Making a Million Choices
How did your week go? Well...I cheated. I totally fell off the wagon.
As a health coach, I hear it ALL the time!
I'm a firm believer in the way we talk to ourselves. Our words matter. Whether we are speaking them to others or talking to ourselves. So, maybe...and I could be wrong about this, but I don't think I am...it would be more helpful to be honest about what has happened.
When I think of my "bad days" or "off-plan" days as "cheating", I suppose I'm right--in that I have cheated myself. But I think, in the past, when I've said I cheated it meant something different. It means I've done something sneaky and underhanded. That the food called to me and I just couldn't do anything but eat it. Cheating gives the power to the food and strips the power from me.
We each have the power to make decisions in our lives. When you make a choice--healthy or unhealthy--own it. You have the ability to make whatever choice you want to make. That's why you always here me saying, "I'm not going to tell you what to eat or not to eat. I'll provide you with all the resources for you to make good choices."
When we accept that what we eat or how we choose to move our bodies is OUR choice, then it also empowers us to think differently. It empowers me to SEE the choices in front of us and to be more deliberate about making them.
IMAGINE: There are always two plates in front of you!
Plate #1 has that handful of goldfish crackers on it (or chocolate cake or the scraps of my kid's PB&J or yofro--you name it, whatever your "thing" is).
Plate #2 has all of my dreams for my future on it. This is why I always have my vision board in front of me...because it is my second plate, ALWAYS! And I need to see it in front of me, just like I see the tempting food.
We only get to choose one plate.
We can only choose one plate, because at this time--if we want to lose weight and get healthy (which most of us do on here...only a few of us are already in a very healthy place with our body and mind), then those two plates oppose each other. The goldfish crackers, small and insignificant as they are, keep us from my goals and dreams.
When we see our moment by moment decisions as our choice, then even when we make a foolish choice, we know that we also have the power to make MORE choices. Thankfully, it isn't our LAST choice. We get to make lots more choices. So, we can make the next one a better choice. And the next one. Take it one choice at a time.
Looking at it this way has personally helped me to choose what I REALLY want--to get healthy, to run with my kids, to wear that cute outfit, to get those high boots up over my calves, to live like a healthy person, to prevent myself from being diabetic or having heart disease, to be FREE to be the woman I was created by God to be.
I don't want to get to the end of my choice and see the words "Big Mistake"--but, even if I do--there are a million more opportunities to make a better choice.
How did your week go?
Great--I made a million choices, one at a time. And I chose my dreams!
