you want? Now we simply reverse engineer. 

Being honest with yourself, what behaviors are generating the result that you don't want? 

Then you can think through the rest of the steps in reverse order. 

What do you feel just before that behavior? 

What thought do you think just before that feeling? 

I’m referring to the NLP Model of Communication here. 

We take information in through our senses and due to the sheer volume of bits per second our nervous system filters all that info via three processes. 

It deletes, distorts and generalizes the information. 

Distortion is just making stuff up. Generalization is when we bring forward old information to our current reality. For example, every time I pick up a pen, I know what it is, and how to use it, even though it might be a different color or shape.

The filters are based on our belief systems, our values, our personality. Our filters create interpretations and thoughts, which lead to changes in feelings and our physiology. These changes drive our behavior and hence our results, because what’s actually showing up (or not) is a result of the ACTIONS we’re taking (or not). 

To properly affect a positive change, we might need to explore all levels of this chain or maybe start from the top down. Reverse engineering the model gets us back to our thoughts, and filters. Now, this is where it gets a little bit tangled because it's often hard to identify our filters and blind spots for ourselves. That’s where a mind-body-healing coach like me can come in and shed some light. 

The changes to take in your behavior to get different results will be unique to you. What works for one person isn't going to work for everyone. That's relevant with everything from eating, to movement, to hydration. 

Take the latter. Our hydration needs are dependent on things like our body weight, activity levels, and amount of caffeine and alcohol we’re consuming. 

Food is another great example of these individual differences. For example, my body loves eating salmon. I know this because my body will release weight when I eat salmon, an indicator that my body is releasing inflammation.

Conversely, 85% of people will actually gain weight, a marker of inflammation, when they eat salmon. I'm in the 15% of people who can eat it and release weight. 

(This is based on the testing process described in the Metabolism Plan, my favourite food-as-medicine eating program). 

Here’s another personal nuance: chickpeas, which only 5% of people will react to with inflammation, aka weight gain. I am one of those people in that 5%. One tablespoon of hummus and  my body gains three pounds, reliably.

I used to go to the potlucks and eat all the hummus because I didn't want to eat all the cheese and my body would just be wrenched with gut pains, bloating, gas, and then this weight gain. 

Interestingly, when I do have a minimal amount of cheese, I'm actually okay. And I do mean minimal. Cheese conversation, different podcast. Probably not… but anyways… 

Back to our questions: 

1. Is it working? And 

2. Is it working for you?

And if not…

What are you going to do differently about it? 

Who are you going to be that is going to behave differently so that you can have a different result? 

It likely comes down to this identity piece. 

Who are you being? 

What are you doing? 

And what does that allow you to have? 

As we bring this to a close, remember to pause and ask yourself 

Is it working? 

Is it working for you? 

Remember, just because it's working for someone else doesn't mean it's working for you. 

What is your path forward? 

What is right for you? 

What's left for you? 

What's backing you up? 

What's supporting you? 

What do you have an understanding of? 

This is all going to be unique to you.

While it does take conscious attention, asking yourself these types of questions will allow you to go from having automatic, unproductive, unhelpful, or even destructive habits to ones that are more comfortable, health-promoting, and useful. I help my mind-body healing clients do exactly this! 

If you are moving through life or health and wondering why you seem to be stuck in the same old patterns, there's probably something that's been automated. Good news! We can de-automate and automate something else so that the system is working more effectively, more efficiently. If you need help with any of that, reach out. 

The LIFT sessions (2 hours) use the same techniques as a BREAKTHROUGH (3 months) and both focus on using gentle, mind-body healing techniques to release the painful imprints of the past (old, negative, unresolved emotions or traumatic events) that are keeping us locked in these unhelpful patterns. 

The SHIFT sessions (75 minutes) are helpful to create new behaviors, and build more resourcefulness so you have more choice in situations where you feel stuck. 

Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for being here. Thank you for getting curious about your health, your life, your well-being, and I will catch you next time in the next episode of the Wonder With Me podcast, and in the meantime, may you choose to make all of your dreams come true.