Choices…

This post is not just about weightlifting, exercising, or eating right.  It is about the choices we make in every area of our lives.  And how those choices affect every area of our lives.

The one absolute truth is that we all are responsible for our own destiny.  We are all faced with choices every minute of every day.  And it is what we do with those choices that define who we are.

I firmly believe in the power of the mind.  I believe that if you want something badly enough, there is no reason that you can’t obtain it.  We are all faced with obstacles and hardships.  We all have the ability to overcome those obstacles and hardships.  It’s a choice.  You can choose to let life bring you down and make excuses for everything that has ever, or will ever, go wrong with your life, or you can choose to look at those obstacles as just that… obstacles.  An obstacle that you can jump over, go around, go under, or plow right through.  The choice is yours and yours alone.  No one else can make that choice for you, and no one else can do what needs to be done to overcome the obstacle.  Only you.

I also believe that things are cyclical in nature.  If there is something that we need to work on, God keeps bringing that ‘something’ to us until we deal with it.  So when adversity comes my way, I look at it as a life lesson, something to be explored, and something to study.  I try to find the meaning behind the message.  And the solution doesn’t always come to me the first, second, third, or hundredth time I am presented with the problem.  But I keep working on it, until I can either fix it, change it, or understand that it just ‘is’ and learn to live with it.  The thing is… I keep trying.  I keep growing.  I keep trying to better myself.  I keep looking for the positive and if it happens to be a negative at this moment, I try really hard to turn it into a positive, or a life experience to be learned from.  I continually try to grow as a person and better myself.  I try to take the things I don’t like about myself and change them.  If I am being negative, I try to stop that pattern in its tracks and work hard on being positive.  If I am angry at things, I try to understand what is causing the anger and deal with it.  If I am depressed or unhappy, I examine what issues or events are making me that way and find a solution.  I am the only one with the power to do something about it. Only me.  Not anyone else.  No one else lives MY life, has MY feelings, MY emotions, MY good points, MY bad points, MY philosophies, MY views… just me.  So why would I look to someone else for my happiness?  Why would I blame anyone else for the things I don’t like about my life or myself?  And why would I think the answer to MY happiness lies anywhere except inside MYself?

There is no magic formula for being happy.  It isn’t about losing weight, getting that job, making more money, finding the perfect man/woman, or having friends.  You can’t wave a magic wand and make everything in your life perfect.  You CAN make your life as fulfilling and rewarding as possible and work every day to make it even better.

Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, try looking at everything you do have.  The things that you are blessed with.  For each of us, those things will be different.  But we can all find something to be proud and thankful for.  And try to find the areas within ourselves that we would like to improve.  And work on them every day.  But don’t expect to find the answers if you aren’t willing to look for them.  And sometimes that means taking a good long hard look at yourself, inside yourself,  and be willing to face yourself and acknowledge the fact that the reason you are unhappy has nothing to do with anyone else… only yourself.

But just as we need to acknowledge the not so positive about ourselves, we should also take the time to look at all of the positive things.  Congratulate yourself on all of those positive things.  Because they are accomplishments.  And you should always be proud of your accomplishments.  Even if it is something small… like not flipping off the person who just cut you off when you were driving to work.  Pat yourself on the back.  If you get someplace on time when you are usually late.  Pat yourself on the back.  If you hold your tongue when someone says something that would normally make you scream in frustration. Pat yourself on the back.  If you pass on that pizza that you are craving.  Pat yourself on the back.  If you only eat 1 or 2 slices of pizza when you wanted to eat the entire thing.  Pat yourself on the back.

Be proud of every accomplishment you achieve, no matter how small they may seem, they are still accomplishments, achievements, progress… and they deserve your praise.  And a funny thing will happen once you start becoming proud of the little things… you start to WANT to find more things to give yourself a pat on the back for, because those ‘pats on the back’ make you feel good inside.  And we all like feeling good, we all like feeling a sense of accomplishment and we all like to walk around feeling proud inside about who we are.  And with practice, time, patience, and hard work what we accomplish on the inside, starts to show on the outside.  And that is our greatest reward.  If you genuinely like yourself, others can’t help but like you too.  Positive attracts positive.   It rubs off on others!  It’s contagious!  And that’s a wonderful thing.