Truck on over to The Penny has Dropped -- there is a wonderful 2010 break up letter to Fear. No matter what you are afraid of for the upcoming year or how you have spent the last year being fearing of something, totally worth the read!!

(and to give credit where credit is due, I wouldn't have read the post at all if it wasn't for wonderful Magpie Girl -- so thanks to her for her link!)

Eating Integrity

You all know how much I LOVE Magpie's blog, right?? (She's the one that does the 8 things lists -- I do some of them too -- some of them I post and some I keep to myself)...Well, a couple days ago she had a guest blogger. Becky Knight is a Clinical Sexologist (once this was established in the opening paragraph --since I didn't know what a clinical sexologist did -- I was a little concerned about reading the post at work -- it would be a shame to get fired for reading a Magpie post gone wrong :)

As it turns out, Becky wanted to get readers thinking about how our guiding values (a subject of an earlier Magpie 8 things post)effected how we viewed our sexuality.

What you also know about me, is that I am all for exploring everyday decisions made on autopilot -- examining them to see if they are still working for me.

After reading Becky's post, I created my own list of 8 Guiding Principles listed below:

1. Beauty of life (look for it, embrace it, cultivate it)
2. Love (grow it -- the world needs all it can get)
3. Peace (I am not world-wide ambitious -- I am talked about cultivating peace within myself -- if I am peaceful, it is more difficult for you to be in a crank -- if we all worked a little bit in this direction it might just change the world -- but the only thing I can do is do my part)
4. Grace
5. joie (things that make my heart sing)
6. Living out loud (not being afraid to make mistakes in my effort to live a full life -- what are the chances I am going to get it all right the first time I try, right?)
7. Carpe diem (this moment is all I am guaranteed)
8. Authenticity
and I couldn't resist adding just one more:
9. Fearlessness

If these are principles I am using to guide my life, shouldn't they be taken into consideration with my eating habits? Don't I want something that I do multiple times every day to support the principles I am using to guide my life? You bet!!

So...is being afraid to gain weight supportive of my guiding principles? NO.

Is worrying about how much fat is in my favorite risotto supportive of my guiding principles? NO.

Is beating myself up because I had to work through lunch today -- so I didn't get my workout in supportive? NO.

What about understanding that I am more able to do the work I love when I feel comfortable in my own skin? Yup.

What about enjoying my favorite fat-filled risotto but understanding that I can't eat the whole bowl in one sitting because it will upset my stomach -- and then accepting and acting on that thought? Yup.

What about understanding that I love the work I do and one workout more or less isn't really going to make that big of a difference one way or another -- I am in for the long haul? Yup. Yup.

If you won't treat yourself by the guiding principles, how true are you being to yourself? And how much is the world lessened by the way you treat yourself?

8 things I need less of...

I have posted an 8 things list before. Again, this is inspired by Magpie girl.

1. Experts telling what foods are "good" foods and which ones are "BAD" foods.

2. Experts changing their minds on their original opinions of "good" foods and "BAD" foods.

3. Processed foods that are white.

4. Guilt when I eat Cheetos.

5. The feeling that people judge what I am eating because of the job I do.

6. The feeling I get when people say I must have a rocking metabolism because I can maintain my weight without any effort (excuse me? Do they not see all the ways I practice what I preach?)

7. Grocery store candy bars -- I used to think they were the best thing going. Now, my taste for really, really good chocolate is more developed and the Snicker's of the world don't do it for me -- but I still find myself eating them in a pinch.

8. The voice inside my head that tells me I shouldn't eat this or shouldn't eat that. (If only I could morph that into "I choose not to eat this".)