I bought the DVDs and official P90X kit in April, but actually just officially started the 90 day challenge on May 17 2010. It started out as an experiment, a way of reviewing a popular fitness package and seeing how it measured up against other training programs. The results of a friend, and his good advice, made me decide to dedicate myself wholeheartedly to P90X instead of just trying it out in order to write a review.

Having been at it nearly two weeks, there are two things I can tell you for sure:
1. My username on the P90X website should be “Pause Button King!” And,
2. It is an excellent program that focuses on exactly the things I need to focus on at this point in my life.

After ten years of progressive resistance training with body for life and with the similar and also very excellent program of Lee Labrada called the Lean Body Challenge, I am fit and muscular. But, what I need more of right now is the type of conditioning that will develop a really good core, excellent balance, endurance, better range of motion, pain free joints, and still will retain the symmetry and leanness that I have developed over the years. P90X, I am convinced, will do just that.

One caveat. When they say it is “extreme,” they mean it! It is not for those who are tremendously overweight or who are just beginning to regain the physical fitness they once had. Body for Life or the Lean Body Challenge are perfect programs that are easily adaptable to beginners or severe obesity but P90X honestly is just too demanding to make it even worthwhile under those circumstances.

I have followed it as closely as I can, and I hit the pause button a lot, as I get winded, but even after just two weeks, I’m seeing significant and good results in the mirror, on the scales, and in how my clothes fit. The lady who sees me at the Red Cross every two weeks and sets me up for my platelets donation looked at me today and asked if I still weighed what they show on their records. She explained that I looked like I had gotten really lean really quick, and she also said that the muscles and veins in my arms really look different. She wasn’t trying to give me compliments–she was just doing her job, but it just shows me that what I think I see is also what others are seeing, too! I am also reasonably sure the changes are due solely to the exercise regimen, because I have NOT changed my classic 6 small meals a day, with the usual array of protein and carbs, except that I have begun eating just a bit more carbs since both the time and intensity of the exercise require more endurance than progressive resistance training does.

Well, I plan on doing the whole 90 days and I’ll take some progress photos in 3 or 4 weeks from the beginning and bring you up to date then. If you’re wondering whether it would work for you, drop me a note and I’ll be glad to try to answer any questions you might have. If you’re in the middle of a body for life or similar challenge now, by all means stick with it. P90X IS NOT a replacement for those programs–it’s the next thing you ought to think about doing!

God Bless! It’s a wonderful time of the year to be getting fit. No excuses! Decide, Commit and Succeed!

I say all that only to tell you why I watch so many old movies–and that’s because the donations take a couple of hours plus the supply of movies is old. Today, I watched Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray. Even if you’ve never seen it, you know that it is about a guy who gets trapped in a life where every day is exactly the same as the day before, except that he has the power to react to all the events as they occur. He sees the same people every day who have the same things to say to him, but he can alter what he says and does to them.

The movie is both sad and funny at the same time, as Murray’s character struggles to escape this daily nightmare in Punksatwney Pennsylvania (hence the title) where he wakes up as a Pittsburgh weatherman who is supposed to be coverning the groundhog who sees his shadow. Murray’s character is a prideful but small time weatherman who thinks he is more important and talented than he is. Day by day he becomes suicidal and tries to escape the hell of sameness by doing himself in, but still wakes up to live the next day.

He eventually learns that he has undiscovered talents, which he develops, and also learns that his contempt for those around him is part of what locks him in this daily hell.

Murray eventually escapes his daily hell by applying his new found talents to entertain and benefit others; by living humbly, by living purposefully, and by doing good for others. He learns the true meaning of love and a life well lived.

It’s a good movie and the theme is timeless. “Live intentionally; give of your time and talents; and love others no matter the risk.” That’s much of what a transformed life is all about. What starts out as just another diet and exercise program transforms you from the inside out, teaching you that you can do more than you can think, that you have undiscovered talents and character traits; that you are at your best when you live an organized and generous life, and that you were put on earth to help others–not to help yourself.

I liked the movie–as you can plainly tell. But I loved the message much more. I plan on living that message–how about you?

First and foremost, I’m going to give P90X a complete tryout. I’m not just going to give it a bit of a shot–I’m actually going to do the full 90 days just like it is supposed to be done, and see whether it’s something that will work on a 63 year old guy. I’m in good enough condition to get started–I just need to make all the arrangements to truly do it right, and that means waiting until my current trip is over.

