6 "Mind-Altering" WORDS/PHRASES...
"If you get your mind right, then you can get your body right"
Our words, or in other words (no pun intended), what we choose to speak can set the course for success or failure. Oftentimes, it is just 1 little "word-shift" that can bridge the gap from failure to success. Afterall, our words (what we speak) becomes the foundation for our actions. Our Creator used words to SPEAK the world into existence and He set the model for us to do the same. WHAT WE SPEAK IS WHAT WE CREATE! If you are not where you want to be, then I would first tell you to become very aware of the words you are speaking. Are you speaking words of life or words of death; words of success or words of failure; words of abundance or words of lack; words of thankfulness or words of discontent? This is a foundation for life in general, but more specifially in this blog, I will be relating it to health and fitness. So, here we go...6 "mind-altering" words/phrases that will continually keep road blocks in your path and prevent you from ever getting to your desired destination...
1. I don't have time.....We all have time and we all have priorities. Get your priorities right and you will "find" time. If you can't find time for exercise, healthy eating, etc., then you don't have a strong enough desire to be healthy and fit. You don't want it bad enough. I assure you that there is somebody busier than you that is still "finding" time for exercise and healthy eating. Really, it's not about finding time, but MAKING time. For many of you, I bet I could find 2 hours in the evening where you are tuned into your favorite t.v. show or surfing the web, but unless you make the time; becoming healthy and fit will simply be just wishful thinking.
2. I'm not ready.....Honestly, I think people are rarely ever 100% ready for anything. IT IS NOT ABOUT BEING "READY" BUT BEING WILLING! Just face the truth, you will never be "ready." At some point, if you want to get on the right path to your health and fitness and beyond, you have to shift out of your mind telling you that you're not ready and shift into your heart being willing. A willing person will get to where they want to be a lot faster than somebody who is "not ready." I'm not ready is an easy default button to hit. What if Noah would have said I'm not ready (or willing) to build the Ark? How many weeks/months/years are you going to let go by throwing that cheap phrase around before you DECIDE to be willing? If your default is I'm not ready, then you will also never be willing. Your default has to be I'm willing! It's ok to think I'm not ready, but you must TRAIN yourself to default to I'm willing and I promise you will get to your desired destination a lot faster. If not, you may be 90 years old still saying I'm not ready. The longer you wait, the harder it will be!
3. I can't.....At least with I'm not ready, you are saying there is a "chance" you can work towards and accomplish your health and fitness goals. However, I can't is stamping failure on yourself before you even begin. It is giving into defeat before the battle even begins. The mind is the battlefield of life but if you don't even fight, you will never get a victory. Maybe you had some destructive words spoken over you as a child, maybe you have had some big "failures" or maybe you have just gotten into a habit of giving up when anything gets even a little challenging. Regardless of which one it is, it is essential to realize that you CAN if you have trained your mind to not give in to the pressures of quitting or even worse; not even starting. Saying I can't gets you off the hook of doing something challenging. You have to make a decision NOW that you CAN and WILL before the pressures to quit or run the other way come. You have to be determined to say I can for the sake of a bigger cause. Your health is important for not just you, but others around you. Even if you are unable to say I can, remember that "with God, all things are possible." His strength will sustain us when we are too weak to make the right decision.
4. I'll "try".....This is a limp way of saying maybe. Maybe I will workout, maybe I won't. Maybe I will eat healthy tonight, maybe I won't. Chances are, the maybes turn into big fat NO's. To really nail the stake into how bad this phrase is, let's put it into a sentence and see how it sounds. "I'll try to stay married." That's like signing a pre-nup...chances are that if you are willing to sign a pre-nup, you are just as willing to turn your "try" into BYE. Yes, you can wave good-bye to that healthy and fit body you desire because the best you could do was "try." Try is a weak commitment that leaves you with a hit or miss approach to your health and fitness. Instead of using the word try, I challenge you to instead use the word will!
5. I'm doing the best that I can.....I agree, it sounds good and heartfelt on the surface, but what does it really mean? Well, what if your "best" that you have committed to is really only 60% of your full potential? Our "best" often doesn't mean 100%...it's just a play on words to say that I have decided to put only a certain amount of effort into something and I am not willing to put anymore effort into that thing. It is also an easy way to not have to face the truth. The truth is that deep down you know that your "best" is really just a front because you don't want to change. It's time to put your "best" to rest and put God's best to the test!
6. Change.....A wise man once said that it is better to have changed than have to go through change. Instead of this word being something people say, it is something people refuse to DO. "Only when the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change do people change." Too many people have bought into the idea that change is somehow going to magically happen one day as if winning the lottery. This will set you up to REMAIN THE SAME! You see, change takes guts, effort, facing the truth, commitment, consistency, determination, desire, Purpose and a plan. It's obviously not easy or you would see more people getting off the hamster wheel. Change is an essential ingredient to bake success in life. Thinking things will change without taking action steps to change is of course the definition of insanity. (Doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results) It's like thinking doing your 10th diet is going to "be the one" that gets the weight off and keeps it off. Well, if the first 9 didn't work, I'm pretty sure number 10 is going to fail you too. If we're not willing to change to get to where we want to go, we will remain in the same place we don't want to be. Furthermore, we need to embrace change and be open to whatever it wants to teach us and wherever it wants to take us. And, don't just change for change's sake, but change ON PURPOSE and WITH A PURPOSE.
