Losing Momentum

It's a slippery, slidey bugger is momentum.  When things are ticking along, one might say it is a momentous feeling but really momentum is hard to get going, hard to keep going and hard to start going again.  When you have sails full of wind you can breeze through mountains of tasks without a by your leave but usually sooner or later you find you have nothing but hot air.

I think momentum goes hand in hand with good intentions and planning.  Planning in my book is nothing but writing lists of things you are never going to do even on your best day ever.  Yet I still plan meticulously, surrounding myself in comforting slips of paper telling me what I should be doing every second of every day right down to the letter.  The good intentions often look really impressive however without a healthy dose of momentum they are rarely fulfilled. 

Momentum is usually found on a Monday morning with a hey yeah, here we go, new week, yee-hah etc.  Momentum is generally being looked for at about 11am on a Monday morning in amongst the soft digestives and broken custard creams of the sad looking tea break biscuit tin.  It's tricky.  It knows all the best ways to get lost and not be found.  It's an expert at playing hooky.  Lessons could be learnt.

In a recent blockbuster it was stated that strength of will overcomes fear and it is fear that obstructs us and potentially steals our mojo aka momentum.  My strength of will is probably on par with a gnat.  However, I have hand weights and I'm not afraid to use them - with some good intentions and a bit of planning  ;)

Weighty Love

So you remember when you were miserable, single & skinny?  Good times.  But then you meet someone who lights up your life and makes you feel alive inside.  It's a little thing called love.  And I love it, I love being in it, having it swish around me and fill me up with its nuss.  However... I don't like the weighty side.  Why should being the happiest also be the heaviest time of your life.

They say it's called contentment and being happy,  but why should being happy mean that you end up gaining pounds in weight and feeling like a lump.  An unattractive lump.  When you come to think about it, you met your guy when you were skinny so what will he think when you morph into heffalumpitis.  And he can't understand why you are grumpy and touchy about what you're wearing because he still loves you just the same.

The food love relationship is horrible - the takeaways, the chocolate, the goodies, the lets treat ourselves to more junk never ending circle of eating.  Salad is never the way forward for me and it never will be - I refuse to curtail living for the sake of a diet but there must be balance.  Balance is all important in life.  At the moment there is definitely no balance, it could in fact be said there is drowning and sinking and being crushed under the weight of love.

I wish we didn't have the relationship we do with food - I wish we could just go fill our tanks up at the petrol station just like our vehicles instead of being brought up to finish our plates, treating ourselves to elevenses and afternoon tea, cakes at 3, sweeties at the cinema, dinner - lunch - breakfast out, fast food, quick food, beige food.  The food of love is beige - man that is depressing.  At least the food of love isn't salad.

Water, water, everywhere

Normally pouring from the sky when you don't want it to to be honest but the wonderful British weather isn't what I wanted to talk about.  This month it is all about water.  It takes 28 days to build a habit which happily fits into a month.  And June is water month.  So.... we've all heard it, about a billion times - drink water!!

It can't be warm because then it just isn't refreshing but it can't be too cold because then it hurts your teeth although cold water is meant to burn more calories.  Ice cubes are annoying because they bump your teeth and stop you getting a good mouthful of water - fizzy water is just wrong, it's not refreshing - the carbon dioxide dries your mouth out.  Flavoured water is almost as bad because.... because it's either juice or it isn't.  Oh and tea doesn't count apparently - s'got water innit!  You can't drink it out of a tap because it hasn't been filtered but if you use a filter you've got to store it in the fridge and make sure you change the filters regularly.  You can't keep it in a bottle because when it gets warm the plastics in the bottle are gradually melting into the water and can be carcinogenic.  Oh and you can't drink too much either because it will kill your kidneys and whilst you might actually be thirsty when you think you are hungry nor is it a suitable meal replacement.

The water challenge then - well it's simple.  8 glasses a day.  Apparently you are meant to do things like put post it notes everywhere, set your phone alarm, send yourself emails to remind yourself, drink out of a pretty glass so you feel special, drink it at every meal, in between meals but never more than like two glasses in half an hour (!) and jobs a good un.

Cup of tea anyone?

What is your deepest fear?

I cannot help but hear Coach Carter aka Samuel L Jackson's voice when I hear that question.  I refer you to the quote in point:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

I'm not a religious person but when I see God referred to in this way I think of it as the divine power that is in control of our universe rather than a religious faction grabbing at wealth and causing strife.  Lets face it - we are certainly not in control of our universe and without denying the obvious fact of evolution, there is a spark of the unknown about how we came to be what we are.

This speaks to me in so many ways - my deepest fear wraps me up in chains and stand in my way but maybe one day I will be able to speak of it openly and undo those chains weighing me down.  Now lets go run some suicides and do some push ups - after all - Coach Carter's in charge!!