"A man is but the product of his thoughts.
What he thinks, he becomes."
Mahatma Gandhi

I've been wanting to write about this subject for as long as I can remember! I have slowly added to this post and am finally ready to share it! This topic is so important to me and something that has changed me and my life. 

"The Power of Positive Thinking"

I've mentioned in previous posts that I used to be kinda negative. If you knew "the old me", I don't think you would have labeled me as a negative person. (I think Dramatic would be a better adjective). I did not go around proclaiming the glass to be half empty. The negativity that I am talking about was in my head. I was guilty of inviting negative thoughts in, and giving them a place to stay. In fact I think I was a negative thought shelter for all the homeless negative thoughts that needed a home.  To be honest I didn't really know I was even harvesting these  thoughts. When I started to realize what I was doing, I didn't know how to change or how important it was to do so.  I didn't think my inner dialouge was interfering with my life or the people in it. They were my thoughts, no one else had to hear them. When I look back, I realize I was so wrong. Whether anyone heard my negativity or not, It was effecting me and in turn effecting the people I love the most.  

When I had my "ah ha moment" and realized that I needed to make some serious changes, I didn't know where to start. Where had it all come from? Why was I so obsessed about my weight and being skinny? Why did I feel so uncomfortable with my body?  Why was I mopey inside and why did I feel bad about myself?  Why did everything seem like such a big deal?

I now know the answer, but in that moment I had no clue.  Luckily I had someone who cared enough about me to help me see what I didn't want or know how to see.

He (Dave) gave me a suggestion one day that at the time I thought was ridiculous. He said "Lie".  'Lie to yourself'. Tell yourself things that you don't believe are true and the more you do it, the more you'll believe it.  

My response…..What? What is that even supposed to mean? You want me to lie to myself? (Ya that's gonna work).

'Anytime you have a negative thought, immediately push it out and then tell yourself the exact opposite…even if it is a 'lie, sometimes white lies are ok'.

Example:  AHH…My butt looks so big in these jeans…. The "lie"… These jeans are so cute, I look so cute in them, my butt looks great in these jeans.'

Even if I didn't believe what I was saying I was to say it, no questions asked.  He also suggested that on top of disputing my negative thoughts, I should also go out of my way to tell myself things that I didn't think were true.

My response….What? What is that even supposed to mean? You want me to tell myself things I don't think are true? Like what?

'It is so fun to exercise and eat healthy'. 'I can do anything I put my mind to'. 'I can do it'. 'Junk food makes me feel gross.'

Reluctant as I was to do what was suggested, I decided I had nothing to lose.  I went at it and started to lie build myself up on a daily basis. I eliminated negative thoughts by replacing them with the positive ones.  It felt weird at first. I found myself rolling my eyes at myself and the whole idea.  Despite my reluctance, I still tried. I started telling myself things like:

'I love exercising'
'It's so much fun to eat healthy'
'I am so strong'
'I'm so proud of myself'
'I can do anything'
'I love sweating'
'You look so cute today'

I didn't say these things once and a while. I said them all the time.  I even started to tell my family these things to make it seem more real. I replaced these thoughts/compliments (and many more) where my negative and 'Fat Talk', used to be. After consciously practicing these techniques, I started to notice a change.  The negative thoughts that led to my negative behavior were no longer there. I found myself  thinking and doing the positive things I was constantly telling myself. After time, the things I told myself actually became a real. Not only was I telling myself these things, I believed them because I was thinking and doing them. I  was no longer lying to myself. WHAT! This was crazy. I could not believe how quickly things changed from there. I FINALLY realized that I was in control and that every single thing I thought directly effected the things I did. I had been my own worst enemy and didn't even know it.  I started to be my biggest supporter. Me my own supporter? Positive and negative thoughts can become self-fulfilling prophecies!
 