Looks like I’ll be kicking off on Tuesday, May 4. I’ll post updates and photos as I go along. From what I know about the program and about fitness in general, I expect great things from the exercise program of P90X and I’ll be following the nutrition program that looks much like the Body for Life or the “Zone approach” to eating.

I’m writing this from a hotel lobby in Grinnell Iowa on a stormy Saturday afternoon, on my way to Kansas to visit my mother. It’s pouring right now, so I’ll be putting off my exercise until later tonight when I get to my daughter’s house. They have a full gym and after a day of driving, I’m ready to kick it!

See, keeping muscle mass and staying generally fit will always be goals so long as I can continue to work out, and I will always return to the types of progressive resistance training I’ve done for years as part of my base fitness plan. But, I also plan on putting more functional types of exercises into my routine, exercises that will help me be a better bicyclist, a better golfer, a better swimmer, and a better runner. That likely means much more core work and much more in the way of body weight exercises, and less in terms of progressive resistance training volume.

I also plan on “moving on” insofar as time spent on writing, teaching and speaking concerning fitness. I think I’ve said most everything I really need to say in the Blogs I’ve written over the last three years, and the materials have all found their way into the hands of others who can continue to use them–to the extent that they might remain valuable for those who are just taking up the craft of transformation fitness athletics. I will continue to Blog on this site, but probably only on this site for the forseeable future. Reality is that I’m just slightly less than three years away from retirement, and until then my full-time job is still my biggest priority time-wise. The good news is that I have job security because of how my appointment works, and the not-so-good news is that those who didn’t have that security have been terminated and their work spread among the remainder of us. So, I have an embarrassment of riches insofar as my job duties and the time necessary to do the job. That’s another good reason to be spending less time Blogging and more time doing what I need to be doing.

So, thanks for the memories, as they say, and for the forseeable future please stop by this site if you want to see what I’m up to and how I’m progressing.

God bless!

Most stories of this ilk are more about pop culture than real medical problems of course. Still, it is worthwhile discussing the whole idea of whether we spend too much time managing our food consumption habits, and what the best solution really is.

Having committed to the lifestyle of eating six small meals a day and exercising regularly nearly every day, I have had many occasions to speak or write and to answer questions concerning that topic. And, it has been my experience that there really are some people who are so obsessed about their nutritional needs and process that their efforts to eat perfectly can take on a life of their own and actually keep them from enjoying their journey to better health. Like most things, it is probably best to be diligent but not obsessive about such things as workouts and meals and rest.

One thing that I usually do to avoid excessive planning and research is to eat simple, fresh whole foods, rather than blended foods or preserved foods. It’s not that I necessarily prefer the taste and appearance and effects of the fresh whole foods either. It is just that when I do eat naturally grown or raised foods I don’t have to spend a great deal of time worrying about what goes into them. And, because the supplies of fresh whole foods are a bit more limited than the choices on the inside aisles of the grocery store, I tend to eat basically the same things, day after day, week after week. That helps a great deal, because if I have analyzed a meal on one occasion and I eat the same thing regularly, I just don’t spend much time looking up caloric and nutrient contents or worrying about portion sizes.

Another thing that has helped a lot is recognizing the “90% rule.” Simply put, that means that if I am doing healthy things 90% of the time, I’m probably doing enough that the other 10% of my time can be consumed guilt free by indulging in what I wish. I grant you that regular and gluttonous consumption of saturated fats and white sugar and flour is not a good idea, but indulging in those things on a rare occasion is unlikely to land you in the emergency room any time soon.

When it comes to meal replacement shakes and supplements, I’ve realized two things. First, there is no avoiding reading the contents label because virtually every meal replacement shake or bar varies in content and quality from others. And, second, that there can be much peace in buying the best product you can possibly get, even if it on occasion means sacrificing a bit of taste or texture to get it. When it comes to meal replacement shakes and bars, there is no company better than Labrada Nutrition at getting it right in both taste and content. The products aren’t cheap, but they are good and good for you. The EAS division of Abbott Nutrition makes excellent products as well. You cannot go wrong buying the products of either one of these companies. However, you CAN go wrong if you use the products incorrectly, so be sure that you’re using the shakes for meal replacements and the bars for emergency meal replacements, because the bars, while very tasty, are certainly not on par with the shakes when it comes to great muscle building nutrition!

