New Year's Resolution: Moving My Muscles

At this time of year, many (most?) Americans resolve to have a more active lifestyle. We usually focus on the physical aspects of exercise, such as weight loss, reduced blood pressure, presumed better looks, and so on. But Dr. Low teaches that moving our muscles has another important benefit: reducing our angry and fearful temper.

In this case I'm not talking about moving one's muscles to overcome a fear, such as having the will to board an airplane if you fear flying. I'm talking about the useful benefits of exercise in improving our mental health.

I don't enjoy exercising, though. I had a gym membership once, but I felt very uncomfortable there, intimidated by all of the fit and trim people. Now that I'm in Recovery, I would have taken a different attitude toward that experience, but in general I don't enjoy peddling on a bike for 30 minutes or lifting weights repetitiously. I do enjoy being active, though, whether that is working in the yard or strolling through a park. When I move my muscles I can feel tension, anger, and fear drain away, and I need to practice being more active to improve my mental health.

So my New Year's resolution is to be more active in 2011. To achieve this goal, I hope to take more walks--daily if possible. I'm not going to scold myself if I don't feel I'm doing "enough," as it's average to be enthuisastic about New Year's resolutions but then have that attitude fade over time. But if I lower my standards, my performance will rise, as Dr. Low suggests.

And as I'm walking in the bitter winter cold I can endorse myself all the way for making my mental health a business.

Muscle power

When I first entered Recovery, the concept of "moving the muscles" seemed foreign to me. But my group leader insisted that the "Muscles will reeducate the rattling brain." The idea seemed far-fetched, as I thought the problem was with my mind.

Yet I've come to realize that muscles are an intricate part of the recovery process. For example, when I suffered with checking obsessions and compulsions years ago, I realized that I could indeed control my muscles and not repeat checking the stove, door, or whatever had snagged my attention that day. At the time, though, I didn't realize that I was exerting control over my muscles, but this concept is much clearer to me now.

Controlling the muscles--whether it involves using arm and leg muscles to face a fear of driving, using your esophagus muscles to not vomit food considered "contaminated," and so on--also easily lends itself to endorsement, because commanding your muscles to carry out an action (or not) takes effort--effort that should be recognized. And for just about all of us, our muscles will obey our commands. If we tell our muscles to take us into a crowd, our muscles will not revolt. They will not hesitate. If the will commands them to do a task, they will do it. And that is a comforting thought!

I endorsed for writing this post.