Lemons and Sour Pickles

The subtitle of this post is: "Just how powerful thoughts are." Imagine a lemon in your hands. Feel the size, shape and texture. Imagine putting it on a cutting board and taking a knife and cutting through it. Imagine putting it to your tongue and squeezing out some of the juice. What just happened? Did you salivate? Imagine it again with a sour pickle. Allowing your imagination to flow can be as powerful as doing.

Think from the end. If you want to lose weight, imagine yourself already there. Never been thin, been so many years ago you forget? Imagine a body that seems comfortable to you and photoshop your head onto it. Do it. There you go. For myself, I do not imagine an airbrushed version of a skinny 20-something actress prancing around on the beach who is on the cover of People. I imagine myself 2 sizes smaller (honest to god - all this to just to be two sizes smaller!) and I focus on the knees. Healthy strong knees. I'm blessed at 58 not to have a single wrinkle on my face. But I got lousy knees... I imagine what it feels like. I imagine everything that comes with it: Ease of movement, clothing in size mediums and 12s and 14s, knees that don't ache (so much), enjoying a bounty of healthy foods (but not eating the whole bounty at one sitting), a smile, a feeling of accomplishment... Good feelings. Happy feelings. And I can have them all NOW. THIS MINUTE.

The trick here is to imagine something that is natural and comfortable for you. We would all like to wake up tomorrow 20 pounds lighter. But really... is that natural? I guarantee it wouldn't be comfortable because to have done so probably means you had both legs cut off during the night while you were sleeping. I can, however, imagine myself 20 pounds lighter by the end of two months....

A person who is a healthy size with healthy bloodwork is not the type of person who will overeat, binge, eat junk food, be a couch potato. So if I already am salivating while I am imagining the pickle, why can I not already be "there" by imagining myself to be the person in the body I imagine. Which thoughts will get me to where I want to go: "I am fat, I'll never lose weight, I'm old and tired, my knees hurt, I give up" ..... OR "I am fit, I am fabulous, I feel great, I eat right, I am healthy" hmm? Some would say the first set of thoughts will get you to where you want to be because beating yourself is where it's at if you want to motivate yourself. I would say that the second set of thoughts will get me to where I want to go because once I have already imagined it, it sets things in motion because reality always seeks to align with thoughts.

It is not that you wish it and imagine it and wish it and imagine it and poof - one morning it is there for you. What makes thinking from the end work is that eventually you align your behaviors with what will take you there. If I am imagining myself as someone who is physical eventually I will align my behaviors so that I am. If I am imagining myself as someone who eats healthy my behaviors will align with that. How aligned are my spirit and my behavior with my thoughts? If your thoughts are to berate yourself, beat yourself up, and believe that this time will be not be different from any other, then your spirit will be beaten and your behavior will be aligned with what you have thought - "I will never lose weight. I can't lose weight. I hate measuring foods. This time isn't any different." BUT, if your thoughts are that you are already healthy, then your spirit is free and excited, and your behaviors are aligned with the way you ARE. We have all heard of water seeking its own level. This is no different. Our behaviors will seek the level you set for it.

You cannot find abundance by dwelling on lack. You cannot find your calling by insisting you have none. You cannot find health by dwelling on illness and disease. Michelangelo said, "The greatest danger for most of us lies in not setting our mark too high and falling short; it is in setting our aim too low, and reaching our mark." He is also the one who said, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." I think that all the negative thoughts and labels we give ourselves are that block of marble. It is in the imagination and good thoughts that we are able to carve away the stone until we set ourselves free. Why not have a high mark instead of a low one? Why sell ourselves short with regard to all the accomplishments that are available to us?

But, turning back to verse 1 of the Tao, aren't we supposed to dwell in "desirelessness" and allowing instead of wanting and doing? Here is the rub: The Tao is not telling us to not want and not do. The Tao is telling us that we must live in, and accept, the dichotomy of all of life. There is no life without a concept of death. There is no concept of black without the concept of white. There is no concept of tall without a concept of short. Each quality fits into and against its opposite. It is okay to want and desire to lose weight, but the success of doing so lies in allowing the process instead of forcing the process. Allowing versus doing. I am on a journey of allowing my body to enjoy nature's bounty in the way my body was intended to enjoy it. I am cooking and baking "clean" foods and then sitting and listening to my body tell me what it wants in the portions it wants. I am allowing the process. I am not reversing it (doing) and using my ego to tell my body what it wants: x amount of calories of this, x ounces of that, etc. I can want yet allow.

It's so peaceful here in this place....

Samida