No More Listening

I used to consider myself quite a disciplined person. But lately, motivation has been hard to come by. Laziness trickling into every area of life. I make too many excuses. I want to get back to a place of purpose and victory.

I’ve been learning two lessons.

One.

There is power in making a true commitment to myself. Outloud. Boldly. Not just planning to do things, while secretly knowing that if the time comes to get up for that early morning gym trip, or refrain from eating that cookie, if I don’t feel like it, then who’s going to be there to force me? I have let excuses and justifications rule my life and I’m tired of it. After months of ‘planning’ to go to the gym with my roommate at the crack of dawn, we had a familiar conversation last night about this morning’s aspirations. I realized in that moment that I was verbally committing, but practically already justifying to myself why it will be okay to press the snooze button…again. I stopped myself. Something changed in me in that moment as I decided that I was going to wake up and go to the gym. I said it and I believed it. Guess what? We went to the gym this morning. And it felt great. So this is something that I am going to keep doing. I heard a powerful quote recently and I think it’s a good fit:

“Most of our unhappiness is due to the fact that we’re listening to ourselves instead of speaking to ourselves”

Try it and see what power it can have over your life.

Two.

The other thing I’ve been learning is that there is great momentum in choosing what to feed ourselves and trusting that the cravings will follow, instead of letting the cravings lead the way. So often, I am on a hunt to feed my cravings…junk food, negativity, greed. Pick your poison. It can so easily feel like we are held captive to these cravings. I have been amazed by what happens when I make the simple choice to feed myself the opposite of what I’m craving. Equally knowing it’s good for me and knowing it won’t feel good. One day of healthy, fresh eating and suddenly my body starts craving fruit instead of candy and greens instead of empty carbs. I make the choice to open my bible, despite the lies that are pouring in and I’m captivated and can’t stop reading. So these days, I’m choosing what to put in my body, my heart, my mind and seeing how I begin to crave these things. It is beautiful.