I miss the scale…but not really, now that I’m thinking about it. My first day without the scale was great, I felt calm, peaceful, and relax. It feels like I’m living a fit life now. It’s a big relief to not always thinking about the scale or weight loss!
I’ve other issues that I need to work on as well, like the list below. The list is a quiz from FitWoman that I find to be useful.
I am unhappy with myself the way I am.
I am preoccupied with a desire to be thinner.
I weigh myself several times a week.
I am more concerned with the number on the scale than my overall sense of well-being.
I think about burning up calories when I exercise.
I am out of tune with my body for natural signals of hunger and fullness.
I eat for other reasons than physical hunger.
I eat too quickly, not taking time to focus on my meal and taste, savor and enjoy my food.
I fail to take time for activities for myself.
I fluctuate between periods of sensible, nutritious eating and out-of-control eating.
I give too much time and thought to food.
I tend to skip meals, especially early in the day, so I can “save up” my food for one big feast.
Like most people I’ve been searching for happiness through work, relationship, money, educations and so on. Only if we’ve a better job, only if we’ve better educations, only if everything is perfect, only if we’ve lost weight….you name it, we would be happy. We make plans and spend most of the time dreaming of the future, but forget to live in the present moment. If we’ve achieved success, it’s still not enough. We want more. This book will help you find your own happiness no matter where you’re at in your life.
Chapter 1: It’s all in your head.
The secret to happiness is in your head. It’s how you think, act and feel about yourself and life in general. No one or nothing can make you happy in long term. It’s up to you if you want to be happy now. You think you would be happy if you’ve the best shoes, own the coolest car or if your kids enrolled in the best school etc. These things bring short term pleasure but don’t confuse pleasure with happiness. Some people are looking for happiness in the wrong place by jumping from job to job or even from spouse to spouse.
Chapter 2: You ’re just where you’re supposed to be.
Comparing your life to others make you only unhappy because you’re focusing only on shortcomings, like how much other people earn, who has the biggest house, who drives a better car, where do children go to school and many others things. You may be jealous of other people who have achieved success or thinking the grass in greener on the other side. You don’t realize what risks they have taken and how much they have sacrificed to be where they are now.
Chapter 3. It Gets better.
Do you wake up in the morning and feel your life isn’t going anywhere, and maybe you start feeling depressed, or feeling beaten? Learn to have faith in time that things will get better. View passage of time as something positive and wonderful that heals the wounds and lessen the pain.
Chapter 4. Own your success.
Take credit for what you do and accept compliments. Don’t think and say negative things about yourself, because if you do that long enough, other will believe you too. Focus on what’s going right rather than what’s going wrong. Accept your shortcomings and failures.
Chapter 5. You don’t have to go it alone.
Ask for help and support when you need it. To ask the right way, you need to make it easier for people to help you and understand what obstacles they may face. They may have plans that day when you need help or other fears you don’t know. So don’t be afraid to ask!
Chapter 6. There’s no time like now, so take action.
Don’t wait for the best time or the right time. You cannot control time. Stop expecting perfection or be afraid to fail. Choose to live fearless. Don’t put your life on hold.
Chapter 7. Your best is enough.
You don’t need a perfect body or perfect career to be happy. Give your best, that’s enough. You can’t be best at everything. Stop thinking about all or nothing and don’t put everything else on hold. To increase happiness you need to attend to every area in your life.
Chapter 8. The past is past.
Don’t spend time re-living and regretting the past. You can’t change it. Learn to forgive those who had done you wrong. It doesn’t mean what they did was right, but you forgive them because you don’t want to hold on to the anger anymore. There’s a story about 2 Holocaust survivors Isaac and Natan. Isaac asks Natan, ”Have you forgiven the Nazis?” Natan reply, ”Yes, I have”. Then Isaac says, Well, I haven’t. I’m still consumed with hatred for them”. Natan then reply, ”In that case, they still have you locked at the camp”
Chapter 9. Tomorrow is too late.
Life is happening right now. Don’t spend too much time planning for tomorrow, waiting for the right conditions to happen and put happiness on hold. Appreciate what you have. Make a list of things you’re grateful for, people you love, the places you enjoy, the things that bring you pleasure. For example, ”I’m grateful for my friendship with X because he/she makes me laugh”.
Chapter 10. Out of your mind.
Happiness is internal and doesn’t come from getting a new car, buying a home, or getting back in college. You have the power to be happy and be responsible for your own happiness. Everything you need to be happy is in your mind.
The authors only scratch on the surface of what happiness is, but the book does a great job explaining how to change your attitudes to cultivate the happiness that is now and not put it on hold waiting until you’ve achieved certain goals/items.
I’m exploring the subject happiness, and so far most authors agree that it depends on our attitudes. We think our way to unhappiness therefore we can think our way to happiness. It’s All in Your Head: Thinking Your Way to Happiness is not a quick fix, but if you put what you’ve learned from this book into action, you’re getting closer to find inner peace and happiness. Stay tune for more reviews on happiness by other authors.
It’s time to make a concrete plan if I’m going to be a happy skinny girl.
My daily goal
Stop eating after 8pm (When the craving kick in after that I’ll munch on something that’s healthy)
Walk 30 minutes/day, Monday-Friday. Switch the exercise every 2 weeks. When too busy/lazy, the minimum is 2 times per week.
My weekly goal
Once every week go out for a walk in the woods for daily dose of happiness.