Here’s the very normal story of a good transformation result by guestbook regular radswillslim that was sent to me by email in the middle of March 2010. I asked her to give me her story because she had a really nice result and inches losses, especially around the waist, that are remarkable in view of her fairly normal amount of weigh loss her challenge, which means she lost a lot of fat. By itself it is a great result and is even more remarkable when you consider that Rad is a vegetarian and does not consume eggs either. Here is what she wrote:

“BFLMike,
Today is an ecstatic day for me. I am so glad I found, followed and above all completed my first BFL challenge.
I was frustrated with how I looked because even a year and a half after my daughter was born I still kept the baby fat. I was borderline diabetic during my last trimester. I worried about ending up like my mother who is obese and has Rheumatoid Arthritis. I wanted to get fit and active and healthy for myself and my family. Before officially starting the BFL challenge, I had joined a gym and worked out on my own for a month, but did not pay too much attention to my eating.
When I started the BFL challenge on 14th Dec, my determination was 10/10 and I was ready to give it all that I had. . BFL exercises seemed simple enough but the diet was challenging because I am a vegetarian and do not eat eggs. I read the Body for Life book, but still made lots of mistakes with my eating during the first four weeks. With the help of all the guestbook people and my doting husband as well, I was able to change what I was doing wrong even though the eating remained challenging.

No one else on the guestbook was a vegetarian like me, but I eventually found my proteins in the form of texturized soy and soya crumbles with tofu and tempeh. [editor’s note: tempeh is a high-protein food of Indonesian origin made from partially cooked, fermented soybeans.] I also used soy protein powder to make protein tortillas most of the times.
My free day was either on Saturday or on Sunday. If I missed a workout during the week, I compensated by working out on Sunday. I never missed more than one workout in a week (which I compensated for on Sundays) throughout the challenge except for the last week when I missed two. I made up for one on the following Sunday.
Challenge wise
Weeks 1 through 6 went fine with the eating and exercising. In Week 7 I suddenly had uncontrollable hunger pangs from nowhere, as if I was experiencing sharp gastric pain or something. The first time, I gave in and ate junk foods like cake, biscuits etc. Immediately after this incident, I realized what was happening to me and shushed them by drinking lots of water whenever those hunger pangs crept up. From week 8 to the end that problem never happened again.
Week 9 though 12, were quite challenging mentally more than physically. I really had to focus hard to stay in the game and to keep myself pushing through the workouts especially on empty stomach. Also, I had to constantly increase the exercise intensity and switch exercises to hit my 10s, because I could feel my body had gotten used to all the lifting and running and I had to really push myself to feel the intensity. I would notice huge differences in my workout intensity directly related to whether I got enough sleep the night before or not. HIIT was categorically challenging during weeks 10 – 12, I would dread each HIIT wondering if I could push myself harder, but to my surprise I did. The hardest one was week 12. I had to force myself not to think about the finish line and to focus hard on each day as it came ,trying not to give in to eating the wrong things. I did fail a couple of times the last week.
Mistakes that I made unknowingly – During the first few weeks and fixed later:
• Not doing all the 6 meals because I thought the last one was too close to bed time.
• Not working out on empty stomach in the early morning
• Considering beans and lentils as my protein portions (this is a classic one)
• Mistaken Portion sizes – having 1 cup of dry oatmeal and fruits and milk in place of just 1/2 cup oatmeal and protein powder
• Not taking the Myoplex lite RTD shakes within the proper time (half hour for workouts and after one hour for HIIT) as the after workout meal for optimum muscle recovery.
Fitness wise, when I started:
• I could not hold a plank, I now hold it for 1 min and sometimes 1:15
• I could not do knee ups on a bar, now I can comfortably do 15 at a time
• I could not do a single push up ,and now I can do 10 at a time
• I could not jump rope continuously, now I can do 350 in multiples of 50 in under 5 minutes.
• My high point on the treadmill was at 5.2 mph, now it is a 7.8 mph and 8.0 on the last day
• I could not lift beyond 10 lbs, now I do my bicep curls with 20 lbs and I do lunges with 25 lbs each and leg press at 150 lbs
Here are some of my details:
Age: 31
Height: 5′ 4.5″
Diet: Vegetarian – No eggs
Female, Married, Mother of a two year old, Home maker (financial software analyst – project leader before baby)

My statistics:
Week 1 Week 12 My goal Realistic Goal Total Lost
Weight 154 137 120 140 17
Fat % 36.3 30.8 < 20% 28% 5.5
Dress size 12 + 8 8
Chest 38 36

She also told me in a later email that her results were pretty much gradual throughout her challenge and that she did have several slipups both in diet and exercise, but that she never gave up. She also told me that all of her size 8s she had bought fit fine and she was even able to wear a size 6 jacket! How cool is that!

