Think About it Commentary...By Casey L.Garth

Thanks to Fit Matters & Sandra Garth www.onebodyonelifetime.con for use of this commentary from her Fit Matters newsletter. Y'all shouold sign up and get the weekly inofmration chocked full of recipes, fitness intormation and a guest commentary. Good, solid common sense and workable offerings to aid you on your fitness journey.

All commentarys do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host of this blog, but in this case it does!

Moon

No Fun

We can never have any fun. There's nothing like good old fashioned groundless criticism. If you are a goal oriented person, whether it be fitness or professional related, then you may have heard it before. And heaven forbid you try to extol the benefits of healthy living or even general quality of life. You get labeled as some sort of health nut or fitness freak. It's usually someone 30lbs overweight whose arteries are so clogged and cholesterol laden; they're just waiting another 5 to 10 years to be penciled in to see the angel of death or at least be on the list for a massive coronary.

A Side of Diet Coke

These are the people who at the local restaurant, order the double grease bomb casserole with a side of extra large transfat and some diabetic inducing beverage, or better yet, a "diet" type II diabetic drink as if it will somehow wash away the heart-stopping grease bomb that they are about to shovel into their gullets. So you do the healthy thing and order grilled chicken and maybe a salad. That's when they hit you with it; "You're such a health freak, you're gonna live a boring life" or "you should live a little, you'll die without ever having any fun". Try to give one of these people some advice and you're some type of gym nerd. When did "fun" and "living" mean having poor health habits and a shoddy unhealthy lifestyle. Why does your quality of life need to revolve around greasy heart attack fat and food?

Here’s my Answer

My message to you is don't be discouraged. Keep on "keeping on". Anybody ever trying to accomplish anything has run into quite a number of these naysayers, but make them your motivators. In the end, it will be you with the quantity and quality of life. It will be you with they eye popping and head turning physique. It will be you who laughs last and the heartiest. Let haters do what they were born to do, hate. Keep ever forward and onward, ignore the party poopers, train and succeed.

Casey L. Garth is still on active duty and resides with his wife in Atlanta, GA.

9 DIeting Paradoxes that Make Perfect Sense

I am a big fan of Mike Kramer's writing and wanted to share this with you on on want to stop dieting and be about living...

By Mike Kramer, motivational writer for Sparks People

http://www.sparkspeople.com/

Weight loss can make smart people look silly, confound roomfuls of award-winning scientists, and baffle the rest of us, who are otherwise competent and brilliant in our own right. Somehow the mysterious answers still elude us.Part of the mystery and frustration could be that we often look at the whole dieting question backwards. There are a number of assumptions and beliefs we often hold that are actually the opposite of what’s really true.

However, there are some paradoxes (statements that seem contradictory but are actually true) that you should hold onto. Putting these to use will help you see progress and, more importantly, gain confidence.There are 9 Goal Achievement Paradoxes that you can apply to your weight loss goals, or any part of your life.

Here are the first three. Perhaps they can lend some insight for how to solve some puzzles in your own life:

PARADOX 1: Perfectionism does not lead to perfection.Excellence is a good thing. So is working as hard as possible to create, build, and perform to the best of your abilities. But what you may not realize is that trying to be perfect can actually hinder your chances of being excellent.

The pursuit of perfection comes with an ugly flip side: a fear of failure, or fear of making a mistake. This fear keeps a lot of people from trying something different or learning a new skill. They'd rather not try than go through the anguish of not doing it perfectly. The perfectionist likes to stick with things she knows that she can do.

To succeed, you need to grow, learn, and expand your world. By erasing your opportunities for testing the water, perfectionism limits your growth, and takes away your chances of finding a more excellent path. That's why your physical foundation is so critical. It gives you the confidence and support you need to take those chances, to recover from mistakes, and test the limits of possibility

PARADOX 2: The harder you work, the more fun you’ll have- Really!There's a time for work. There's a time for play. And sometimes they happen to be one and the same.We all know people who say their jobs don't really feel like work. That's because they absolutely love what they're doing. They consider themselves lucky to have work that’s fun, or to be part of something they really believe in. The secret is, this can happen in any area of your life—not just your career.

Your goals reflect your interests, what you'd like to do, and what you care about. Can you think of a more fun way to use energy than on stuff you deeply enjoy and hold dear? If it sounds a bit idealistic, it is. But going after something you really want is what makes it fun.

You'll still need gallons of elbow grease, but goals shouldn’t seem like work at all. It's your playtime

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PARADOX 3: Focusing on only one area can hurt your progress in that area.Building a healthy lifestyle while emphasizing a key part of your life is important. But that foundation is just the beginning, and can't happen by itself. Your healthy habits can work together to take your life to another level. Improvement in one area helps—and depends on—the others. To reach your full potential in anything, you can't neglect all to zero-in on one.

For example, you could become decently creative if that's all you focused on. But for impressive progress, you'd also need to pay attention to nutrition, fitness, sleep and stress anagement.

Limiting your focus too much can not only hinder progress, but it can also be harmful. Losing sleep, eating poorly and living with stress are common mistakes people make when they're obsessed with a goal. In the short term, it may be effective, but results could reach new heights in the long run if these important needs aren’t neglected.

Making a New Rule...

One of the best goals you can set for yourself is to be a little kinder than necessary. It can be easy to let stress build up and consume your daily life. When this happens, being kind can be difficult. So, tonight think about some ways to decrease your stress levels, making you able to be kinder than necessary tomorrow and on.

