February 7th, 2017 Attraction Of Old Reactions

February 7th, 2017 Attraction Of Old Reactions

Tuesday's are typically one of my busy days of the week. Keep in mind, my version of "busy" is heavily influenced, defined really, by the schedule I keep--and more specifically, the missteps I make within the schedule. There are ways where I can clearly see how a "busy" day for me can be transformed into a "not so busy" day, simply with a few key changes.

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget. I remained refined sugar-free. I met my daily water goal. And I stayed well connected with solid support.

Sharing an excerpt tonight. I spoke with a friend who's had a fairly rough day and they're holding tight to their plan despite the attraction of old reactions. It's not always easy to change decades-old behavior patterns--in fact, I'd venture to say it's never easy. But it is possible. In my experience, the change first occurred in my perspective. I spent years asking myself, "why can't you just get this???" I was trying to jump straight to the desired change without changing my perspective.

It's a study in compartmentalizing things.

Previously published excerpt:

The Parallel Streams

The "Life Stream" is everything happening in our day to day lives. The Life Stream includes the ups and downs, the challenges, the victories, the disappointments, The hectic schedules, the family dynamics, the workplace dynamics, the bills, the stress, the joys, the blessings, the expected and the unexpected, the good, the bad...It's life.

The "Fundamental Elements Stream" contain the daily actions of my personal plan. I say "my" because our plans might be very different. Mine is customized to fit my personality, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses and sensitivities.

My fundamental elements stream includes my personal/spiritual morning "me time," the most peaceful five minutes of my entire day. My fundamental elements stream also includes maintaining the integrity of my calorie budget, remaining abstinent from refined sugar, logging everything in MyFitnessPal, photographing and tweeting, with description and calorie counts of everything I consume, every day, getting regular workouts and staying connected with one on one and group support interactions and of course, writing and publishing this blog, nightly--right before bed.

I've also referred to my fundamental elements as my "rails of support." I've set my accountability and support measures on high. When someone makes a comment in the direction of, "you're so strong" or "you must have amazing will power," I typically thank them and smile, but I know, truly, I'm not that strong and I don't have giant amounts of will power. What I have are solid rails of accountability and support--and I'm holding onto those rails, each day. They guide me, step by step.

The fundamental elements stream runs parallel, just below the life stream. The life stream is running in the foreground and the fundamental elements stream is running in the background--like a computer's anti-virus program.

I've written countless paragraphs within the archives of this blog all about the "life stream" and the "fundamental elements stream" and how they must run parallel to one another without crossing.

If we allow life and all of the energy it takes to maneuver, to negatively affect our ability to maintain consistency in the daily elements of our extraordinary care, then it always will. The frustration of inconsistency will be a common theme if the life stream is allowed to dip down into the fundamental elements stream on a regular basis.

And if we get too carried away, making the fundamental elements all consuming, then we run the risk of it crossing up into our life stream. And that's when it isn't any fun and we dread what we're doing every day.

I've had several challenges of late where I really had to remember the power of this "parallel streams" philosophy. I've discovered, when life demands more attention, we don't have to let go of the elements giving us our success, but we can scale back the amount of energy it uses to operate.

We don't sacrifice the integrity of the elements, we just do what we can do. For me--on super busy days, I have three non-negotiable requirements: 1. Stay within my calorie budget  2. Hold my abstinence from sugar sacred 3. Send the accountability tweets and write this blog--even if it's just the tweets of the day. 

Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean