Wear Your Life Well: Use What You Have to Get What You Want

by Marilu Henner

Overview

It's not enough just to live—you have to wear your life well! Learn how in this inspiring guide from New York Times bestselling author and beloved actress Marilu Henner.

Ten years after actress Marilu started her bestselling Total Health Makeover series, she's in better shape than ever—at peak health, working with a very active online community at Marilu.com, and celebrating life with her new husband, whom she helped to cure of cancer. Now she's back with an inspiring guide to making your life work for you, whatever your age or condition.

Are you happy? Are you living the life you want, or are you living for other people? Are you guided by your own plans or by the design of others? Do you see your life as a daily grind, or are you eager to face each day and every new challenge? Do you get along well with your family, friends, relatives, and coworkers, or do you harbor anger, resentment, or guilt? Are you working toward a dream, or are you daydreaming about not working? In essence, do you Wear Your Life Well?

With the verve of a teenager and the wisdom of a sage, Marilu breaks down all the elements in our lives—our minds, our bodies, and the world around us—that can sabotage our progress, and helps us discover the best in ourselves. She pinpoints the often surprising ways we are compromising our lives and offers smart, sensible, healthy alternatives. And Marilu also includes a Booty Camp Life Blitz—a five-day jumpstart that uses the principles in the book in a very specific, directed way to get you a fresh start on the path to optimal wellness. So whether you need a major life change or simply want fresh ideas on improving your life, let Marilu be your cheerleader, muse, and guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061872426
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/18/2012
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	471 KB

About the Author

Marilu Henner is well known for her roles in Taxi and Evening Shade and her participation in The Celebrity Apprentice. She is the author of two other New York Times bestselling books, Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover and Healthy Life Kitchen. She lives in Los Angeles.

Read an Excerpt

Wear Your Life Well
Use What You Have to Get What You Want

Chapter One

Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone: The Fun of Facing Your Fears!

What do you truly want to do with your life? Have you ever really figured it out? I'm not just asking what you want to be when you grow up. This has more to do with your overall life design and covers more territory than just your career. This includes everything—your family, education, diet, health, free time, hobbies, friends, home, travel, even your mission statement. I mean, in theory we all know what we want in our lives, and most people are deeply rooted in the lifestyle they're already living—whether or not they're happy about that! But have you ever truly thought this through and conceived in detail your ideal life, without thinking about the obstacles to or consequences of actually pulling it off? Doing this could become the most important exercise you've ever undertaken.

If you really could design your ideal life, how close would it be to the life you're living right now? When asked this question, most people propose a life with more than they now have, which usually means a bigger and better house, a more successful and rewarding career, more time to spend with family, more money, owning a business, being famous—the list is endless. We naturally want more, but we rarely factor in the consequences of having more. There are responsibilities that automatically come with having more in your life, and even though we don't always consciously think about it, we are aware of it subconsciously. Deep down we know that these responsibilitieschallenge what we've already set up in our cozy little comfort zones.

The risk of losing some of our comfort in life plays a prominent role in our efforts to attain our goals. We know that changing our lives for the better may come with a price tag, and that price is more responsibility, leading to more stress, and therefore less comfort. It's difficult to create the life you want until you identify, control, or at least understand your own comfort zones. You also need to be aware of your life goals, so you can recognize which comfort zones you're protecting—and which responsibilities or burdens you may be avoiding.

My Comfort Zone

Everyone has his or her own unique comfort zones that come in all shapes and sizes. I have some that are significant and others that are trivial. My silliest comfort zone is the way I like to sleep. For years people have teased me about my sleeping requirements—a room so dark you never know what time it is. (Elvis would have been proud!) In fact, I have "blackout shades requested" written into every location contract I sign, but not because I'm a diva. I need to sleep in a dark room because I love to be awake! Any hint of light represents action, and I automatically want to be part of that action. If there's so much as a firefly out there, I'm ready to party!

No matter how crazy my sleeping comfort zone seems to others, it's certainly better than my eating comfort zone was years ago, before I got healthy and lost fifty-five pounds. Back then I lived under the tyranny of stupid diets, thinking that alternating deprivation with gluttony was the way to go. The discomfort of being heavy and bloated all the time was even part of this comfort zone. It was only after I acquired the necessary knowledge and retrained my palate that my eating comfort zone changed.

In figuring out how to use what you have to get what you want, it's necessary to take an honest look at your whole life and see where you're at, right here, right now.

What are your comfort zones? What have you set up in your life to support the good and bad behaviors that make you "you"? How do you relate to everyone and everything around you, from your eating patterns to your sleeping rituals, your exercise routines to your clothing choices, your relationship strategies to the way you think and feel about yourself? What are your habits that may even feel comfortably uncomfortable? What made you set up certain conditions so that you can continue to succeed . . . or fail? And where did you learn how to set up these conditions? Are you mimicking your parents? Rebelling against your family? Or have you just learned the best way to survive?

