General musingd

'The secret to reaching your goals may rest in the written word. Writing is a common theme through every stage of successful goal achievement. The act of writing creates a promise, and having that visual promise in front of you every day won't let you forget it. Got a problem remembering what goals you met last week? Start tracking them on a daily basis. No more guessing and fooling yourself. The only way to get a really accurate picture of your progress is to record what you've done when you do it. Got something to say or a breakthrough to announce? Write it in a journal. Journals can show you what works and what doesn't. And the stories of your success can be great motivators in the future, right when you need help the most. From pregnancy start to pregnancy finish, you can help your memory and your goals by putting ink to paper. It can make up for fading memory and keep motivation from fading at all.'

Sparkpeople could be talking directly to me with this - even more so than with other daily reflections that have struck such a chord with me. Mind you they are posted to give you something to reflect on in your daily journal on their site so its natural they will promote the value of a journal

I think the one thing my journal has led me to realise is that if you have a goal - be it losing weight or running a marathon - you have to be doing it for right reasons. If having a goal was all that was needed to succeed no dieter would ever fail. Your goal has to be realistic and has to be something you truly want to do for YOU. I spent years thinking 'if I lose weight I'll feel better about myself' But nothing external can ever make you feel good about yourself - that has to come inside. So now I feel good about myself - I am succeeding in losing weight. Its not an easy conundrum to solve tho.

Food went OK yesterday. No major breaches of the rules. I certainly moved my body, I was on my feet all day at work. I am sure I underestimate the excercise value of a day at work. But I also did my wii fit workout.

I havent said much about my meditation recently. I have been doing it and Steve has lent me two CD's of meditation tracks - all about 5 minutes long. They are now on my MP3 player so I can listen during my lunchbreak and relax. No huge breakthorughs yet but I am practiciding tenaciously as Paul would say. I am also still lsitebign to Kelly every night when I go to bed.

I am sleepoing better and I am no longer getting up every night to visit the loo so I am making slow but steady progress in a number of areas.

I do also feel that my empathy is increasing - although telepathy would still be magically useful.

I have small psychic twinge about Steve's relationship which I am going to record so either I can look back and remind myself what rubbish I sometimes think - or maybe look back and wonder how I knew. Steve has told me a little more about her background. He is not her first serious boyfriend. She did have one prior relationship at least, which ended becasue he was very manipulative. We often project onto others thngs we dont like ourselves so I am wondering excatly who was the manipulative one? I am still excited about meeting her tomorrow tho. I do hope we like each other. I dont want his first serious relationship spoiled by family problems.

This has the potential to be a fantastic weekend - and I am going to do all I can to make sure it is fantastic for everyone.