Nourishment & Risk Taking: Part II

Note: in Nourishment and Risk-Taking Part I I reviewed why risk taking is important in making nourishing changes, along with examples of what risk-taking looks like when making these changes. I also mentioned how intuition aka self-knowledge plays a role in all of this. Part II, explains how to develop the intuition and self-knowledge to effortlessly integrate your changes.

So, where does “second nature” or intuition come in? Interestingly, this has been well researched and

is referred to in the “novice to expert model.” This model was developed to guide the training of

professionals with highly specialized skills, eg, doctors and other health care providers, architects and

teachers. I have found it invaluable when planning next steps with clients and consider it another

roadmap that can add perspective to one’s journey and a glimpse of where things are going when the

path is dark. In general, the model has five stages. The first 3 stages -Beginner, Advanced Beginner and

Competent- focus on the learner acquiring knowledge and gradually gaining confidence in their ability to

apply this knowledge to their own lives via guided practical experience, much like an internship or

working toward a goal and problem solving how to manage difficult situations before they happen. In my office, it might involve reviewing food records together or discussing what went well. More

details about each stage can be found in this two-pager:

http://courses.edtechleaders.org/capscd/capscd_foundations/documents/StageModel.pdf

The last two stages are where the fun begins to happen and are perhaps the scariest. The learner is

pretty much on their own and begins to lean more on their intuition starting in the second to last stage

of the Proficient level. There is a bit more risk taking as the learner knows enough to be creative and

stretch the rules they have learned earlier. The last level of “expert” is when intuition is used liberally

and if asked the learner often can’t tell you how they arrived at an answer, just that it is “the right

thing to do.” As you might imagine it can take weeks, months and years to get to the expert level or

second nature. But all the time spent in the other levels are necessary and are leading to the last one.

What is often seen as a set back is really part of the learning process or data gathering need to inform

your intuition.

Reflection:

In Part I of Risk Taking, I listed examples of risky-feeling behaviors that I often see in my practice (below

is a shorter version of the list), Put on your mind-body-spirit lens and revisit the list you created at the

end of Part I. I define mind as things like food/exercise records, body as the physical aspects of your

being like exercise, blood sugar levels and spiritual as meditation, sitting with the unknown. How does

this shift your assessment of your own list? What emotions accompany your assessment? How

comfortable are these feelings?

Using the information from above, once again, think about 1-2 risky situations and list 2-3 small changes

that will help you expand your comfort zone. What do you need to do to begin to act on these small

changes?

Examples of Risky-Feeling Situations – see Part I for more examples

Checking out the calories for a meal/food can feel risky and out of alignment with your wellness

goals. But it can actually be supportive at times. Often, when eating off their meal plan folks will

assume the food/meal has at least a million calories because it tastes good or they have heard

rumors about the calories or the nutritional value of the food. The idea of eating a million

calories can overwhelm any hope of correcting for the situation. Often shame and guilt ensue,

along with giving up either for the entire day or a longer period of time. But, checking out the

actual calories can feel even riskier, making it hard to break out of the relapse cycle.

Setting boundaries with family and friends can feel risky and bring up a lot of emotions. There is

nothing like the fall-out from saying “no” for the first time to family and friends to push you out

of your comfort zone.

Being bored and/or sitting quietly can feel very scary.

Becoming more physically active can feel hugely risky. For some folks moving is uncomfortable,

for those with a trauma history it might even feel dangerous.

Once again, these may not be easy questions to answer. Take your time with it and see what comes up.