"Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble,
it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself, it is still a beautiful world.

You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams
it is still a beautiful world.

                              
Take a look at your priorities and your goals.
Where did they come from?

Are they the products of soul-searching, self-analysis, and careful planning?
Or are they a reaction to pressures from other people?
Did you find them within yourself or within the pages of a magazine?

The answers to these questions are important
because they tell you if the person you're becoming
is someone you want to be.
Here's another way to look at a goal:
do you want it, or do you just think you should want it?

It's not easy to follow your own direction in life.
But it's more possible than you may think.

Question everything.
Every priority in your life needs to justify why it's there.
If you can't come up with a good reason
that actually comes from YOU, maybe it doesn't belong
. 

"To be nobody but yourself
--in a world which is doing its best, night and day,
to make you everybody else—

means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight;
and never stop fighting."

...................by EE Cummings, poet

                                                      
Many of us have preconceived expectations
when we start our weight-loss journey,
as to how long it will take.

We think that by doing everything to a T,
everything will go as planned.
But many times that is not the case.

We must learn to accept the obstacles
that are inevitable in this journey,
knowing that the end is not what makes us who we are
or who we were meant to be.
It is the journey of overcoming obstacles
that defines who we are and who we are meant to be.

Giving up is not an option.

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up feeling good,
but then someone steps on your plans and dreams for the day?

As I watched this recent video
which was created, produced and filmed by my son-the-web-genius,

I realized…for most of us.....

Some days are just like this.

                                                      
Food and money have a great deal in common.
A specific amount of money goes into my bank account each month,
and that is the amount of money I have to pay my bills and
meet my needs each month.

If I want to save up for a trip or a treat,
I have to budget my money, and do without spending the amount I need to save.
Frequently I also feel like spending more money than I have in my bank account,
I have that choice. There are ways I can accomplish this.
But, making a choice to spend as much as I want,
will lead to negative consequences . . . making my life difficult to deal with.
That fact and that situation will not change, even though I may hate it.

AND

My body uses a specific amount of food each day/week/month,
that is the amount of food I need to put into it.
If I want to reduce my size,
I have to eat LESS food than my body uses to create an energy deficit.

I can choose to live within my energy allowance or not.
Frequently I also feel like eating more food than my body can use,
I have that choice.
But, making a choice to eat as much as I want,
will lead to negative consequences., i.e. even more stored fat.
The fact and situation will not change, even though I may hate it.

 As a mature adult human being,
I know that frequently I simply can't have my own way.
This is true of spending money, and of eating food.
There has to be some form of self-regulation...with both money and food.

If one chooses not to count calories, following a specifically defined
food-plan is a good way to self-regulate food.

However, even one Bingeing day a week,
can easily provide the body with more energy than one's body can use in that entire week.
To give any Diet, or food-plan,  a Chance, one needs to actually follow it.

I am not a fan of Intuitive Eating Concepts
and in future Blogs, I will have much to say about the idea 
of letting one's body tell one what, when, and how much to eat
based one's perception of hunger.

I am very familiar with the issue of  Hunger,
and I have found that  when dieting,
Appetite, not Hunger, is the most difficult problem to overcome.

Personally, I've found temporary physical Hunger to be the least important issue
in determining whether I can successfully follow a diet,
because one's stomach (and one's brain) quickly becomes used to
being fed a certain amount at a certain time,
IF the amount and the time are consistent.

There are "stretch receptors" in one's stomach,
and if one eats an equal volume 3 times a day,
one's stomach (and brain) will adapt to that amount and timing.
When one is overweight and not in danger of actual Starvation,
Physical Hunger is a problem that can be rather easily resolved,
and  rarely seems to be the primary cause of either Overeating, or Obesity.