Happy New Year! Here at Fitfish we support Christians with a balance of health in body spirit and soul, and in this video and in the blog below I talk about the elements that you need to be healthy in body spirit and soul this year.

At this time of year there’s so much ‘health and wellness’ advertising coming at you, all kinds of things are probably popping up in your social media feeds or dropping into your inbox right now whether that’s…

• ‘the best diet to lose weight’
• how to get the best night’s sleep,
• a new Bible app that’s just being launched
• mindfulness activities that you can do on your phone
• ‘the best diet for your body shape’
• the latest exercise craze…

… or something else! For some reason I appear to have been targeted by a lot of hula hooping apps and I saw one for ‘wall Pilates’ the other day too. Whatever it may be, it can be quite overwhelming!

You may well have decided you want this year to be different and have already decided you want to work on your health, and as a Christian, you want that for body, spirit, and soul.  But with the complete information overload coming at you, you may find yourself jumping from one new healthy living system, or activity, or app, to another, never really finding your feet or settling on anything.  

To succeed you just need to settle on something, and so I wanted to give you some guidance on the elements that you need to look for so that you can be healthy in body spirit and soul this year.

1 Motivation and inspiration to make changes. It can be easy to get motivated at this time of year, and that’s great, but what happens when you’re further into January or into February, you start to feel a bit less bloated, you’re back in your routine and you you’re busy with the business of life.

• Is that motivation and inspiration still there or was it really just caught up with a start or the year?
• Do you have a deep desire to look after yourself better?
• How can you feed that? Have you ever talked to God about it?
• Have you looked at what god says in the Bible?
• Have you asked God for his thoughts on what’s going on for you in your life and for help in this area, because he is totally willing and able to do that!

Extrinsic motivations are great: you might want a fit back into some clothes, or look a bit more refreshed because you’re getting more sleep, but it’s those deep intrinsic motivations that we really want. Being surrounded by others who inspire you in that direction can really help you to get motivated and inspired. So, taking your thoughts on all this to God, asking for his help and asking him to reveal to you the steps forward can be a really good place to start!

2 Learning and implementation: what’s the best system for or you? What are you going todo and where are you going to go to get those lightbulb moments, those ‘a-ha!’ moments that can be real game changers for the direction you’re taking? Also, make sure that it’s the learning that you need not what your next-door neighbour or that celebrity needs. What do you need right now? Is there something that you’ve been sticking a little bit of a sticky plaster over, but this year and you wanting to really get to the root and work out what’s going on? What is it that you need to help you with that? Is it:

• an app?
• a new Bible, or a new way of studying the Bible?
• more time to read the Bible?
• some reading around sleep?
• discovering a new way of eating for you?
• educating yourself a little bit more about nutrition and exercise?
• is it finding an exercise that you enjoy?

What is it that you need to learn, and what is it that will make you want to implement it?

In our membership groups we have a lot of accountability: at the beginning of the week I ask people ‘What are you working on this week?’ And at the end of the week: ‘How was your week? What did you learn? What did you find difficult and how are you going to move forward?

We also hold success sessions where we meet for an hour. At the beginning everyone says what they are going to get done in that hour and at the end we check in see if we’ve done it or not. It could be anything: cleaning out a cupboard, reading, to doing some sewing, getting a particular piece of work done, or doing some meal planning. And this can really help with implementation and learning. Find your way of doing things, the way that suits you best, and think about what you need from your community that will encourage you to stick with it.

3 Community: who are the people that you feel comfortable with on this kind of journey – those people that you can be yourself with and who inspire and encourage you? It’s different for everyone within our community. Within some of our Facebook groups there are some people who post or comment a lot, and that’s great but it doesn’t work for everyone. Others are more comfortable liking posts or just learning from others by reading and observing, and that’s a way to feel really involved too. Whatever your preference, it’s really important that you find a place where you feel at home where you’re learning and where you’re implementing the changes you want to make.

4 Consistency not quantity: it’s easy to put in a lot of effort for a short amount of time and create this a great impact and great story in the short term, but this is not the best way to sustain change. In the long term, it’s consistency that actually changes your story. So, what can you introduce now and keep up for the rest of your life? The thing that makes a difference changing your journey slowly, one small step at a time. This is not a new phase or a new craze that you’ll be on for 12 weeks and then off again, this is a step towards being healthy in body spirit for the rest of your life.  So start small, with something that’s easy to do: maybe drinking an extra glass of water each day, taking 10 minutes to listen to a daily Bible app, setting a goal to walk up and down the stairs for 5 minutes… get creative!

If you want some extra support, why not come and join us in the Healthy Whole and Free programme. It looks a bit different this year and you can join at any time. It’s a really friendly community, full of support and inspiration. We meet live every month and there’s Facebook group where which I’m in every day to support you. Along with that you get some short lessons delivered each week by video, as well as a weekly resource pack and a reflection pack to look at as you take this journey towards freedom in body spirit and soul. You can find more information and sign up here.