Jul 10

Jul 10 My Daily Supportive Habits: As Useful As A….Toothbrush?!

Hi, I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. While I was brushing my teeth last week, I thought:

I need my toothbrush to maintain good oral hygiene. My toothbrush is a necessary tool, and brushing my teeth is an essential practice that maintains my teeth health.

I am clear on the cause and effect: daily brushing equals healthy teeth.

When I pause and think about this useful tool, my toothbrush, I’m grateful for it, but most of the time, I give it no thought.

I merely brush.

More importantly,

I don’t resent the need to brush.

I don’t envy people who don’t brush.

I don’t think: why do I still need to use a toothbrush to keep my teeth clean? I should be able to keep my teeth clean on my own!

That sounds ridiculous, right?

What I’m offering today is the opportunity to explore your health and wellness goals and look at the tools you use daily that keep you either maintaining and/or continuing to improve with your health. Then discover how you regard those tools by putting on your “toothbrush glasses."

Meaning: Are they useful and non-negotiable tools that, while you may not register conscious gratitude for them, you at least, regard them neutrally? Or do you fight against them? Do you wish you did not need them? Do you envy others who do not use them?

An example for me is my nightly checklist: I use it daily. I don’t think twice about reaching for it, and I know I’d get itchy or uncomfortable if I didn’t use it. Like I would feel if I went to bed without brushing my teeth. Most of the time, I do not think about it, and when I do, I’m clear that it is an integral tool in maintaining my daily habits. I do not fight it. I do not begrudge it.

My nightly checklist quietly exists in my life, supporting me just like my toothbrush.

I’m not proposing anything wildly novel or profound. We would all agree that the more we accept the support we need to achieve, the outcome we want the more success we will have.

Pretty simple cause and effect. More support usually leads to more success.

What I’m suggesting, though, is that we get to choose how gracefully and easefully we reach success by watching the thought processes we go through in accepting the support we need.

Often, we get in our way with thoughts about how we shouldn’t need this support, other people don't have to do this, and why can't I do this on my own? This argument is as counterproductive or ridiculous (but very human) as lamenting about why you can’t achieve oral hygiene without a toothbrush!

The more we can easefully and neutrally accept the need for support, the more we can achieve our goals with a peaceful mind. With less struggle and more acceptance.

On good days, I tap into gratitude for that support, but I usually feel neutral about it or don’t even think about it. However, I aim to never begrudge or envy others for not needing the same amount or different kinds of support.

OK, so, now it’s your turn:

Using your “toothbrush glasses," look at the tools you use to maintain your gains and/or improve your health and wellness. And ask yourself:

Which of these are essential to maintain my health and wellness?

Look at how you regard these tools. Are you grateful for them or at least feel neutral about their importance in your life? As indifferent as your need to brush your teeth.

Or,

Is there some resentment that you need them?

Do you envy others who seemingly breeze through life without using these tools?

And then please share in the comments below or contact me through my website at lizmosercoaching.com

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this blog and allowing me to share my thoughts this week on the process of surrendering to the support we need to get from point A to point B. I am looking forward to reading your comments about what it was like to look at the tools you use to stay healthy and well through your “toothbrush glasses.”