text: Holistic Health and Fitness Coaching
  Table 13-1. Personal health inventory components
  Component Examples
  What really matters? Identified values, mission, aspirations, and purpose
  What is going right Assets
  already?
  Goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-specific)
  Mindful awareness Focus on what is important
  Self-care Food and drink; recharge; personal development; family, friends and
  colleagues; power of mind, spirit and soul; and working the body
  Professional care Prevention, illnesses, referrals, screening, complementary approaches
  Community Resources, team members
  Next steps Follow-up, support
  13-7. Mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose and without judgment, to the present moment. Mindful
  awareness or mindfulness is a key component of cultivating presence—paying attention or being aware of
  the moment—and it is essential for H2F. Unless Soldiers pay attention or take notice, they cannot change or
  grow. Learning to focus on one thing for a period often contradicts normal behavior. When the mind is too
  full of thoughts, it cannot focus in the present moment. The objective is to be mindful.
  13-8. Everyone has the capacity to be mindful. It is a natural capacity to pay attention with curiosity and
  openness. Simple examples include enjoying a cup of tea or coffee, watching the sunset, savoring a favorite
  food, or noticing the details of driving home from work. Soldiers use some techniques, like meditation, to
  foster mindful awareness, but mindful awareness is really about an overall approach that goes wherever the
  Soldier goes. Mindfulness involves tuning in with personal thoughts and practicing awareness of
  relationships with these thoughts.
  13-9. Practicing mindfulness and other forms of meditation has many health benefits. Changes in brain
  activity appear after a few weeks of mindfulness practice. Other physiological changes are associated with
  increased relaxation, improved focus, reduced inflammation, lower stress hormones, and enhanced immune
  system function. For healthy Soldiers, changes can include reduced stress, anxiety, depression, anger and
  distress; improved quality of life, higher emotional intelligence, creativity and concentration; and increased
  empathy, spirituality, and self-compassion.
  13-10. For those Soldiers with health issues, mindfulness can ease chronic pain, decrease high blood
  pressure, and calm stress hormones and inflammatory processes. It can help with smoking cessation,
  decreasing binge eating and substance abuse, and reducing sleep difficulties.