Asset : a useful or valuable thing or person.

Liability : a person or thing whose presence or behaviour is likely to put one at a disadvantage.

QUESTION

 

What are your two greatest assets in life, but for most people, they are their biggest liabilities?

 

[HINT : It’s not your house or your car or any other possession.]

 

You were born with two assets.

 

These two things are your greatest assets in life. 

 

They are:

 

Your body.

 

And.

 

Your mind. 

 

• Your body and mind are assets when they enable you to do the things you want and love to do.
• Your body and mind are assets when you use them to thrive through daily demands, stress, challenges, obstacles, problems and more.
• Your body and mind are assets when they are directed towards your highest purpose, using them to get things done and work on meaningful stuff you care about. 

 

For many, or even most people, their body and mind are not assets, they are liabilities.

 

• Their body and mind are liabilities when they prevent them from doing the things they want and love to do. 
• Their body and mind are liabilities when they only have the capacity for them to just or barely survive through daily demands, stress, challenges, and problems.
• Their body and mind are liabilities when they are wayward and unruly, pushed and pulled by an endless barrage of distractions and temptations. 

 

Given that you’re here reading this, I presume you’re someone who realises, at least to some degree, the importance of your body and mind. And what looking after these valuable assets means in your life.

 

But still, in relation to their importance, how much time and attention do we REALLY invest in making these two assets as good as they can be, so they can serve us to live a good life?

 

How many of us wake up in the morning with a body that feels energised and ready to pounce on the day ahead?

 

How often do we wake up with a mind that’s clear, calm, and focused on the most important tasks ahead? 

 

And how many of us think the above is a lofty or impossible goal?

 

Too good to be true! 

 

Really! 

 

Do we think it’s too much to ask to wake up feeling good, eager, and primed to start the day in optimal shape physically and mentally?

 

The point here is to get you pondering these two great assets that we generally don’t spend much time thinking about.

 

Is it possible to live your best life, or even a good life if:

• Your body is stiff and sluggish, or troubled with aches and pains?
• You wake up tired, prop yourself up with caffeine and other goodies to get through the day, and feel worn out and mentally and/or physically spent by early evening?
• Your mind is full of worries, concerns, and kept busy with problems to solve or other people to appease?
• There’s a voice jabbering inside your head all day, left to run on autopilot and say whatever the heck it likes. 
• You’re at the mercy of your emotions, which are free to come and go (or stay as long as they like) completely unchecked, simply responding to whatever's happening around you.  
• Your stress response is triggered by the slightest stimuli, like someone cutting you off in traffic, or frowning at you, or saying something you don’t like, causing a cascade of physical reactions in your body, and your mind chatter to become overactive. 
   

For thousands of years, ancient spiritual teachings, such as yoga, have known the importance of the body and mind, and their teachings have focused on nurturing and honing these two assets to allow us to live our best life while we are here on planet earth. 

 

In more recent years, science has caught up and gotten on board, bringing Eastern teachings like meditation, mindfulness, and gratitude into the lab, testing them, proving their benefits, and presenting them to us in a way that, even the most practical minded of us, can see their merits. 

 

Perhaps it’s time to take a moment to appreciate, even marvel at these incredible tools you were born with, and take the care and attention you give them up a notch or two. 

 

This week I’m asking you to consider the things you think, say, and do and how they are either spending (depleting) or investing (fortifying) your body and mind. 

 

What I love is that when you invest in your body and mind, even the smallest of investments, can pay noticeable and rewarding dividends.

 

Simple things, repeated often, have big payoffs.

 

eg.

 

A nutritious snack.

A glass of water.

An early night.

A brisk walk.

A positive thought.

A long, slow breath.

A moment of gratitude. 

 

I think we intuitively know the things that either deplete or fortify our body and mind. This week I want you to put this knowledge to use and take stock of how you treat your two greatest assets.

 

In what ways do you deplete them so they become liabilities, and how do you fuel them so they become assets?

 

--- EXERCISE ---

 

This week do a recky of your thoughts, words, habits, and actions. 

 

This is like a stock take of where you’re spending and investing. 

