Thursday, March 30, 2017

Paradoxes and Frogs!

The Tao Te Ching
Verse #1

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The Tao is both named and nameless.
As nameless it is the origin of all things;
 as named it is the Mother of 10,000 things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery;
every desiring, one sees only the manifestations.
And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding.


In an effort to change my life, both mentally and physically, I have started reading a book called, 'Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life,'  by Dr. Wayne Dryer.  I have read another book by him and I have listened to several of his lectures.  The way he approaches life and the problems we may bring to it.

Dr. Dryer tells us that the Tao is an unknowable, unseeable realm where everything originates; while at the same time, the Tao is invisibly within everything.  When we desire to see this invisibleness (mystery), we attempt to define it in terms of the outer world of form--what Lao-tzu calls "the 10,000 things."  
 Dr. Dryer goes on to say that we achieve this by recognizing and allowing the paradoxes in our life.

When I first read this I immediately thought that desiring was to do and desireless was to do nothing.  To be desireless I must merely sit and meditate on what I want and it will come to me.  That's completely insane and wrong.  What Dr. Dryer is saying is exactly the opposite.  Desiring is the sitting and meditating or just trying and desirelessness is the actual doing.   When we are desiring of something we are wanting it to happen but if we are desireless than we are allowing it to happen.
Wanting = Trying                Allowing = Doing

There are many paradoxes in my life.  I desire to loss weight.  I go out into the world and learn about nutrition and exercise.  I may even practice what I have learned for a while.  As time passes my desire and wanting to loss weight may pay off and I lose some weight but eventually I go back to my old ways and regain all the weight I lost plus some.  I never reached that allowing phase to occur.  And that's my problem.  How do I allow myself to allow?

Dr. Dryer says that we focus too much on how we desire our world to be and not on how it actually is.  If we relax and stop worrying about the 'should be's' in our lives and enjoy what we have and where we are maybe our 'should be's' will turn in to our realities.

In Dr. Dryer's book, Everyday Wisdom for Success, his first piece of advice is based off of this first verse of the Tao TaeChing.

Chasing success is like trying to squeeze a handful of water.
The tighter you squeeze, the less water you get. 
When you chase it, your life becomes the chase,
and you become the victim of always wanting more.
-Dr. Wayne Dryer (2006)

I thought this was completely crazy when I first read it.  Of course, you have to chase success, or how I interpreted it your dreams.  They don't just come to you.  I have never heard of someone sitting at home when there's a knock at the door.  A stranger tells this person that he/she will be a best-selling author and here's your first book.  And no matter how much you want it, there is no magic pill that will cause you to become thin overnight.  No, you chase your dreams.  They do not chase you.  And most dreams worth chasing are more of a marathon than a sprint and the finish line can move or change all together.  But that's not what he is really saying.

Now, I interpret this as, chase your dreams or success but don't let the chase become your dreams or your measure of success.  I have seen people who start out wanting something, once they have achieved that they are off to the next thing never really taking the time to appreciate what it is that they achieved.  They end up losing themselves chasing the next best thing rather than enjoying the journey of getting there.  On the other hand, others never being the chase because they are to afraid of the journey to get them there.  Either way, they are all victims of the chase.

I fear I fall into the later category.  I can see the long hard road ahead of me and I'm afraid, it's too hard and painful, I don't want to do it.  In this case I think I'm allowing my fears to control me rather than allowing what I want to motivate me.  I want to lose weight but do I exercise?  Do I eat what I should?  I want to write but how much time do I devote to actually writing vs thinking about writing?  I want to make jewelry and build it into a business, how much time do I actually devote to doing jewelry each day, week, or month?

In an effort to turn my wanting into allowing, I started reading another book by Brian Tracy called, Eat That Frog!  21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.  I love this book.  Not only does Mr. Tracy give great advice but he does it in such a humorous way that I want to take his advice rather than being overwhelmed by it.

Mr. Tracy states: It has been said for many years that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through your day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

I didn't think it was possible but...