I am now a different person. I am in control of my life. I chose how I will feel each day. And everyday I chose to feel GREAT, no matter what is going on.  Please know that I'm not perfect at this. I still have negative thoughts, but I WILL NOT entertain them . I refuse. I spent too much time letting those stupid thoughts rule how I felt. Now, I'm in charge.

We, YOU AND I are in COMPLETE control of what we think and how we feel.  We don't have to be stressed, we don't have to be sad, we don't have to be negative. We can wake up each day and chose to be happy (even if we are going through trials or hardship).

What we seek determines what we think. What we think determines what we do. And what we do determines who we will become.
-Dieter F. Uchtorf

I want to shout out on the roof tops what I have learned and how much it has changed my life. Not just regarding my self image and confidence, but in all aspects. Having a bad day, facing hardship, feeling sick, being patient, loving my husband, being a better friend, caring for others…. it has made my entire life better.  There are plenty of things in life that we have no control over and can't change. Bettering ourself is not one of those things.  We are in charge of making the change. We are the one's who decide what we will seek, think, do and who we will become.

When we're aware of the way we think, we can take action to use positive situations to our advantage, and re-shape the negative ones. We can think positively, regardless of what is going on, and make a conscious effort to see things in life as opportunities instead of obstacles.

We are magnets attracting all things to us. The signal we emit through our thoughts and feelings will either bring us happiness or sorrow. 

What "signal" are you emitting? 

I challenge all of you to take a step back and think about your inner dialogue or "signal". What is it saying?  What message are you giving yourself and others? Are your seeking the positive in life?  Do you seek the positive? Do your thoughts lead to positive behavior?

  I read a book while I was in Romania five years ago and pulled it out again six months ago and gave it another read.  It's called "As A Man Thinketh". It is inexpensive, super short (60 or so pages) and will change your life if you practice its principals. It is a perfect way to help you understand just how much power you have!  Here is a short review:

“As you think, you shall become.”

"The theme of all of Allen’s works is that each one of us has the power to form our own character and to create our own happiness.  The conditions of our lives are closely related to our inner state.  Allen encourages his readers to think positive thoughts, which will inevitably lead them to take positive actions."

I challenge all of you to purchase the book.  The book is only $4.99 on Amazon.com and a bit cheaper if you buy it used, this book also has free shipping! After you read it, I promise you will thank yourself. You are worth the $5 that you will spend on this book, no matter where you are in your life, this book will benefit you and help you realize just how powerful you are! If you're interested, you can buy the book here: As A Man Thinketh

 I also wanted to share a worksheet I found online the other day. I think it's GREAT! The worksheet helps you to observe your "stream of consciousness".  It is a very helpful exercise that helps you let go of negative thoughts and replace them with rational positive thoughts. I challenge you to give it a try. CLICK HERE to down load the FREE worksheet.

Here is an example of how to use the worksheet. It really is a great exercise and can help even the most positive person create even more positive energy in their life. Give it a try, even if only for a day.

I'd like to end this post by asking you a few questions:

-When your husband/boyfriend/sister/mother (someone close to you) asks you how your day was….what is your response?

-When you look in the mirror….what do you say to yourself?

-When you have a bad day at work…..do you let it go when you walk through the door at home?

-When something upsets you….how long does it take for you to calm down or blow it off?

-How often do you think positively?

-Is the glass half full or half empty?

-Are you emotionally strong?

-What are you thinking about yourself right this very minute?

-Do you focus on the negative or positive?

-Do you love yourself?

-Do you love your body no matter what shape or size?

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  If you are not already practicing positive thinking, now is the time to make the change. You have the power within yourself.  No one can do it for you.  You are the change.

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:—
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.
-James Allen

 Please email me with any questions!!
nono2yoyo@gmail.com

I am so exacted to talk about what we did yesterday for Crossfit!  When we got home from work and were ready to head to the gym, we both looked at each other and said…"I don't want to do Crossift today."  We both agreed that we were a little sick of it kicking our butts so hard and although we have only done 16 Crossfit workouts, it has been one months since we started doing the workouts, and we are a little burnt out on them.  So, instead of doing a crossfit workout, we decided to go running!  I was so excited that Dave wanted to run with me because I'm so much slower and usually he doesn't want to. I can't help but to be WAY slower than him…his legs are as as long as my body! (he is 6' 4" people!).  We decided to do the same 5k run that I did on Friday.  My goal was to beat my original time of 35 minutes, but more importantly practice my running form. I hoped that by having good form I'd be able to run better. 

