Monday, March 12, 2012

Eliminate Stinkin Thinkin


This week our weight watchers meeting topic is on thinking positive.  I will be going to lead my 1st meeting on the subject here in a few hours, so I thought I would blog about it before I go to get “reved up” on the idea. 
I am, for the most part a pretty positive person. Like a lady that shared in our Women’s group said, sometimes I am positively wrong, but still positive. I believe with all my heart I can do anything I set my mind to do. I believe, if I so determined, I could fly from here to China, it may take some time, some creative resources and quite a bit of money, but I’ll get it done. Having said that, there are the days, although few and far between, I do think “I can’t do anything right”, and “I’ll always be a failure” and those kind of self –loathing thoughts.  I really don’t stay in that place long, I don’t see how it does anyone any good. I like me, I like me a lot, probably more than anyone else likes me, maybe even more than I should.  But I gotta spend a lot of time around me, so I better like me, cause I can’t get away from myself, ya know!!

So back to positive thoughts, Proverbs 23:7 says “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What do you want to become? You have to begin to change your thoughts to who you really want to be. God really began to deal with me on my thoughts (AGAIN!!!) not to long ago. And He led me to write a 4 paragraph “mantra” (at least that is what I have been calling it). I read it every morning before I get out of bed, most nights before I go to sleep and sometimes a few times during the day. It is 2 paragraphs helping me refocus on what matters most, and then 2 paragraphs on how to make changes in those areas. I won’t share what my mantra is because it is a me and Jesus thing. I will tell you one line that I felt very impressed to write, to give myself permission to be human- it says “I know the ruts are deep and the change will come slower than I want but I am DETERMINED to change the way I think, talk and act for the betterment of my family”.  Like I said, I am a positive person, but I had let little thoughts creep into my head throughout the day of  “I don’t want to do that” “I am too tired to do that” “I’ll do that later”. Not what I would usually think of negative things, but things that were dragging me down none the less.

Now how can this help you in a weight loss journey? NEVER let yourself think, “I can’t do this”. I hate it when members come in and say “well I’m gonna try it for a little while but I’m probably gonna quit”. I wanna smack them. You don’t HAVE to fail, you can succeed!! The science of weight loss is very simple, eat less calories in a day than you burn. That creates a calorie deficit that creates a weight loss. That ain’t hard!!! But we get the defeated mentality if I screw up a little might as well screw up a lot and eat the whole cake!! NO!! You don’t have to; you can mess up a little, and then be done with it. Buy a ladder at Lowe’s and put it in the kitchen, every time you “mess up” climb the ladder, get over it and keep going. If you quit your marriage every time you messed you-you wouldn’t have stayed married a week. If you gave your kids up the 1st time you messed up with them none of us would have left the hospital with them. If we quit Jesus every time we messed up with Him we would be so lost and screwed up we couldn’t find our backside with both hands!! If Jesus can forgive us, we can forgive us!! So forgive yourself, love yourself, talk sweet to yourself, be nice to you, cause you can’t ever get away from you!!

Below are some bullet points from the As a Man Thinketh is a literary essay of James Allen, published in 1902. I think they are worth reading and thinking about.
  • Men do not attract what they want, but what they are.
  • A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
  • Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these, if you but remain true to them your world will at last be built.
  • The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.
  • Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound.
  • Every action and feeling is preceded by a thought.
  • Right thinking begins with the words we say to ourselves.
  • Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.
  • You cannot travel within and stand still without.
  • As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts, can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
  • Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err
Create your own mantra, include lots of positive self talk, encouraging things that you know God thinks about you, use scriputres that lift you up. You can do anything you set your mind to do. Lose weight, kick an addiction, get out of an unhealthy relationship, approach your boss about a promotion, anything that you and God determine is best for you!! You can do it!! Think Happy Thoughts!!

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