Happiness Is A Choice

I talked last week about happiness being a serious problem. When you start to take a closer look at happiness, you realize that unhappiness is easy and happiness takes work! The notion the happiness must be worked at comes as news to a lot of people. Most people assume that happiness is a feeling and that this feeling comes as a result of good things happening to us.  (We therefore have little control over how happy we are, the thinking goes, because we cannot control how we feel or what happens to us) NOT!!!


That is a false statement. Happiness is largely, not entirely, determined by us through hard work and wisdom. Every worthwhile thing in life is attained through hard work. Happiness is not an exception.  Happiness is a battled to be waged, not a feeling to be awaited.

I have fought this battle.  I've read books, processed pain, dealt with my "issues" and came to a clear understanding that I had GREAT personal responsibility regarding my own happiness. Years ago as I was working on my happiness level, I came across a book, "Happiness is a Choice." The Author  suggested to me all those years ago, that happiness was truly my choice. That if I was unhappy, I was choosing it.
He suggested 7 things to do, to choose happiness. The book went on to say that if I were to do these 7 things consistently for 3 to 6 months, I would surely find that I was experiencing more happiness than I was currently feeling.

It wasn't enough at that time for me to read that book and think a few new thoughts...I was determined to turn my sorrow into joy, my unhappiness into happiness. So here's what I did. I took the 7 steps in that little book, read about them, sought to understand them and then typed them (yes, I said typed) up on a little piece of paper to put on my desk at work. If you've experienced times of unhappiness, you know like me, that you can't old on to good thoughts for long periods of time. Our negative thought life beats us up constantly. Your thought life directly influences your feelings, so it was important to me, to be faced with these 7 steps all day long.

I am going to address 2 of those seven steps today...
This is what I typed:

Happiness Is a Choice!

Choose each day to do these things and look back in 3 to 6 months and see if you just haven't found the road back to happiness.

1. Commit your life to the purpose of glorifying God.
Where ever you are today in your faith journey, I want to encourage you to look at this first step, even if you need to say, "God as I understand Him." To submit to a higher power is a life altering way to live. This was not a difficult step for me. Glorifying God sounds like a pretty overwhelming task but the way I see it, to glorify God, is to surrender to His power over your life and gladly receive it.  I began to see each day as a gift, because if my purpose was to glorify God with my life, then I must have something important to do each day.

2. Get rid of grudges daily.
Unforgiveness, bitterness and grudges, robs you of more joy than anything else in your life. Forgiveness is a MUST to experience happiness. It has been said that that unforgiveness is the # 1 greatest determinant of our mental health. Unforgiveness breeds resentment, bitterness and judgment. Walls go up, not with those that we are angry with, but everyone around us. Unforgiveness gets generalized and spreads throughout all our relationships; it doesn't just affect one or some. Make it a practice to keep short accounts. Verbalize "I am a forgiving person."  Each day go back though your day and let go of what every is necessary.


Those are two of the very important 7 steps that I took to find my way back to happiness. Ponder these two steps this week as we continue to be on the pursuit of happiness. Next week, we will look at two more.

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Happiness is a Serious Problem

"... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."


"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence and considered by some as part of one of the most well crafted, influential sentences in the history of the English language.

I've studied "happiness" and I too have found it to be a serious matter.
I believe that happiness is a moral obligation.

Ask a child what it is like to grow up with an unhappy parent. Ask a wife how easy it is to be married to an unhappy husband. Interview a co-worker that spends 40 hours a week around an unhappy colleague. Pursuing happiness makes a difference not only in your own life, but in the lives of the people around you. We owe it to our husbands, wives, children, friends, to be as happy as we can be. This does not mean acting fake or refraining from honest and intimate expressions of our feelings to those closest to us. But it does mean that we owe it to others to work on our own happiness.

There is another reason why happiness is a moral obligation. In general, people act more decently when they are happy. Do you feel more positively disposed toward other people and do you want to treat other people better when you are happy or unhappy?

