Don’t get me wrong last week we helped some wonderful friends back and move their house.  This was a 4 day project after work.  Was a lot of lifting, stacking, packing, bending and all kinds of exercise.  So after the first day, I didn’t do my morning workout for 3 days.  I went to bed each night exhausted and feeling good about how well this old man humped all that stuff.

This morning I realized that my workouts are a lot like my life in general.  I have come to realize over the years that life is lived in moments.  Some moments are like the next rep of curling a dumbbell to my chin.  If it is the first few reps it seems easy enough, but as the set nears completion, it will become harder for me to complete that set with the full number of reps.  Now if I don’t increase the weight, it stays easy, but no progress is made.

Life is that way isn’t?  If we glide through it we get comfort zone results.  We live from what is easy.  There is little challenge, little growth and often no or very little progress.  Kinda of boring don’t you think?  That is where I used to survive from.  It seemed like it was all I could do.  Perhaps as you read this it is where you feel you are now as well.  Well I have some good news for you, it isn’t that hard to get more from life.

When obesity limited my life, I had no energy, no motivation and struggled each day with pain, depression, and various concerns of my health.  Had I given up I would have lived out my life in a much shorter time span.  I would have allowed the doctors and the pharmacy to control how my body “survived” for the time I had left.  I just had to make new choices and become more conscious that it really is about moment to moment living.

So ask yourself right now, what choices do I make in each moment to have a fuller, more fulfilled life.  Notice I didn’t ask where you are now.  I didn’t look for the reasons you got there, I asked what are you going to do to change it?  I don’t believe in being stuck in the past, or what someone just said that hurt my feelings.  I believe in the statement “If it is to be, it is up to me!”  What say you?

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Now normally I would have my Nike+ shoes and my Ipod Nano to record my mileage.  Gotta get those miles logged so people can see I live what I preach.  I am kidding, well kinda, I have to admit I like seeing the miles add up.  But, when you really take a look at it, it really only matters that I am working on my health to continue the journey I started.  So off I went for a slow, maybe painful walk to get some circulation going in my legs.  No music.  No measurement of time (how fast or slow I was going).  Just a walk to feel better was all I was after.

It is a sunny day in Boise today.  My walk during the day is almost always on the greenbelt and today was no exception.  It was a sunny 88 degrees and humid.  Little did I know that more than my legs were about to get restored.

I looked around, there where all kinds of things to see and hear.  First was the kayaker floating and bobbing along down the river.  A reminder of things still on my “bucket list”, one day to take either a white water rafting trip or lean to kayak and venture the wild waters in Idaho.  Then there was the man and his dog walking along the banks.  This one took me back to the recent lost of my dear pet and friend that recently passed away after being with us for 20+ years.

I walked on as my legs started to free up a bit and each step seemed a bit lighter.  I started thinking about some of the recent events in my life that needed quiet contemplation to come to some sort of decision.  No music, no concern about a pace, just walking along the river on a hot summer day.  As I searched my soul, that still quiet voice (note to self, you still have to get quiet to hear it) led me into the next steps and an inner knowing what to do next.

Getting ready to go around the bend I noticed the bike rider coming around the turn and waited in case he would go left instead of right.  He actually stopped for me to cross and we exchanged smiles that acknowledged we where both courteous to each other’s journey.  On across the old steel bridge, the boards creaked and bounced as I looked up and down the river noticing for the first time all week that the water level had changed and enjoy the flying cottonwoods as they floated through the air like angels guarding us along the way.

Image via Wikipedia

On to the home stretch, sun beating down and body getting warmer now as the sweat started to form on my brow.  Half way and my walk would be done.  I was almost sad for it to be over till I hear all the birds signing and I became lost in the harmony of their song.  Be still they sang and enjoy the day.  Each step, took me closer to my destination.

Last bridge and only a few yard to the door.  As the real world approached I realized that the walk had done more for my health than getting the blood moving in my aching legs.  It had renewed my spirit.  It had reminded me of the sights and sounds of life being enjoyed around me.  As the sweat poured down my brow it also reminded me of the days when I would have never thought of walking off those aches and pains of life that I had just been released from.  And often never took the time to enjoy the sweet moments being active has to offer.

I hope in some small way this reaches one person and makes a difference in their life.  It reminds them to take a moment and enjoy their walk.  It doesn’t have to be for exercise.  It doesn’t have to be around a park.  It can be just for a brief moment when you hear the birds sing out to you or smell the fresh scent of the lilac trees as they send their scent through the air.  Oh and that still small voice, it is always in waiting for when you take the time to listen.  Be blessed and enjoy the journey!

