Monday, June 21, 2010

Patience.

Well, the good news is the rampage is back on.  It's been horrific (as usual) trying to get back on track- the whole weekend was such a disaster.  For one thing, my friend ended up staying longer than we originally planned.  Then yesterday I was invited over to a friends parent's house for Father's Day dinner...and I wasn't even hungry when I got there (cause I'd been snacking all day and sleeping all day).  We had steak and rice and rolls and salad and peach pie and ice cream.  I wasn't even hungry.  It was horrific.  I came home and cussed myself out for an hour on the couch while rolling around in pain I tried to watch a movie with my friends.  GUILT.  But this morning I read a really inspiring talk on patience, and while I don't have the talk with me right now to give you the quotes (I'm at work and taking a few seconds to write), I still wanted to give you the gist of my thoughts.

First of all, it was the perfect thing to read to help me lug myself back on the rampage.  Basically the speaker was saying that we must have patience in order to be successful.  He talked about a study that was done in the 70's on these little kids- this scientist/psychologist guy wanted to test children's patience (to see if there really was anything to it) so he put a marshmallow down in front of each child (I'm thinking they were between 4-7 years old) and told them that if they could wait, in 15 minutes they would receive another marshmallow (if they didn't eat the first one).  Well, some of them couldn't wait and ate the marshmallow.  Some of them waited, but couldn't make it a full 15 minutes and ate their marshmallows.  Some of them threw tantrums.  And some of them were able to wait.  Now, he didn't find out a lot from these children in that initial test...but he decided to keep track of each student and eventually he found that once these children were adults- the ones that were patient in waiting for the second marshmallow also tended to be more positive, more ambitious, and more successful than those that couldn't wait as a child.

The speaker then went on to talk about how being patient is not merely waiting around- but patience involves actively still pursuing the thing that you desire while still believing that you will achieve your goal (or will receive what you're waiting for).  He mentioned the words "active pursuit" and "not passive waiting".  You still have to be active in trying to achieve your goal.  For us, this means we still need to work out.  Still watch what we're eating.  Still set goals and try to achieve them.  He then went on to say that impatience stems from selfishness and self absorption.  Wow- talk about humbling me on the spot!  The gist of the whole talk came down to (for me), "you must still work out and still keep trying.  You will get what you desire Diz, you will, you just have to keep at it and be patient with yourself and your body.  Successful weight loss (he wasn't talking about weight loss but I was applying it to weight loss) isn't quick- it may take time but it is steady devotion to the thing that you desire."  It is steady devotion to that thing that you desire.  I desire to be thin or healthy/fit...therefore I must rededicate myself and keep being committed.  It was exactly what I needed to hear this morning.  When I get home I'll find the speech and put the quotes up because it was so inspiring and I think it applies to all of us, regardless of the journey we're on, or where we're at in that journey.

So yeah, I had a bad weekend.  But like I said last post- this week is crucial to my success.  Is it the end of the world if I don't make it?  No.  But do I need to stay on track and work towards my goals continually if I want to see success?  YES.  I haven't been completely left behind- I fell off the boat for sure, but if I swim and work really really hard- I can still catch the boat and be on my way back to success and happiness.  And a skinnier me.

:)  We can do this!!!!!

D

4 comments:

  1. What an inspiring post! Thank you, fierce girl. Obviously, you're already a success as a person--now it just have to show up in those numbers on the scale. :D

    Wahoo, you!

    Deb

    P.s. That codeword thing is: LaScales. lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. yES WE CAN! I missed you diz! I am back and better than ever! Glad u are too! Big hugs and in case i haven't mentioned it your unwavering support means so much thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That talk sounds very enlightening. Such a great analogy for patience. I wonder if I could wait 15 mins? Somethings tells me probably not... humph!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Our pastor did a sermon on discipline & used that study as an example. It was extremely moving. All of the messages are on-line & you can find it at: http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=38656

    It's under the how to build a great life series, develope discipline (4/10/10)
    In case anyone wanted another resource...good luck with your rampage ma'am. It's part of that whole journey thing...right?

    ReplyDelete