You're just not motivated to work out

Research is tying the relationship between mind and body ever more tightly. We aren't fully aware of the impact of, say, an outburst of anger. But the relationship is something we must embrace rather than fear because the positive potential is enormous. Our minds can help us to be more in tune with our bodies and our bodies can help us to be more positive, to be fully engaged and to reap more pleasure from our lives. Once you create a goal, consistently striving toward it every day, one step at a time, is what's going to earn you grit. If you're an artist or want to be, that looks like creating something, even if it's small, every single day without failing. If you're an athlete, it looks like showing up early to practice every single time, completely focused and ready to go, and never missing a workout. If you're a nurse, it looks like showing up for your patients, even when you're tired, in any form they need you to be. The great news about mental toughness is this: you can have it. That voice in your head, that's been telling you someone else deserves your dreams because they're just more talented or have better skills than you, is wrong. Talent and genetics can be completely overrun by one person who has the drive and the willpower to focus hard on getting where they want to be. Anyone can achieve mental toughness. That anyone includes you. Being mentally tough means, you'll be better prepared for change. They are painful because they keep reminding you to get on with your plans. They are also painful when you fall behind schedule. But they are exciting, too, because you see the magic of dreams and plans turning into reality. This is immensely rewarding. The feeling you get is not unlike that of a great artist surveying a completed canvas. It's the incredible feeling of being in charge.

A well-fashioned day, with a beginning and an end, a purpose and a content, a color and a character, a feel and a texture -- this well-fashioned day takes its place among the many and becomes a valuable memory and treasure. And as one well-fashioned day turns into another, a life emerges that is a masterpiece, an equity of experience and spirit. For as someone once said, At midnight the winged messengers come and gather up all these pieces and take them off to wherever the mosaic is kept. And surely, on occasion, one messenger says to another, Wait 'til you see this one. Suck it up and deal, Michael. As usual, Michael gave in to her iron will. Fine, we'll go in your death machine. I'll drink enough tequila that I can't see the Grim Reaper coming for me when I die. Patty went back to work two weeks after Michael's death. She was emotionally flat, unable to think well enough to construct lesson plans, and prone to breaking down in class then bolting from the room, leaving the students unattended. Still, trudging through work was preferable to being alone in their house. When she had a good day--which meant she'd made it through without breaking down even once, at least not in front of the students--she could almost forget that her husband was dead, and that she had killed him with that goddamned car. Once a social butterfly, Patty stopped eating lunch in the teachers' lounge with her friends. The heavy cloud of grief darkened every aspect of her life. CPAP, short for continuous positive airway pressure, is the leading treatment for obstructive sleep apnea in adults. For people that use it, it feels like nothing short of a miracle. Here's how it works. You wear a soft, customized mask at night that fits over your nose and/or mouth. The mask is connected to a machine at your bedside that detects when you're breathing. The machine delivers a boost of air when you inhale and keeps your airways open when you exhale.

The extra support makes it much easier to breathe at night. With a properly-functioning CPAP device, you won't struggle for air. You'll breathe comfortably without all the nighttime awakenings and sleep disturbances. Once you're used to the CPAP machine, your snoring will disappear. Many of the animals will gang up on one member of the pack who is acting strangely or off-kilter and will bully them out of the group, letting them fend for themselves, or go off and find another pack. Group mentality is a very powerful energy and can be felt in a variety of ways. Many people don't seem to notice these group dynamics, but an empath can walk into a room and almost immediately sniff it out. People, in general, can be a subject of sensitivity for the empath, even in one-on-one situations. You could be having a conversation with someone who you just met who is interested in renting the other room in your house. You could be enjoying the conversation, but after a while, you notice that you are feeling especially drained and tired, after just 20 minutes of meeting this person. You can begin to notice how loud they are talking all of the time and how strong and intense their energy is. You may even be able to read under the surface and be able to tell that they are not entirely honest with you, and you are able to pick up on that. When you are sitting across from someone and sharing a conversation, you are also sharing energy. Most people don't actually feel that energy, unless they have trained themselves to pay attention to it, but an empath is always receiving it and will be able to honestly sense how someone is feeling and really notice their hidden feelings, even without clearly noticing that that is what they are doing. By this point in the article, you have already employed your imagination in a wide range of exercises. Sometimes, when we're running the course, we have someone who is worried when they hear that imagination is used throughout because they don't see themselves as creative. A handful of people have even told us `but I have no imagination'. As you have become familiar with the way the mind works, you may have noted that, for most people, our imagination actually plays a huge part in the negative emotions that can dominate our lives. It is what we do as we self-talk, when we perceive a danger that may not be there. It is what we do when we perceive ourselves as weak, incompetent, overweight.

Our brain is showing us an image of this negative version of us. Mind Fitness uses the imagination to undertake the same process but in reverse - to visualise a competent and successful you and then guide your brain to make this your new neural pathway. We have long known the importance of the imagination in driving invention and social change. Even Napoleon said, `Imagination rules the world. It means you'll be more positive under pressure, more productive during the workday, and harness more emotional stability. It means you'll grow into the part of yourself that believes your happiness has nothing to do with your external world and everything to do with your internal world. Being mentally tough means, you'll focus on your goals and dreams instead of just reacting to life as it comes. You'll be more patient with the outcomes because you can see clearly how you're getting there, and you'll experience a more relaxed, content countenance. All of this can be yours. Are you ready to begin? Training Yourself to be Mentally Tough You have to be able to picture it clearly in your mind. The first step is to make a clear, attainable goal. Define what being mentally tough looks like in context for you. One of the major influences shaping the person you want to be is also one of the least understood. It is your association with others -- the people you allow into your life. Have you ever thought about how others shape your life? The thought didn't even occur to me until Mr Shoaff said, Jim, never underestimate the power of influence. Of course he was right. The influence of those around us is so powerful, so subtle, so gradual that often we don't even realize how it can affect us.

Think about it. If you're around people who spend all their income, chances are excellent that you will become a spendthrift. If you're around people who go to more wrestling games than concerts, you're likely to join in with them. Such is the power of peer pressure. As a mentor, department head, and outspoken (of course) leader, Patty found much satisfaction in being an educator. But since returning to work and discovering herself to be a fundamentally broken person, she discovered a new normal that included increasingly terse emailed reminders from her principal about missing lesson plans and unreturned parent phone calls. Seven months after his death, Patty could not get the image of Michael's bloodied face out of her mind. She avoided sleep out of fear of the recurring nightmare in which she is thrown from the car and finds Michael's severed head in a ditch. She no longer attended Kyle's sporting events because she believed all the other parents were talking about Michael's death and her role in it. In addition to being lonely and isolated, she became increasingly angry that Jordan and Kyle seemed to have bounced back and gone on living: Jordan followed his job out of state, and Kyle was excited to be leaving soon for a university hundreds of miles away. Patty felt abandoned by her children. She didn't want to live by herself. The school year concluded the following week. After her students departed on the last day, Patty locked her classroom door and turned to leave. Finally, your partner will be able to sleep in the same room as you. Since you'll enjoy the benefits of quality sleep, you'll feel more refreshed in the morning. You'll have more energy, vitality, and focus. Your memory will improve and so will your mood. Note: there's more information about the importance of sleep on mood and depression in the depression piece of writing 6. With CPAP, you'll feel better and experience a higher quality of life.