Kaizen

I am reading “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way”by Robert Maurer, Ph.D.

Kaizen is “small steps for continual improvement.”

I am also learning that the Kaizen Way is a gentle, nonjudgmental way of approaching change.

I was attracted to this little book because I had heard of Kaizen and that it aligned with my own beliefs of taking tiny, little baby steps. I have been preaching this for months and wanted to see what else I could learn about the process.

I was surprised by how the author defined small steps; they were miniscule, almost insignificant.

When trying to help a patient adopt an exercise program she was given the advice ‘march in place in front of the TV for one minute every night.” This step was so small it was easy to implement. Over several months she voluntarily increased her ‘marching time’, then added some other physical activities until exercise eventually became a part of her life.

I decided to take this approach in a few areas of my life I have been facing resistance and lots of failure.

The three areas are all related – exercise, meditation and diet.

I live in my head and have a real disconnect to my body. I want to change this. I want to not only live in my body, but I want to appreciate it and hopefully create a connection so that my mind and my body live and work together in harmony.

One of my favorite blogger’s, Christine Reed, a.k.a “The Bliss Chick” has been writing about this same topic for months and I have been following along anxiously watching her progress.

I emailed her recently and asked her “As someone who has been there and done that, and who is now becoming more comfortable in her body, would you have any suggestions, any baby steps to help me get there, too?”

She took her time in answering me, but what she said was not only profound, but also fit into my new Kaizen way of approaching this issue. She said, “The KEY to this is finding physical movement work that makes you feel joyful. You have to find THE thing that floats your endorphin boat. Otherwise, it just won’t stick. AND it will NOT lead to joy in your body.”

Great advice!! I have taken Christine’s idea and combined it with what I am learning by reading “The Kaizen Way” to come up with my a plan of my own.

So here is a few tiny, tiny first steps in my Kaizen plan of getting out of my head and into my body…

Exercise & Movement the Kaizen Way:

Make a list of physical activities I’d like to try and the ones I used to enjoy.

Re-building my Meditation Practice the Kaizen Way:

Each morning before I even get out of bed take seven 7, slow, deep breaths, concentrating on each inhale and exhale.

Each evening before go to sleep take seven 7, slow, deep breaths, concentrating on each inhale and exhale.


Eliminating Sugar from my Diet the Kaizen Way:

Once per day when I reach for a sugar fix, stop, breath, count to ten, and ask myself, “Do I really want this? Am I hungry for food or something else?” I don’t have to answer right away and I can decide to have the sugar fix or not.

These are tiny, tiny baby steps and may seem insignificant, but, they are a start. We’ll see where they take me.

How about you? How can you apply Kaizen in your own life? Leave a reply. I’m curious.