Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. A Christian tradition in which through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial – believers prepare for Easter.

For those who celebrate Easter many of you have told me what you intend on
giving up for Lent.

Let’s talk about how to be happier for a second…

There are two ways to make ourselves happier:

1. Stop doing things that make us feel bad

2. Start doing things that make us feel great

It turns out, the best way to stop doing things that make us feel bad is to
replace them with things that make us feel great.

For example:

1. What if you went for a quick walk every time you wanted junk food?

2. What if you drank tea every time you wanted wine?

3. What if you exercised instead of sitting on the couch?

It’s very hard to quit behaviors and habits. It’s less hard (not saying it’s
easy but certainly very doable) to replace them though.

In the spirit of Lent, let’s focus on something you’d feel comfortable giving
up for the next 33? days. (We have a 7 day head start.)

But let’s say Lent wasn’t 40 days – nor the remaining 33. Let’ say it was only
a week. And let’s pretend for a second you could only focus on the benefits of
giving that ‘thing up’. Thinking about the discomfort we must embrace isn’t an
option right now.

Got that one thing?

So, you’re giving up something that makes you feel bad. Using it or eating it
or doing it makes you feel bad after you’re done. Just for a week though.

I got mine.

What’s yours?

Now what if I said it’ll be just for the next 24 hours instead of a week.

Less scary right?

Let’s try it just for the next 24 hours.

For the next 24 hours, starting right now, let’s have our own mini-lent. (For
those already giving something up for Lent, pick something else.)

We’ll call it Disco.

Disco begins now…

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“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way, and not starting.” – Siddartha Guatama

Starting is certainly hard. It requires courage. But starting isn’t nearly as hard as keeping on going is.

Anyone can start a “diet.”

We all know people like this…

One month they’re eating ONLY xyz. “Nope, I can’t eat any of that. It’s not a part of my plan!” The next month, they’re eating only what they were just avoiding the month before. The next month, they’re only eating grapefruits. “Adam this is working so well! I lost 2 pounds in the first 2 days! Can you believe this?!?!” The next month, “The best part about this is that I can eat as much fat as I want AND lose weight?!” as they’re chomping down on a triple bacon cheeseburger. The next month, “Ya know, I’ve decided I’m going to become a vegetarian. I’m never going to eat meat again!” The next month…

I can keep going if you’d like??

They go from one shiny new fad diet to the next without ever sticking with anything.

I’ll remind you once again, “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth. Not going all the way, and not starting.”

Have a wonderful week!

Actually, don’t have a wonderful week…create one!

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What’s really holding you back?

C’mon. Let’s dig deep…

What’s holding you back from living the life of your dreams?

My bet…

FEAR.

Either fear of failure.

Fear of success.

Or fear of change.

THE PROBLEM WITH FEAR:

The problem with fear is that it doesn’t allow us to think about what’s
possible…

Instead, fear keeps us exactly where we are. And the reason why so many of us
choose to think about what can go wrong is because it absolves us from having
to take any action.

Isn’t thinking about what’s possible way more exciting than thinking about what
can go wrong?!

Next time you find yourself saying no to something (maybe because of fear?) why
not think of what’s possible instead? As we grow wiser, we become more cynical.
We become more skeptical. We become more fearful…

And this can really limit us.

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“Just eat less and exercise more!” everyone says. Uchh, that makes my blood boil.

If losing weight were that simple, 2/3 of America wouldn’t be overweight. There’s a lot of mental blocks that hold us back including fear. We’re our own worst enemy. If you’re your own worst enemy the MyBodyTutor program is perfect for you. What are you waiting for? No more excuses. Join today!

I’ve become very interested in meta-cognition. Or thinking about my own
thinking.

Some experts suggest that we try to control our thoughts. But trying to control
my thoughts seems pretty challenging to me. How can we control our thoughts?

I have no idea.

That’s like trying to control the wind. It ain’t happening! Having thoughts is
what our mind is for. They just pop up.

But what I do believe we can control – is how we react to our thoughts.

Big difference.

Thinking is a beautiful thing, unless, we get caught up on a particular
negative thought. We tend to suffer from ourselves only when we’re fixated on a
negative thought.

Hovever, being aware of our own thinking can be very helpful in dealing with
our own worst enemy or best friend —> Ourselves!

For example, do you always worry? Do you always assume the worst?

There are definite thought patterns we all have. If you tend to turn molehills
into mountains and worry (for no reason) realize that’s what you do.

The more we can be aware of our own thinking the better off we’ll be.

According to scientists the new crucial skill to making good decisions is the
ability to think about our own thinking. Unless we reflect on how we’re making
decisions, we won’t be able to use our instincts or gut.

The best predictor of good judgment isn’t intuition or experience or
intelligence. It’s the willingness to engage in introspection.

Who wants to play, “Don’t think about a grey elephant?!?!”

This game we’re about to play only has one rule: Don’t think about a grey
elephant. You can think about anything but a grey elephant.

Ready?

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now banish the animal from your head…

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one…

That’s what happens. When we try to avoid thinking about a grey elephant it’ll
come to mind every minute. In fact, whenever we try not to think about
something, it gets stuck in our loop of self-consciousness.

Our mind backfires. Our attempts at repressing the thought turn into a
fixation.

But because we’re now aware of the fact that our mind fixates on things we can
learn to not listen or trust our thoughts.

We can realize that our thoughts are just thoughts.

We don’t have to necessarily react to them. We don’t have to believe them. And
we certainly don’t have to act on them.

2 examples of how this can apply to us:

1. Let’s say a family member doesn’t call you back. You can go into a tail spin
of thinking about why they haven’t called you back. You might create all sorts
of stories about what might have happened and the reasons why.

Or, you can just realize that our mind is faulty and creates all sorts of
stories and that we have no good reason to believe any of them.

2. You fixate on a certain food. Therefore, you fixate on it even more. Knowing
our mind is going to torture us is helpful.

But these can both be very uncomfortable thoughts – even if we’re prepared for
them.

Here’s the key: distract yourself. Thinking about a certain food?

Quick: Think about a grey elephant!

Let’s make it a mindful and thoughtful week.

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