Speaking of progress — as I was in my previous post — it’s not continuous! In face, September — as I adjusted to a new schedule with school back in session, etc., was my either my 4th best or my 3rd worst [depending on your perspective] since I started exercising again…
Am I worried about ‘losing it’? Not in the least. I’m learning to practice moderation and consistency and adjusting to changing weather. More important is that overall I am making progress. According to Endomondo, I’ve exercised 83% of the days since I started in March — that’s a low B in just about anybody’s book…
The most important thing is that exercise is now an important part of my life again and I’m making progress. Dialectical progress, but progress nonetheless…
I posed a trivia question to blogging buddy David Kanigan in a comment on a recent Chicago post. I said “Chicago is my kinda town too! Trivia question; in what movie did Frank Sinatra sing “My kinda town”? No googling!
The answer is Robin and the 7 Hoods, a Rat Pack vehicle movie from 1964. Here’s the scene in which Frank sings the famous song…
Oh lordy lord, oh lordy lord.
It hurts me so bad for us to part.
But someday baby,
I ain’t gonna worry my life any more.
You’re on my mind every place I go.
How much I love you, nobody know.
Yeah, someday babe,
I ain’t gonna worry my life any more.
So many days since you went away.
I’ve had to worry both night and day.
Yeah, but someday babe,
I ain’t gonna worry my life any more.
So many nights since you’ve been gone.
I’ve been worried, grieving my life alone.
Yeah, but someday babe,
I ain’t gonna worry my life any more.
So that’s my story and this is all I’ve got to say to you:
Bye bye, baby, I don’t care what you do.
‘Cause someday darling,
I won’t have to worry my life any more.
Oh lordy lord, oh lordy lord.
It hurts me so bad for us to part.
Oh, but someday baby,
I ain’t gonna worry my life any more.
English: Eric Clapton Rotterdam June 23, 1978 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Christine Hassler has a real beauty of a post today that I grabbed in its entirety for you…
One of my pet peeves about the personal growth industry is that there is a lot of expectation placed on consistently making positive changes. The promise is that over time as we do our work, we gradually and continuously “get better” (whatever “better” means). What often isn’t addressed is that our learning and growth isn’t linear. It’s not a straight shot from an “aha” moment to being totally transformed.
Please don’t torture yourself by buying into the misunderstanding that your growth needs to be straight up. That’s a lot of pressure – and also not possible. Growth is more fluid. And over time the lows (or perceived backtracking) we experience become shorter in duration and the length of time in between them becomes longer. I drew this picture for you to illustrate what I am talking about:
The original image was kinda small; I think this is still legible…
The human experience is about contrast and sometimes the best way we learn is when we take a few steps that feel backwards. Often when we have a big “aha” so much to the extent that we feel transformed, the Universe will bring us a situation that feels very similar to past experiences. Often people get frustrated and think, “This again? I thought I learned this already!” That may be accurate; you may have learned the lesson and now the Universe is bringing you an amazing opportunity to practice the learning so that you can fully integrate it. I give some examples of this in today’s video.
If you feel like you are backtracking in your own behavior, choices, or feelings rest assured you are not flunking life. You learned from my UPdate last week that only about 95% of our processing power is conscious so there is a lot of subconscious programming that you are working through. Your so-called issues and programmed responses got implemented decades ago so it may take some time before you totally shift something. So if you find yourself slipping into old habits, reactions, behaviors or choices that you thought were behind you, cut yourself some slack.
Growth is a process not an event. You can’t upgrade yourself like you do your iPhone.
When you perceive yourself taking steps backwards, that does not mean change is not occurring. You may take ten steps forward and then eight steps back. But the next time you will take eleven steps forward and only seven steps back. You are making progress!! Whatever you do, just keep going. And forgive yourself! This is super duper important. Nothing will hold you back more than judging yourself and allowing your inner critic to have its way with you. Immediately say to yourself, “I forgive myself for judging myself for back-tracking. I’m doing the best I can.” Then re-commit to your vision and intentions and keep going.
Here are some of the points she makes I think are worthy of review…
“It’s not a straight shot from an “aha” moment to being totally transformed.”
“Only about 95% of our processing power is conscious so there is a lot of subconscious programming that you are working through”; this is why we say in Celebrate Recovery that we don’t claim perfection, only progress…
“Growth is a process not an event. You can’t upgrade yourself like you do your iPhone.” As a tech guy, there have been many times I have wished I could upgrade myself like hardware. If only I could reformat my brain and delete all the old Beatles‘ lyrics! I’d have so much more room! I do think, however, you CAN upgrade your thinking. There is an old computer programming acronym GIGO; Garbage In, Garbage Out. It applies to thinking and food as well…
And finally, this bears repeating…
“Nothing will hold you back more than judging yourself and allowing your inner critic to have its way with you. Immediately say to yourself, “I forgive myself for judging myself for back-tracking. I’m doing the best I can.” Then re-commit to your vision and intentions and keep going.”
And perhaps the most important lesson of all? Go easy on yourself and practice ‘self-forgiveness’…
Unless you’re eating organic meat, you’re getting a mouthful of antibiotics with every burger, fried chicken wing, or turkey sandwich you eat. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that 80 percent of the antibiotics used in this country are fed to farm animals or slipped into the animals’ drinking water to promote growth and protect the creatures against the diseases that thrive in the filthy living conditions they are raised in. And most of those are given when the animals aren’t even sick.
That has to stop, say the 200 farmers, food producers, physicians, and scientists who signed on to two letters last week vehemently urging the FDA to put the brakes on the rampant overuse of these vital drugs in animals raised for food.” via The Danger in Your Meat | Rodale News.
Bright, shiny objects! 
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