“Consistency carries the day.”  ~Rich Roll

This post is about becoming steadfast.  Dependable to oneself.  Beginning every day with a purpose, a planned series of actions and plans for what do when external circumstances go awry.  It’s even more an act of faith to be consistent in action when we’ve yet to see the fruits of our effort.  Paying dues.  How do we do that?

The beginning is the hardest, they say.  I believe they’re right.  Momentum brings ease, partly because humans are creatures of habit, for better or worse.  Once we get in the routine of doing a thing, the action becomes automatic, there’s less thinking involved.  Thinking is the blessing and the curse in itself.  We come up with great ideas and plans by thinking, but we have to be careful to not become a prisoner of our negative thoughts.  The mind tells stories which may or may not be true.  “Is what I’m thinking serving me in becoming the greatest version of myself?”  That’s the question we should ask.

Most, probably 90% of the work it takes to transform the body is in the mind.  Once we know what to do, the larger question becomes, “How can I convince myself to do this daily, for the long haul?”  What can I do to override the urges that inevitably come?  I would venture to say that most people know what to do and eat to become healthy, in this information age, although there are numerous variations, the fundamental knowledge is no secret.  The mental game is harder to learn.  One reason for this is that, because each person’s physiology and perception is different, we each are triggered by different things, and we have been conditioned to respond to external stimuli in different ways.

Some of the ways I’ve allowed my mind to trip me up and steer me away from the path I want to be on:

1. Coming home from work, smelling food cooking and saying, I’ll just start again tomorrow.

2.  Accepting and eating food I know is not in my plan so that others won’t feel bad.  Basically, allowing others to make choices for me rather than making appropriate choices for myself.

3.  Avoiding my life’s work and using snacks for joy and entertainment.

4.  Starting to see good results and allowing my mind to trick me when it says, “you can have that, it’s just one ___, it’s not going to make a difference.”

5.  Spending too much time looking in the mirror, then allowing myself to be discouraged about my present condition, rather than reminding myself that my condition is changing, and then making poor food choices to neutralize the sadness.

Study yourself.  Learn what and how your mind reacts to any stimulus we might not only taste, but also see, smell, hear or touch.  Try new fruits and vegetables you’ve never had.  Learn what you like.  Discover what activities in life bring you joy and do them.   The mind is only a tool. Make it work for you.

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