Quote for today: "Vision: the art of seeing things invisible." - Jonathon Swift, Irish poet and satirist.
That's the quote for today in the
8 Minutes in the Morning book by Jorge Cruise.
He discusses the ultimate environment as a vision or dream and compares this to the film Forrest Gump (one of my most favorite movies!) and how Forrest was able to make his dreams or visions come true by believing in himself and empowering his beliefs in such a way that he was able to overcome his challenges. Jorge calls this Result Driven Questions, questions that we voice - internally or externally, and which we become focused on positive things, rather than on things that make us depressed or unmotivated.
Result driven questions (and I'm photocopying them and putting them in several places - refrigerator, on my computer, in front of my sewing machine, on my study wall, over the piano, in the car! and would love to put them on my mirror in the bathroom - but the steam kills the tape!
1. What joy will I feel when I attain my ultimate body?
2. How incredible will my life become when I am leaner?
3. What extraordinary things will people say to me when I am leaner?
4. How will I see my body transform with the healthful choices I make?
5. What can I do today so that my weight loss plans run smoothly?
6. How can I continue to create a weight loss support network?
Now - comment first - I do NOT like the focus on ultimate body joy as if weight loss or thinness equals Nirvana or an actual goal. Instead I think of thinness as something that is on the way to an actual goal - and may be way far down the list. That is, my eventual plans to reach 145 pounds according to Jorge may be worthy of celebration. I don't like that! To me, the 145 pounds is only the figure I chose because I feel GOOD at that particular weight, because I can run up and down stairs without sounding like a steam engine, because my knees are less likely to pop out of joint, because my blood pressure normalizes and hopefully I will be able to finally give up my bp medicine (I'm not banking on that, though - my bp is STRESS labile!), because all my clothing patterns happen to be in the size I was when I did weigh that amount and I'm cheap! THOSE are the things I want to focus on - NOT the weight itself!
My ultimate body - yup - I like the idea of not seeing my gut hang over the belt to my jeans and of being able to actually see my feet! Go me! I like even more being active and participating more fully in things I like (ie, folk dancing, ballet, playing soccer, going for long hikes!).
How incredible my life will be? Well, not really incredible at all - but simply back to the way I prefer to live - from gardening, homesteading, to folk dancing and all.
What extraodinary things will people say? Umm - about me - nah! I don't really give a hoot about that! Rather I would love others to say - I want to do that - teach or help me on the way. That I do like! (Yup - I love teaching others!) Things I do NOT want to hear are people commenting about my weight, my way of life, my choices for what I want to do!)
How will I see my body transform? By becoming more active, more participatory in activities - both fun and otherwise. By setting mini goals along the way - hikes, dancing, etc. - things that are fun to do and that I feel confident about doing along the way.
What can I do today? Oh yeah! By exercising this AM - and by watching my diet more closely - a LOT more closely, by striving to accomplish a variety of non-food/exercise goals and completing them or at the least contributing major effort toward those goals.
How can I continue to create a weight loss support network? Urgh! I could by telling my famil,y and friends - however I think I need to lose the weight first and either let family and friends NOTICE and they say something - or I might say something (drop a HINT - a STRONG hint) after I have reached at least one goal.
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Today's exercises include: Standing Heel Raise (12 each set) for the calves, Kickup (12 each set) for the butt. 4 sets each.
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The "Little Calories" - the small "tastes", freebies at the store and so on! That's the diet portion of today's efforts. Re freebies at the store I can either go at a time that the freebies are NOT offered or I can count them towards the boxes on the eating cards! Re tastes - uhmmmmm - I can either NOT taste foods (which is fine by me) until I serve them - or count them towards the boxes on the eating cards!
My problem STILL is AMOUNTS - and that late at night "snack attack" that becomes a binge - of homemade pudding or ice cream! Yuck!