NEW SERIES: Motivation Mindset is a new series I am excited to bring to the community. As an LG Sister, you know the uniqueness in this community and in our plans is the focus on not only a fit, healthy body, but also a strong mind.
Mindset is everything. How we experience life comes down to mastering our thoughts. Our minds are so powerful and when we change what we think about on the inside, everything on the outside will change as well! I’m thinking this will be a great way to begin the week.
Today’s mindset motivation is about choices and is totally and completely inspired by one of my all time favorite books The Rhythm of Life by Matthew Kelly. If you get a chance… it’s a book I highly recommend!
The first chapter is called: Everything is a Choice.
The book opens with….
“Everything is a choice.
This is life’s greatest truth and its hardest lesson. It is a great truth because it reminds us of our power. Not power over other but the often untapped power to be ourselves and to live the life we have imagined.
It’s a hard lesson, because it causes us to realize that we have chosen the life we are living right now. It is perhaps frightening for us to think that we have chosen to live our life exactly as it is today. Frightening because we may not like what we find when we look at our lives today. But it is also liberating, because we can now begin to choose what we will find when we look at our life in the tomorrows that lie unlived before us.”
A typical gut instinct is to read that and jump into defense mode: “well, I didn’t choose X to happen to me” and “I certainly didn’t choose X person to do Y to me.”
I’m sure you know people or perhaps you are someone who doesn’t really accept this truth. These types of people put energy into blaming and complaining. If you aren’t in that mindset all of the time, I’m sure you can relate to periods in your life where you were trapped in that mentality. I’ve been there.
I talk about the negative cycle a lot and this type of mentality will keep you riding that cycle. Something happens. You feel that this something has happened to you as if the world is conspiring to take you down. This sends you into a tailwind of over analyzing everything. These negative thoughts consume you, robbing you of joy in other moments. You stay in this head space until another something happens to you and around and around your ride that negative cycle.
Can you remember when your teenage relationship ended and it felt like the above scenario?!
In life, we have to recognize we hold the power through choice.
You chose to be happy. You choose to be angry. You choose to feel content. You choose to worry. You choose to love. You choose to feel loved. You choose where you live. You choose what you do for work. You choose how you spend your day.
Just today, you chose to wake up. You choose to get dressed (or maybe to not get dressed today… if that’s you, I’m totally jelly lol). You chose to read this post.
Everything really is a choice.
I share this because the biggest revelation in recognizing this truth is that we can choose to change. We can choose to be whoever we want to be and to do whatever we want to do.
If we want to get healthier, we can choose that!
If we want to become a better version of ourselves on the inside, we can choose that too!
With fitness…
When it comes to fitness, I think it’s all about choose how we want to feel even more so than how we want to look.
When you look good, you feel good and when you feel good, you look good. That is a choice. You can choose to workout to improve your appearance. You can choose to workout to feel your very best.
With fitness, here is my choice… I choose traditional weight training because I like to pick and choose where I can tighten and grow my body #CurvesMadeOfMuscle. I choose to lift because I like to push my limits with strength. I choose to workout daily because that’s when I feel my best.
What do you choose for fitness?
With Nutrition…
You’re going to eat, right?! It is your choice whether the items you choose to eat will nourish your body or if they will provide you with empty calories.
When I was in college, I first experienced the pressure of doing what I needed to do and making healthy eating a priority. I went to school during the day, worked at a pharmacy in the afternoon and early evening and then spent the rest of the day studying.
For a hot minute, I fell into the victim mentality of, “it’s too hard to eat well and do all of this.” The tough reality is it’s all a choice. I used to say out loud to myself (and if you’ve been with me since those days, you may remember me posting this a lot too): “you’re going to eat lunch regardless, Lauren. What will you choose to eat?”
You choose whether or not you will cook meals ahead of time. You choose to pack a lunch for work or to swing through the drive through on your lunch break. You choose to pack nutritious options for a snack. You choose to make excuses. You choose to try to eat for your healthiest self.
With nutrition, here is my choice… I choose to eat as best as I can for inner and outer health, allowing myself a few treats on occasion. I choose not to feel guilty when I indulge. I choose to prioritize my health goals.
I choose to eat to fuel my body with steady energy, which is why I eat several, small meals per day. I choose to eat for physical results, which is why I focus on protein intake and carbohydrate tapering. I choose to eat for inner health, which is why I choose nutrient-dense items.
What do you choose for your nutrition?
With Life…
With life, choosing is a little more complex.
But it’s easy when you think of it this way… you have the power to choose everything! Even when you think you don’t have control over a situation, you choose your response and reaction.
You may not be able to choose what life throws at you, but you can choose how you feel about it.
What are you choosing today?
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