It’s 9:30 on a gorgeous morning in Cambridge, and I already have a terrific feeling of well-being and accomplishment. That kind of feeling, when you feel like you have already accomplished something of value and you’ve got most of the day ahead of you, is extremely beneficial. It’s worth a lot to do what it takes to get that feeling somewhere near the beginning of the day.
This feeling of worthiness, happiness, and accomplishment makes a big difference in how I will live my life the rest of today. And how I live my life the rest of the day will contribute mightily to how I will feel when I get up tomorrow morning.
This may seem simple-minded, but it is my belief that simple-minded truths are every bit as important as much more complicated postulations in determining, generally, how our lives go. And, specifically, how well we do with a goal such as losing weight.
Several things seem to contribute to this feeling for me today, and I mention them because their variety seems instructive:
· I had a nice dinner last night at a place a few blocks from here called Spirit Bar.
· Afterward I came back home, got some work done which makes me feel like I have a leg up on today’s work, and watched most of a pretty good movie on DVD.
· I slept well and woke up rested at 6:59 am.
· The scale says I have now lost 17 pounds in the 18 days of Big Man Getting Smaller, so I can make the Janis Ian song into today’s soundtrack.
· I had a great early morning workout at the gym, including 3.1 miles on the elliptical with my heart rate around 130 most of the time and over 150 when I kicked a little harder.
· I’ve been in touch with several good friends in the past couple of days and I’m having breakfast with my daughter Moriah Thursday morning.
· I just finished a delicious breakfast of fresh strawberries and cream with raw sugar on top.
· The last three songs playing on my iTunes have been great tunes by Buddy Miller, Sinead O’Connor and Johnny Adams.
I apologize if this seems like self-absorption, but my point is that things like this make a huge difference. We don’t live in a vacuum. We are connected to people, to the planet, to our bodies (duh!), to what we just did and to what we are about to do. We have a lot of influence over whether all of these connections are things that make us feel good or make us feel bad. When we do things that make us feel good, we are more likely to keep doing things that make us feel good.
And let me, without getting too pedantic, make an important distinction. There are things that make us feel good, like the things I mentioned above, which work wonderfully for me.
Then there are other things that we do, usually not in moderation, to try to feel good when we feel bad. We all know what they are, generally speaking, but like the other things they vary from person to person. Maybe they are jelly donuts or ice cream or drugs or gambling or … the list could go on and on. They don’t work very often, or for very long.
Usually quick fixes like that are more a matter of going back to the problem for the solution.
It takes a little more time and an occasional effort to fill our lives with things that truly make us feel good, but I like the results much better.
Another simple-minded truth from the Big Man Getting Smaller.
Enjoy a little Janis Ian with me now.
Living with simplicity and in the present moment are wise lessons. Thanks for passing them along. I don't know a better prescription for the well-lived life. And if that life includes fresh strawberries and cream, it rocks!
Raven
I think that when one is following one's bliss one naturally attracts abundance in all forms to oneself.
If that bliss includes strawberries and creme and one's feeling about the stawberries and creme do not include guilt, I think it's probably ok.
We all have little comforting things we do when we're out of sorts... the trick is to change your perspective so that cleaning, and laundry whilst munching on some healthy snack become part of those comforting actions.