What do you really value?

Yesterday, I talked a little bit about mindfulness -- what it is and what it's not. 

I assert that whole "experiencing what is currently happening" (or not) is a habit -- what we practice becomes our default settings.  If you make a concerted effort to become more mindful (about anything -- not just eating), mindfulness will move closer and closer to your default setting.  And, it seems to me, the only way to make this happen is if you genuinely value mindfulness.

Valuing something is much different than thinking you should value something.  If you feel you should value living your experience as it unfolds but you don't actually value it -- you're not going to make a habit of it.

The reason being, we only have so much time, attention, and willpower in a given day and we spend it on what is most important to us.

If watching reruns of Lost are important -- that's what you're going to do.  If you find yourself watching Lost and continue watching it even though you feel you "should" go out for a walk, you're still valuing watching the rerun (or more likely, you're valuing the mind-numbing distraction TV provides) more than you  value how the walk may make you feel. Period.

Sometimes, I think many of us let ourselves off the hook with too many excuses.  The whole "I really want to make my health a priority but other things keep getting in my way" mentality.

The sad fact is, we do what we value but often what we actually value, what we want to value, and what we feel we "should" value are quite different.

So, that begs the question:

What did you really value last night?

A sit down, relaxed meal with family or friends?

High quality food that nourished you body and soul?

Quick bite so you could get out on your bike to catch an evening ride?

Or enough low quality, unsatisfying food to lull you into a food coma so you didn't have to think about all the work/personal stuff that's been dragging you down?

Hmmmmm.....maybe it's not food you need.  Maybe it's just food for thought.