Yes, I ate a McDonald’s ice cream cone yesterday and I loved every minute of it. In fact my daughter didn’t want her’s so I had 2! You can call me a hypocrite, crazy, or say good for you! I don’t care. I need a balance between being healthy and enjoying life! When I became healthier and lost weight before I would still get treats, but always the best. I used to eat Pacuigo’s gelato once or twice a week! I had found a good balance that worked for me.
It’s this balance that I am struggling with now. I’m in a different state (TX vs. AZ), environment, around different people, the elements of my family have changed (a new baby), my body is different (another pregnancy and now nursing). Finding the right balance can be a bit tricky. It’s kind of touch and go until one day you realize things feel right. You feel great, look great, have a good rhythm to your day and your family is happier. This is what I am working on now. This is where my journey is at the moment. It’s kind of exciting actually. I get to write my life. I am the author with a pen in my hand (or a keyboard in front of me) getting to decide not only what is going to happen today, but also what the next chapter will hold for me.
I am ready Dr. Wayne Dyer’s book 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. Now that’s quite a bit to ingest at first. To tell you the truth it’s a pretty book. That may sound strange, but it really does feel good to have around.
Chapter one or the first secret is to "Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing". That is a big concept to grasp. To do this, you must let go of all conditioning, preconceived ideas and what you have learned to be true. This is so much more to this life, this world, than we know. What we know is nothing, but a tiny piece of a bigger picture. Anything is possible. Anything! If you realize that you know just about nothing about anything, then you will see that there is no reason to have a closed mind about anything.
Since anything is possible, and there is much to this universe we don’t know then you can create anything you want, right? Have you heard the quote, "With God all things are possible."? I love that Wayne Dyer used this in his book. It is so true. If you do not think that you can do anything your heart desires, then you do not believe that with God all things are possible. It’s that simple. Do you believe or don’t you? Break down those barriers and layers of crap and get to your core. Have the faith of child. Believe!
How can you be open to everything? Wayne Dyer makes a bold statement. When someone suggest something to you that goes against you conditioning, instead of saying, "That’s ridiculous or impossible", say, "I’ve never considered that before, I’ll think about it!" Try doing this for a week and see if it opens your mind. You might realize that you are more negative than you think of yourself to be.
Another statement to make you think is this. "Let go of your attachments to what you’ve been trained to believe. Open your mind to all possibilities, because whether you believe something is possible or impossible, either way you’ll be right."
He believes that your attachments are a source of all your problems. You can be attached to things, people, the need to be right, to win, etc. By being open minded you can resist these attachments and have inner peace and success.
So, how do you release attachments? Change how you see yourself. There are two sides to people. Their ego and their spirit. Taming your ego and letting your spirit shine through to guide your life is key. Be a witness in your life. Have peaceful thoughts and then you’ll have peaceful emotions. You can still desire, but don’t be attached.
One more thing from the book. Let’s say you have two wands. With Wand A you can have anything physical you desire and with Wand B you can have a sense of peace for the rest of your life regardless of anything that comes up in your life. If you pick peace then you already have Wand B. Think about it. If you can love someone enough for them to be what they choose to be without any expectations or attachments from you then you will have true peace in your life. "True love means you love a person for what they are , not for what you think they should be. This is an open mine—and an absence of attachment"
That is awesome! It is very inspiring. Thank you Dr. Wayne Dyer!
I’ll give an example of how I had to let go of a physical attachment just a few minutes ago. I received a birthday present from a good friend. Something I had wanted that was cute and just for me. It just arrived and I pulled it out of the package. I had used a pair of scissors to open the package. I walked away for a minute to grab something and my 4 year old daughter jumped up on the counter, grabbed the scissor and cut the beautiful ribbon that went across the present. The ribbon was not on the packaging, but was actually part of the object. My first reaction was to be upset. I wanted to feel sorry for myself because I had just received it and already it was "ruined"! I wanted my daughter to feel bad, to have remorse. Then I stopped myself. It is a thing, an object. Does it really matter? Why am I attached to the point of being upset over it? So, I grabbed the scissor and cut off the ribbon and left the pretty bow and no one will even know.
