Dec 19, 2010 M. Cord Ray
Woman measuring waistline - luigi diamanti
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If we want to experience a permanent new state of being – happy, joyous, and thin – we just have to do day after day, one day at a time, the actions that make us happy, joyous, and thin in the moment.
In other words, if we put together hundreds of good moments we end up having a good life.
Just For This Moment, Just For Today
This can be an encouraging thought or a discouraging thought depending on how you look at it. The model used in twelve step programs “one day at a time” works. Regarding weight loss it is not only one day at a time, but rather one meal, one snack, one bite, or more precisely, one thought at a time.
A New Motivation for Weight Loss
The two biggest motivations for weight loss are looking good and being healthier physically. But Dawn Waters, a certified personal trainer, and owner of Fun and Fitness Belly Dance and A Healthy Miracle Workout Studio, suggests that to sustain motivation it helps to dig deeper. “Everyone wants to look better and be healthier,” Waters says, “But those are not results you can see right away so they don’t weigh in heavy enough against instant gratification to sway you in the right direction when the going gets tough.”
What Can I Do to Keep Myself Motivated to Stick to My Diet Today?
Waters suggests that thinking of eating (or abstaining from eating certain foods) as a more spiritual pursuit will make you enjoy eating more. “When you enjoy eating more you become more motivated to keep doing what works,” Waters says. “And stringing together baby steps of what works is how you get to any goal.” You can stick to your diet better if you think of it as a spiritual practice like runners who run for the meditative qualities do.
Motivation Comes and Goes
Motivation is a bit like tumbleweed rolling down a hill. It’s fickle but it can be guided and it can pick up momentum. Motivation starts, always, with your thoughts. It is important to consistently feed yourself with thoughts that motivate you and actions that cause effects that make you feel motivated.
Thoughts are unruly – they will get negative and need to be replaced with positive ones consciously.
Change Your Focus
We focus so much on the physical aspects of weight loss, both the how to get there and the why we should, that it is easy to ignore the fact that your body is not independent of your spirit.
Believe it or Not Just Breathe
One way to do that is to try to target the spirit directly after talking to your thoughts. A good way to do that is to pause and take a deep calming breath before each meal. This will make the meal a more spiritual experience. This is a simple concept – easy to state but hard to put into practice consistently because so few of us are in the habit. Do it today. By focusing on taste, texture, and your thoughts and experiences during the meal, you enjoy the meal more.
When you enjoy the meal more you get instant gratification. That’s what we want when we think of a candy bar - the instant pleasure. That’s really our motivation. It’s stronger than the desire for the end result. Focus on the pleasure of the joy of eating spiritually and that will create a motivational loop that creates more motivation.
Being conscious will help you eat more slowly. This will help you get more results. Seeing the results and FOCUSING on just this small victory becomes its own reward.
Motivate Your Brain and Your Spirit
The best way too motivate yourself is to focus on spiritual pleasure and passing on that spiritual pleasure. What gives you spiritual pleasure is a personal preference that is up to you.
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