If I had to name the four biggest reasons people fail their body for life challenge, other than laziness, I would say they are fear, resentment, self-pity and guilt! What? Not things like failure to plan, or injuries, or “life getting in the way?” No, the truth is that most people who end up quitting did so because they didn’t believe in their ability to do it, all due to fear, resentment, self-pity or guilt, or a mixture of them.

Fear is the biggest offender of all, because it keeps us from having any confidence in ourselves and keeps from even trying to do our best. Fear can be overcome, but only by taking action in the face of it. You can’t talk yourself out of fear, but you CAN work yourself out of it. Fear cannot stand in the face of faith either. It is said that courage is just fear that has said its prayers–and that’s a good way of looking at it.

Resentment is old anger revisited over and over. It can not only cripple you emotionally but can make things seem not worth doing. Resentment always leads to depression and inaction. Resentment can only be overcome by actively forgiving the offender. That means literally forgiving them, telling them you do, and taking steps to never bring up the offense again.

Self-pity robs you of power. It is a sick way of trying to get attention and love, but ultimately it generates scorn and loathing from others. Self pity is never justified, because it never leads to anything good. In fact, it leads to inaction, more self-pity and depression. The cure for self-pity, like that for fear, is to actively abandon it, relinquish it, and take actions instead of licking your wounds.

Guilt is a crippler as well. Guilt is the action of your conscience that is being ignored. Guilt never goes away on its own. To rid yourself of guilt, a good conversation with another who cannot be harmed by your telling them what you did, and who will not betray your confidence, is the beginning of the cure, and the end of it is making amends for the wrongs you created.

Space is limited in these blogs. If you have questions about how to do any of this, I’m glad to answer any personal email. miketharris@comcast.net

What does any of this have to do with BFL? Well, in a sense–everything! If you will take the steps I’ve suggested, you’ll not only have a new sense of freedom, you’ll have the desire and the ability to succeed, and to love yourself again! Blessings!

I said that mental strength, or inner strength, is a desirable quality that is made up of a combination of confidence, perseverance, discipline and concentration. With mental strength plus a healthy helping of visualization, a transformation effort will usually succeed; without mental strength, a person will struggle to achieve major goals.

I next addressed how a person develops mental strength, and I analogized it to exactly the way a person builds muscle. As you know, muscular strength and size grow when the muscle is placed under load—stressed. Muscle strength and size grow best when the muscle is heavily stressed for short periods of time, followed by the appropriate nutrition, and a rest period. Mental strength is developed exactly the same way. And, just as muscle actually begins to wane in strength and size if it is regularly overstressed for long periods, not fed properly and not allowed to rest, mental strength is diminished in such circumstances.

The natural enemies of mental strength are an unforgiving attitude—what recovery people usually call a resentment, worry, fear and self-perjury (failing to keep your promises to yourself). These destroy the mental strength because they erode confidence, disrupt concentration, and impede discipline and perseverance. Think about the last time you so anguished over something that happened to you that you couldn’t get it out of your head. Remember how everything else that was going on around you seemed distant and confusing? Remember how hard it was to pray and experience joy? That’s how mental strength is sabotaged.

To build mental strength, we need regular but infrequent stressors to the mind. So, it makes sense to welcome, to even be thankful for the adversities that come into our lives. They are there for a purpose, to prepare us, to make us stronger, and to make us more useful. But, the continuing vestiges of adversity, if we allow them, erode our mental strength through the unforgiving spirit, worry and fear.

How do we stop that from happening? An attitude of gratitude must always lead. As silly as it sounds to welcome bad news, we need to give thanks in it, if for nothing else that the bad news could have been much worse. For me, that always starts with prayer. Prayer is the proper nutrition that we need to grow our mental muscles! First, the serenity prayer because it helps me to sort out what I can do and what I can’t. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Unless I can accept the things I can’t change, I’m sure to grow frustrated and fearful, and eventually to be bitter and distrustful. Who needs that?

