Thank You for coming here to read my Thoughts,
and
Thank You to those who share your own Thoughts with me.

Everybody wants to be beautiful,
but the definition of beauty is subjective.

Beauty is always judged by the receiver, but each of us
has an “inner-observer” that helps provide objectivity,
which is how individual perceptions of beauty,
....which factor in other characteristics such as personality and intelligence, ....
are often aggregated to form a consensus opinion.

Although beauty is subjective, our notion of what is beautiful
is also greatly influenced by the media, which leads us all to think
that having a fat free and svelte body is the ideal figure.

In fact, beauty is actually a combination of all the qualities of a person;
the things that delight the senses and
please the mind intellectually or emotionally.

In no particular order, here are a few things
to remind us how beautiful we truly are:

• Love makes you beautiful.
• Your good manners contribute to beauty.
• You’ve got a unique way of doing things and that makes you beautiful.
• Your eyes, hair, mouth, legs, shape make you beautiful.
• Your kindness and warmth makes you beautiful.
• Your smile makes you beautiful.
• Your good heart makes you beautiful.
• Your soothing or husky voice makes you beautiful.
• Your patience and empathy makes you beautiful.
• Your interest in others makes you beautiful.
• Your fashion sense and style makes you attractive.
• Your ripped abs and muscles makes you attractive.
• Your charisma makes you look beautiful.
• Pregnancy makes you beautiful.
• Your height (tall, short or average) makes you beautiful
• Depending on how you present them, at times even your flaws make you beautiful.
• Your friendly personality makes you beautiful.
• Your positive attitude to life makes you beautiful.
• The way you toss your hair, keep your nails, shrug your shoulders,
................walk upright, all contribute toward making you beautiful.
• Your specific interests play a role in your beauty.
• Your humility also makes you beautiful.
• Your overwhelming charm makes you beautiful.
• Your healthy eating habits make you beautiful.
• Your nice smell contributes to what makes you attractive.
• Wearing bright colors make you beautiful.
• Celebrating others and giving sincere compliments adds to your beauty.
• Your talents make you beautiful.
• Your thoughtfulness makes you beautiful.

Regardless of how you define beauty, you’re right.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…it’s subjective.
Nobody can prove that what you see as beautiful is wrong.

                
Today I choose to be Hopeful
about the difficulties in my life.
You can choose to join me in doing this.

  Wisdom from a member of a forum I frequent:

“Situations don't MAKE us eat,
stress doesn't make us eat,
being exposed to certain foods doesn't make us eat, etc.

They all increase the DESIRE to eat even when there is no true hunger.
It would be nice to be able to avoid situations that make us desire food,
but good luck.

Just having the desire doesn't make us eat, either,
anymore than feeling the urge to urinate makes us relieve ourselves
as soon as we feel it. And just because relieving themselves
(after waiting until an appropriate time and place) feels good,
most people don't purposely drink more and more
just so that they can feel that good feeling again. “ 

Sometimes I choose not to organize my Thoughts,
and just write about them in a random manner
Today is one of those days.

This is my first morning weighing in without any cast.
I am pleased about this.
However, even a slight use of my wrist, arm and hand is painful.
I am unable to grasp anything; can’t curl my hand into a fist,
or position my wrist above the keyboard in a typing position.
So recovery appears to be more distant than I anticipated,
and I am working to readjust my expectations
about being able to quickly resume my normal activities.

Today my weight is only one pound higher
than it was on Good Friday morning,
which is the day I broke my wrist.
During this period, I’ve managed to keep my calories
lower than is normal for me, but I’ve had to spend
a great deal of time at rest, which reduced my energy burn.
I am both grateful for, and dissatisfied by, my weight results,
and I believe that is a fairly normal reaction.
 One of my sisters-in-law died this week, 
which reminds me that life is short and precious.
Looking at the Big Picture shows me that
my temporary disability and discomfort is actually
only a minor inconvenience.

Sorrow comes to us all, and there are times we feel sad.
But even during times of sadness, I believe that each of us has the ability
to work on adjusting our mental attitudes toward Acceptance and Gratitude,
and that by placing our focus on the things that are positive
we can make life far more pleasant, both for ourselves and for others.

Feeling Lucky often takes effort.

Directing one's Focus on the Positive is hard work.
Old patterns, old thoughts, old behaviors
will come up again and again.
In order to be healthy, we must learn to accept this fact,
and let them surface precisely so we can let them out

 Sometimes I mope, worry, and cry a few times,
and write my feelings down.
Up and out and gone. Until next time.
I work on Acceptance and Gratitude.
Life is a continual awakening and a continual letting go.

Years ago, these experience were much different.
I would have had all these feelings, with no awareness.
I would have stuffed them down with food 
and then I would have felt guilt and shame.
The pathetic cycle would continue,
and I would have no idea why.

Sometimes we believe that once we:

• lose the weight
• succeed at the physical feat of our choice
• haven’t binged in X days or weeks or months or even years!
• wear a certain size clothing
• haven’t eaten the food we individually perceive as “evil”
• have bariatric surgery
• (choose some other measurement of perceived perfection)

…we believe that we’re immune. 
   But, this is never true.

It’s not about “never again”
it’s about catching ourselves sooner!