 

Make note of : 

• What you say, the language you use, and how you speak in conversations.
• The things you do or don’t do.
• Where you place your energy and attention.
• The thoughts your mind feeds on.
• The emotions you allow to run through your body.

 

Print the worksheet below.

 

At the end of each day, make note of the things from the list above, placing them on either side of the chart : SPENDING / INVESTING. Repeat this for a few days to paint a clear, as unbiased as possible, picture of how you’re treating your mind and body.

 

On the first page of the downloadable PDF below I jotted down some examples to give you an idea. 

 

Finally, reflect on your spending and investing recky and consider small improvements you can make to gain big returns. Simply taking the time to be more conscious of the things you think, say, and do, can help you create small positive changes. 

 

--- LET'S RECAP ---

• Your two greatest assets are your body and mind.
• Consider for a moment the importance of your body and mind in every facet of your life.
• For many people, their body and mind are not their greatest assets, they are their biggest liabilities. 
• How you treat your body and mind; by your thoughts, words, and actions, determines whether you are spending/depleting your asset (making it a liability), or investing/fortifying your asset.
• Take stock of how you are depleting or fortifying your body and mind by recording your daily thoughts, words and actions into two categories - SPENDING & INVESTING.
• Reflect on your spending and investing recky and consider small improvements you can make to gain big returns. 

 

--- THE BENDY BODY CALM MIND COURSE - Coming Soon ---

There’s a secret to living your best life that Yogis have known about for thousands of years. 

 

That secret is a bendy body and a calm mind.

 

That might sound overly simplistic, but if you think about it, it’s impossible to live your best life, or even a good life, if your body is sluggish and stiff, and full of aches and pains.

 

And you can’t possibly be your best if your mind is a mess. 

 

Most people think of Yoga as a physical practice of poses aimed at making your body more supple. This is part of yoga, and you’ll definitely reap those physical benefits in this course, but yoga is so much more. 

 

In a nutshell, yoga is about optimizing your body, and your mind, so you can live your best life. 

 

In this 6 week course -

 

BENDY BODY >

You’ll be able to build your own physical yoga practice, based on your ability, whether you’ve done a little, a lot, or no yoga before, and how much time you have.  Pick and choose from a selection of short (10 min or less) yoga sequences and stretches.

Outcome : Achieve a bendier body - less aches and pains, less feeling sluggish and stiff, more energy, and more able to use your body as the incredible asset it is.

 

Over my many years of teaching yoga, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly people start to experience the benefits of even small doses of a physical yoga practice. I can’t wait to get you started on this!

 

But what I’m most excited about teaching you is the crucial life skill of awareness or meta-cognition.

 

CALM MIND>

Awareness is the ability to step back from your mind and body, so you can create distance between you and your thoughts and emotions, see them for what they really are, and disarm the power they have over you. Learning this skill is simply life-changing - once you get to know your own mind, you’ll never want to let your mind run on autopilot again. 

 

The lessons use meditation and mindfulness techniques to teach you the skill of awareness and bring it into your daily life. 

 

Outcome : Think clearer, feel calmer = happier, get more done, better relationships, more productivity on the things that matter, less overwhelm, and more fulfillment. 

 

The course draws on knowledge from both spirituality and science, in particular ideas from several of my favourite expert teachers, mixed with my own experience from applying their teachings. The result is a blend of my own unique insights, taught in a way that’s easy to navigate and put into action.
 

More about the course and your invitation to join is coming soon!

 

--- NEXT WEEK ON PEPTALK WEEKLY ---

 

On the one hand, the practice of Yoga is about optimising your body and mind so you can use these assets to their full potential to live your best life. 

 

On the other hand, yoga is also about freedom from your body and mind. It’s about practices that allow you to let go so you can experience the natural peace and happiness of your innate being. 

 

Sounding a bit mystical?? I assure you it’s not. There’s some good hard-nosed science behind this too. More about that next week …

 

Until then,

 

Remember to print the worksheet and take stock of your body/mind spending & investing, so you can get started on making the most of your most valuable assets.

Nadine xx