Vision Quest!

At our house we have a saying about good movies…we just say,“quality movie.”
Remember The Titans… “quality movie”, The Count of Monte Cristo… “quality movie”, …Zoro “quality movie”.

We always remember great lines of quality movies. One of my favorite lines ever is in the movie Zoro when the governor of California asks Alejandro, “Are you a man of vision?” He replies… “I am a man in search of a vision!”

So I’ve got to ask you today…are you a person of vision, or are you a person in search of a vision?…or neither?

Vision…it’s a dream, a mental picture, foresight, the ability to see the future

Quest is a chase. Pursuit, you go in search of, you are on a hunt for.

To change…to lose weight permanently, to have a vital, strong, healthy, free life…you MUST have vision quest! You know your vision…now you’re on a quest to get there!


Without Vision…people perish…(give up the ghost), die! Helen Kellar said, "The saddest person in the world is not the one without sight...but the one without vision."

The first step to any change is to know what you want…to have vision! Vision is about looking ahead…looking to what you want…not what you don’t want!


Vision is a picture or idea you have in your mind of yourself, or your life. A clear vision helps you pursue dreams and achieve goal. A vision that is clear will open your thoughts to the endless possibilities of the future. Your thoughts dictate your feelings and your feeling dictate your actions…you’ve got to have vision to open your thoughts and keep them on right track!
A vision will help you to overcome obstacles in the way and helps you hold on when times are tough. A vision that is well defined helps you to focus and create a purpose that becomes your measurement for your success. If you do not have a vision of who you want to be, how you want to succeed or what you want out of life, you begin to lack drive and your life becomes just an order of events.
A strong and current vision connects with your passions and greatest potentials. Regardless of what is going on in the world or challenges that present themselves, a vision helps you know what and why you are doing the things you are doing. Having a vision is most important in the path of your success in life.
A vision might be the most powerful way to keep focused on what you want in life while keeping you motivated in achieving it. A vision will open up your mind to many possibilities and a brighter and bigger future. When you can envision a future that is better, happier, more productive, you are going to make the changes that are necessary for you to reach that type of life.

Who do you want to be?
Your vision should include who you want to be. It is important to know clearly who you are right now to know who you want to become. This includes your habits, attitudes, and your beliefs. If you are unclear about yourself, you will be unclear about your future. The destination of your vision should be emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual.

When you create a successful vision, you begin to feel passionate about it. The only way to be successful in your vision is to visualize it and set goals and a plan of action to reach your vision.

Over time, you will begin to see more parts of your vision coming true until one day you see yourself living your vision. You gained your weight little by little…you didn’t wake up one morning with 30 extra pounds on your body because of what you ate last night...that’s how it is when we begin to live a new life, with new habits, based on a vision of the life we really want. Little by little we begin to see that vision lived out! That’s so cool!
A vision is the capability to see beyond your current reality, creating and inventing what does not now exist and becoming what you are not right now. A vision is important in all aspects of life; body, soul and spirit. Building your vision does not have to be difficult as long as you know exactly what it is you see for yourself in the future. But that can be the problem sometimes…not knowing what we really want.
Important things to remember when creating a vision:
Know exactly who you are.
Brainstorm, imagine and dream.
Focus on things that give your life purpose and meaning.
Do not put limits on your dreams.

What do you really want? Why have you set out to lose fat off your body? Is your vision to weigh less…or is your vision to live more!!!?

If you have not created a vision for the life you want to be living…the life you MUST live, then now is the time to do it!
It’s really about having the discipline to sit down and dream. We are all so different…but it helps me to dream in compartments. A vision for my physical body… a vision for my soul…my mind, will and emotions…and a vision for my spiritual life…the deepest place of who I am.

Creating a vision should be intense…it’s about knowing who you are today…knowing how you live today and saying…I want it to look different. I want a new life. I want it to be different!
Then, and only then, will you be inspired to move, to go, to leave behind what you’ve known and go to that new place!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Can You Just Flip a Switch?