The weather was perfect.  A bit cooler than Friday's run, but none the less beautiful.  I'm not so good at running and talking at the same time, so Dave carried on a one ended conversation for the first little bit.  He kept saying funny things trying to make me laugh. I don't know if you've tried to not laugh while you are running, but it's really hard!  Have you ever laughed so hard your muscles just give out and you can't even stand?  I had to fight that feeling so hard! 

Chest up, shoulders square, hips tucked under…bounce.  Those are the things I kept saying and checking with myself over and over.  For some reason when I run I lean forward. My posture is horrible. I never knew it until I watched myself in the mirror. I don't have bad posture when I walk, so why do I naturally do this when I run?  I also shuffle my feet instead of letting them bounce and push me up and off of the ground.  Friday I focused on running with my shoulders square with my hips and today I added on the bouncing and tucking my hips under. WOW…running just became so much easier….and much more comfortable!! I still don't know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to, but I do know that I feel a million times better…and Dave says I look much better too! That's a good start!

Mile 1:
The first mile flew by. We were there in no time!  I felt awesome. I kept asking Dave how my form was and to my surprise every time he said it looked pretty good! That is so awesome, cus usually his response would be something like….uh you look really horrible. Booya I'm getting it!  We took a 30 second walking break a little after mile one and I took a puff of my inhaler to get through the next two miles. 

Mile 2: 
Last week I took another walking breaking break in between mile 1 and 2 but this week we powered through. We made it to mile two (which is a little hill, followed by a BIG hill) we ran up the little hill, and then walked and recovered up the second hill. I don't like running hills. I already naturally lean forward when I run so a hill makes it inevitable. 

Mile 3:
The last mile was awesome.  I decided I wanted to go faster and really try and beat last weeks time, so we picked up the pace. We were cooking it. I never realized how hard it was to try and run faster for a long period of time.  I really focused on my form and it made it so much easier to run faster. I focused on longer strides and a lot of bouncing. Dave says I shuffle, so it's important that I get a lot of bounce out of each step.

We made it home and I ran inside to check the time. 30 minutes! YEEHAWW!! I beat my last week's time by 5  minutes. Holy crap. I was so excited. I would have been happy with 1 minute…but 5..heck ya!  The best part is, I could have run it again, I was not that tired and for sure could have added on.

After the run we both felt so awesome. We talked about workouts and what we have been doing and decided that we are going to give Crossfit a rest for a little while.  Dave wants to focus on building muscle and I want to focus on running and building muscle.  We are still going to strength train 3x a week (I'll continue to do Crossfit) and then 2x a week we are going to run, we might switch it up a bit 2x weights 3x run..who knows.  We figure slowly increase our running distance we will be ready for race season in the spring!

So when we started 30 days of crossift I talked about doing the 30 day shred afterwards, and that is still on my list of things to do. I'm just not sure when I'm going to start.  We have A LOT of things going on the next three weeks (I'll fill you in shortly) and I don't know if I'll be able to devote an hour a day 5x a week to the shred. When I do it I want to do it all the way. So….I am still deciding what to do about that.

Long story short, the run yesterday was so awesome! We can't wait to do another one, next time I think we will shoot for 5 miles. I will still be reporting on Crossfit and plan to reach my goal of 30 days…it just might take a bit longer than i'd planned.  

QA:
Do you have a good training program that we can start to follow to train for a half marathon?  We want to start SUPER slow and work our way up!

