JULY 31st Ups n Downs & Regaining Focus

Good morning Journal & Friends,

This last week was one of highs and lows, ups and downs. I want to write about it... but don't have the liberty to give details. It's hard to make sense without specifics, ya know? But I also don't want anyone reading my blog to think "Oh, it's just so easy", and get the wrong impression. 

There ARE hard times. There ARE struggles. The big thing is: how do we handle them? How do I handle them??  

Last night I fell flat on my face, and ended up shoveling in LOTS of unplanned food. I have a dear friend who is doing the Carb Conquest Cruise with me, and I didn't WANT to email her with my days worth of calories and carbs. Not because I was embarrassed by the humongous numbers (which I was and they were)... but because I still wanted to eat more!!!!!

In the end, I did email her. And I did NOT continue eating. What good would it have done?? It wouldn't have helped the situation one bit. Only made me feel worse. And she understood, and said the most helpful and uplifting thing back to me, ever: 

"Tonight, we resist food.  Tomorrow, we'll pull back onto the highway and cruise on.  With Jesus."

Tomorrow is the first of the month weigh in. I don't know how other people feel, but I am always excited and hopeful that I'll get to post a loss. This time, I don't think I'll get to. Because last night I also looked back at the statistics I've been keeping all week, and realized that the numbers tell the brutal truth: I wasn't doing as well as I thought I had been. 

But if I hadn't been keeping track, I would weigh in tomorrow, and moan and groan and wonder pitifully "what happened?" Well, I KNOW what happened. I happened. My choices happened. So, that's the benefit of keeping track. I can face it, go back and analyze it, accept responsibility and go FORWARD. With BETTER choices this time, based on the truth. Hiding from the details is not useful. But keeping a record IS useful. I'm not afraid of the truth, even when it hurts. Because in the end, the truth brings freedom.

But... I let myself become distracted. I lost focus. Lots of reasons... but really, the specifics don't matter. Because we ALL have our reasons. Life keeps going on, even though sometimes I wish it would just LEAVE ME ALONE, let me have a little "vacation" from the stressful parts for awhile, so I could make lots of progress. I mean... I USED to ALWAYS dive into the food to get away from the stress and take a "vacation" from feeling it. Um... like I did last night!  I fell back into the old reactive response to stress.

I suppose this is another opportunity to get stronger and make progress in SPITE of circumstances. I had forgotten that. Time to put on my Big Girl Panties and get going again!

A couple of months ago I was grooming Joey on our front porch. I was tickled at how she was so serious and focused, and enjoying being brushed. So I grabbed my camera. Then, at the end, suddenly she lost focus because her favorite Chew Toy walked up... Vevie! 

And I have to laugh, because I seem to be like that, too. I think "Oh, I've got this, I'm all focused", and then something comes along that totally grabs my attention, and just like that, I'm off center! I'd love to say I was better at this, but I'm not... I'm still learning. 

So here it is...

LESSONS FROM A PUPPY #7

Even though life will 

always offer distractions... 

learn to FOCUS! 

From Dr Phil's book: "Challenge your faulty thinking..."

My verse for today: "Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle."

My quote for today: "To see things in the seed, that is genius."  --Lao Tzu

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 714