Updates from Yours Truely

Turns out I’m gonna have to lay off the beer, vodka and Cheetos if I really want to get rid of the flab…no matter how much I work out. Sounds a bit extreme for this cowgirl.  But, considering the Catholic Church is on my good side for once, I’ve decided to give up fried foods for Lent this year. Lord help me. Working out and now this? What kind of outlaw am I becoming?

My little sister keeps on growing up and living her own life and somehow she manages to make it without taking any of my hard earned advice.

Planting season has arrived and kids are on the way. YEEEEEEEEEEHAW!!!

Hats off to all y’all, my rebel friends, OUTLAWS RULE!

TRUTH ACTION and sexy lingerie

Part 2 of Habit Busting: Early to rise makes my thighs less flabby.

For the month of January, I developed a positive outlook by avoiding the main trigger of negativity in my life, procrastination, which I found to occur primarily in my comfort zone aka while lounging on the living room sofa. Therefore while I despise rules of any kind, I adopted one for my own good…NO STIITNG ON THE COUCH (until after 4:00 pm).

Having mastered the no couch zone I am ready to move onto a second challenge. For the month of February my goal is to get out of bed an hour earlier which for me will be 5am. And since there’s no couch time allowed I’ve decided to take an even bigger step…I am going to exercise for at least 30 minutes every morning.

If I succeed I am going to treat myself to a new outfit from my new favorite shop, Philanthropy.

This is a HUGE challenge for me people so any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

————————————————————————————————–

I’ve come to realize with my recent experiment in habit busting that the term comfort zone is very misleading. A comfort zone is anything but comfortable. It’s more like a trap, a quagmire of excuses and the perfect breeding ground for procrastination and guilt. Comfort zones create mental barriers beyond which we hesitate to go or GROW.

We use our comfort zone as a retreat from the TRUTH and ACTION of living. It is a place of unfulfilled dreams and meritocracy. Its where we wear our sweat pants instead of our sexy lingerie or what have you…

I’m calling it quits on my comfort zone. To hell with it! Here’s to TRUTH, ACTION and sexy lingerie (or whatever our hearts desire).

so long couch-y-poo

So far I have avoided the couch (in the morning) for 2 days which has freed up my time to make scrambled eggs for breakfast and say hi to the goats before leaving for the office (two VEREY positive activities). Getting ready has been kind of fun lately too. It’s weird how long I suffered with that one considering how easy it was to change. I think I didn’t want to care about my looks and so I thought that I didn’t…but in reality I do. It’s been an ironic lesson in self acceptance because I learned to accept the part of me that wasn’t happy with another part of me, which led to a few minor and relatively easy improvements and now all parts of me are getting along quite well. What a relief!

In addition to having a plan, Leo also says you should use visualization to help keep yourself motivated while changing habits. So here goes.

I see myself basking in the rays of positive energy…better yet I see those rays shining from within me out into the world. I am a light moving about on the farm, laying my hands on the backs of the goats, looking into their eyes and connecting with the cosmos within me and within them. I see this energy filling me with a passion to DO, to create, to be active, to come out of my bubble of lethargy and shyness and connect with the excitement of the universe! I see myself feeling alive all over and feeling light and free from worries. When a negative thought threatens these happy moments, I squash it! I SQUASH THEM ALL!!! And replace them with gratitude for nature’s beauty and the love of these dear sweet creatures.

Squash Every One!

Happy New Year yall!

Hope you started 2012 out with a bowl of black eyed peas and collards. If not, try throwing a pinch or two in some scrambled eggs with a bit of cheddar cheese. It’s the best!

Well today is day 3 of guilt busting and I think its going pretty well. I am following the methods described on zenhabits.net mainly because Leo has used them to transform his own life. He got out of debt, quit smoking, lost 70 pounds, and created a career, all in just a few years! I’ve come a long way myself but I’m not finished yet. There is so much more growing and learning to do. That’s why I am dedicating this entire month to getting rid of negative thoughts.

According to Leo I need to write down my plan, have a mantra, identify my triggers and make it public. So here I am doing just that. My guilt busting mantra is “Squash every one!” I am going to squash every negative thought and replace it with a positive one. I have identified the things that trigger me to have negative thoughts. My two biggest triggers are procrastinating and getting ready in the morning.

Procrastination is a habit in and of itself. I’m not sure if I can tackle that one just yet so I have decided to eliminate one component of my morning routine that makes procrastinating really easy, SITTING MY BUTT ON THE COUCH.

I’ve also invested some time in figuring out why I hate getting ready in the morning. What I realized came as surprise to me. I don’t feel confident about my appearance anymore and I actually CARE how I look to other people. I want to be pretty (er). So I have taken a few steps to remedy this problem which will hopefully eliminate the morning blues. After a few hours on the internet, I now know what hairstyles flatter a round face, what colors look best on a winter complexion and what types of outfits flatter a pear shaped body. Armed with these helpful tips I will have a MUCH easier time squashing those negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones!

Avoiding the couch and knowing how to choose my clothes and makeup are the baby steps I am taking for week one of this project. I hope these two things will have a dramatic effect on my daily routine.

What is it that triggers your negative thinking? Any of yall super positive already? I’d love to know your good habits and your challenges too.