You know the switch I'm talking about. The one that when flipped, you are ON PROGRAM! You are fired up and nothing can break your resolve! You are excited, motivated and driven to follow the nutritional plan and see results. That switch!

I've spent time in the last 30 years discovering ways to flip that switch in my own life. Not only in regards to my eating habits, but in other areas of my life that require excellence as well! I've gotten really good at it!

There are really two things you need to invest in to flip the switch...time and emotions. Oh, I can hear the sighs right now! :-) You're always short on time...and you avoid those emotional moments really well!

Do you want to flip the switch? Do you wake up each morning and say "This day is going to be better" and by the time you lie down at night, you are discouraged with your self again? If you are willing to spend some time, and feel some feelings, you too can flip that switch and TODAY can be the start of a great summer!

TIME...we rarely take the time to get to know ourselves. We race through this life, taking care of other people and obligations without the important connection with our selves! Can you stop at a coffee shop today and sit in a corner by yourself? Can you drive to a big parking lot and sit in your car on your lunch hour? Can you go to a room in your house that never gets used and spend some time there today? Get alone with yourself! Invest some time in YOU. Some of us are alone a lot...but are we alone, focused on ourselves? Flipping the switch requires time and focus on you!

EMOTIONS...I can promise you, if you have been eating off program, unable to follow through for even one day, you are stuffing your emotions! It's time to look at them and allow them to surface. The first question I ask my self is "Letha, What's up?" I ALWAYS get an answer! You will too. (that's why you're afraid to ask it) If you have a journal...start writing in it. If you have junk mail in the floor board of your car, that works too. Get something down on paper!

Another effective tool I use is the pain and pleasure list! I hope you have all used this "power tool."

Make a list of the pain, over eating is causing you...go for it! Don't stop, get real, get painful...allow it to take you all the way to gaining ALL your weight back, feeling miserable, and overwhelmed with medical problems and personal pain that choosing food has caused you! Don't skip ahead fast...if you have an hour, spend at least 30 of it on this list! Don't forget to include family, children and spouses in this list. How has your overeating affected them. Your overeating has caused you to be irritated, mad at the world and not very fun...how's that working for you and your family? Your clothes don't fit, you feel frumpy, and you don't want to do much of anything! Your overeating is affecting EVERY area of your life!

Now...if you have done a good job on that list... it's time to move ahead...if you haven't, you are not really serious about flipping the switch.(or you're just scared)

This list is a lot more fun! This is the list that includes all the emotions that you feel when you are on program, eating healthy, and setting limits for yourself! Have fun, spend time on this list too. Don't forget to include your family, children and spouse also. How has eating healthy, feeling attractive and in control, made a difference in those relationships? How's your wardrobe? How much energy do you have? Are you fun? Do you laugh more? Do you take pride in how you look and enjoy going out? Is EVERY area of your life affected by how you eat and what choices you are making? Don't stop short dreaming as you make this list. Allow the good feelings to overwhelm you and fill you with hope.

Look at those two lists...ask the all important question now. "Why am I living here...when I could be living here?"

If no tears are involved with this project...you might be dead!:-)

I've had clients tell me, "Ive done the pain and pleasure list thing and it doesn't work." I'm wondering have they REALLY done it. Have they really taken the time to look at the way their eating is affecting their life and the lives of all the people around them? Have they asked them selves, "Why am I letting food win?" "Why am I letting food be the boss of me?"

My friends...to lose weight and keep it off, you must be able to use pain as your friend. Flipping the switch when you are living on maintenance is crucial to you keeping your weight off for life.

I wish I had time to sit in your car with you...but I guess you wouldn't be alone then would you? Take time, allow your emotions to come forth...and flip the switch. Don't wait...today is the perfect day to change the direction of your life!

Always encouraging and pushing you,
Letha

Should We Celebrate More Often?

For the 8th time in the history of The Healthy Weigh, we are preparing for the Grand Finale of the Team Challenge! We have been on a 10 week "Road Trip" (the theme of this Team Challenge) and we'll be celebrating the success of our Road Trippers next Tuesday night at 6 PM! In some ways the 10 weeks have gone by rather slowly...in other ways, 10 weeks have passed in a blink of an eye! Kind of like life!