It is interesting to me how attached we can be. Here are some things I am going to work on not being attached to:
-Anything physical in my life including bags, clothes, our TV, computer, and my phone. I learned that it was easy to live without a phone this week as I had left it in Utah and haven’t had an alternative. It wasn’t so bad. More peaceful actually!
-My hurt feelings and pride.
-Food
Are there any attachments you can let go of to strive for inner peace?
Yesterday I realized I was beating myself up with self talk in my head. "You shouldn’t be eating so much." "What’s wrong with you? You should be losing weight." "You know what to do." Then, I stopped. I had an epiphany that I really did just have a baby, I’m nursing a ton and I am listening to my body! I dropped 30 pounds right after I had Annabelle. I have not lost or gained any since. I think I am trying to force something that is not ready to happen. I really do need to get back to only focusing on being healthy. I know I need to stop worrying about weight loss because it’s not the right time. I need to think only about putting healthy food into my body for me and Annabelle, then I will be much happier. This is a step towards me eating the way I want, becoming healthier and yes, losing weight. This is not an excuse to not care, but actually to care more. To care about nourishing not only my body, but my mind and spirit because I am listening to my body and putting a stop to negative self talk.
Nourishing My Mind and Spirit
I am a different person (a better me) when I am taking time to listen and read good material. When I am taking time to reflect and pray.
I am in the middle of listening to Wayne Dyer’s Your Life Begins Now. He talks about ego verses spirit or your intuitive self. I’ll come back to this as I finish the CD’s
I have also been having down time to watch my favorite parts of movies like Step Up. Hey, I have to have fun too. Just because I’m a wife and mother, doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a hot dance movie! Brandon bought me one of my all time favorite movies, Dirty Dancing! I can’t wait to get a moment to watch it!
I have decided to read Proverbs in the Bible. I was reading chapter 20 and a few verses stuck out to me. Proverbs 20:7 "The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him." This scripture says a lot to me. I know that if I (and my husband) are walking with God, then our family will be blessed because of it. Proverbs 20:9 " Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" A good reminder to keep my heart clean and pure. Proverbs 20:11 "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." We are known by the value of our work. What we do really does effect us, our spouse, our children, our friends and everyone we know. Is what I am doing positively effecting people or not?
I am always conversing with God telling Him that I want to be one of these amazing people that is all loving, forgiving and accepting. Well, when we ask for something it doesn’t always come how we expect. I have been recently put into situations where I can choose to be those things or I can let my ego or my analytical side or what I perceive to be true and hard, or what I have been conditioned to think, dictate how I respond. I have been given an opportunity to show unconditional love and forgiveness in circumstances which would normally not be easy to do these things. If I truly want to be a person at true peace, this is my time to be it. This is my time to love, forgive, accept, help, pray for others around me that I am finding myself in these situations with. It’s quite profound and an interesting place to be. I think it takes a lot to even recognize that I am being given an opportunity to be a better person and Christ-like instead of just focusing on my hurt feelings and wounded pride.
I have a constant internal struggle. I find myself wanting to feel hurt and wanting to think of how I’ve been "wronged". Now, I simply stop my mind from continuing and think about how blessed I am and how I feel better from the inside out letting the negative feelings go. Why do people chose to feel hurt? Yes it is a choice. We are capable of so much more. We can truly be amazing spiritual people walking around this Earth loving and blessing all of those around us! It takes letting go of all the layers of crap that has been passed down generation to generation. It takes constant work and remembering that we are human. It takes remembering why were are here and that this is a journey, a positively progressive one if we make it so. Think about what you are truly capable of. Why haven’t you done it or why are you not being it? Is whatever you are answering really true? Or is it what you believe to be true? Let it go. Be who you want to be, do what you want to do. It really, really, really is that simple! It is our limiting beliefs that make it difficult. What limiting beliefs can you let go of?
Today I am choosing to be the person I know I want to and can be. I am all loving, forgiving and at peace with my choices. I will choose this all day. Then, tomorrow when I wake up I will chose this again. This is more important than what I am eating and how I am exercising. Those things will come as I change habits!
