Do Something Friday

Inertia: inertness, esp. with regard to effort, motion, action, and the like; inactivity; sluggishness.

I was just reading Jena Strong's blog -- Bulls Eye, Baby and one of her sentences jumped out at me in connection.

Doing: the antidote to to inertia.

What struck me about this phrase is that it didn't talk about the quality of the doing. Just doing something breaks the inactivity, sluggishness, or non-motion.

Once your doing, you can fine tune the process.

The other day, I had my first official golf lesson (wonderful experience, by the way!! If you are looking for a pro to help you out -- I definitely recommend Clark). What struck me about the pro's teaching was he kept telling me not to worry about where the ball was going just yet. He wanted to me to get the feel for the swing mechanics he was trying to show me. "Feel the swing -- follow through -- don't worry about the ball just yet".

Putting the ball in front of me creates a mental block. Practice swings can look pretty good but put a ball down and ask me to hit it and that is all I can think about -- the swing work goes right out the window because I am focusing on where I want to ball to go instead of working on the swing mechanics and letting correct mechanics control the ball's flight.

This makes me think about mindful eating and trying to lose weight. Without the pressure of losing weight, many people work on adopting mindful eating practices, reconnecting with their sensations of hunger and fullness -- all of it becoming more pleasurable as they learn the skills.

When you throw in the wrinkle of weight loss, it just adds pressures to the mix. Much like my focus on the path I want the ball to take, when a person feels the pressure of losing weight, their newly learned, more efficient mindful skills go right out the window in their attempt to get the weight gone.

So...think about this for the weekend. Work on appreciating all of the pleasure being more mindful can bring to your eating experiences. Let it just be what it is this weekend. Don't worry about whether or not you are losing weight -- just taste, appreciate, and enjoy your foods. When they stop tasting Fantastic!! and are merely tasting good -- then stop eating. Remember -- practice the swing until it feels more natural than anything else.

AND -- if you are looking for a fun opportunity to get out and move -- think about stopping by the golf dome in Schoolcraft and say "hi" to Clark!