[Image from my Operation Beautiful Book Tour Post]
‘I don’t have a goal weight, I have a goal life.’
I heard this quote while watching an interview with an Extreme Weight Loss participant and it really clicked with me!
Along my journey, I realized that a certain number on the scale wouldn’t magically make my life perfect. For years I chased this number while becoming more and more unhappy.
I now focus on creating the life that I want, by taking small steps each day. It’s about how I feel each day when I wake up. If I wake up happy and eager to start the day, I know I’m on the right track. A certain number can’t dictate my happiness, but I can make changes in my life to feel my best.
While, I’m busy baking up orders today, I thought it would be fun to have a Glo Bar giveaway!
Leave a comment below sharing a lesson you’ve learned along your journey or simply share one of your favourite quotes.
One lucky winner will receive a delicious box of 10 Glo Bars! Goodluck!
Coming up, one of our favourite recipes so far in 2011….get excited!
It’ simple. I learned that if I don’t feel good about putting it in my body, then don’t do it!
More than anything, I’ve learned that everyone is unique. God created us each differently, so it crazy to think that each of us should ever fit in the box labeled “perfect”. I know I’m not, and I’m working every day at being okay with that.
“The only thing constant in life is change.”
At my worst point, when struggling with my eating disorder, despite eating around 800 cal per day of only produce, I remained slightly overweight. For months. No one knew I had a problem; they just assumed I was on a health kick with odder eating. I would lie in bed and listen to my heart beat erratically, no energy to move, and wish the numbers would go away. The way I wrote it in my journal one day was, “You don’t have to look like a skeleton on the outside to be a skeleton on the inside.”
As I read what I wrote, I realized the biggest starvation at hand here was not physical: it was emotional. I was starving my inner, glowing self to a skeleton. As I focused on feeding my inner skeleton, bringing the crazed, hungry little girl to a creature of elegant serenity, I found it easier to feed my physical self.
Beauty is a two-way mirror; inside and outside. What is inside will eventually always reflect outside to those you meet, and it has more control over your outside that you consciously realize. Be beautiful to yourself, and you will glow to others.
“We’ve been hurt by others often.
We’ve forgiven and forgotten.
We should be as gentle with ourselves.” ~Lyrics to the song Gentle
I need to stop dating guys for security or for their money or adventure. And I need to create all those things for myself. Somehow I missed that message.
i’ve learned sometime you just need to make peace with things you cannot control!
My favourite quote: “Conventionally, being fearless means that you are not afraid. Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart” -Chogyam Trungpa
I love this, and I hope that it helps you too.
This is my first comment on the site but I’ve been reading you for awhile. Just wanted to let you know that you inspire me!! And I have been telling everyone I know about how great this site is, how good the recipes are and what a wonderful person is behind it.
Plus, you’re Canadian, and from my neck of the woods =)
“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” — John Gunther
My favorite quote is actually one I learned from you, “You are so much stronger than you think!” You have no idea how many times I have drawn on that quote – including when I gave birth to my son six weeks ago!
My “discovery” and my quotation actually go hand-in-hand. In her Yoga Meltdown DVD, Jillian Michaels shouts, “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable!” It might not be my favorite quote, or even the most inspirational or influential in my life, but I find myself repeating it to myself over and over, and not even during workouts — ALL the time.
Like you, I suffer from clinical anxiety, and have chosen to use behavioral modification to deal with it — through therapy, writing, talking, etc. I have a tendency to get bogged down in the details and to feel defeated before I even start a journey because I feel so isolated by fear of how something COULD or MIGHT go. As a result, particularly with workouts, I sometimes let those fears and feelings of panic engulf me and take over the positive voices in my head. “My heart rate is getting too high; I’m going to have a heart attack.” “What if I DID try for that goal, but failed and ultimately lost one of my life’s passions?” Scary questions with unknown answers, which make me so, SO uncomfortable — but pushing past those feelings is how we grow. Taking a deep breath and repeating that it’s OKAY to feel uncomfortable, as long as it doesn’t define my experience, has been a HUGE step in my journey!
I love so many quotes, but two that have been in the forefront of my thinking lately are:
“Dwell in possibility” – simple, but so true in promoting a positive outlook
and
“The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything they have.”
I believe we are all works in progress on our journey through life and I love the positive influence that bloggers like you have on the outlook of so many women. Thank you!
Happiness doesn’t mean that everything is perfect, it means looking beyond the imperfections and being satisfied with where your are, now.
Love the post!
Thanks for the chance! I’d love to try them. Here is a favorite quote from a book I just read – The Shadow Effect. “Your character defects are not where you’re bad, but where you’re wounded. But no matter who or what causes the wound, it’s yours now and you’re responsible for it.” ~Marianne Williamson
I have learned that restricting myself to the point of starvation will not make me happy. Not even close. It will make me binge.. eating everything possible to try and comfort my needy body. And at points.. I was okay with binging.. because I had it all planned out. I could eat as much as I wanted to.. and then just purge it . get it out of my body. How is that happiness? It isn’t even close – because the guilt that would ensue would be overwhelming.. hating myself for having no self-control. I’ve learned that it was not ME who had no self-control.. I had no need to hate myself for those actions. It ran deeper then that.
When I was struggling with bulimia in high school, I finally realized that no matter how much more weight I lost, I would never get the happiness I was expecting from my eating disorder. This was such a big revelation for me – now I don’t even weigh myself, and I am so much healthier and happier! Thanks for all the inspiring posts, Angela! Your glo bars look delicious :)
“Failure is an attitude, not an outcome.”
The biggest thing that I have learned during my weight loss is not to beat myself up. I try not to feel guilty about my choices because I feel that leads to more bad choices. It’s called life and I want to live it! :-)
Yum!
One of my favorite quotes is:
“All you need is already inside you, only you must approach yourself with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous erros . . . all I please with you is this: make love of yourself perfect”. ~Sri Nisargadatta
Along the way, I have learned to think about the “big picture,” which is tough for those of us who like to control everything. We can’t!
And yes, can’t wait to see what the recipe fav is.
I have hated my legs my entire life – they have always been my least favorite body part. However, I have recently begun to appreciate them. As I caught sight of my reflection other day, I actually LIKED my legs! I have come to realize that yes, they are bigger than I’d like, but they are also muscular, they are powerful, they are strong, and most importantly, they will soon carry me across the finish line of my first marathon! And THAT is something to be proud of.
I’ve learned that my own personal happiness comes from those around me! When I treat my body well, I have a much more positive outlook and attitude, which helps me create and maintain friendships that give me so much more joy than any number on the scale ever could.
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill
“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” -James Barrie
And one more of my favorite (unrelated) quotes for fun as I’m studying for a huge exam coming up and trying to stay motivated! “Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footsteps on the moon.”