It Took A Toilet To Change My Thinking!
Three times a we
ek I go to a doctor who for over 50 years has helped people create breakthrough in releasing weight forever. A couple of years ago I found him and lost a serious amount of weight, over 50 lbs. I am like many who have now gained some weight back and thankfully not all of it.
I made the mistake last time of not going through the entire program and quit at the most critical stage which is maintenance. I now call the maintenance phase the "sustaining it" phase. I have made a promise to myself to complete the entire program and sustain my efforts for life.
This program takes a commitment of my time, money and daily practice. Daily journaling, three coaching and accountability sessions per week, a customized and reduced calorie plan, exercise and practicing a new way of being in a food laden world are important aspects of my plan.
Monday morning I woke up and as usual weighed in at home. I was very discouraged as my weight was up. I considered not going to my coaching session and avoiding the pain of the day's reality. i made the decision to face the truth.
I drank a lot of water that morning and always use the bathroom before my weigh in. As i flushed the toilet, the tank, not the bowl overflowed. I went to get a nurse to let her know there was a problem. As I showed her what was happening to the tank, she pulled the cover off to see if she could fix it.
At the moment she lifted the tank lid off, the small hose which had become detached acted as a fire hose and totally doused me with ice cold (thankfully clean) water. I gasped as this was a like a plunge in a cold pool. And then something remarkable happened. I started laughing. I started laughing at myself.
The nurse was mortified and apologized and I just kept laughing.
As my nurse talked to my very wet self about my journal and process and heard my discouragement about my weight gain, she asked me, "Why does it have to be all or nothing? " "Why does it have to be perfect?" As i thought of the answers to her questions, I realized that I needed and had the power to get rid of the thought viruses that had infected my mind. She had asked these questions for me to consider what was really going on so that I could change my current thinking patterns and programming.
It began to make sense to me that this experience was a picture of other areas of my life where i had agreed to patterns and programming that do not serve me well. I also saw that i have the power to do something about these limiting beliefs.
How many of us take the time to think about the events that have happened in our past or even when they happen now and then consider what meaning we have attached or can attach to the events in our lives? We do have a choice to make a story up (and we often do) about events in the past and tell ourselves and others our "victim" stories. I suggest that we can look for a better story and walk through life in a much more empowered state.
This choice is mine and yours everyday. And sometimes it takes a dose of cold water even from a toilet to wake us up to laughter, joy and the decision to change old patterns and programs.
I hope you will take some time to reflect on the events in your life, the stories you have told yourself about what those events mean and then write a new version of the meaning to those events. You might just find yourself feeling happy, joyful and perhaps even laughing your way to a new reality of an empowered state for your life.
And if you need a catalyst find a broken toilet and pull the lid off. The cold water dousing might just release what needs to change for good!
