A fictional client (we’ll call him Tom) comes up to me the other day to tell me of his successes. He said that an old friend he ran into the other day paid him a compliment. The old friend, we’ll call him “Dave”, said he looked great. That he looked slimmer and more toned. Dave even wanted to know how he did it. He also said he got on the scale and he was the lightest he has ever been, BUT then he wanted to know when he would get to his goal wieght. That he was so tired of it taking so long and that it was good, but not good enough.
It was then that I asked him what successes he was experiencing and he said, “Successes? What do you mean? I just told you I’m not experiencing enough. I asked him again, “What are the successes you are experiencing right now?” He said “Gina, you’re not listening to me. I am not experiencing enough successes.” Then I said, “Have you lost weight since starting your workout program?” “Yes”, he said, “But not as much as I wanted to.” “Have you gotten stronger?”, “Yes” he said “But I would like to fit in my old clothes. I know where you’re going with this Gina, but I really want it to go a little faster.” “Look Tom, I told you this would take awhile. You can pretty much lose about two pounds of fat per week. That is two coke cans of fat per week which if you think about it is a lot. You started out with about three twelve packs. You remember? 108 pounds to lose? So what are your successes again?”
“Alright, I get the point…. So when will I get to my goal wieght again?”
I just rolled my eyes. Here is another client who not only wants it yesterday and wants the impossible, but refuses to focus on the positive. So hell bent on being hard on himself thinking maybe this will get him in better shape.
Finally, I said to him, “Getting down on yourself won’t make it happen any faster. Plus you run the risk of getting burnt out faster and losing the focus you started out with. You better watch out. You do that, and then wonder why you aren’t seeing results. Then you’ll blame it on something lame like age. And you’re only 45. So stop it. You are still taking off two pounds of fat every week since we started which was 5 weeks ago. Remember? You were at 245 pounds and now you’re at about 235. Plus, you are lifting much heavier weights.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love meditating and visualizing. And that I think it is the ticket to successes when paired with action. So, I told him to go home and try this exercise in the privacy in his own home.
With this particular meditation exercise we first centered Tom then, he visualized the successes he achieved, then the successes he intends on achieving. He then did some more exercises to drive home his intentions to his sub conscience.
One important part of the exercise was the art of receiving and being grateful for the workouts, his body, and his life.
Being grateful and receiving your workout successes and benefits opens the door for getting more success. It paves the way to get more motivated believe it or not. You can say things to yourself like “I am so happy and grateful for the two pounds of fat I just lost, or I am so grateful for the strengh I have.”
What that does is remind you where you started out and also gives you the energy to motivate yourself. Not to mention creating the positive energy your body craves for success and growth. It also puts you in a good place and keeps you from being such a pain in the ----- to other people.
If you want to subscribe to some quantum physics theories….concentrating on the energy that we and the whole universe is made of, this out flow of gratefulness and positive energy also, and this is an important one, creates a higher vibrational flow of energy and basically goes into your subconscience as it doesn’t know the difference between receiving positive energy from something that actually happened, or something that you are picturing will happen. It then calls for an encore performance by trying to recreate that like energy.
Thus you start to create that encore performance in your subconscience first. This is so much more powerful than trying to do it with sheer will alone. Using sheer will alone often times will go against your subconscience. It is harder. The way to get someone to really get in harmonous shape (mind / body) is to work out the whole person. So starting out by being grateful in a meditative state really is the first step.
This does really in my experience speed up the fitness process. It is more powerful and a much more elegant way of living.
Getting the benefits merely from the workouts are great. The benefits may be fitting into your size six pants, being able to play longer and harder with your kids, doing better at work, etc…But we need to receive those benefits in the way on gratefulness first to continue getting them. You are grateful and thankful only when you can take it all in and receive. You can only receive when you are in touch with yourself and value yourself. Now often times we can only value ourselves when we make a conscience decision to do so. Because something or someone is telling our unconscience that we are undeserving. It is up to you to put an end to that. No one can do it for you. You have to be the one who does the work to get thru that. Sometimes we don’t think we deserve the value. Not really. So we have to start by telling ourselves that we do deserve to be valued. And most importantly by ourselves as the most important person in your life is you. You are the person who must value and receive for yourself. No one can do it for you. No one.
One more thing about receiving is compliments from others. Do not merely listen to them and hear them. No. Take them in and say thank you. Someone went to the trouble to give you a compliment. It is proper and good form to say “Thank you”. Not, “well I could be better”, or “You’re kidding. I feel so fat.” I mean what is that person supposed to say? “Oh yeah, you’re right. You are fat. What was I thinking?” Receiving it and saying thanks will honer the person who went out of their way.
It is our duty and responsibiltiy to receive. We can only do the best for ourselves and the world when we can be receiving the best. So it is important and valuble for the world for us to receive. It puts a heavy burdon on those that we love and those we come in contact with when we don’t receive. If you think about it, it is downright rude. It brings down the people trying to express themselves and their feelings. It is a put down.
It is right and good and a benefit to the world for you to receive properly. So do it. Your body will thank you.