Do you see where i'm coming from?  Dave and I emailed back and forth all day yesterday laughing about this.  It was really fun and funny! He said he tried to vote a bunch of times in favor of the truck, but it would only let him do it once! ha ha! I sent him the updates throughout the day and I made sure to rub it in his face after work.  I realize that all of the votes were probably from females, but I'm a female and I think its NOT  a truck! 

Cindy from A Sparkle Day left me this comment….Dave really liked it:

"The VW Toureg is an SUV and is on a truck chassis…so technically TRUCK it is. "

Technically he might be right….but you will never hear me call it a TRUCK.   

"

( I just made this collage for my desktop at work, I have NO pictures of Dave and I at my desk because they are all in storage.  This will have to do for now!)

Yikes! This workout was not for the faint of heart.  My arms, butt, stomach, legs, shoulders, calfs…and everything else is SO SORE!  It was kick butt!!

Here's what we did:

3 Rounds
200M (.13 miles) run holding medicine ball
Nat: 10lbs Dave: 20lbs
50 Air Squats
50 Push Ups
50 Sit-ups

Holy mother of America. My arms were burning so bad! The first set I did all 50 full push ups. The next set I did all 40 with 10 knee push ups and the last set I did 30 full and 20 knee push ups. I could barley walk because swinging my arms took too much effort!  WOOW EE!!  The workout took about 30 minutes.  We spent about 5 or 10 minutes after wards working on my running form. Dave gave me some pointers and watched me run for a bit. I think I'm getting it. Funny thing is I never knew I was running funny, I never remember learning how to run I just did it and thought I was doing it right. There is SO much about form that I never even thought about! I'm excited to continue to get better and see how and if it helps my back pain!  This week I'm going to run again and try it out! 

QA: Do you do the same workouts or routine every day/week/month.  How often do you switch up your workouts?

MEEOOWW!!!

Turtle asked if she could participate in Project Feed Me this week. Could you say no to this little face?  Me either!!

Recommended Food Item Week 2: Two can's of Tuna Fish (Meeow)

One can of this tuna fish cost me $1.06. I picked it up in a hurry this weekend so I wasn't able to shop out any sale prices. I'm pretty sure you can find this a lot cheaper. But still $1.06 is great! I decided to purchase quite a few of these since they were so inexpensive! Feel free to do what works best for you! You can chose any brand and any size!

Project Feed Me is spreading like wild fire and we are just starting week two!  There are now over 120 members in 28 different states and 3 different countries! WOO HOO!

I encourage you to keep talking to your friends and family and commit them to participating! It does not matter if we are in the second week or ninth week, every little bit helps! Feel free to send your pictures with your cans of food throughout the entire project. It doesn't have to just be pictures of  chili from week one! I think it will be fun to see pictures from people participating across the country!

Project Feed Me Fun

Jenny from Color Hungry started and AWESOME challenge that I am so excited to take part in.  Its called "baby steps to body love."  What's it all about? Take a look at this video clip.

Jenny is challenging her self and others to start loving our bodies, one baby step at a time.  The idea is to take baby steps each week to love yourself and your body. Set small goals for yourself each week and through those small goals and baby steps learn to love yourself inside and out. Last week Jenny challenged herself to attend a yoga class and also to entertain only positive thoughts about herself and her body while attending the class! AWESOME!

This week, I am going to treat myself to a long bath.  I love baths and love how relaxing they make me feel, but I never make time for them. This week I am going to show myself love by taking a long, hot bath!! I think that taking time for yourself and treating yourself right is super important part in loving yourself. It helps both mentally and physically.

What baby step will you take this week???