I didn't think it was possible but I actually did it...I now weigh 200 lbs.  That was a number I never
wanted to or never thought I'd see.  I was nearly knocked off the scale when that number popped up.  I would write some choice expletives right now to express my feeling but I can't find any that are strong enough.  Even string six to ten word together won't help me illustrate of how I feel.

I'm uber depressed over this.  I want to give up and eat myself into an early grave.  My mind races with all the comfort food I could eat to absorb the pain of being huge.  How insane is that?  I want to give up and crawl into bed and wait for the sweet release of death. 


But I'm a Weeble.

When a Weeble gets knocked down they bounce right back up (In my case, I bounce back up because my butt is too big. lol).  You can't keep a Weeble down.

So...I need to fix this.

I started this blog a year ago and like my diets, stopped.  I lost my Weeble way.  But now I'm getting back up on my chubby little feet and will waddle up Mt. WeightLoss.

Unfortunately, this climb up Mt. WeightLoss isn't a smooth, straight path.  It's up hill all the way.  And once I've scaled Mt. WeightLoss, this road becomes a top that I must keep balanced and spinning, never letting my attention or focus waver or I will tumble down the mountain side.  My goal while climbing this mountain is to purchase/develop the right safety equipment so that even if my top stops spinning I will be able to catch myself before I fall too far and I will be able to make the climb easier and faster than before.


Mt. WeightLoss



This is my Weeble path.

Shel

Monday, August 8, 2011

I made a break through

I have finally broke my plateau I was on.  I lost my initial few pounds but couldn't get past 193 lbs.  Well, today I weighed in at 192.6.  I was so excited. 

I'm really enjoying this raw diet.  Today, I a marinaded portobella mushroom with veggies.  It was delicious.  The rest to the day I will have my green drink: 1 head of romaine lettuce, kale, spinach, lemon, orange, and 2 apples.  I love this drink and look forward to it.

I really think this will work for me because it's not a diet but a life style.  This is how I want to be, how I want to live and that is why I know it will work for me.  It's not something that will work for everyone but it's what I want and the life path I'm choosing.

Shel

Saturday, August 6, 2011

So I did the raw diet for 7 days.  I didn't lose any weight.  I really thought I would so this was very depressing.  But on the upside I felt great, I loved it so I'm going to continue.

I went on vacation for 3 days and eat crap and I felt like crap.  So today I'm starting raw food again today.  I'm really going to do a lot of juicing.  I make this juice out of a head of romaine lettuce, 2 cups of spinach, an orange, a lemon, and 2 apples.  It is so good, I look forward to it. 

I'm really looking forward to doing this and I hope to convert my family to it.  I realized that I'm poisoning my children by giving them the processed crap I feed them.  I am realistic, I don't think that they will be 100% raw nor do I think I will but we will be as much raw as we can be.  I really want my husband to do this but I think he will be the hardest one to convert.  But I'm going to do it. 

I'm not sure why I didn't lose any weight but I don't care.  I know that this is the way to go.  I'm committing to this for 30 days starting today.

Monday, July 25, 2011

I'm Raw

Weigh in: 194.6

I decided not to do the HCG diet at least not now.  I have decided to go Raw.  I tried it once before and lost weight and felt great.  I stopped because it was time consuming and expensive.  I've learned a little more about it and really feel like I can do it this time.  I'm not 100% raw, I like meat.  I will have meat 1 or 2 times a week. 

I choose this because I can make things that I enjoy and I don't have to feel guilty about eating them.  I made cranberry macaroons yesterday that are wonderful and because they are raw I can eat the whole batch if I want.  I didn't but I could. 

I'm also very excited about this diet.  I don't even think of it as a diet but more of a life style choice.  When I tried the HCG diet I felt depressed and deprived when starting it. 

So this is me know.  I'll keep you posted.

Shel

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

HCG day 6

Weigh in:  195.4 lbs
gain: 1.6 lbs

Ok, so the last two days have been really bad.  I haven't followed my eating plan.  I had an audition and I think I was a little stressed by it so I ate my way through it.  This is what I always do.  But today, I'm determined to be good and follow my eating plan.  I'll let you know how I did later today.  I'm at war with myself.

Shel