North Star Mental Fitness

Mental Fitness and Childhood

Dad and Mental Fitness may seem like a strange combination.  To me they are intimately connected.  My Dad taught me me a lot about life, love, giving, and success

I was raised after the great depression.  As a child I experienced the victory at the end of World War II.  I recall the rationing of gas, food stamps, and no or limited food in stores.

Above all, I remember what my Dad taught me about life and success.   

Coaching for Momentum

Coach momentum to overcome adversities. Have you ever lost momentum, because of disappointments, self-doubt, unexpected circumstances or defeat? 

Has your team lost momentum following a good play by the other side or a bad play by your team?

Loss of momentum is a normal reaction when things go wrong.  Maintaining momentum when things go wrong is the result of good coaching and mental fitness. How can loss of momentum be turned into success?

Why Did I Gain Weight?

Weight loss deleted:

She has been very successful in losing weight.  She was going to the gym and eating right.

Then she started to gain weight.

What went wrong?

Parental Anxiety

I felt the gut-wrenching anxiety only a parent would know in regard to his or her child. The anxiety you just can't escape.  It's in your body and mind.  You can't sleep.  It is with you all the time.

When parenting and anxiety come together, the age of the child does not matter.  Even when children become adults and self-sufficient, the anxiety does not recede.

Mental Fitness

Mental fitness is the psychological strength to efficiently and successfully manage stresses, problems, adversities, painful emotions, and frustrations in daily living.  Mental fitness is having the strength and freedom to overcome your daily problems and painful emotions.

Mental fitness is a necessary ingredient for successfully reaching your goals and achieving your dreams. Mental fitness can empower your to actualize your potential and elevate your functioning and achievement to higher levels.

Self care is taking care of me!

The motive "I want to take care of me" is the North Star inside of you. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this motive.

For many people the motive sounds selfish. Are you selfish, if you fill your car's gas tank at a self-serve gas station?

No, you are not selfish if you have the money and can fill your gas tank.

Similarly, you are not selfish, if you make decisions to take care of you.

• You are not selfish, when you satisfy your wants and needs.
• You are not selfish, when you have a balanced life.
• You are not selfish, when you successfully accomplish your goals and live your dreams.
• You are not selfish, when you live your values.
• You are not selfish, when you have fun in your life.
• You are not selfish, when you have sensitive and satisfying relationships.

Let the motive, "I want to take care of me," be your North Star. Let the motive "I want to take care of me" ground you and give you a clear, dependable, guiding light for your life.

Remember, You Live in the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

New Year; New Choices and a New Life

Once a year, we celebrate New Year's Day. In reality, the first of the year is no different than any other day of the year. The same laws of the universe apply every day of the year.

What makes New Year's Day special is the deeper meaning. The message of hope generated by making new choices. Choices based upon reflection, honesty, self-awareness and commitment to change. For each one of us, we can have a New Day this year.

We must go beyond resolutions. We can change. We do have hope. We can achieve our dreams. New choices or re-commitment to old choces nurtured with courage, passion and persistency create a New Day and eventually a New Life.

For the wise, New Year's Day symbolizes the reality of finding a New Life this year. Some day during this year. A day when we turn the ordinary and routine in our lives into the pursuit of the spectacular. When we find genuine meaning in life. When we become self-directed and self-sufficient; while remaining connected and empathetic in our relationships.

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day;" which was written by Edith Lovejoy Pierce'

Mary Pickford said "Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it".

Remember, We Will Live the New Year, as Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

60,000 Thoughts a Day

How many thoughts to you have on a daily basis?  According to Possibility Coaches, we have approximately 60,000 thoughts a day.

That is a lot of thoughts.  Out of your 60,000 thoughts yesterday, how many of them were determined by your conscious mind?  Did you purposely choose to change a thought or make a new thought?  Did you question any of your thoughts?  Did you decide that any of your thoughts were wrong or lies? 

Did you consciously began to think differently than in the past, because you want to change your life?  Did you consciously decide to frequently repeat thoughts in order to change the quality of your life including how you feel?

These questions are extremely important for you to consider and answer.  Most of our thoughts are automatic and not consciously created by us.  Unfortunately many of our thoughts are determined by past disappointments, fears, anxieties, painful issues and unsolved problems.  As a result, we frequently have automatic negative thoughts that control our mind and destroy our well-being.  Because we are so gullible to our own thinking, we accept our thinking as true even when it is not.

I urge you to interrupt the repetitive pattern of absorbing the same worn-out thoughts as true.  You do not have to be a prisoner to your own thinking.

If you want freedom, happiness, peace of mind and control of your life, then it is mandatory that you consciously take control of your thinking!

How you think will determine how you feel, act, and relate.  How you think will determine the quality and destiny of your life.  True mental fitness is determined by consciously interrupting the pattern of automatic thinking and consciously thinking thoughts that will provide you with a window of opportunity to be the person you really want to be.

Remember, We Live within the Lives Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Accepting Frustration

Frustrations are inevitable and often times unexpected.  I am in the process of moving my office.  Obviously, there are numerous frustrations associated with this undertaking.  However, I never anticipated the additional frustrations associated with having to change my website.

I now have a new website www.Northstarmentalfitness.com.  I no longer will be blogging at Northstarmentalfitnessblog.com.  Changing my website was not anticipated and has created tremendous frustrations.

Walk Out of Depression and Anxiety

Do you want to avoid psychiatric medications?

If you do, consider walking.

Jasper Smits is a researchers and director of the Anxiety Research and Treatment Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.  Dr. Smits reported the following findings regarding walking. 

“Individuals who exercise report fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression, and lower levels of stress and anger. Exercise appears to affect, like an antidepressant, particular neurotransmitter systems in the brain, and it helps patients with depression re-establish positive behaviors. For patients with anxiety disorders, exercise reduces their fears of fear and related bodily sensations such as a racing heart and rapid breathing.”

Why not begin walking today?  Why not choose to be less anxious and depressed?

Remember, We Live within the Bodies Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach