Carmageddon Made Me Do It! - Not!

Saturday, I blew my diet. I could blame it on Carmageddon, but I won't .I do live in the San Fernando Valley not far from the 405, where the bridge was coming down.  I am not sure why I drove from work to the 7-11 Store, and purchased two bags of chips, but I did. I have been working hard to get my exercise in, to eat right, and I blew it. Oh, and I went home and consumed one bag of chips. Just like the old days. Chips are one of my comfort foods. So what did I do?

I could have felt sorry for myself, disgusted with myself, angry at myself or kicked myself for doing such a stupid thing. But I didn't. I know that this is a process and sometimes I am going to slip and fall. I don't know why I chose this week-end to slip, but I did. I made a choice to dust myself off and get back on track. I   know that I will have to work harder to burn off those calories. But I am trying to change my habits. Yesterday, I feel back into an old habit. Today is a new day. It is the first day of the rest of my life. That may be an old saying, but I still love it.

This morning, I got up, got dressed and took a walk. It was over 30 minutes and I enjoyed every one of them. We have a bridge that is being replaced at the end of our street. It has been out since December. So, I walked down to the bridge with my iPhone in hand and took some pictures. It looks like it is getting close to being finished. The last time I was there, the bridge was gone. Now it has been widened and looks good.

By the time I got back home, I had taken a few pictures and was feeling like I was getting back on track. Today, I watched what I ate and stayed on program. I am feeling better about the direction I am taking my life. Like the tortoise, I know that slow and steady is my pace. It will help be win the race.

I can do it. I can make better choices. I don't know why I went off my diet, but one of the things I have learned is if you are going to go off your eating program, plan and limit what you are doing Sometimes, we just need that comfort food, for whatever reason. Today was a better day! Yeah!

If you have taken a wrong detour in life, start again. We all make mistakes, but we can chose again.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions. I am leaving you with another picture I took on my walk today. I hope you enjoy it.

Getting the "I Can Do" Spirit

Do you have an "I can do" spirit? Or, are you always saying "No, I can't"?  I think our greatest stumbling block is our attitude. If we think we can, we have a much better shot of sticking to the your plan and being successful. It is not about your successes or failures of the past, it is about right now! Yes, we can learn and grow from these experiences, but we need to move on from them as well. Think about Thomas Edison. It took him 10,000 trials to get the light bulb invented. Now that is a great example of the "can do" spirit. He just kept on trying. Sure he may have had his moments of discouragement, but he never said "I can't do it" and quit trying. He kept on going.

We need to exercise our mental muscles as well as our physical ones. I am one of those people who lost weight, even kept it off for awhile, then started gaining. In retrospect, I let life get to me rather than exercising my mind and staying focused. It takes effort to lose weight. You have to change your eating habits, you need to exercise your body and to change your concept of yourself. If you do not change your habits in all three of those areas, you are setting yourself up for failure. I know many other persons who lost a lot of weight and a year or two latter, those pounds found them and brought along their friends.


So what can we do? First of all, we need to watch our words and thoughts. What we say and think is as important as what we eat. When you identify thoughts and words that are negative, you need to immediately think of something that is positive. It does get easier with practice. Remember the "I can do" Spirit.

Second, you need to listen to what people around you are saying. If they are negative, then you have a choice. Block out what they say or spend less time with them. Do not get caught up in their negative thinking, and do not feed theirs with your own. If something is not working, find a way to change it. You have the power to do it. Remember the "I can do it Spirit."

Third, feed the positive. Start out each day naming three things that you are thankful for. End each day with three things that went right during the day or three more things that you are thankful for. This does not mean that you ignore the problems. You can't. But you can turn your thinking around about them. I find that if I read something positive at the end of the evening, I am more relaxed and can get to sleep faster. If I read a mystery the last thing at night, guess what I do? I relive the mystery. I do love reading them, I just don't finish the day with them. You can also start a praise or grateful journal. Write down those things in your life that are right. When the I can't do attitude begins to creep in, get the journal out and remember all the good things. We were not build to be double minded. Keep the "I can do" Spirit in the forefront.

With the "I can do" Spirit, the solutions to things seem to come easier. I think I can do, then I find a way that I can do it. It is not a Pollyanna attitude, it is an "I can do" attitude that allows you to find the solutions and not get mired down.

If you try the can do spirit for thirty days, you have developed a new habit and maybe a new outlook on life. After all, you can do it.

I would love to hear from you if you would like to share any of your can do experience. Thanks for reading this.

Image of Happy Running Turtle courtesy of wpclipart.com