Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The World Needs Your Fabulousness

A few months ago, on some random day when some kid was home sick from school, I sat watching an unexpectedly great movie called “Akeela and the Bee”. It was a little weird watching Morpheus act like an inner city school teacher, but maybe that was before he realized he was stuck in The Matrix. Who knows.

But, I seriously digress.

There was a quote in that movie that struck me so deep, that I had to share it with you all. Here it is:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?”

-Marianne Williamson in Return to Love: Reflections on a Course in Miracles

The world needs you to be fabulous. Changes are needed to be made, and it’s YOUR talent and fabulousness that can make it happen. The world becomes a better place with fabulous and brilliant people like you in it, doing all the brilliant and fabulous things that you do.

Let’s make it happen together.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hope Over Fear

Has our new president been reading my blog?

Or maybe his speech writers?

If I could summarize Barak Obama's acceptance speech this morning, it would read:

We must overcome our fears of failure, and simply look forward - hands reaching out - with hope for the future.


What obstacles this man has overcome to reach the place he stood today! What obstacles he will face during his term as president! Is he scared? Probably. But he appeared more than ready to face it all as he proudly walked through the capital builing on his way to the inauguration.

Facing our fears - whatever they may be - is an important part of what we must all do. Today. This week. This year! It's not that what you face is not scary - of course it is! But you must face it nonetheless.

Go read Obama's acceptance speech here.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Getting Political

I don't really like to get political, but one thing that is close to my heart is Israel. I am so saddened by the bad rap that Israel gets when it tries to defend itself. I'm sure I couldn't even imagine what America would do if a neighboring (or any) country was firing rockets daily into our suburbs.

It is my opinion that Hamas (backed by Iran, by the way) and other terrorist organizations are not seeking peace or equality, they are simply seeking to annihilate Israel and all the Jews living there. I'm sure The United States is second on their list.

I won't go any further, but if you'd like to, check out this link and this link and get educated.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Fat January

Did you know that January is the fattest month of the year?

What I mean by that, is according to a UCLA study (no I don't have a link for you, sorry!) people gain the most weight in January. Not December, but January.

That's interesting.

Of course, it could just be our bodies catching up to the enormous amount of leftover candies, hot chocolate, cookies, cake, cheese dip, potatoe pancakes, chocolate (need I go on? I'm getting hungry!) that we ate in the last two weeks of December.

It could be that. But it could also be a result of The Failure Syndrome! See last post!

Instead of actually following your "resolution to get healthy", each day ends with the thought "Boy, I already over-ate at lunch and had that cookie at the office, I might as well have that big bowl of ice cream that's left over in the refrigerator. I've already blown it today."

That mentality goes on and on for a few more weeks, and soon enough, you've gained another 10 pounds. Fat January.

The reality is, that one cookie is no where near blowing it. Yes, cookies have a lot of calories. Probably about 125-200 calories for an average sized chocolate chip cookie. No, not the Costco ones, those are about 250 calories EACH. But, even 250 calories is not much when you think about the fact that it actually requires 3500 EXTRA calories (i.e. above and beyond your basic needs to stay alive) to gain one pound. Even that Costco cookie is only 7% the way there. That is no where near "blowing it".

The damage really happens when you berate yourself for "blowing it", give up, and have the big bowl of ice cream, or whatever you eat after you say "I might as well have that...". At 600 calories per cup, ice cream adds up fast. Assuming you have two cups of ice cream, 3 nights per week, that adds up to a weight gain of just over 53 pounds per year!!!

(MATH: 600x2=1200 calories per bowl: 1200x3=3600 calories per week: 3600x52= 187,200 calories per year: 187200/3500=53.4 pounds gained in one year)

Now, come on. You know you sit down with two cups of ice cream. I would! That doesn't even include the brownie or cookie at the bottom of your bowl, or all the other things you may eat in a week. That's just an average serving of ice cream, only three times per week. That's also 53 extra pounds on your body. Worth it?

Not for me.

So, do you see how entering The Failure Syndrome is actually a self fulfilling prophecy? You never blew it with the cookie, you really blew it when you gave up on yourself, gave in to failure, and accepted that you could not overcome a failure - that wasn't even a failure in the first place!

Of course, I like cookies and ice cream, so I'm using them in this example. But, this scenario plays out the same way in other parts of our lives. Every part of our lives. We are not failures for trying and trying again. We are not even failures for giving up on ourselves. We can make a change at any time. At any moment, we can just decide to make a difference in ourselves and our lives. At any moment, we can just make a choice to do something different.

Try it.

Not only will you make a positive change in yourself. You might even change the world.