I’m not on a diet but Carole (CommonSenseLiving.com) is absolutely right when she said that I’m stuck in the diet mentality, instead of thinking healthy. I’m trying to think healthy but can not avoid thinking about my weight. So, from now on I’m going to stop weighing myself everyday. Only at the end of each month I’ll evaluate the result. I’m afraid that I’ll gain weight but doing this will help me to focus more on good habits rather than unhealthy choices and bad thoughts.
I’m trying to live in the present moment, but lately I’ve been procrastinating to go out doing stuff.
Day 1
Opening the blind, looking outside, ” Oh…, it’s snowing, the wind is blowing and it’s freezing
….maybe tomorrow.
Day 2
Opening the blind, looking outside, ”Oh! It’s not snowing…but it’s still freezing
… maybe tomorrow.
Day 3
Opening the blind, looking outside, ”Oh! It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the snow is glittering. Glancing at my thermometer, it’s a lot colder than yesterday
… maybe tomorrow.
Then reality struck me. What was I doing? I should be thinking what I would like to do today. True, that the weather was very cold but I cannot control it. I shouldn’t wait for the perfect weather to go out and do things. Then I remembered I’d an headache and was still reluctant to go out.
Anyway, I went out today. My headache was gone and I felt better.
Each and every day, we are given the opportunity to start things anew; how we decide to do this is our own personal decision. In a world where so many things seem to be becoming less and less certain, we have the capacity to make sure that our spiritual side doesn’t atrophy in the process. What follows is a brief list of spiritual habits that will enhance your daily life and the lives of those around you as a result.
Practice Tolerance
Our world is constantly evolving and so are the people who inhabit it. That being said, fighting change and progress is a fruitless battle that will only bring more struggle and unhappiness to you. Practicing tolerance and acceptance helps you to move forward and continue working on who you are without trying to change others’ minds along the way. It doesn’t mean that you have to necessarily like what you accept, but there’s no need to waste valuable energy struggling against change.
Take Time to Reflect
In our society, we are always plugged in. Whether it’s the ringing of the cell phone, text message alerts, or email and messages on social networking sites, there’s little time for quiet reflection. Take time each and every day to unplug, turn off, and tune out the constant barrage of information and contact. The art of reflection is something that is being lost with the emergence of so much convenience. Reconnect with yourself each day and feel the difference in your attitude.
Practice Gratitude
Take time each day to be thankful for all that you have. It seems that many people spend much more time thinking about what they want rather than what they already have. There are so many things to be thankful for in our daily lives; placing our attention on gratitude rather than desire helps us to regain focus on what’s important in life.
Moderation and Temperance
Another thing that we can work on in our daily lives is practicing moderation and temperance in all things. Excess is prevalent in many daily activities; actively moderate all things in life, from eating and drinking to exercise. Too much of a good thing can be worse than a little bit of a bad thing. Temperance in actions ensures that excessive amounts of energy aren’t spent unnecessarily.
Take Your Time
Technology has brought about many benefits in recent years, and one of those is the speed at which tasks and information can be completed and retrieved. While this is a great advantage, many people have adapted to this speedy evolution by making unfair standards for themselves and others when it comes to completing tasks. Every day, take a bit of time to slow down and do your tasks mindfully and pay attention to the details involved. Often, most mistakes come from hasty people not paying proper attention to the task at hand, which will only cost you time and more stress down the line.
By-line:
This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of the online accounting courses. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com
I’m not happy I’m not skinny I’m tired I’m tired of being fat I’m tired of working out I’m tired of planning I’m tired of being on the guard I can’t relax I want to do something else that’s fun like start drawing painting or something But I can only focus on one thing at a time if I ever going to achieve this The slowness and going the circle is killing me I’ve seen many bloggers lose 20-50lbs why can’t I do that too Sometimes I do enjoy this journey but what’s the fun when stumbling on the same place?
Ok I feel so much better now. Just need to vent out a bit
Last week was one of those strange weeks, I didn’t focus on weight loss, I ate a lot of chocolate, no exercise, went to bed really late but I didn’t gain weight, and I hit a new low on the scale. I don’t dare to say yay yet, because every time I do my scale is going upward. I don’t know why I lost …maybe it depends on how I stop seeing food. There’s no definition of good food vs bad food. Food is simply food that give us nutritions. Some give us more value that’s all. However, there’s a good choice vs. bad choice. We should be less focusing on food, and focus more on why do we make that choice? You may not come up with the answer, but that’s alright.
I’m slow like a snail, you hardly see me move…but I do =)
I hope this is working, because I deleted the old feed. I’ve moved to a new domain which is HappySkinnyGirl. Please update your BOOKMARK/SUBCRIPTION to the new address: http://happyskinnygirl.com
These are some of my favorite breakfasts. What do you think? I don’t think I can go any healthier than this without giving up the taste. Of course there are always celery sticks, but they’re for rabbits…and bananas are for monkeys =) I’m a bit curious about what you guys eat for breakfast, any tips?
I’m so tired, just no way I can possible continue. And you want to quit. Right? That person if you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running. You will learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life. Running. All right? That’s the first key to life… – Will Smith
It’s very empowering message. I better get start running =) Before, I wanted to lose weight because of health and that I wanted to have a stronger body. But after watching this video, the ultimatum result I want to achieve is to develop a strong and driven persona who can achieve anything.
I love to read to get a new fresh perspective from someone else, beside myself. I’ve been in a deep hole, depressed, searching for answers about life’s purpose and happiness. Reading have helped me through the different stages in my life. Another key I should add is writing. It’s as important as reading.
If you’ve already seen this video, it’s a good reminder =)
is not a quick fix, but if you put what you’ve learned from this book into action, you’re getting closer to find inner peace and happiness. Stay tune for more reviews on happiness by other authors.
