Taking Aim

My two dogs insist on daily workouts of ball fetching.  My childhood athletic reach never included ball games, and as a result I never developed much of a throwing arm.  We live in a wooded place, and our ball workouts have often felt more like a game of tree-billiards, with my workout involving chasing crazily bounced balls.   Recently, out of self-preservation, I’ve started taking a moment before the throw to focus very clearly and specifically on where I want the ball to go.  Sometimes I even call it out loud to the dogs—Big Pine over there!  I’ve noticed something interesting:  when I make the focused effort to aim, the ball frequently gets to the right neighborhood, and I chase far fewer bounced balls. It’s as though when my mind intends the ball to a certain spot, my body says ‘OK boss if you say so’ and marshals its resources (the ones I didn’t know about) to make it happen.

I recently realized that this is a good metaphor for the work we do in health coaching.  What is it we want?  We need to get very clear on where we are aiming and why we are aiming there.  Is it worth the effort?

What’s the difference between wanting and intending?   I can want the ball to go a certain place, but when I build on that wanting with the effort required of intending, it goes there.  Intention suggests an effort of will that translates wanting into positive action.

I’ve noticed that people are often unwilling to move from wanting to intending.  In some ways wanting is safer.  Most of us have experienced not getting what we want, so we’re familiar with that experience.   No accountability involved.  Just live with the same-old.  But if we move into intention, there’s the chance we’ll fail, and we’ll have to answer for that.  So there’s risk involved.  Can you take the chance to see yourself differently?  This is where social support is so key to our success.  Our significant others can uphold us and help us see ourselves in new, braver ways.

Intending opens up new learnings, no matter how the intention turns out.  I never figured I could hit the broad side of a barn with a ball.  I haven’t turned into a sharp-shooter, but am surprised to find that if I take careful aim I usually hit within the neighborhood.   That’s a lot more than I once could do.

Think for a moment on the things you want to change about your health in its broadest sense.  Have you taken aim, or are you just wanting?