Well, the time came to get a new computer after having spent hours and a few too many dollars wrestling with detecting the problem, virus scanning and ultimately installing a new hard drive during the holiday at the end of 2009. Kept me out of the fridge though!

So here I am in February and the same things start showing up: slowing of the system, “not responding” messages and just plain freezing up! The truth reveals itself to me louder than ever: “Lisa, it’s time to stop spending time and money on fixing it and just buy a brand new computer!”

So I did and I am absolutely elated!

My curiosity is, why does it sometimes take getting hit over the head or another such profound awakening metaphor to make us move in the direction that is ultimately forward? Why are we so quick to fall back into complacency and futility?

Of course I am relating this to weight and health, you know that right?

I was talking with my wonderful partner of 10 years last night and we were pondering why it is so difficult for people to change their behaviours that no longer work for them and adopt new behaviors that are better suited for the current situation including their new dreams and desires for their life. In talking about it I realized that most people just want to stop one thing and begin another the next day. It just doesn’t happen that way!

I'm no good at this game! I can't even hit the ball! This game is no fun and frankly... I quit!

(more…)

• Say what you mean and mean what you say

• Do your own work to the best of your ability

• Tell a friend the truth

• Keep your eyes on your own paper

• Give the cashier the extra money she gave you by mistake

• Write a report in your own words instead of copying

• Admit you made the mistake

• Keep a friend’s secret

• Turn in a wallet full of money that you found

• Admit your faults to yourself and do your best to become a better person

and more…

My most profound day of complete honesty with myself came the day I admitted I was really unhappy with what I had allowed myself to become and that Being Fat Sucks!

* Honesty is telling the truth.

* Honesty is straightforward conduct.

* Honesty is being sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, fair, genuine, and loyal with integrity.

Have we blurred the lines between truth and honesty so much in this world that it is sometimes hard to identify the meaning to ourselves?

Well today is the day we change the leadership of our country and with that comes the hope of something better, more positive in our future.  That’s all we can do at this point is hope and watch to see what happens.  But it’s not all we can do if things don’t change in this country for the better.  We can participate in creating that change.

Participation requires more energy, time and commitment and it also realizes more results, benefits and appreciation.  It’s the same with your physical and mental well being.  You can sit back and hope your situation changes or you can get going and make it change.  That’s what it’s all about and it’s that simple.

Too many people are just sitting around wishing it would change.  Hoping for something better and not taking any action to make it better.

Read my book and you will be inspired to take action!

What are some of the things you do to get yourself to take action in any area of your life?

My sudden, but revealing, awareness of my feelings about my weight and my life has made me much more observant about the truth. I found that in order to make long lasting changes in my life, it’s vital that I am honest with myself—100%, brutally honest. It was time for an honest assessment of who I was and what I really wanted. But, there was just one thing in the way—was I capable of exercising that degree of honesty? And if I was, did I even know the answer to those questions anymore?

When we talk about the truth, the box we open is often much larger than we imagined. Are slight misrepresentations considered to be falsehoods? Does the truth only pertain to the things we say to others, or does it apply to the things we tell ourselves, as well? Does being truthful go so far that we must examine our beliefs and whether or not they still honestly represent the person we’ve become, not the person we used to be? Does the truth hurt, and if it really does, why? Finding out those answers can provide you with some insight that will explain a lot about yourself and how you deal with many issues in your life.

How long has it been since you did some soul searching to reveal what the truth really means to you? It didn’t come easy or quickly for me. As a matter of fact, it’s something that I’ve struggled with for a long time. As I explored my beliefs, issues with the truth traced back to my childhood. Even as a child, I yearned to impress other people. So, I often manufactured myself to be someone better than I really was. Because I had self esteem issues, I didn’t have a very good opinion of myself and never thought of myself as anything very special. To make up for that, I told “stories.” To me, they weren’t lies—just little misrepresentations made so others would have a reason to accept and like me. The stories I told weren’t about other people and were never meant to hurt anyone, so I convinced myself that there was no harm done in embellishing my life a bit.

Frankly, my stories weren’t made up entirely to impress other people. Their purpose was also to impress myself, making me feel better about the real me by creating a new, more exciting me. The stories I told myself and others served to protect me from the hurt I would surely face if I came face to face with the truth. That hurt was there, but by lying, I didn’t have to deal with it.

What stories to you tell yourself?

My awakening had less to do with other people, though, than it had to do with me. You see, I had always viewed food as more than sustenance or nutrition for a healthy body. I thought food was sustenance for the body, mind, spirit, and ego. It was my medicine and my poison. I was never privy to a Nutrition 101 class, describing how the body works and the vital nutrients the body needs to maintain the delicate balance between my physical needs and requirements and my emotional health. If I had been, maybe it wouldn’t have taken me decades to realize that food was fast becoming my own worst enemy. Maybe I would have changed my eating habits and learned to eat enough to feel alive, healthy, and confident without overindulging.

But, I’m not so sure that would have been enough. For years, I continued to allow my weight to top the charts. As the battle of the bulge waged on, I became the main casualty. Far too much of my life was wasted by hiding behind a wall of fat. I protected myself from rejection by hiding behind that wall of fat—the very same wall of fat that kept other people from wanting to get close to me. As a result, I was the biggest loser, not knowing what it was like to wake up every day and feel absolutely fantastic about myself and my body. I never knew how good it felt to physically feel great and alive with energy. In short, life in the fat lane was a spectator sport, one I wasn’t participating in at all.

A lack of nutritional knowledge didn’t help me, but my attitude was what hurt me the most. If I had been a person who didn’t place the blame for my weight and life on other things, like moving, would I have been happier or even slimmer? Would I have been happier if I hadn’t beat myself up every time I picked up a fork? I think so. As far back as I can remember, my attitude has had a negative ring to it. When something went wrong, I berated myself for it. I belittled myself far more than anyone else ever could have. Most importantly, I didn’t realize that if I didn’t like myself, how could I expect anyone else to like me?

It’s not a secret that a person with low self-esteem is usually negative. By continuing to remain in the fat lane and by choosing to be my own worst critic, I failed to understand one critical point—that my thoughts, actions, and beliefs have a strong impact on my health. Nothing, nothing, in my life was going to change until I put the responsibility right square where it belonged. I was the responsible party here, and I enabled myself through my own thoughts, actions, and beliefs.

If I’d been a positive person who saw my life differently, would it have been different? You bet it would have. It would have been a cake walk compared to what I had created. I was too hard on myself and certainly took everything far too seriously. It wasn’t until I experienced my sudden awakening that I really got that—that it was time to ease up and be nice to myself (as well as to others!). Nothing in life is permanent so there’s no reason to mourn what could be for the rest of your life. I realized, and hope you do, too, that anything that is not working for me is something that I CAN change, and that change can start today, this very instant.

Why is it that so many of us want change right now and when we don’t get it (in a totally unrealistic and honest time frame), we totally abandon it? Our desire for instant results and gratification makes up completely give up and suspend our dreams and hopes of the life we really want to live! Is there a reason we punish ourselves like that? I think there is. It’s because we’re not being honest with ourselves and being 100 percent truthful about what we need to do to accomplish the changes we desire.

I found that out one day. In one sudden and unexpected moment, I got it. I woke up one day and really saw what I had allowed myself to become—fat, lazy, unhappy, unmotivated and above all, physically and mentally unhealthy! To be frank, it wasn’t the first time I’d woke up and seen myself like that. It had happened more times than I care to admit. But this day was different, really different.