Human beings are always reaching for something. Sometimes that reaching is a distraction from sitting with what we are feeling at that very moment. We give up alcohol and drugs, and faithfully attend the twelve step programs. While we are there we incessantly reach for the coffee, donuts, and cigarettes. We reach for new things to replace the old things instead of allowing the space to be just that...space. We attend a yoga class, and when we are to rest completely still on our backs in dead man’s pose, we reach to wipe our sweat or tear drop tickling our skin, running down towards our ear. Why can’t we be present and still? We reach for the towel, the water bottle, etc. Whatever we reach for, we can change that and internalize it. Reach for yourself. Sit with the depth of discomfort for a few seconds longer rather than ignoring what just came up within your soul spot. These are the seeds of true change. It happens one millisecond at a time.
Relationships to our food are reflections of our connections to other human beings. As our relationship to the food changes, our relationships to every other part of our lives change. We can be free to be who we really are with our friends and family. We can begin creating more clear and honest connections and traditions. When that happens, we will feel more connected to the whole world and know we are part of something greater. Our future will seem open and vibrant.
In my family, we have a tradition of thank you bites. If facing a new and unusual food that is nutrient rich, but unfamiliar, we all take thank you bites to try it out. We feel connected to the labor and energy it took to bring the food from the fields to our mouths. We thank the sun for shining down upon the farm, the rain for watering the produce and animals, the farmers for their hard labor, the delivery system that brought the food to the grocery store, the chef who cooked the food, and the person serving the food seamlessly to our table. These thank you bites bring gratitude from our hearts, and more often than not we discover a new flavor profile that we enjoy. I like to call it truth in sustenance. It brings food to a sacred level. What is your sacred food? What is your food tradition and story that elevates your soul and your connection to others?
Important to the plan of action for any long term life change are fuel, focus, and endurance. They work together to get results.
Your fuel is this blog, my books, and the foods you choose to eat going forward. It is also the fire within you that says, “I got this!” See yourself in the future-present instead of in a state of want. Want creates more wanting and a belief that you are in lack. Fuel yourself with gratefulness for the healthy, optimal body and mind. We humans can talk ourselves into almost anything and everything. How many times have we seen an “okay” looking outfit on sale for 80% off and bought it, talking ourselves into the purchase because it looked “great,” and the price couldn’t be beat? Then it sat in the back of our closet for a year until we gave it to charity. Yes, talk to yourself. Talk yourself into the body and life of your dreams. Say, “Thank you for my healthy, fit, lean, and strong body!” This is the fuel.
Focus is where you dig your heels in and allow those things and people attempting to distract you from your goals to fall away to the side like a set of dominoes. Does the family support or sabotage you? How can the family say they support me when they constantly offer me food that is clearly not on my program? “Just one bite!” I heard again and again. “It won’t kill you!” The sabotage may not be intentional, but it is sabotage nonetheless. Being extremely clear about where you want to go with your health is a way to keep your focus intact. Write it down on a small piece of paper and place the paper somewhere where you can see it every day.
Your focus can be fine tuned by helping someone else. Getting out of your own head sometimes is a good thing. If you volunteer to coach someone else, you become a role model for them. They will be looking to you for guidance. You will be less likely to make deprecating choices. It becomes a karmic circle of loving yourself into success as you are loving the other person that you are mentoring. There is a higher level of accountability when someone is counting on you. Your sense of focus is heightened.
Endurance is the power to stick it out. We build endurance by making it through these twenty four hours with our fuel and focus in place. Then we do it again tomorrow...and so on. Old way of thinking: “Oh, I have such a long way to go. How am I ever going to last? There is so much to remember and so much to give up!” New way of thinking: “I can eliminate one food that does not serve my higher purpose. Tomorrow, I can eliminate another food that does not serve my higher purpose.” We can build upon that. Instead of again thinking in terms of lack and that which you cannot have, think of switching it out. For example, switch out soy, canola, corn, peanut, and cottonseed oil for coconut oil. You have just simplified your grocery list, saved money, time, and served your higher purpose.
We are on earth for a limited time. Even our long term goals are really short term goals in the grand scheme of things. It is how we carry ourselves and what we choose to partake in every moment that will make a difference in our health and happiness. It will also make a difference in the legacy we leave behind. If we want to be truly healthy and balanced in mind, body, and spirit, we must change our behavior and then the rest will follow naturally, eventually. Self trust is key too. Trust the fact that you have arrived here and now, reading this book at exactly the right time in your life. I have seen the perfect body out there...and it is mine. I have seen the perfect body out there...and it is yours. At any stage in our journey our bodies have provided us with our heart, legs, arms, breath, and life. Be grateful for your perfect body. I am.
