“ What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve!”

I’ll grant you that the thought above is somewhat true though certainly the mind cannot transcend the normal laws of physics or whatever. And I always read that quote above in a triumphant statement of what someone is going to do! However, that’s not what this little blog is about. Rather, it is about the flip side of the coin!

Too many people who start BFL start with weakening thoughts, rather than strengthening ones. They start with the notion that “I’m disabled, so I probably can’t……” or with the idea that, “I have tried diet and exercise programs before, so this one probably won’t work either…..”. Some even start with the granddaddy of all weakening thoughts, “I don’t know if I believe that the pictures and the stories are real, but I’ll give it a try anyway.” I can virtually promise you that if you believe those silly things I just mentioned–you have almost zero chance of succeeding unless and until you replace those thoughts with thoughts that strengthen.

Thoughts that strengthen aren’t ethereal or vague…they don’t have any “mights” or “maybes” or even “ifs” in them. Thoughts that strengthen are purposeful, positive and precise. Here’s an example: “By tomorrow at this time I will have purchased the book, written down my goals, taken my before photos and done all my measurements. By Monday, I will have all my food, and my diets and workouts planned, and I will start my challenge with a workout at ___a.m., at the ___gym.”

To replace weak thoughts with strong ones takes pro-activity. It takes writing things down, and it takes doing away with every thought of self-pity, suffering or mediocrity that tries to take root in your mind! You are not competing against others in this battle, you’re competing against yourself, for the battle for your mind! Don’t let the old you win that battle–not if you have any hope of winning the battle for better health!

My alarm didn’t wake me this morning–I simply woke up at 5:18 a.m., and the alarm was set to go off at 5:30. I was “tempted” to just lie there until I hard the alarm, but instead I simply got up and went out to do what I needed to do. My morning reading, study and prayer time. It wasn’t that I felt fully rested, but just that I knew that lying in bed for 12 more minutes wasn’t going to do anything to make my day any better, but that spending a little more time reading the Bible might!  I also did that because I am really working on re-building the habit of readingdaily scripture, after months of just giving lip service to it. Habits are funny things–the bad ones are very easy to acquire, and the good ones–it’s tough!

Have you ever thought about that? That the things we really like to do are usually not at all what are good for us, and the things we don’t like to do usually are good for us. It’s true with food, too, that the stuff I WANT to eat is not the stuff that is good for me, and vice-versa!  As a body for lifer I often asked people on the guestbook if any of them ever woke up on free day with a craving for more brown rice, or canned tuna or egg whites or cottage cheese! The responses were usually hilarious!

I am not really sure why we were created in a way that our base nature is almost always opposed to the better things in life, but I am convinced that overcoming and conquering our base nature is an essential part of becoming strong, physically, emotionally and spiritually. That is what separates us from the animal kingdom, that we can recognize but yet not necessarily give in to our base nature, and that in time we can even change that base nature to something beautiful, useful and pleasant.  To me, that’s the essence of the transformation program.The idea that we should and must strive to be better in every sphere of our lives if we are to truly live joyous and productive lives.

Do I think that getting up 12 minutes early made any real dent in my base nature? Actually, yes. Because it prompted me to think more deeply about this whole  topic, and to write this blog.  It’s a funny thing about writing blogs. People think as they read them that I was writing to them. In reality, I’m writing to myself–motivating and strengthening and promising the one person I can control–me!

Have a great day today, and do what you can to conquer that old you and to strengthen the new you!