In some cases with some people, happiness just seems to "happen", but I've discovered that happiness truly is a choice.
I've been through seasons in my life that happiness seemed to come easier. I've also had times of laboring to pursue happiness. I see now that those times of labor taught me the most about happiness.

Unhappiness is easy, but happiness takes work! It takes no courage, effort, or greatness to be unhappy. Anyone can be unhappy. Happiness is a battle to be waged and not a feeling to be awaited.

The notion that happiness must be worked at comes as news to many people. They assume that happiness is a feeling and that this feeling comes as a result of good things happening to them. We therefore have little control over how happy we are, the thinking goes, because we can't control what happens to us. I believe that happiness is largely determined by us!

Since happiness is such a serious problem, I'll spend the next few weeks writing about it. For this week ask yourself the question, "Do I have a moral obligation to the people in my life, to pursue happiness?" If your answer is yes...come back next week and we'll pursue it together.


hap·py
adj. hap·pi·er, hap·pi·est
1. Characterized by good luck; fortunate.
2. Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy.
3. Being especially well-adapted; felicitous: a happy turn of phrase.
4. Cheerful; willing: happy to help.

Always encouraging you,
Letha

June 19th...What Do You Want?

This Tuesday we will have our first weigh-in for our ten week "CAMP OUT" Team Challenge! I can't help this morning but to look ahead to June 19th, the finale of this challenge and think about that day! History WILL repeat itself so I know what June will hold for the participants of the Spring Team Challenge 2012. I can hardly keep my feet on the ground thinking about it.

Tuesday, April 17th, over 80 teams will walk into The Healthy Weigh feeling nervous but excited! They will weigh in and record their official weight for the beginning of this 10 week challenge. For some clients that will be difficult as they face the scale. Many will be as heavy as they've ever been. Others have been on the journey with The Healthy Weigh for a while and will be seeing weights they haven't seen in YEARS!

Either way, DECISIONS have to be made. Decisions to participate fully in the program, both physically and emotionally. Those clients who decide to be "all in" will see amazing results in the next ten weeks! I'm sure of it!

When I think about Tuesday, June 19th...Here are the things I am sure of:

MANY clients will reach their goal weight and be ready to move on to stabilization!

We will celebrate 20, 30, 40, 50, 60...and possibly 70 pounds weight losses!

NO one in the room will be thinking the same thoughts that they were thinking 10 weeks ago!

Medications will have been discontinued!

Life spans will have been increased!!

Confidence will be palatable!

Community spirit will be soaring!

Personal healing will have taken place!

And that's a partial list!

It's funny, ten weeks doesn't seem like a very long time, but MAJOR things happen in a ten week period when you make a decision and cut off any other possibility!


I hope that all our "campers" will spend some time this weekend thinking about June 19th. The first step to any change is knowing what you want. So knowing what June 19th looks like for you is going to be very important!

I know what I want on June 19th. I want to be able to stand in front of this group of campers as we celebrate their GREAT accomplishments and say that I did my very best to inspire and motivate them to live their best lives! I want to look back and see that the education I brought forth was beneficial not just to my clients but to their families as well. I want to have given my ALL for this Spring Team Challenge! I want to be living out the very lessons I teach so that I can deliver them with conviction and power! That's what I want!

What do you want?

I will be spending the next 4 days mentally preparing for this "CAMP OUT". I hope you will too. Spend time looking ahead to June 19th. Visualize yourself at that Grand Finale feeling proud of what you've accomplished! It's going to be a life changing camp out for sure!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

It's all about the RE!

Tuesday at The Healthy Weigh, Glenda and I taught a class that made a difference...in our lives as we prepared for it, and in the lives of our clients who attended the class. I was asked to summarize it in my blog this morning. So here goes...

Losing weight can be a difficult journey. At some point along the way I hear comments like this from my clients:

"I've lost my focus and I can't get it back."
"I'm just not motivated...I don't know why."
"I'm sick of being disciplined."
"I'm tired of thinking about food all the time, preparing it, planning it..."
"I'm mad, I don't want to do the diet thing."
"I've been out of control with my eating and I'm scared that I won't be able to get back in control."

