Messy, Messy, Messy!

November 30, 2015December 19, 2015 | Robynn Coates

12081242_180851542258477_510844692_n One Christmas-time tradition I have is to watch FrOstY ThE SnOwMaN with my kids. I love that movie. Probably because it takes me back to my childhood.

Yep.

Immediately I’m transported back to the frigid South Dakota Christmas season, in front of the television with my family, watching holiday specials with popcorn and grape juice.

In the movie, there is a scene where the magician attempts to do a trick for school kids involving eggs. The trick obviously fails and he ends up with raw eggs on the floor to which he responds:

“Messy, messy, messy!”

Messy, messy, messy. How true is that statement when it comes to life. It is also true in Peace with Food. If you truly want peace, you will have to take on the role of a scientist and experiment. Here are a few things you need to know about this process of experimenting in the pursuit of Peace with Food:

As we just mentioned, it is MeSsY – Things won’t always go as planned. At times you will feel that you are botching things up. It’s par for the course. Just keep moving forward and don’t worry about getting things perfect.
It takes TiMe – We call experimenting a process for a reason. It is not quick and it requires patience.
It is AwKwArD – Experiementing can be really awkward when you first start. But remember, the sooner you get past the awkward stage, the sooner you will gain the wisdom and skill you’re seeking.

So, as you experiment, give yourself grace. With each tiny step forward you are making progress and that’s what life is all about – enjoying the journey on your way to your destination!

Confessions of The Peace Coaches

August 31, 2015August 31, 2015 | Robynn

I have a ConFeSsiOn. You know Popeye’s famous line, “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.” . . . ?

Yep, that pretty much describes me.

A little over a week ago, Lara and I celebrated a big success – we published our book: Peace with Food: Eat What You Want. Never Diet Again. Live a Happy Life. A book that we had been working on for over three years. That was a HuGE win for us.

But the thrill of victory, for me, was short lived because almost immediately after publishing our book I was jolted with this harsh reality: although we had found the key to Peace with Food, I had No PeAcE with My TiMe and my schedule! And I’m a Peace Coach!!

It’s not for a lack of trying. I have tried numerous time-management methods, to no avail.

And not for a lack of accomplishment. I am a consummate tracker of my progress. I journal and I track. Have been doing so for years. And I’ve accumulated a lot of checkmarks.

Give me a graph-paper notebook and it’s like giving a baby candy. For some reason, checking those little boxes is SO very motivating for me to such a degree that I file away those checkoff lists so I can see all the things I have accomplished.

Motivating, yes, but satisfying in the deepest part of the soul, no. In regards to my time and my schedule there is a nagging sense that I am far from my target. That I am MiSsiNg SoMeThiNg. As Bill Hybels would say, a holy discontent.

I want to go from successfully checking off my checkmarks to SiGniFiCaNcE and SouL SaTisFacTion.

So, what now?

The awesome thing, is that in our search for peace with food, Lara and I discovered that the principles we used are transferable to the rest of life!

So, back to the drawing board I go. I’m embarking on a new journey. This time, my focus is to find peace with my time and my schedule and here’s how I intend to do that by using the peace principles Lara and I discovered in finding Peace with Food:

1.) Know myself – I have been doing a lot of ReFleCtiNg and soul searching. The first half of this post describes my discoveries to date. I will continue to reflect and record throughout this journey

2.) Educate myself – I will be spending a lot of time in the next months and possibly even the next few years on this subject. Here is some of what I plan to do:

Read John C. Maxwell’s new book, Intentional Living the moment it comes out this fall! I also plan on doing his 7- Day Experiment and 30-Day Challenge that coincides with the book.
Speak to my MenToRs about how they have found peace with their time and schedule.
Read other books on this subject.
Of course, I can’t leave out the GoD FacToR. This will actually be my first go-to. I’ll use what I call the PR36 Principle: (Proverbs 3:6)

3.) Experiment – I will continually be experimenting with the input and insight I get from mentors and the books I read to see what works best for me. I’ll also be trying some different systems such as Stephen Covey’s.

That being said, the most important thing is this: I don’t just want a new system, a new plan, or the latest and greatest technique that promises me that I will be able to get more done in less time.

No, I want something on the InSiDe Of Me To ChAnGe, specifically the way I look at my time, knowing that this life is very short and each moment that passes is one that will never come my way again.

Stay tuned. . . I’m a WoRk In ProGrEsS and I will continue to update you on my journey. 🙂

Do you have peace with your time and schedule? If so, please share!

Living the Dream

August 19, 2015 | Robynn

People talk about LiViNg tHe DrEaM. Of course, Living the Dream means different things for different people. What does it mean to you? What would your life look like if you were Living the Dream? What is standing in the way of that image becoming your reality?

Living the Dream for me is living a life of FrEeDoM aNd PeAcE. This is a BiG dEaL for me because these qualities were so elusive for much of my life. And now that I have them, my passion is to help others experience them as well.

For much of my adult life I struggled with overeating. I lived in the ReLeNtLeSs PuRsUiT of finding peace and freedom with eating, but my efforts always seemed in vain. Four or five years ago I was so frustrated that I determined I would find peace and freedom with food if it were the last thing I did.

