Inconveniences - POSTED ON: May 19, 2011
Life sometimes has problems. How I look at those difficulties, and what I tell myself about them, and how I choose to deal with them, makes a great deal of difference in my mood and in the quality of my life.
For the past four weeks I have been recovering from two broken bones that connect my arm to my wrist. Because I am over 60 years old, recovery might be a bit slow. So patience is necessary.
My arm hurts, and I am unable to tolerate pain medication. There are a great many things that are difficult to do with one hand, and many more things that are impossible. Therefore my normal activities are greatly restricted.
For example, yesterday morning I decided I wanted to cook dinner. I chose my easy recipe for Mild Chili Beans which is posted here at DietHobby under RECIPES, Mealtime.
It takes at least twice as much effort to do everything. I got hamburger meat from the freezer, a can of tomatoes, a can of kidney beans, and seasoning mix from the pantry.
When I got out the raw onion, it then occurred to me that I would be unable to peel, slice, and chop it. Then I realized that I also couldn’t open the cans, or access the pot that I use to cook this recipe.
These inconveniences were relatively minor and merely temporary, but they interfered with my immediate plans, and I’m not fond of that. I felt the emotions that are common to us all in such situations. So what to do?
I could give in to those negative emotions …and wallow in them for awhile…, or I could choose to deliberately focus my mind on the positives of my life that still exist in my current situation in a purposeful attempt to give myself a better day. I have learned from my own experience that this choice is what determines the quality of my life.
I began calling to mind all of the things I have to feel grateful for, and all of the things that I can still immediately do. This did make me feel better, and soon a solution presented itself to me. I decided to ask my husband to cut up the onion, to open the cans, and to get out the pan. He did those things for me when he got home from work, and I was able to cook dinner.
This is a small example of a big principle, and I’ve found that it applies to every situation in my life.
Belief In Oneself - POSTED ON: May 11, 2011
Believing in oneself is simple to understand, but is difficult to put into practice. It takes a positive mindset to achieve in life, and a belief that we can accomplish what we need to do. To establish confidence that we can achieve our goals. we sometimes need to ignore what others say. Other people might tell us that we can’t achieve a seemingly unreachable task or target. But if we have belief in ourselves and have decided to work on achieving a task, success can happen. Self-belief…even in times of great desperation… is what gives us the confidence to put forth the effort that is necessary to accomplish our goals. The old fable below illustrates the point. One day after a day of hard work a donkey was returning home from the field and suddenly he slipped and fell into a deep well. The donkey started crying and hearing his cry, the farmer came and tried to pull the donkey out of the well. However the donkey was too frightened to even try to climb out, because he thought he might fall again while being pulled out of the well. Finally, the exhausted farmer, decided to take his friends’ advice to leave the donkey in the well and to close up the well so there would be no more falling incidents. The donkey was sad when he heard them discussing the plan. He had served the farmer for years, and now they were going to kill him by closing the well. He lost all hope. The farmer and his friends started throwing sand into the well and when the sand started pouring on top of the donkey's body the donkey realized he was about to die. But the donkey then chose to use this hardship as an opportunity, and started jumping over the sand each time it was thrown into the well. As the sand piled up, the donkey rose to the top of the well where he was able to climb out. This made everyone very happy. The moral of this fable is that when the donkey believed in himself enough to make the effort, he used his last opportunity to solve his problem.
Hard? - POSTED ON: May 09, 2011
There is some type of technical computer code glitch between Internet Explorer, DietHobby, and YouTube that occasionally keeps a daily blog from working properly with embedded videos.
So, when this occurs while I'm posting an article, I've decided to deal with it by posting that video as a second separate blog, as I did here today.
I call it living in the solution, not the problem.
In Denial - POSTED ON: May 06, 2011
Being in Denial means: “refusing to admit the truth or reality of something unpleasant”.
To succeed at weight-loss and maintenance of weight-loss one must face and accept some essential unpleasant Truths.
One of these unpleasant Truths is:
without some form of portion control, an obese person cannot become normal size.
Another of these unpleasant Truths is:
facing failures is necessary to achieve success.
Rule or Suggestion? - POSTED ON: May 05, 2011
Which is actually better, a Rule or a Suggestion?
A Rule is –
a prescribed guide for conduct or action; an order or direction; a regulating principle; a usually valid generalization; a standard of judgment.
To Suggest is -
Suggest stresses putting into the mind by association of ideas, awakening of a desire, or initiating a train of thought
to seek to influence; to mention or imply as a possibility; to propose as desirable or fitting; to offer for consideration; to serve as a motive or inspiration for.
A Suggestion is –
The process by which a physical or mental state is influenced by a thought or idea.
The process by which one thought leads to another especially through association of ideas.
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