Sound familiar? Can you relate to any of these comments?

Maybe it's not your diet, but it's something else in your life that feels out of control. Your job, your home life, your relationships. Things are "OK" but you are just living an average life at best. You're going through the motions some days just trying to keep your head above water. You look back over the last few months and think "Wow, I'm doing what I have to do every day, but I've lost my zeal for life."

There is a way to change all of that... TODAY! It won't be because your circumstances change today, whether they are good or bad, they'll probably be the same tomorrow. It's not because you can reach your goal weight today, there's not enough time for that to happen between today and tomorrow. But there is a way to wake up tomorrow with a new attitude. It's all about the RE!

I was doing some studying some time back and came across this little inspiring thought. RE means...again...a new. I don't know about you, but I need to RE. We all need to RE from time to time!

We start out on a program or a life change and we are motivated, we are inspired, we are challenged. Then we do what we ALL do. We lose hope, we make mistakes, we just lack.

That's where RE comes in to the story. Is it time for a REDO?

We must choose to RETURN to our dreams, REDIRECT our thoughts, REACQUAINT ourselves with our goals. Maybe we need to choose to REDESIGN our lives, REEXAMINE our priorities, REFORMULATE a plan, REPACK our backpacks or RESCHEDULE our activities. Maybe we need to RECEIVE good words from ourselves, we might even need to RECRUIT a group of people to help, or RECOVER from hurts. We might need to RETREAT for a while and RECUPERATE. Might you need to REFLECT? Do you need to RECOMMIT?

Maybe you need to REFRAIN, or REFRESH. You might just have to REGROUP, REPENT, or REPAIR. Its' not January, but it might be time to RESOLVE. Do you need a REVIEW or a REVISE?

RE... again and again and again! We will live average lives at best if we don't RE!

It's all about the RE.
We don't come into this world, into relationships, into challenging programs with everything we need for the entirety of it. We must RE to live out our lives healthy and whole.

You might want to sit with a dictionary and look up RE words. You might want to REVISIT the calendar for the rest of the year and READJUST goals, REDETERMINE priorities, and for sure REDIRECT your thoughts!

If you are not HAPPY with how things are going right now, you've got to REEXAMINE your life. Take the time to RE. This can't be something that you do in your head as you drive down the road...you've got to take the time to sit down with a pen and a piece of paper and RE... again, a new!

It's all about the RE!

Take the time to RE and I promise things will turn around for you.

On a personal note, I am smiling this morning as I write on Good Friday thinking about, and thankful, that I am REDEEMED! Have a blessed Easter.

Always encouraging you,
Letha

"How many of your clients keep the weight off?"

As I have been sharing information this week about our outstanding weight loss program, and encouraging new clients to participate in it, I have been asked this question many times over .."But are your clients keeping their weight off?"

I'd love to answer that question here this morning.

I have spent 30 years helping people lose weight. I have watched MANY weight loss programs come and go, some that I believed in more than others. I have watched people lose weight and I have welcomed them back to the program when they have gained their weight back.

After years of experience, I have come to this important conclusion...How you lose weight has little to do with how or why you gain weight back. Losing weight means that you cut calories and ate or consumed less than your body needed to maintain your weight. Gaining it back means you consumed more calories than your body needed to maintain it's self. It's really that simple!

I've also had enough experience to know that how you lose weight has a lot to do with the probability of you making permanent changes because THAT'S how you keep weight off!

The probability of you following a cabbage soup diet for the rest of your life is not real great! The chances that you will continue to eat a healthy balanced diet with all the food groups is very probable. So HOW you chose to lose weight has more to do with the changes that you are making than it does with the temporary DIET that you are following.

More important than the diet you chose to lose weight, is the thinking that you chose to lose weight! Your thoughts will always dictate your actions! So, if you have followed a diet...any diet, and have not changed your thinking about food, about health, about your worthiness to care for yourself, chances are, your unhealthy thinking will cause you to act in a way that will put weight back on.