Day 15 Crossfit

We have officially made it half way through our Crossfit challenge.  Although its been almost 30 days since we started, today was only the 15 Crossfit workout. The workout called for a 5K run. 5k= 3.1 miles. I was super excited to do this! I hadn't run a 5k since mothers day and today felt like a perfect time. I didn't have to work and I could plan out my route ahead of time. I jumped in the car and reset the trip and drove around the neighborhood mapping out my route.  When I pulled into the drive way the trip read 3.1 miles. WOO hoo! It was perfect!  I hadn't had time to eat breakfast and was worried an entire meal might make me feel sick, so I opted for 1/2 of a banana. It was just right. I made sure to get a puff of my inhaler before I left and took it with me just in case.  The weather was perfect. It was about 63F outside.  The shade was cool, and the sun was warm!  It felt so great running outside and breathing the fresh air. The streets had no traffic so I used the road as my personal path.  The wind blew most of the time making my eyes water like crazy. If you didn't know better you would have thought I was crying my eyes out.  I contemplated wearing a jacket before I left but I'm so glad I didn't because I heated up right away!!

The scenery was amazing! (I took these shots today)

I finished the 3 miles in 35 minutes, which means I ran about 5.7mph the entire time. I was pleased with that time because I haven't ran this long in months!  I didn't focus on speed but instead I focused on form.  Dave watched me run the other day at the gym and I guess I have horrible form!  Who knew!! I think my form is what is causing my back pain, so it's essential that I fix it.  I used my shadow to check myself and I think I did well.  My back isn't bothering me so that's a good sign!

When I got home I immediately checked my time and went out back to stretch.  I felt so awesome and was so glad to have ran without any breathing, back or knee problems!! Next week i'd like to try 4 or 5 miles!

(I wrote this post Friday afternoon and am just now getting around to posting it!!)

I did it!! I cut my hair today!!! I wasn't going to post pictures until next week….but Dave decided he wanted to download a new game on the Xbox to try…so I have a few extra minutes tonight before we watch a movie!

I was so excited all day to go to my appointment.  I made sure to wash my hair and straighten it completely for my before picture…It looks so gross and long in these pictures because I straightened it all the way out. I usually use rollers or curl my hair if I'm going to wear it down so the length in these pictures seriously surprised me!

I was super anxious to get it cut the entire time I was at the Saloon, we did the highlighting first so I had almost an entire hour to think about it.  Here I am waiting while my hair processed….

Now for the good part…I was a bit nervous as you can see…

Locks of Love asks that you cut your hair above the elastic to keep the hair together when you send it…

She ended up cutting almost 12 inches off! WOW!!  I was a little scared when she made the first cut, but after that I felt great!   There were tons of people watching when she cut if off and I even heard a few gasps. It was kinda funny! She did a great job with the cut, it turned out exactly how I imagined and I am super happy with it! I was so excited that it was long enough to donate to locks of love!! YAY!!!  I worried that I would have to cut off more than I wanted but it ended up working out just great! (I hope Locks of Love won't mind the split ends! lol) Speaking of which….I now have NO split ends!! NONE! BOOYA

You should have seen my face while I was driving home and pulling in the drive way to our house. I had perma grin and hurried into the house to show Dave! I was so proud of myself for going through with it and so excited to show him the new me.

This might sound kinda silly, but on the drive home from the restaurant to night after Dave made a sweet comment about my new hair….I told him that this hair cut completes the new me. I feel like a new woman! Inside and now Out.

Sweat dreams!!!

Nicole from Healthy Chow, sent me this picture tonight! Thanks Nicole!  There are 8 people from Massachusetts participating in Project Feed Me! Way to go MA!  Its so fun to get these pictures, I hope more come soon!  Don't worry if you don't get them to me this week…you can send them as the project continues!!!  Thanks again Nicole!!

Don't forget to check back Monday for Week 2 of Project Feed Me!  I just purchased my Items and am so excited to tell you about them!!  Use some free time this weekend to help others learn about Project Feed Me and get them participating!  Don't forget to talk to your church group or favorite organization!!  Thanks friends!

My comment section is coming up with errors when you post a comment…as you all know. I'm sorry. I seriously don't know how to fix it. I talked to blue host and they said it was a wordpress problem.  Anyone ever had this problem??

I am still getting the comments and they are still available for others to see, so keep commenting! I'll get it fixed soon! xoxoox