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I didn’t like the way I felt back then, but I still never gave up working on being excited about life and finding a way out.  Struggle is tough!  It sometimes takes all we have to keep going.  Heck there are still some days at the end of the day I am glad that day is over.  The good news though is even those days have something exciting happening and progress is made in some area of my life.

What’s the difference?  I get to set the pace!  I make the choices to stick to the plan I have or to take some time off from it.  I had to laugh yesterday I was told that I sure have myself in a lot of areas.  I work with clients, I am part of a team putting together a revolutionary life coaching plan, I do clinical hypnotherapy, have a full time IT position that put me on call, I watch what I eat and exercise, and recently have been asked to go back into ministry work.  Sounds like a full plate.  My response was that in one of my favorite life giving books I often read that if you are given talents you should use them or they may be taken away.  In the same book it tells me to whom much is given, much is expected.

With all that said than I control my life with choices.  I choose into my life to get all life has to offer.  Diet and exercise take time and planning.  So does being ill, it robs hope and joy along with time.  Everything has a cost.  I just look for the results rather than getting bogged down in the effort.  It is more fun to be fit rather than struggling with carrying around all that extra weight.  It was a small price to pay for the fullness of life I experience now.

Want control of your Life?  Take it, plan it, work it, and live it.  Start replacing disempowering thoughts with empowering thoughts.  Learn to breath.  Find out what faith and hope is again.  Stop the excuses, stop the self abuse, and take one step at a time.  Do it and keep going at it.  Perfection is not the mantra here.  It is all about the journey and what you learn along the way.  After all whose life is it anyways?

Not sure where to start?   Fill out a contact form and lets talk.  No charge!  Yeah, that is one more thing I do, help others to find a way to get started to enjoy their life.  After all, to whom much has been given, much is expected.

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Now I have not been a fan of magic pill solutions that causes you to crap in your pants in oily ways to gross to imagine.  But aren’t we supposed to be able to rely on the FDA to tell us about this stuff as soon as it is seen as an issue?  Oh wait they aren’t telling us of the risks that 1 out of 25 could die from bariatric surgery either.

Well it just goes along the line of trusting the government to come up with a solution to the obesity crisis here as well.  New studies just released that says that 28 out of 50 of the good ol’ USA just increased their obesity rates yet again.

Heck my own state of Idaho has gone over 25% of it’s population is now obese.  Not just overweight mind you that makes the numbers go even higher.  And all that I am hearing from the various committees on obesity is that it is a problem related to income, location, race etc. etc.  No solutions for you being offered if you are broke or a member of various stereotypically lower income brackets.  What a load of more brown stuff!

Common America, wake up and find your own answers.  Obesity kills and your government is at best going to tax you while you die with it.

End rant!

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Today was no exception.   I was talking about the trip up to the summer camp on the bus with the “at risk” kids on their way to be treated to loving one on one care all week.  I was then asked if I “had to” go back up on Friday to bring them back.  Which I responded with “No I don’t have to,  I get to!”  Well you know what I meant was the response.  To which I explained there is a difference.

The difference is in how you approach the task.  I hear it all the time from clients.  The ones that “have to” do something consider the sacrifice and the work they are doing as a chore or an unwanted task.  It is all about the food they miss or how tough it is to stay on track.  The one’s that “get to” consider it a chance to improve their lives and their health.   The things they get to do are simply part of the process towards being a better, healthier individual.

You see I am blessed.  I get to go to a gym 3-5 times a week.  I get to walk 2 miles during my lunches around a beautiful park and river run.  I get to pay attention to what I eat.  I get to compete with other walkers and runners after years of hating to run or walk any distance.  I get to go up on Friday and see the faces of a group of kids that this week may be the only week this year that they feel really appreciated and blessed.  They will be excited, they will be energized and they may even be a handful.  I am sure that it will be another blessing to be at their service and perhaps find one more opportunity to encourage and bless them on the way.

So if that is over analyzing then I will continue to do that to.  Cause, I get to choose the way I think, the way I feel, the way I handle challenge and the way I handle blessings.  You see I have found out it is a lot more fun to see life as a choice instead of a “have to”.  I come at it feeling empowered and motivated, instead of repressed and forced.  I get to enjoy life!  Hey maybe even tomorrow I will get to write another story from the joy of having a job and having people think I am cut from a different cloth than many.

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