For anyone who has been reading my writings for any length of time, you know the importance I place on Mindset, and the power of our thinking to influence what we experience in our lives.  I use a solution focussed approach to my work with changing behaviour and habits.

How you think about anything, impacts on what you experience in your world.

The conditions of "being tired" and "being fatigued" falls squarely into this category - the more you think about it, the more tired and fatigued you become.  In fact, if you not even feeling tired at all and are sitting near some one who is yawning and/ or making "I'm tired statements" within no time at all you will be infected with the virus.

Yes, it is like a virus; the fatigue virus.  And you have the power to inoculate yourself against catching the fatigue virus.

How? "How can I possible inoculate myself against being tired?" I hear you ask.

The simple answer: Mindset.  How you think about yourself and how you are feeling, impacts on how you actually feel.

There has been some great research done in this area.  Experiments have been done with people who traditionally come home from work and lay on the coach due to their Fatigue Factor being very high.  These same people were encouraged to take part in even mild movement activities.  The result: they reduced their Fatigue Factor scores.  Further, the score improved exponentially with their level of activity.

What does this mean?  People who were able to engage in an activity that required them getting off the coach and moving about - maybe playing with a child, throwing ball with their dog, going for a walk, or riding a bike, felt much less tired or fatigued.  And in fact, as the amount of activity increased they reported feeling more than just "not tired"; they felt "quite energised". 

Yes, it takes effort to get off the couch and force your self to do some thing active.  A few essential factors contribute to your being able to do this.  This works best if you:

• choose an activity that you want to do
• believe that you will benefit
• really believe that the benefit to doing it will be greater than the benefit of not doing it i.e. getting off the coach and playing ball with your dog will be better for you than staying on the coach
• knowing that it is better for the dog, or some one else, helps even more
• have had previous positive experience of this working for you

Feeling tired can become a habit which will weaken your will to be active, unless you consciously make an effort to break the habit.

You are not meant to be a weak, weary creature; you are meant to be filled with a glorious and dynamic spirit of life.  This is not a "whoo hoo" way of thinking about life.  What I am talking about is the wonderful "some thing" that makes you alive; that spark that governs everything that goes on in your wonderful body; in your magnificent body!!

Make a decision today to have an "I'm alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic" Mindset and watch out for the difference in your life.