I have been eating these kinds of foods:
A large bowl of organic oatmeal with raw agave and a little bit of wild blackberry honey Glass of raw milk (hee hee…makes me so happy) Raw cheese, dates, raisins and raw pecan pieces Snacking on plates of fruit (apples, oranges, banana) Smoothies Air popped popcorn with olive oil and sea salt Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread with peanut butter and blackberry honey Brown rice, red lentils, organic veggie medley, soy sauce, curry, and tumeric Canned diced organic tomatoes, garlic, sea salt, basil baked and served over corn chips and topped w/raw cheese Water Vitamin C, Multivitamin, Iodine
January’s previous post briefly touched on the importance of goals, as well as her own personal goals. I want to go into a little bit more depth about goals in this post, but I’m going to apply it to health.
Goals are important. Without goals, we tend to just go through life without any enthusiasm, just going through the motions. That kind of life is very unfullfilling, and can lead to outright misery with everything you do. I know I’ve gone through periods of time where I didn’t have goals, and I would wonder why my life was so bland and frustrating. Not having a destination is the same as being lost, and being lost is no fun. Being lost will get you into a situation that you don’t really want to be in, whether it’s the wrong career choice, the wrong schooling, the wrong spouse, etc.
A good friend of mine recently visited with his wife and their three kids from Utah. He and I went to school together in Dallas. I remember him being so happy and carefree, while willing to challenge ideas and concepts with professors and other students. But this last weekend, after not having seen each other in about six months, he just seemed beaten down with his job and bummed out about where he was in his life. We got into talking about what we wanted out of life, and the more we talked, the more I realized he didn’t know what he wanted out of life. He didn’t have any goals. I told him this I harped on him about this and he realized that was the problem. He has since come up with some goals, and he sounds a lot better because of it.
Setting goals properly… At least, in my opinion
When we set goals, we should write them out. Put them up somewhere you can see them everyday, whether it’s on your bathroom mirror or the refrigerator or a 3"x5" index card you carry with you in your pocket. When we do write them out, they should always be written out in the present tense. An example is something like "I am running 2 miles a day, every single day, in January." When you write it out in present tense, it reads as an affirmation and eventually gets planted into your subconscious mind permanently.
When writing out a goal, a good tip to keep in mind is the 30-day trial. When I read this, it made a lot of sense to me. First, you set a goal and you stick with it for 30 days. If you don’t like it anymore after 30 days, or if your goals have changed, fine. But at least you stuck to it for 30 days. That’s important for gaining momentum with your confidence. It takes 21 days to form a habit, so just hedge that habit with an extra nine days.
I’m currently on a 30-day trial with exercising. Everyday, I’m running at least two miles in the morning, and I’m doing one set each of push-ups, pull-ups, and crunches, each until failure. I’m going to see how that goes, and if I like how my body feels, I’ll keep it up. I figure if Wayne Dyer ran 10-15 miles every single day for 22 straight years, I can do it for a measly 30 days.
We can start out with small goals, such as walking 20 minutes every day, to bigger goals, like running 5 miles every day. It doesn’t matter as long as the goal has been set. It will give us the confidence to push ourselves farther than we thought possible. For example, if you set to walk every day, it will be difficult in the beginning. Once it gets easier, you can upgrade to jogging, When that becomes easier, you can upgrade again to all-out running. For example, right now I’m only running two miles. In a month, that will probably be at least three miles, but more than likely, four or five miles.
The same goes with eating. First, start out by incorporating more fruits and veggies into your diet. Once you start feeling more energetic and regular, you might decide to cut out fast food. Then you might decide to eliminate red meat from your diet, and so on and so forth. The more you do it, and just push through those first few hard days, the easier it will become, and the more confidence you will have.
So, when you figure out your goals, write them down in present tense, carry them out (for 30 days), and upgrade whenever possible. If you do these things, you’ll soon be riding a confidence snowball with so much momentum, people won’t even recognize you.
January’s 