Mental strength also grows in those who learn early to not harbor resentment, and to forgive at the first opportunity. Every once in a while, someone will ask me, “Are you going to let them get away with that?” I always respond, “Yes, I am. I cannot afford the luxury of nursing a resentment, and I also need all the friends I can get.” This response quells any desire to exercise my anger toward another, and also reminds me that few things are worth losing a friend over.

This blog has gone on too long. But it’s important. You have invested way too much planning time, money, sweat and sacrifice into your challenge so far to get half-baked results. And making sure that you finish with a clear head, and a truly transformed and strong mental attitude as well will truly be the best thing you ever did for yourself.

None of this material is original with me. Everything I know that is important is something I learned in recovery from alcoholism. When they toss you into a closed hospital unit for 28 days, that’s “adversity!” But, while you’re there–when you begin to learn how to live life joyously, and free, that’s the beginning of mental strength!

10. STOP creating your own bad news! Most people are absolutely unaware that they are doing this when they are, but recognizing the process may just by itself allow you to control this negative character trait.

Those who create their own bad news do it in two common ways. They either habitually think negative thoughts, or they habitually engage in self pity or envy, often at the same time. Negative thoughts that are especially crippling are those that deal with your own natural abilities and gifts, and those that deal with what others are doing. In the transformation business, the most common self-directed negative thought is “This will probably not work for me—I’ve never been able to find a diet and exercise program that works.” Another very common negative thought is about others: “I wonder if those pictures are real? I wonder if they really got those results like they said they did, and I REALLY wonder if they did it just 12 weeks?” Can’t you hear the envy practically dripping from that last sentence?

How do I know these thoughts are that common? They are expressed nearly daily on the Body For Life guestbook by newcomers to the programs and they are veiled in many of the questions that newcomers ask as well.

So why are these types of thoughts so self-destructive? It’s precisely because of what the title of this blog implies—they actually act upon us just like we had received some really bad news from outside sources. You experience the same emotions and the same hormonal effects in your body as though you had really failed, just by thinking that thought. And when you start thinking negative thoughts about others, even others you don’t know, you begin to experience the same negative reactions in your body as though it really happened that someone won the contest by committing fraud and kept you from winning!

This character flaw is as old as mankind, and so common that it is even the subject of Proverbs in the Bible! One Proverb says simply, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Other scriptures also point out that from these thoughts spring many other evils. The book of James says if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts you should not boast about it or deny the truth, and that where there is envy and selfish ambition there is disorder and hatred and evil practices.

How, then, do you avoid destructive thoughts that become bad news for you? First of all, a daily “heart check” is a good idea. By that I mean reviewing the day at its end to see if any such thoughts or envious practices crept into your life, and if so, to write them down. Next, make your purpose to do better the next day—even to make amends if you did anything destructive toward another. Then, make sure that you regularly do something to benefit another who has no capacity to pay you back. I am talking about real acts of charity, not just paying for the coffee of the guy behind you! I’m talking about giving to those in need, or quietly helping another without anyone knowing it. These acts by themselves will go a long way toward keeping your heart in the right place—and keeping bad news from coming to your mind or your door!

Ready to start that last challenge of the year? You have 3 days left to get at it! A question: This has derailed more challenges than all the other things put together. It not only derails challenges, it tears up relationships, increases the chance of life-threatening diseases, causes us to break our promises to others and to ourselves, and eventually brings on self-loathing and loss of enjoyment of life itself. Know what it is? Injury? Not even close! Selfishness? Getting warmer. Addiction? It’s usually part of addiction, but it’s not the answer either.

FEAR! That’s what I’m talking about. And unless you can master fear, you will find yourself sitting one the sideline while others who have no more talent than you do take the prizes and reap the rewards of life. Some people are fearful but don’t really think they are. What they do is gently and deceptively relabel this most corrosive all human emotions. They will call it “concern,” or “anxiety” or getting a bit closer, “nervousness”. But the truth is, it’s fear no matter what they call it. If you are a fearful person you know it deep down in your gut–without me or anyone else having to tell you. But you’ve worked hard to make sure your family, friends and co-workers don’t find out, haven’t you? In fact, one of the things you are most afraid of is that they’ll find out what you’re really like, and then they’ll reject you!

If this blog sounds like it’s written for someone else, you probably are NOT a fearful person, but read on anyway, beause you probably know at least one fearful person who could use some help. I was a fearful person myself for many years. When I was nine, I lost my Dad in an airplane crash, and hearing that news and looking at those pictures of the wreckage strewn over a mile of farmground, plus thinking I was completely alone, produced a fear and loneliness that dogged me for many, many years. It affected my entire life for a long time.

