I have been feeling particularly de-motivated about exercising for quite some time. The funny thing is that I used to really like to exercise. I have these exercise videos/dvds which are a bit boring, but nothing onerous, and given my schedule and preferences would be an ideal way for me to work out. Lately, I just have not been doing them…I have also tried many other places and types of exercise but have not seemed to get going for far too long of a time.

The other day I managed to get myself in front of the video and caught myself in a really negative groove. First of all my mind was telling myself how much I didn’t want to do this, but that if I just crunched my spirit down, it would be over soon. Then my mind spent time inwardly criticizing the relentless perkiness of the instructor. Most of the time of the actual exercise was spent wishing it would be over and trying to picture myself as fit again, which just highlighted the gap between now and my former athleticism and made me feel bad.

Well, if that’s a sample of what my mind has been doing all this time no wonder I haven’t been exercising!

Having noticed this, I decided that the next day I would try something different. During the next 24 hours, if I caught myself thinking about exercise, I told myself how much I was looking forward to it and used my NLP skills to create an association between an anticipatory state and the exercise time. Then while I was exercising I forced myself to smile and instead of criticizing the instructor tried to be just as perky as she is, and ended up cracking myself up – thus pairing exercise with laughter! If I found my mind drifting to a future athleticism which was paired with all the times I’d failed to get back in shape, I tried focusing instead on how good it felt to move my muscles right now. Just gently bringing my thoughts back to enjoyment of the present.

Well after doing this for just a few days I can’t wait to exercise. Really.

What makes one person, given the same set of circumstances or hearing the same information, react in a productive way while another person (or the same person at a different time) spins into a negative counter-productive spiral?

The answer seems to lie within. Our brains create associations with words and with feelings and with states that can spark off a chain reaction. One “negative” (currently undesired) thought produces body chemistry that we may have associated with more “negative” thoughts. We create meaning from this chain reaction, and that meaning can be dependent on past decisions and experiences. What may have been life saving for a child, may be irrelevant or not so useful for an adult.

When we are feeling de-motivated it’s useful to create new associations and this can be done through changework sessions which explore and reframe deep patterning creating new meanings and new paired states. Or sometimes, as in my exercise example, simple, conscious mindfulness of being present with our bodies can change our body chemistry and therefore our mindset. Which method to chose really depends on the situation, the availability of resources, and whether it’s a simple environmental change that’s needed or whether it’s leading to a major identity change.