The Power of Now

As often happens in life in general, the same things keep popping up in unexpected places. I have been reading posts about the book "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. Being a great believer that there are no coincidences, I went out and bought the book.

I could fill up pages of Internet space on what I have learnt from this book in terms of spirituality but I just want to share my weight loss thoughts here.

In my own personal humble experience, I live for the future. I eat what I eat and I exercise in order to reap the benefit of being skinnier sometime within the next days/weeks/months. I rarely think about how I look/feel/weigh right at this moment, I think about either how I used to look (which could be either fatter OR skinnier) or how I will look sometime soon.

All I have is right now. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow.

If I am not happy with my life situation right now (I weigh too much) then I have three choices. I can (a) accept it (b) take action to change it or (c) remove myself from the situation (um ... this is a little difficult to do in this instance). But I have to decide to do one of these three things right now ... not tomorrow.

How does that change my thought processes and behaviour.

- I eat to satisfy my hunger right now. I don't eat more now because I might be hungry later. I don't eat nothing now even though I am starving so I can eat crap later on. I don't have a "last supper" because I am going to be good from tomorrow onwards. I don't forbid healthy carbs so I can binge on them on Saturday.
I eat healthy nourishing food that will nurture and fuel my body at this moment.

- I enjoy my exercise for how it makes me feel while I am doing it and immediately after I've finished. I will not force myself to work out when I am already in pain from yesterday's workout. I won't run until I feel nauseated.
I will use exercise as an opportunity to be conscious of my body and dwell in my physical being and not my brain.

- I will disengage that voice in my head that tells me I will always be one meal away from being overweight. I will not listen when I tell myself that I will always have to fight this battle and eventually I will lose. I will instead turn off the voice in my head completely and instead marvel at how far I've come. How fit and healthy I am and how I only have to deal with this moment right now - not the rest of my life.
I accept that I am heavier than I would like without making it into a "good" or "bad" thing.

There is no other time but right now.

As the gorgeous Marla says "Someday is Now".