How do you get out of fear, or get through it? I wrote an entire series of blogs on fear, on April 4, 5 and 6. My understanding from the feedback of others is that they helped a great deal. If you have time, and if you think this condition might be causing you some problems, please read on below as I’ve included those blogs below this one.You can copy these. All you have to do is to highlight them, and cut and paste them into a word document.

Those three days describe the reality of fear, and the specific steps a person must take to rid themselves of this mental plague. It’s not psycho-babble or anything like that. It’s simply a proven way of dealing with fear, and replacing it with useful emotions that power you, not rob you.

The beauty of this “program” of conquering fear is that it fits just perfectly into the physical, emotional and spiritual work you’ll be doing during your challenge anyway. So, please, check out the blogs, copy them, and give it a try. All you have to lose is some baggage!

God bless all of you!

The speaker said he could easily sum up the root cause of every one of his life’s failures in just one word,”fear.” I was there when he said it, and I was seated where I could watch about half the audience without turning around. What I saw was most interesting–the vast majority of that audience was nodding in agreement, as though to signal that they they understood and empathized with what he had just said. This speaker was a war hero, by the way!

When I have examined my own life’s failures, and have blown away the dust of denial and excuses, I too usually come up with that one word, FEAR!

I drank alcoholically for 18 years or so. I did it because I was afraid, afraid that people wouldn’t accept me if they really knew what I was like; afraid that I was going to fail at things; afraid that I would be alone and lonely; afraid that I would get sick. you name it, I was afraid of it, and alcohol was my daily cure for that illness!

I entered into a bad relationship years ago because I was afraid of being alone. I stayed in a bad business relationship for years because I was afraid of taking the risk of going out on my own. Fear has also been at the root of most of my other character defects, such as gossip, envy, jealousy, and rage. At the ROOT of each of these failures, there lurked fear, and the character defect is a way of acting like I wasn’t fearful, when in fact I was.

So, why are we discussing fear in a Body for Life blog, you ask? let me ask you a question–what is the number one failure in any body for life activity? Statistically it is quite clear that failure to finish is number one, far above all others put together. And something tells me that fear has an awful lot to do with that!

Oh sure, I’ve heard all the other excuses, and so have you! “I got sick. I hurt myself. My dog died. My parents divorced. My husband doesn’t want me to keep doing this. I’m too busy. It’s not working.” Yet, for most people that I have talked with, who eventually finished a challenge successfully, it actually required conquering a specific fear that they had–and all this other stuff was just window dressing in reality!

Fear is an equal opportunity life-wrecker. It visits us all if we live long enough. And, it seems to me that it really comes calling about the time that we make up our minds that we’re going to do something life-changing. Some people think of fear as being caused by an inner conflict, some part of you that doesn’t want the other part to succeed. Others think of it as a very real and evil spiritual force. Whatever we think of it, the truth is that chronic fear is a corrosive, life-sapping, depressing force that we must rid ourselves of, if we are to live effectively and happily. Those who claim that fear is a great motivator are partially right. Fear can motivate people, whether you have it or inflict it, but the final effect of fear is to destroy people, not help them.

I can tell you this today about fear. Though it once absolutely ruled my life, today it does not. I can also tell you that if I obtained victory over fear, certainly you can as well. I can also promise you that if you gain victory over fear, Body for Life–and every other challenge that comes visiting you–will be conquerable and perhaps even enjoyable.

We’re running out of space today. Tomorrow, I’ll have some specific applications on conquering fear. But,if you want a little heads up on tomorrow, I’ll give you a little hint. Truly conquering fear takes believing in a power greater than yourself! And, to win, you have to surrender!

(Next blog is right below)
Comment on this post

Still More Fear!
by: Michael Harris 8/30/2007

April 5:

Yesterday we examined chronic fear from the perspective of how it affects our everyday lives and how we deal with it. Most of us deal with it by denying we have it, projecting it on others, or medicating ourselves with food or drugs so we don’t have to face it or deal with it.

Well you can continue to deny it, project it, or medicate yourself over it, but in the long haul it will not go away or lose its hold over you. In fact, for most people, chronic fear produces a whole new host of problems eventually–anxiety, ulcerative colitis, headaches, backaches, and so on. While fear might be a real boon for the medical and pharmaceutical industries, for those of us dealing with it, it becomes a life-altering nightmare over time.

