Own Your Own Health
My good friend and I made a trip to Seattle for the weekend. We lived the high life thanks to redtag.ca and dropped our backpacks in a classy Sheraton Hotel for a couple nights.
While swimming in the length pool one morning, it was a conversation with a fellow swimmer that got me thinking. He believed the biggest problem in the health of America’s citizens is that no one is taking ownership of their own selves anymore.
It sparked a thought for me that If we don't take full ownership for the current state of our own health, we can never fully become what is possible and most desirable for ourselves.
I’m going to go out on the limb here and say that deep down we all want to feel good. That is often the root of why we do things. In some way we hope to make ourselves feel something, usually good. But sometimes what we think will make us feel good is actually the opposite of what it does.
I feel sad - I eat ice cream. I think Ill feel better - I feel worse.
I got my car towed - I yell at Busters. I think Ill feel better - I feel worse.
I am thirsty - I drink coke. I think Ill feel better - I feel worse.
Suing McDonalds for making our children obese is not taking ownership. Taking a diet pill to fit into a dress is not taking ownership. Skipping a bike ride due to a flat tire, not either.
The lack of owning ourselves supports a belief that it is someone/something else’s fault for the situation we are in. And so, since it is not our fault, we don't have to do anything about it. And when ‘lack of ownership’ meets its closely related cousin ‘low self-esteem’, a vicious cycle is formed. This is the fast lane to dis empowerment.
I don’t feel good – I blame someone else. I think Ill feel better – I feel worse.
What we don’t always realize is the power that we are throwing away in the act of blaming, is the same power that is guiding us to feel good. It is that power that helps make the better decision. It is a matter of catching ourselves the moment we toss our key on someone/something else and consider that the key is only coded to unlock the problem within ourselves.
Change only begins to happen when DESIRE to feel good trumps BLAME for feeling bad.
Its a huge concept that can be made really small.
1. Think of one thing that you actually want. Maybe it’s to laugh more, maybe it’s to eat more kale, or to pursue a hobby.
2. Be honest and consider one way you have been in a blame cycle or tossing your power away.
3. Think of one (small and simple) action that you can do right now can help you reclaim your fame!
When you notice a deep desire within yourself for change, combined with a reason for not getting closer to it, hear your words and thoughts – perhaps there is a better, more empowering route waiting for you.
xoxSus