The following message was sent at the end of the last 21-day detox, see updates in red...
Hello,
Congratulations to you for signing up for this detox challenge! Congratulations for completing it and for hanging in there. And congratulations for giving it your best shot even if you did not complete it at the level you intended. If you did not, there is always ‘doing it again!’ 🙂 We get as many chances as we take in life.
I am so thrilled to have taken on this detox challenge! It was unbelievably good for me – spiritually, mentally and physically. I didn’t achieve all the specific goals I hoped to achieve at the beginning but the ones I did achieve were exactly the ones I needed the most – like working out five times per week – instead of the two times I was averaging; getting and giving hugs DAILY; speaking affirmations out loud; no toxic foods and more fruits and vegetables; daily stillness and increased meditation…these are some the challenges I did at my highest and best. What a blessing! I am more healthy, more productive and far more focused on my vision of service as ever before. With the exception of 5x per week work-outs, these areas continued to be “easy” for me. I injured myself so my work-outs had to be reduced. Also, as the detox fell right in the holiday season, the daily meditations were VERY challenging but I gave it a shot each day.
The ones that gave me the toughest time were speaking only uplifting messages, remembering to listen to uplifting music daily and that one day of silence! WHEW!! This time around I I did the music daily – being the holiday season I found it easier this time. Speaking only uplifting messages continued to be a challenge BUT I rose to it and caught my tone being off or my inner dialogue going off track. The one day of silence…still a challenge to complete. I will be giving that another shot very soon.
For the first week I was so good…then I started slipping up and never quite got it back to the level of the first week, with those particular challenges. It was NOT EASY! But hey, I kept trying and refused to give up. I slipped up less this time and never gave up. That alone makes this attempt a success.
I intend to do the detox again – probably December 1st to December 21st… and will probably do an event here on Facebook. DONE! 🙂
Several of the challenges were easier for me as I’ve done previous work in these areas – forgiving daily, accountability, drinking water; proper diet, acts of kindness, expressing emotions, reading daily- spiritual and intellectual, saying thank-you…while these were easier than others for me, the fact of doing all of them together created another level of challenge. It also increased the benefits too though, so it was all good. The experience and prior work in those areas were a great help which highlights a truth we often ignore; the best way to get better at something is to practice it! This was true again…with a little difference. I found I drank less water than before…perhaps because I got a littel too comfortable that it was easy for me so I didn’t go out of my way to have water with me at all times. That’s being remedied as we speak.
How about you…how did you do with the challenges?
Self-reflection – honest and brave self-reflection is your only path to real insight and personal power.
To be sure you get the best value for your time spent with this challenge, taking a look back and gathering the lessons is essential. When you devote 21 days of your life to something – anything, it should add value by producing a lesson/insight or two. Don’t you think?
This wrap-up is prepared with the hope of assisting you as you ‘gather the lessons.’
There is a 3-step approach to success I always employ. It’s called PAL.
PAL is Planning, Action and Learning. Anything taken on in life must have these 3 components/steps if success is the goal.
We must plan and prepare for what we are deciding to do, then taking action is imperative – there is simply no success without it; finally, if along the way and after every important thing we do we don’t take time to ‘gather the lessons’ and reflect on what we have learned, then the experience cannot be leveraged and applied to future activities.
PAL was applied in this program in the following way:
PLAN: We had several exercises in the pre- work of this program to prepare you for what was coming.
Then we had the ACTION portion of this challenge – for 21 days you were challenged to take (and not take) certain actions… Whatever you did, whether on-task or not during these 21 days was your ACTIVITY with regard to this 21-day program.
Now – after the program has ended is the LEARN portion of our program.
I know you learned along the way but for the next day or two I’d like you to bring it all together so as to ensure you walk away with the highest value for your invested time and effort.
The challenges were designed to clear (to at least help in this regard) our spirit, mind and body of toxic matter.