I am a firm believer that being at GOAL weight is another big key to permanent weight loss. When you are stepping on the scale to monitor your weight, and you've never been happy with the weight you see, you will lack the motivation to stay there. On the other hand, when you step on the scale and see your goal, there will be a different level of motivation to help you keep your weight off for life!

The Healthy Weigh nutritional plan is by far the best weight loss plan I have ever seen. Losing weight on our plan, is guaranteed! Keeping it off, depends on you!

Are you willing to accept the truth about the amount of calories it takes to maintain your body at goal weight? Are you willing to make permanent changes in your thinking so that food is fuel for your body and not your drug of choice? If you can answer yes to these questions, you will keep your weight off for life!

I am proud to offer a program that deals with permanent changes on every level. Permanent change is where it's at...and a lot of that is going on at The Healthy Weigh!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Based on a 2000 Calorie Diet...really?

If you are an inactive person who weighs 200 pounds, every nutritional label in America is written for you! If not...they aren't!

I write this blog this morning after spending time last night with 20 or so of my Healthy Weigh friends who just reached goal weight and are now learning what it takes to stay there. I walked them through a process of stabilization; a 6 week process where you increase your calories week by week until you reach your calorie limit based on your goal weight.

Being highly effective people, we began the evening with the end in mind, in this case goal weight. Each client wrote down their ideal maintenance weight and then calculated their approximate calorie intake for that weight based on this chart.

Multiply your ideal maintenance weight by:

10 if you are inactive (sitting most of the day, no regular physical exercise)

11 if you are moderately active (sitting most of the day but do engage in physical exercise regularly or at least 3 to 4 times per week for 1/2 hour or more)

12 if you are active (standing and/ or walking most of the day and engage in regular physical exercise)

13 if you are very active (walking or involved in strenuous physical labor most of the day and engage in regular physical exercise)

That number is your approximate total calories to maintain your goal weight.

Now I know that there are many more complicated ways to estimate and discover your appropriate calorie intake for your goal weight...the truth is, you will find the same answer at the end of every story problem. I've done them!

So, you've done the math??? What's your number???

Last night there were three men in our group. Only two of them were going to be able to eat 2000 calories to maintain their weight. Everyone else in the room ranged from 1250 calories to 1750. So why does every nutritional label in America say..."Based on a 2000 diet."? Good question! The only people that can and should be eating 2000 calories per day are men weighing close to 200 pounds, or a woman who weighs 155 and works in a job performing physical labor all day and then drops by the club to work out on the way home!

I've spent over 30 years helping people lose weight. I am proud to say that I administer one of the greatest weight loss programs available any where...but losing weight has never been the hard part. People knuckle down, eat less, move more and then lose weight.
Keeping if off for life is the struggle. I believe that our nutritional labels aren't helping matters. It would make sense that most people in America would believe that they should eat 2000 calories...right? It says that on the back of every food label everywhere!!!

I read an article the other day in search of an answer to this problem. It said that 2000 calories per day was used as a standard because that is how many calories it would take to maintain the average American. Wow, how sad is that? What if our labels said "Based on a 1500 calorie diet?" What would the average American look like then?

I am a 120 pound 53 year old woman. I exercise 3 to 4 times a week for 1/2 or more. My maintenance calories are 1320. That's it...no more. No matter what a label says, I am responsible for consuming the amount of healthy calories that my body needs to maintain this healthy weight.

Do the math. Accept the truth. Be responsible. Reach your goal weight and keep it off for life...eating just the amount of calories that YOU need to maintain your ideal maintenance weight!

Always encouraging you...and hopefully enlightening you too,

Letha

Can You Really Re-Wire Your Brain?

"The power of positive thinking."

How many times have you heard that phrase thrown around? It’s so much a part of our ordinary language now that it’s almost become meaningless. I think we all agree that thinking positively is a good thing. Especially when we’re feeling positive. When you’re feeling good, how much trouble is it to think, “Hey, I like me. My life is cool. Things are going great.”