Thank you Sparks People!

Please vist there website at www.sparkspeople.com

Awareness through downshifting

I absolutely love this quote from the Wizard of Oz. And thank you to http://www.sparkspeople.com/ for their commentary.

This is something I have been working on of reducing my stress level which has truly affected my weight as well as my joy & peace.

Vacation is what you take when you can't take what you've been taking any longer.
~ Lion from Wizard of Oz

Often our first reaction to a stressful situation is to overcompensate and overwork to overcome whatever it is. Sometimes though, the best thing you can do it step away, take a breath, and come back to tackle the problem with a clear head. Replacing important things in your life with work only causes anxiety to build up--not to mention that it takes the joy out of life. Vacation does not have to mean physically leaving your everyday life and jet setting to the beach. Whatever relaxes you, brings more clarity, or calms your mind during times of stress can certainly be enough to rejuvenate! When logic tells you to quicken your pace and pile on the extra work, yet your heart is reminding you of the meaningful time you are neglecting with family, friends, and yourself, it's time to slow down. Often letting off on the gas for a period of time can compose and refocus your mind.

Looking Over the Horizons at the Possibilities©08

Photograph Courtesy of Anders Ransummen-Denmark ©08

"That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next".~ John Stuart Mill

This bubbled up this morning in my mind about looking over the horizons at possibilities we might not have imagined. What could be done if we are willing or even a cursory nod toward the idea that there may be a new (might we even dare) improved possibility of doing things differently? The other night I listened to a late night talk show that in my opinion is trying far too hard to be hip, modern and sophisticated have as their subject matter about the “epidemic” of obesity especially among people of color. I listened as they trotted out every horrible stereotype with their right arm sideman with cruel, rigid “jokes”. They tried to have a veneer of “concern” but it was just plain out right meanness.

Even the panel of experts there was one, the fitness trainer whose lack of awareness and her bias toward ones obese made me think “That would be the last person I would pay my hard earned money or time or trust placing my health in her unyielding hands. The resident psychologist tried vainly as the program went on to keep a balance as the cruelty increasingly got worst. All I could think of is the ones who were either in the audience or watching the program possibly shrinking their already (some) fragile egos as they were totally dissesd on national TV & how many may have thrown in the towel or now would do something potentially dangerous or harmful to themselves because of this programming. I wanted to write the show and the network. True enough it could easily or probably be tossed in the round file cabinet, but ya never know.

They need to be challenged to look over the horizon and not rely on what was never true from the giddy-up. I may would have respected them more if they just outright declared that they were bigots and have at it rather the very shaky justification of concern for health. The unfortunate thing is there are more people who believe like them, just like some who do have a weight challenge also believe it. Or see them a victim, hopeless or hapless. However if we allow people to confine us by defining us we will pay for it in many ways as well as deny to others the abundance of what we can contribute to the world and who would want that?

Imagine how the world would have been if no one had ever thought of some of the things that we’ve come to think of as having been around forever. These advancements we may have come to question when the world seems turbulent/ swaying to & fro angrily and grabbing hold of something solid seems near impossible by some. This is the time which is pregnant with possibilities of somehow creating something new out of a necessity which is indeed the mother of invention. People love to wax poetically the “good ole days”, except if you sit long enough you will find that those proverbial good days were not quite as good as we thought except what was softened by memory and a need to hold onto something recognizable.

My looking over the horizon is not earth shattering our global world changing but it will for me a great thing in a small way. I had not thought ever that I would find myself with the prospect of designing a park like garden for a college campus. I have zero, zilch, nada formal training or experience in this other then an appreciation of nature, harmony and an artistic eye. But how providential is it to have an attachment to an academic environment that will be allow me to foster that exploration with some degree support and needed information as I go along to create my Edge Of the Waters Meditative Gardens surrounding the exterior grounds which will not only benefit the campus, but the neighboring community.. What I may lack in formal training I far more make up in eagerness to learn new things, challenge my horizons & plain old chutzpah (the nerve)..

My wanting to know why not got me in trouble as a child and later in adulthood some disapproval or even worst not taken seriously. There was always someone who would get indignant or question me as a troublemaker or impertinent for dare wondering why it could not be a different way. Not that I was trying to dissolve the status quo, but perhaps a little variation of that status that for the most part wasn't immoral, illegal, harmful or unethical, just a little differently but it did make some uncomfortable. I know now it has far more to do with their being nervous about change rather then anything wrong with me. But it did not stop me from having considerable angst over the years until I figured that out.

To a degree not having that formal training left freeness or any room for "Oh no that cannot be done. It must be XYZ instead". If it’s a "mistake" I /you won't know, right? That ignorance can turn into an intelligent new level as we can always say & do the "why nots"? My thoughts are not in reference to doing things foolishly, haphazardly as even in looking beyond the horizon does indeed mean looking into the tools to make it happen. You won't have to rush headlong into something that may not work or could potentially be dangerous, but if can give some leeway of trying something a little differently if you allow to see a bigger picture of thinking outside the box.

Be mindful I am not in opposition to formal training; I do believe it has its place and I like that part to. It is more of a matter of being balanced, the yang & the ying be on familiar terms with that both have a place. What I illustrated here necessitate looking over the horizon and then act otherwise we will continue to wax with nostalgia the (not always so) good ole days.

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