Taking them on indicated your desire to be free of toxicity – in the spiritual, mental and physical realms of your life. So generally speaking, it’s fair to assume that in addition to any particular goals you might have had for the program, in general we all wanted to reduce our level of toxicity.
A broad stroke approach then would be to answer…Did you achieve that main goal? Treat this question seriously and write your response in your book.
To assess that general question I suggest you print and complete another assessment form and compare it to your first (pre-program) version.
As you answer each question – be fair, be kind and be honest. Compare both assessments and review the differences.
If you have even just one area of improvement, based on this instrument of assessment you have reduced your toxicity in that particular area and hence your overall level of toxicity is reduced.
For example, a participant was in touch with me the first day of the detox very upset about some things that took place the evening before. She had decided to do the detox in its entirety at another time but she wanted to do one challenge as a symbol of her commitment. She took on drinking more water. Very simple right? For her it was a major challenge. Anyway, she kept her word and drank 50% more water every day for the 21 days. She reported several times that her energy level was higher, her skin was smoother and she was overall, less “anxious.” From just one challenge she was able to reduce her level of toxic waste in her body (much more frequent and clearer urination) and her thoughts improved as well. As a result of the increased sense of well-being she actually found herself doing several of the other challenges “just because.”
So as you assess your activity during this period, give your self credit for the smallest of effort and improvement. Even if only in one area, a reduction in toxicity is important and tends to have a ripple effect.
For more specific insights and lessons learned, I suggest you take out your book and spend some time with the following questions and answers as you ask yourself:
1. Which challenges were the easiest? These should correspond with those strengths you identified on the assessment form. Which challenges became easier the second time around?
2. Which were the most challenging? Likewise, these would correspond with those areas where you had the lowest scores. Was it (were they)easier the last time though?
3. What were my main distractions – those from outside and those from me? How are you handling distractions now — what is your stated strategy?
4. How did I manage distractions? Was it effective? If so, what made my response to distractions effective, or not? Were there less distractions this time — how so? Why do you think that is?
5. How could I adjust my response to make it even more effective? a good question to always ask…
6. What was my main source of strength when I was tempted to stop the challenge? Were there new sources of strength this time? What were they?
7. If you did stop…. Am I at peace with that decision? If not, what can I do today to completely accept, forgive myself and move on?
8. Did I make a decision to stop or did I just trail off from doing the activities? If I trailed off…is this typical of how I end things? Why do I think that is the case? How can I improve that area and complete more of what I start? What improvements were made in this area?
9. What did I learn during this 21 days? My top five insights are _______________.
10. Which challenge did I not even attempt? Why is that? Is it the same one as before? What changes do you need to make in order to attempt that (those) challenge(s).
11. Of the 21 challenges, which ones do I believe are the most important for me to focus on right now in my life? [ Be sure to choose areas where improvement is required – don’t choose those challenges you have mastered even if you believe they are priorities] Moving into 2011 – which challenges will help you to grow the most?
12. Moving forward, select your top 3, 5, 10 {or all} and commit to them for 21 days. Start whenever you decide. Follow the guidelines – accountability, organization, commitment, writing, imagining, etc and you will have continued breakthroughs! Guaranteed. Team up with an accountability partner and commit fully to your highest and best self. Bless the world with your best!
Answer these questions honestly and completely. Write and review your answers. Discuss with someone you trust and respect. Then, create a plan of action based on your insights and lessons learned. If you take consistent action based on your plan, you will be richly rewarded with your best possible life. So true.
I wish you all that is good and wonderful – and keep in touch! The relationships formed during these programs are so rich and enduring. Thank you for staying in touch and keeping me updated – what a joy it is to hear about your accomplishments – and how you are meeting the challenges.
Thank you for the joy of getting better with you. 🙂 Now let’s put our best self to work and help someone else.
Wishing you Peace, Light & Love,
♥~
P.S. All program messages and updates for the 21-Day Detox Challenge are here ►Habits That Help Blog – this series began on December 8th, pre-work began on December 1st.