So, how do we get rid of it? It starts by admitting we have it. That means saying to ourselves and even others on occasion, “I am afraid…” It means we stop re-labeling it. Frankly, we are NOT “concerned, a bit nervous, or up-tight.” We are FEARFUL! The admission is the key to dealing with it. Once we admit we have a problem we then are freed to deal with it responsibly.

Second, we need to figure out where the heck it came from. For most of us, this means a bit of self-analysis, a bit of journaling perhaps, maybe even a talk with our parents about some things that happened to us as kids. Some prayerful asking of our Creator during a quiet time is helpful. A short personal retreat, away from all distractions, often leads to true “enlightenment” concerning the cause or causes.

Third, and this is where the real work begins, we need to forgive. You’ll find almost certainly that your fear is from something involving another human being, perhaps an authority figure who belittled or took advantage of you, or an abusive relationship. You cannot win the game of life until you get free of the fear, and true freedom starts by doing away with every hidden or possible source of resentment. Forgive the person or persons who wronged you quickly and completely, whether you feel like it or not. Forgiveness involves action not feelings. Write it out, that you forgive so and so on such and such a date for doing this and that. Forgive yourself while you’re at it, for the time you’ve wasted, the things you’ve missed, and the people you’ve hurt along the way. Do that by writing down where you fell short, and just give it to God! Make amends where you need to, and then move forward. This is the eniire process of truly surrendering, and it is only through this surrender that you win!

What’s next? Well, tomorrow we’ll talk about how to replace fear, and with what, and how we avoid sliding back into that slue of despond. It’s not as hard as you think. Like most things, it’s much easier to maintain a clean house than to have to do a complete remodeling job all the time. See you then!

Comment on this post

FEAR–GRADUATION DAY!
by: Michael Harris 8/30/2007

Well, this is payoff day–the day that we finish up with fear. Today is the closing ceremony, where we’ll talk about how to replace fear and maintain a life of freedom from fear.

Once you rid yourself of your fears by doing what we talked about yesterday, you MUST intentionally replace them with something. If you don’t, something will end up replacing it anyway. Nature abhors a vacuum, and an empty human spirit will be filled with something, one way or another. If you don’t take positive action, the fear might be replaced by some addiction or obsession, by lust or greed, or even by more fear. So, the key is to replace it with something good,not bad.

I’m sure you’ve heard that perfect faith drives out fear. It does, and faith in a higher power will certainly provide a foundation for a fear-free life. But mere faith, without more, can sometimes end up more like wishful thinking than spiritual strength. So, let’s make this “active faith.” What is the one thing that most people who possess faith, who believe that they are created, valuable beings have in common? A love for one another,and a desire to help one another. So, my project for replacing fear with active faith is a very simple one–love in action!

Love in action—in the Body for Life world–is also called the universal law of reciprocation. Simply put, you should regularly, at least once a week, do something good for someone who cannot pay you back, and do it without getting caught. Use your imagination–slip money into a jacket pocket, or leave it on someone’s door. Send a gift certificate for a restaurant anonymously. Pay for someone’s way at a function that they can’t afford to go to otherwise. Pray for opportunities to do things for people–they will come along. If you still have some forgiving or amends to make for your past fear-driven behavior, think about how you might right some of those wrongs anonymously. Just don’t get caught, unless a direct apology is in order, of course,

Until you’ve experienced it, you cannot imagine the intense joy that comes from doing something anonymously that truly benefits another. That joy produces something else over time. Hope. Because God truly rewards those who help others for the right reason. It helps you to expectantly look forward to seeing who and what God will bring into your life as your next project, and it helps you to see with confidence that every single need you have is being taken care of–and all without you having to worry about it! In due time, you will look back over all this and not only wonder what ever happen to that old fear-driven you, but also wonder what happened to all the problems that caused those fears!

Does this all sound too extravagant to you? It will take place in your life if you just take the steps of faith to do it.
Staying rid of fear by replacing it is really a life long project. It is very much like staying physically fit. Use it or lose it applies here! Exercise those faith muscles this weekend by attending your favorite house of worship and asking God to help you make sense of all this.

Above all else, don’t ever give up again. Don’t let fear win even one small battle. Face it; admit it; get rid of it, and don’t let it live rent free in your head ever again! Fight for your freedom from fear!

God Bless!