On loan from the Divine

"It’s like the Sufis say. Everything we have is not truly ours. It’s simply on loan to us from the Divine. We’re not the owners or the controllers, we’re the stewards. It’s up to us to make the most of what we’ve been given." --Pace

The above was a comment in response to a post on the blog Zen Habits. The whole post was great and I think the 2 questions Glen asked are worth asking ourselves -- the first one is:

If someone had a video tape of your typical day, what would they see?


And the second:

Based on your current actions and behaviours, where would you expect to be in five years? (please note the author makes the destinction between where you expect to be based on projecting your current actions vs. where you would like to be -- based on changes you might make. -- we are talking about projecting your current actions out 5 years.)

Many times, when working with a client, I stress that being non-judgmental is necessary to be able to acknowledge behaviors that are not serving you well. I will stress it here again -- don't judge your behaviors!!! I want you to just look them over in your mind's eye and see what you are doing. This is why I encourage you to keep your food journal -- it gives you a tool to examine your behaviors. Creates a habit of awareness about what you are doing so you can look back on what you ate and see if the behaviors are serving you well.

If you look at what you're doing and see that it is not serving you well -- that is the first step. The second step is to find a place to start.

If you are taking to long view of weight management, if you are done with the quick weight loss and then gaining it all back, then which small behavior change (notice behavior change is not plural -- just one) do you think you can make and sustain?

"Okay", you say,"but that change is not going to make all the difference in my losing 50 pounds -- just doing that will not get me to my goal!"

True.

But as you become aware of some of the decisions you are making that consistantly move you away from your goal -- you can make another small change you can live with. People average 250 food decisions daily. Start making one or two differently and the calories will add up.

For example: Let's say you drink two softdrinks a day (real sugar -- not diet). If you reduce your intake to one per day you would save 65700 calories in a year (almost 19 pounds) -- and this is just the calories for a CAN of soda -- not a 20 oz. bottle! So... this one change would get you almost half way to your goal of losing 50 pounds. Yup, it would take a whole year to achieve BUT...it's only a 1 can of soda change.

And how much better of a steward of what you have been given (a body that gets you from place to place, a body that lets you feel hugs from the people you love, a body that gives you the ability to make others smile) would you be by making just this one small change?