Blessings,
KJ Landis
SuperiorSelf channel on YouTube
Relationships to our food are reflections of our connections to other human beings. As our relationship to the food changes, our relationships to every other part of our lives change. We can be free to be who we really are with our friends and family. We can begin creating more clear and honest connections and traditions. When that happens, we will feel more connected to the whole world and know we are part of something greater. Our future will seem open and vibrant.
In my family, we have a tradition of thank you bites. If facing a new and unusual food that is nutrient rich, but unfamiliar, we all take thank you bites to try it out. We feel connected to the labor and energy it took to bring the food from the fields to our mouths. We thank the sun for shining down upon the farm, the rain for watering the produce and animals, the farmers for their hard labor, the delivery system that brought the food to the grocery store, the chef who cooked the food, and the person serving the food seamlessly to our table. These thank you bites bring gratitude from our hearts, and more often than not we discover a new flavor profile that we enjoy. I like to call it truth in sustenance. It brings food to a sacred level. What is your sacred food? What is your food tradition and story that elevates your soul and your connection to others?
Important to the plan of action for any long term life change are fuel, focus, and endurance. They work together to get results.
Your fuel is this blog, my books, and the foods you choose to eat going forward. It is also the fire within you that says, “I got this!” See yourself in the future-present instead of in a state of want. Want creates more wanting and a belief that you are in lack. Fuel yourself with gratefulness for the healthy, optimal body and mind. We humans can talk ourselves into almost anything and everything. How many times have we seen an “okay” looking outfit on sale for 80% off and bought it, talking ourselves into the purchase because it looked “great,” and the price couldn’t be beat? Then it sat in the back of our closet for a year until we gave it to charity. Yes, talk to yourself. Talk yourself into the body and life of your dreams. Say, “Thank you for my healthy, fit, lean, and strong body!” This is the fuel.
Focus is where you dig your heels in and allow those things and people attempting to distract you from your goals to fall away to the side like a set of dominoes. Does the family support or sabotage you? How can the family say they support me when they constantly offer me food that is clearly not on my program? “Just one bite!” I heard again and again. “It won’t kill you!” The sabotage may not be intentional, but it is sabotage nonetheless. Being extremely clear about where you want to go with your health is a way to keep your focus intact. Write it down on a small piece of paper and place the paper somewhere where you can see it every day.
Your focus can be fine tuned by helping someone else. Getting out of your own head sometimes is a good thing. If you volunteer to coach someone else, you become a role model for them. They will be looking to you for guidance. You will be less likely to make deprecating choices. It becomes a karmic circle of loving yourself into success as you are loving the other person that you are mentoring. There is a higher level of accountability when someone is counting on you. Your sense of focus is heightened.
Endurance is the power to stick it out. We build endurance by making it through these twenty four hours with our fuel and focus in place. Then we do it again tomorrow...and so on. Old way of thinking: “Oh, I have such a long way to go. How am I ever going to last? There is so much to remember and so much to give up!” New way of thinking: “I can eliminate one food that does not serve my higher purpose. Tomorrow, I can eliminate another food that does not serve my higher purpose.” We can build upon that. Instead of again thinking in terms of lack and that which you cannot have, think of switching it out. For example, switch out soy, canola, corn, peanut, and cottonseed oil for coconut oil. You have just simplified your grocery list, saved money, time, and served your higher purpose.
We are on earth for a limited time. Even our long term goals are really short term goals in the grand scheme of things. It is how we carry ourselves and what we choose to partake in every moment that will make a difference in our health and happiness. It will also make a difference in the legacy we leave behind. If we want to be truly healthy and balanced in mind, body, and spirit, we must change our behavior and then the rest will follow naturally, eventually. Self trust is key too. Trust the fact that you have arrived here and now, reading this book at exactly the right time in your life. I have seen the perfect body out there...and it is mine. I have seen the perfect body out there...and it is yours. At any stage in our journey our bodies have provided us with our heart, legs, arms, breath, and life. Be grateful for your perfect body. I am.
Blessings,
KJ Landis
SuperiorSelf channel on YouTube
RSS Feed