Looking at other people's lives, you may often think, I could never live like that. Their schedule is too crazy. Their house is too chaotic. Their relationship is too dramatic. Yet, when you look closely, you see that it works for them! We all have those quirky things we think we need in our lives in order to survive. If someone took away your comfort zone, what would be your backup? Would you need one? Or would it be better if you were forced to give it up with nothing to replace it?

You get interesting answers when you ask people, "What does the phrase 'comfort zone' mean to you?" The responses will vary, but what is most telling is that each person mentions first the area of his or her life that needs the most help. Many people talk about their relationships, and yet pick the same unhappy situation over and over again. It proves that we all know what we're trying to get away with, and that we're not fooling anyone—least of all ourselves!

The point is to challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zones if staying in one doesn't move your life forward. Staying in your comfort zone seems to be one of the main barriers to achieving your goals, because it keeps you rigid and less adaptable to diversity and change. When you're in a comfort zone, you'll tend to do the same things over and over because it's easy. You know what to expect and how to respond without thinking.

Wear Your Life Well
Use What You Have to Get What You Want. Copyright © by Marilu Henner. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Fifteen Keys to Living Your Life Well     xi
Getting out of Your Comfort Zone: The Fun of Facing Your Fears!     1
My Comfort Zone
Embracing Your Fears
"Face Your Fears" Questionnaire: What Are You Afraid Of?
Fear of Losing Weight
Fear of Success
Fear of Change
Fear of Not Being Perfect
Fear of Death/Illness/Information
Fear of Failure
Forgiving Yourself
Therapy
Wrapping It Up!
Navigating the "Mindfields" of Self-Sabotage     25
Emotional Eating
Food Is Seductive
Misplaced Anger
The Power of Body Armor
Avoiding Sexuality
Jealousy
Self-Sabotage and PMS
What Can I Get Away With?
Fear of Success (That Ugly Fear Again!)
Self-Sabotage and Control
Lack of Imagination
B-L-A-S-T: Bored, Lonely, Angry, Starving, or Tired
How to Resolve Self-Sabotage
Wrapping It Up!
Learn to Love the Food That Loves You-Detox 101     49
Change Your Palate, Change Your Life!
Getting Rid of the Health Robbers
Wet Foods versus Concentrated Foods
Centered Foods
The Effects of a Night of Heavy Drinking
Helping Your Doctor Help You
The Best Prescription for Your Own Hands-On Health
The Danger of "Normal"
Time Can Be on Your Side
Wrapping It Up!
Setting Up Your Environment to Win     83
If You Build It, You Will Become
Your Morning Routine
Snooze Alarm
Morning People
Setting Up Your Kitchen-To Win!
Setting Up Your Bathroom-To Win!
Setting Up Your Closet-To Win!
Setting Up Your Bedroom-To Win!
Setting Up Your Garage-To Win!
Setting UpYour Transportation-To Win!
Wrapping It Up!
The Role of Your Life     103
Acting Healthy
Finding Self with Self
Observation
Food for Thought
The Rant
Sense Memory
Character Development
Finding Your Objective
Props and Costumes
Light of Day
Wrapping It Up!
Radar, Resilience, Plan B, and Teflon     135
The Art of Listening
Positive Breeds Positive, Negative Breeds Negative
Embracing Plan B
Resilience and Teflon
Wrapping It Up!
Use It Or Lose It     151
Use Your Brain!
Use Your Body
My Exercise Routine
Taking Action
Wrapping It Up!
Sharpen Your Presentation     163
Communication Skills
Expert Advice
It's All about Homework
Detox Your Style
Wrapping It Up!     163
Fall in Love with Your Stress-Or it Will Kill You!     179
Choosing a Familiar...Misery
Don't Be a Lemming
Wrapping It Up!
The Sexiest Organ is...Your Brain!     193
Thinking Sexy
The Pleasure Principle
Wrapping It Up!
The Booty Camp Blitz     203
Booty Camp Blitz 5-Day Contract
Booty Camp Blitz-Gimme 5! 5-Day Menu
Booty Camp Menu
Booty Camp Recipes
Marilu Henner's Food-Combining Charts     249
Acknowledgments     253
Index     257

Editorial Reviews

She’s dropped 54 pounds and kept it off, transformed her health and inspired thousands of others to do the same—so it’s no wonder we’ve always admired Marilu Henner.” — Woman's World

From the Publisher

She’s dropped 54 pounds and kept it off, transformed her health and inspired thousands of others to do the same—so it’s no wonder we’ve always admired Marilu Henner.

Woman's World