The date for my birthday party is approaching rapidly and we still have a lot to do. I decided to have a Southwestern theme and am trying out an idea I have for the centerpiece. I found some one quart pails at The Container Store and I am going paint a portion of the pail aqua, then cut out a Kokopelli from contact paper and attach it to the painted section. After attaching the Kokopelli I will randomly paint the entire can in Southwestern colors – beiges, pinks, browns, oranges maybe some yellow and when that paint is dry, peel off the Kokopelli design, leaving him in aqua. I will then outline the figure with tiny holes drilled with a small dremel bit, put sand in the bottom of the pail and insert a votive or tee light candle, which will light up the inside and show through the drilled outline. I am working on my first one today to be sure it comes out like I envision. We are also going to have luminarias light the path to the reception center where the party will be held. I can hardly wait to see how beautiful it will be.
It is not unusual for my visionary schemes to not quite work the way I thought they would, but I can almost always play with them until they satisfy me. This is the way I designed my “perfect weight body”. I visualized how I wanted to look then found an eating program that I could live with for the rest of my life – which wasn’t hard because it includes anything and everything I want to eat. I keep that vision at the forefront of my thoughts, especially during meal or snack time. When I found the right combination of how much I could eat and how much exercise I had to do, I then incorporated that into my daily life. I had a lot of tweaking to do before I got it right. I had to learn how to train my mind to be satisfied with what my body said was a sufficient amount of food. My overeating was not caused by my body wanting more and more food – it was caused by my mind thinking I needed more food. Once I convinced myself that only a portion of what I was used to eating was enough – that I was not going to starve, I began changing my attitude toward the food I was consuming and toward my body. I began loving my body because it was responding to the change – and as the changes began to appear, it was very easy to bring up that picture I had in my mind of how I wanted to look, act and feel.
The exercise part was a little more difficult. It was not an easy task to get up out of a nice warm bed early in the morning and get to the YMCA. I have never been an athletic type person and exercise came under the heading of WORK, which I always strived to avoid if at all possible. However, I knew that if I really wanted to achieve my “perfect body” I would have to do some toning and strengthening and exercise was the best way to do that. When we lived in Albuquerque I could walk four or five miles a day every day and I really didn’t mind that, but because of the weather in Houston, it is not a pleasant task walking in hot, humid weather – and there are so few days when the weather is to my liking when it comes to being out in it – so the Y was the best course to follow. Now, with my vision of my “perfect body” firmly entrenched in my thoughts, I do get up almost every weekday morning and get to the gym. When I first began the exercise routine, I really didn’t like any part of it, but, when I changed my attitude toward the process, I found it almost enjoyable – and I really get a kick out of seeing just how much weight I have lifted over the weeks. I feel better about myself, and I feel physically better – I am no longer short of breath and I don’t have trouble getting up and down. I had gotten to the point where my joints didn’t work well and my knees would be stiff and sore – that is no longer the case.
By visualizing my new life and new look and because of a change in attitude toward myself and what I really wanted to be like – and then experimenting, keeping what worked and letting go of what didn’t I have achieved my goal. I am still tweaking the process but I begin each and every day with my vision of how i want to look, act and feel for the rest of my life and live each day accordingly. It’s all about attitude and fortitude – if you want anything it, it can be yours.
Think Thin Thoughts!
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Tags: Albuquerque, attitude, birthday party, centerpiece, eating program, exercise, experimenting, fortitude, Houston, Kokopelli, The Container Store, tweaking, visionary, walking, weather, YMCA