The new program that The Healthy Weigh has created, allows us the opportunity at the end of each 10 week challenge, to celebrate! We celebrate group weight loss records being broken, amazing individual achievement, and the powerful results of community support! The Grand Finale is a time to reflect on the previous 10 weeks and look ahead to the next!

It got me to thinking...What if we stopped to reflect and celebrate every 10 weeks?! What would happen if we were to take stock of the weeks we've lived and have a celebration of what we've accomplished? In our homes, at work, in our spiritual lives? What if we set 10 weeks goals and rewarded ourselves(had a grand finale)when we had accomplished the things we set out to do?

What if, at the end of ten weeks we saw that life hadn't changed... that we were still doing the same things and getting the same results? Would that reflection cause us to move?

Tuesday night will be outstanding! We have clients that have forged ahead and had extreme weight loss. We will celebrate with them and feel their enthusiasm that's contagious! We will also be celebrating those clients who started 10 weeks ago...and are still on the road trip. Even though weight loss hasn't been extreme, they will be enthusiastic too, because they have followed through for 10 weeks! They have worked through the tough times in life...but made a decision to keep going no matter what!! I've got a feeling that it's going to be a great night!!!

I'm hoping that we have a few attendees that show up Tuesday night because they need a little enthusiasm rubbed off on them. They might be looking back at the last 10 weeks and not feeling great about what's been accomplished! There's not a better place to be when you're feeling that way, than in a room full of people who are working hard and making it happen!

So mark your calendars...10 weeks out. Where will you be physically, emotionally and spiritually? What will you be celebrating at your "Grand Finale?" Record breaking changes or slow and steady progress?

If you've been wondering about our Team Challenge, I invite you to come Tuesday night and celebrate with us! 6 PM... the festivities begin! We'll be looking back with pride and looking ahead with excitement! Ten weeks... it happens in a blink of an eye!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Face Your Stuff ~ Don't Stuff Your Face!

This mantra showed up on the back of a team's shirt at our Team Challenge last year! I love it! Yesterday it sprang up again in the dialog of our Team Challenge participants on their face book page. It got me thinking.

"Face your stuff, don't stuff your face." Such wise instruction with life changing results. I thought a lot about my Healthy Weigh clients yesterday, past and present, in regards to this instruction. I observe and hear about how our clients are choosing to NOT stuff their faces...which brings about excitement and weight loss. We celebrate the pounds coming off as clients are choosing a new way to eat. I've observed for 30 years now, that people can avoid overeating, change their actions and lose weight...they can chose to NOT stuff their faces. The bigger questions is...are they facing their stuff?

Are you "white knuckling" it through the weight loss program, or are you facing the deeper issues that caused you to put the weight on in the first place? I am ALL for a program that offers a easy, healthy, system to lose weight, but the program can't stop there or at best the weight loss will be temporary. Are you facing your stuff?

I've talked in the past about coping skills; the act of taking what's inside of you (pain, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, to name a few)and getting it out... processing the feelings instead of denying them. Sometimes I think that when a client doesn't go to food, doesn't USE food as their drug of choice, they feel like they are facing their stuff, when in reality, they have just avoided stuffing the pain down temporarily. Not stuffing your face is very important in this journey...but facing your stuff is the key to permanent weight loss!

Are you journaling your feelings? Are you talking to a friend or a counselor about the anxieties and pain in your life? Are you identifying what you're really feeling when you stand at the refrigerator looking for "something?" Are you facing your stuff?

What ever our drugs of choice are...food, alcohol, drugs, shopping, working too much, we can change our actions and quit using for a time, but unless we choose to face our stuff, we will, on auto pilot, return to the drug that makes us feel better.

My deepest desire as the owner of The Healthy Weigh, is to see my clients/friends, healthy from the inside out. I am proud to offer a nutritional plan that can't be beat, but I am much more passionate about helping people make permanent change that will affect every area of their lives.

Journey on my friends. Face your stuff! You'll be so glad you did!

Always encouraging you.
Letha