But what about when things are difficult? What about those days when you’re so stressed the veins pop out of your forehead? When you hate your job — or you’ve lost it? What about those days when you are faced with a series of unfortunate events that makes the life of Job look like a garden party?

I’ve met people who remain positive during really bad times. Sometimes it's hard to be around them, however, I’ve come to learn that these people know something that changes a life! We can learn a lot from people who have mastered positive thinking.

Here’s the secret that’s not really a secret. It’s revolutionary, exciting science.

Positive thinking really does change your brain. Not in some magical, woo woo kind of way, but in a real physical way.
The science is called neuroplasticity. It means that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains. The idea was first introduced by William James in 1890, but it was soundly rejected by scientists who uniformly believed the brain is rigidly mapped out, with certain parts of the brain controlling certain functions. If that part is dead or damaged, the function is altered or lost. Well, it appears they were wrong.

Neuroplasticity now enjoys wide acceptance as scientists are proving the brain is endlessly adaptable and dynamic.
It has the power to change its own structure, even for those with the severe neurological afflictions. People with problems like strokes, cerebral palsy, and mental illness can train other areas of their brains through repetitive mental and physical activities. It is completely life-altering.

So what does this have to do with positive thinking and with you?
It means that repetitive positive thought and positive activity can rewire your brain and strengthen brain areas that stimulate positive feelings. It means positive thinking can change your life!

In his book, "The Brain That Changes Itself", Norman Doidge M.D. states plainly that the brain has the capacity to rewire itself and/or form new neural pathways — if we do the work. Just like exercise, the work requires repetition and activity to reinforce new learning.

Here are some actions you can take to change your own brain during the bad times.
Fear of failure.

Everyone fears doing something new because we don’t wait to fail. The truth is, we can do most anything if we take action, stop negative thinking, and shift our perceptions of the truth about our abilities.

Action steps: Force yourself to stop thinking about reasons you can’t do something, even if you don’t feel brave or capable. Every time a negative thought creeps in, retrain your brain to think a positive thought about your abilities instead. Then take small actions every day toward achieving your goal or desired change. Nike’s slogan, “Just do it,” has real validity.

Over-thinking/Worrying

Have you ever found yourself trapped in obsessive over-thinking about a problem or in a state of anxiety or worry that lasts for days or even weeks? It drains your energy, affects your sleep, and spirals your mood and outlook on life. Focusing on your problem only strengthens the worry function in your brain.

Action steps: When you find yourself in that cycle of worry or compulsive thinking, remember the three R’s — rename, re-frame, and redirect. When the worry begins, mentally yell “Stop!” Rename the issue by reminding yourself that worry isn’t real. Rename it as a compulsive reaction, not reality. Re-frame your thinking by focusing on positive or distracting thoughts, even if you still feel anxious. Force yourself to think different thoughts. Redirect your actions. Go do something uplifting, fun or mentally engaging. The key is following these steps repeatedly, every time you worry obsessively, to break the pattern and rewire your brain.

Mood Disorders/Phobias

Sometimes we might feel blue or out-of-sorts, and it’s just a temporary fog that settles in and lifts after a few days. Some mood disorders, like depression or serious anxieties that morph into phobias, can be debilitating and unrelenting. Psychologists and therapists have used treatments based on neuroplasticity to get to the cognitive root of these disorders and put a patient’s life back on track.

Action steps: A serious mood disorder or phobia requires the help of a trained counselor. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a type of treatment that helps people learn how to identify and change destructive thought patterns that have a negative influence on behavior and feelings. If you suffer from severe anxiety or depression, you need someone skilled to help you get to the root of these thoughts and to show you how to change them. Ask them about CBT.

The more I read and understand about the power of our minds, the more encouraged I get. Changing your thinking, will change your life...and changing your thinking...IS possible!

Always encouraging you,
Letha