Lara joined me in the PeAcE WiTh FoOd journey and we contracted with ourselves and each other that we would never diet again. I even wrote out a contract and signed it. My dieting days were over.

Our approach was simple. We would become scientists, determining what worked and what didn’t. Nothing was off limits. Our only criteria was that we would FoLLoW PeAcE.

In the course of what I call my SeVeN yEaR ExPeriMenT I lost probably close to 20 pounds seven different times. That’s a total of 140 pounds!! If I tabulated how much weight I have lost and then regained, in the course of my life, I think it is quite possible that number would be in the thousands. No joke.

I have always been able to lose the weight. That’s not the issue. Hey, you can loose weight a million-and-one ways (check out the Twinkie Diet!) if you limit your calories. But rather, my focus was on what would keep me in the game. What could I do for life? I was intrigued with experimenting with as many plans as possible. I wanted to know what worked and what didn’t. Any eating strategy that didn’t offer a LiFeTiMe SaTisFacTion guarantee was a deal-breaker for me.

Today, Lara and I are experiencing freedom and peace. We are Living the Dream. And we want to share with you how you too can have freedom and peace with food. (And with life for that matter!)

On August 22nd our book, Peace with Food: Eat What You Want. Never Diet Again. Live a Happy Life. – which has been over three years in the making – is being released!

To say we are excited is an understatement.

During the pre-launch stage we shared our book with dozens of people and our hypothesis was correct: Peace with Food was life-changing. Turns out it had the same impact on others that it had on us.

Peace with Food has changed our lives. It is changing others’ lives. And it CaN cHaNge YoUr Life too!

Do you have Peace with Food? Are you Living the Dream?

If not, won’t you come take the journey with us?

You can have P E A C E.

You can be F R E E.

And you can live your BeSt LiFe EvEr!

Habits

December 19, 2014January 10, 2015 | Robynn Coates

So, we’ve spent the past three-plus years pursuing Peace with Food like mad scientists. If you had been in our laboratory it would have looked a lot like this:

Experiment – Fail – Adjust – Experiment – Fail – Adjust

But experimenting wasn’t the only thing we did. We studied the lives of successful people and how they overcame their obstacles. And one of the things that we observed was that they were all masters at creating habits that would serve their best interests. As we contemplated their lives, we realized that where we are today is the result of the daily choices we’ve made over the long haul. To bring about a new and better habit in place of a bad habit, we simply needed to begin practicing the new behavior we desired on a daily basis.

This reminds us of a piece of advice a Financial Planner gave to a bride and groom we know:

Invest a little over a long period of time.

There you have it. The secret to creating a new habit which results in developing a skill. But where should we begin?

Truth be told, most of us probably have numerous habits that aren’t serving our best interest, but we also have a limited amount of time and energy so it is important to choose wisely. One question we like to ask our selves is, “What one habit, if I had it, would bring about the biggest change in my life.” Put another way, “What one habit would give me a quantum leap in my life?”

That’s where we would begin. However, if tackling that habit is too overwhelming, you may want to take a different approach and build your confidence by focusing on developing a smaller and easier habit that will help get a success under your belt. Then you can move on to the more challenging habit.

Regardless what habit you choose, just begin. Time is ticking. At the end of the day, will you have invested a little towards that new habit? We hope so. 🙂

Take-Home Message:

Invest a little bit daily over a long period of time.

Why Diets Don’t Work: Reason #7 and #8

December 5, 2014January 10, 2015 | Robynn Coates

Reason #7: Diets Are Not Transferable to the Rest of Your Life

Reason #8: Diets Focus on the Distant Future

Guess what? When we started having peace with food we quickly realized something: Other areas of our life were improving as well! It was crazy—not only were we experiencing peace with food but, without realizing it, we began applying the same principles to other areas of our life. Before we knew it, we could see the quality of our relationships and experiences increasing. Life, overall, just kept getting better and better!

We have to admit, realizing that our Peace with Food concept was spilling over into other areas of our life took us by complete surprise. When we decided to kick diets to the curb a few years ago, we really had no idea what direction we were headed. We just knew the outcome we wanted: to be able to live in peace and no longer let someone (or something) take control of our lives.

So how did we get there? We experimented. With every day, we tried, and tweaked, and tried again—committed to find a way to break free of the leash that had us by the ankles for years. Every time we felt restricted or uneasy, we dissected the situation to see how we could make changes to have more peace. This process became so normal that we naturally did it in all areas of our life. Day by day we continued to adjust and make changes, and with every step we began to feel more liberated.

This brings us to another cool thing about Peace with Food. From the moment you decide to embrace its lifestyle, you instantly feel your internal peace-gauge go up simply by saying good-bye to that old restricted way of life. Diets, on the other hand, instantly force you to give up savored aspects of life because their rules don’t accommodate them. They focus on giving you happiness in the distant future—whenever it is that you actually reach your goal weight. Sadly, most of us never even get there, so we never get to relish in that state of happiness.

Gladly, you don’t have to worry about that any more. Peace with Food can set you free the second you decide to allow it. Better yet, your entire life will improve because of it. All you have to do is take the first step and we’ll help guide you the rest of the way. More to come…