by Elad Levinson
The BIG question everyone asks is what does it take to sustain weight loss? Losing is not the hard part- keeping it off. Having confidence that you will continue to succeed is the difficulty.
I have been wondering this out loud to several clients and colleagues and collecting an informal survey of answers- and I am curious if anyone who reads this would agree or disagree.
Here are my conclusions- first and foremost; you have to care enough about something more than over eating. That could mean, living long enough to watch your kids grow up, or being able to play with your grandchildren or it could be that you have discovered that you are worth good health.
Second, there is some sort of epiphany or spiritual moment when you realize that you are a part of something sacred or blessed and that it is a part of your heritage as a spiritual being to be well. That awakening can take many forms from the sublime to the mundane experience of simply wanting to be healthy so that you can live fully engaged.
Third, honesty and self examination become a matter of survival not something to resist or rebel against. Without honest, direct feedback and the ability to listen to it and learn from it we are caught up in a bubble of self delusion and deceit. It is imperative that we learn to learn, the way a mature adult does. They want to improve and develop not stagnate and suffer forever.
Finally, we connect with our basic goodness and basic intelligence. Inside all of us is a simple, clear, helpful, loving perspective that we can access when we develop internal peace, slow down and listen carefully.
I believe that there are many more success stories than is currently thought to be and if you are one of them, please write to me and tell me about your experience of sustaining weight loss and continuing health improvement.
Posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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by Maryann Marks
Don’t ask me how the researchers figure out these things. But the research says that we have an average of 65,000 thoughts a day. About 64,900 are a repetition of the day before. Thus the wheel turns over and over in the mind, compulsively thinking the same mostly mundane thoughts about past, future, and a few select thoughts on the present moment.
Now I am in yoga class this morning. I confess I haven’t been in awhile. My ten minutes of stretching after working out just isn’t enough for me. So, my yoga class is beginning to become a bit torturous in the tight spots, which seem to been multiplying. A voice says “try just paying attention to the breath”. This is what I do during my meditation practice. Why not bring it into daily life? “OK, I’ll try it for awhile”. The more I stay with it, the easier the yoga practice gets. The tight spots are tight, but my mind isn’t fixated on the thoughts that this is torture. By simply putting my attention on the breath, life becomes easier. By the end of class, my energy level is high. I go grocery shopping and return home to face the task of cleaning house. The thoughts start to slide back in, “I’m going to be too tired to clean house. My back is going to hurt”, cascades into endless thoughts about a future in which I am cleaning house in pain. I say to myself, “Let’s see how far I can take this idea of paying attention to the breath”. Slowly I start the housecleaning. I notice, that if I keep bringing my attention back to the breath, I can clean without much back pain. There is slight back pain in the back ground of my thoughts, but I start to clean more than I usually do. I find that I’m enjoying going slowly and my energy continues build.
After I’m done, I’m feeling a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment that my house is clean and I still have energy. In fact, I have so much energy that I want to write about it. I’ve heard it said many times that mindfulness practice is simple; just keep paying attention to the breath. Theoretically it is easy until this mind begins churning out its quota of 65,000 thoughts a day over the past and future, exhausting me while it does its job.
I’m going to run an experiment, and see how long I can keep returning to the breath, when the thinking mind is not necessary. You may find if you try it that your energy starts to increase as the repetitious thoughts fade into the background. Don’t be discouraged when your mind wanders off. This is very typical, although it takes awhile to train the mind to stay with the breath, just the act of bringing your attention back to it will have profound effects on you. Many people report that they are able to focus better, relax, stay calm, and complete the task at hand without so much effort. I believe that what you experience will be worth the experiment. I’d love to hear from you what worked and what needs some adjustment.
Posted on Saturday, September 19, 2009
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