STEP 1: Mentally Preparing to Make Better Choices

It is necessary to take certain steps to eliminate some of the poor choices that were a result of stress, boredom, and any other challenges that sparked bad habits in the past. I have created three steps that I intend to take which will set the stage for healthier lifestyle choices, and each of these steps will be discussed in its own individual blog:

Step 1: Mentally Preparing to Make Better Choices.

Step 2: Cutting Caffeine and Alcohol Consumption.

Step 3: Planning a Healthy Diet.



As I've mentioned previously, I've had the motivation which led to a temporary health kick which lasted up to two weeks at a time. This has occurred off and on over the past few years. While I may have had the motivation, I did not have the patience or the attention to keep it up. This would typically result in that "fire" being extinguished early on.

The last time I was able to follow through and enjoy the fruits of all that hard work, one of the most important things I did was to meditate regularly to increase my awareness. This is extremely difficult for me at first, because even as I type this, I am in one of those "mental fogs" I mentioned earlier. However, like anything else, it is something that improves gradually over time. Honestly, it's difficult for me whether I have brain fog or not, so that's not a valid excuse.

Not only is meditation a tremendous stress-reliever, it is also the best possible way for me to stay focused. This is important because I frequently over-eat when I am tired (which is often), bored, or under a lot of stress. Meditation will create mindfulness toward what I am putting into my body. It helps with the impulse to over-eat. Portion control is nearly impossible if my mind is somewhere else while I'm eating. Awareness forces you to live in the moment.

This is something that I wrote on meditation a few years back, when I was practicing mindfulness:

"I think one necessary trait of meditation, in my opinion, is that it can prepare us for death. It snaps us back into reality by addressing our aversion to the inevitable by slapping us in the face with it. It tells us to live each moment as if it were our last…because it very well could be. We sit and take time (it takes a lot of time) to persuade ourselves that we aren’t going to live forever. Sometimes, in our daily lives, we wake up, we go through our routine, come home, go to bed, and do the same thing the next day. We don’t appreciate a moment of it because we’re too busy getting worked up about the guy who cut us off in traffic or the report that was due an hour ago. If someone were to walk up to us and tell us “you could die of a heart attack in the next minute,” we shrug it off and say something along the lines of “everyone dies at some point.” We never think about it. As a result, we often engage in self-destructive activities; we endanger our health without a second thought.

In Zen meditation, we prepare ourselves for death by waking ourselves up to the fact that it will happen, and what that means. When we are constantly aware of death, we really wake up to our life. To do this, though, we have to sit and make ourselves aware of it; convince ourselves that nothing lasts forever, and we are no exception. We may do a “death meditation,” during which we persuade ourselves that we are dying (our body grows cold and lifeless, we say goodbye.) In life, we are in such a deep mind-set about who we are and what we “should” be doing right now that we take our focus off the fact that death is always stalking us. Some people might say “what a horrible thing to think about all the time!” The fact is that when we constantly think that this could be our last moment, we make that moment count. Then our life becomes meaningful. We do things we wouldn’t normally do; spend more time with our loved ones; worry less about money and “things”; focus on what really matters.  

Meditation is such an important part of this because it keeps us “aware,” and we take our “awareness” when we stop meditating and apply it to our regular routine; we wake up to the moment and come alive. When we meditate, we sit in a quiet place and simply focus on our breath, then, gradually, our surroundings (the feeling of being present in our body, the room we are sitting in, the slight sounds we may hear.) We clear our mind. Again, this is not so simple for us, because every time a thought enters our mind, we have to gently push it away. I will tell you that a lot of thoughts enter my mind when I do this! This activity that seems so simple becomes incredibly difficult to us; at least in the beginning. Once we are able to do this regularly, we take the technique with us to work or in our car (a place where, if you are anything like me, you experience rage like nowhere else.) We “return to the breath,” meaning, we focus on our breath, then gradually, our surroundings. We become present in our life and appreciate the moments, even when they don’t seem like moments we should appreciate. Our life becomes meaningful, and instead of allowing our emotions take over, we maintain our awareness. In the end, we are thankful for the experience (no matter how horrible it may seem.)"

I used to live with this mentality every single day. Unfortunately, I lost sight of this somewhere along the line, and trying to get it back can truly be a struggle. You need to constantly remind yourself through every waking moment to "focus on your breath" and "be present in the moment" and during meditation, "clear your mind". Clearing your mind is so much easier said than done. With practice, though, it will come. Once you have mastered this part, you really do enjoy your life in ways you may not have experienced before. You feel your connection with the wholeness of the universe.


On another note, yoga is something that I have never done, mostly because of my weight -- remember, I've never made it below 200 lbs.) Once I get my weight down significantly, I think I will make time for it.

Now, to take a moment to go completely off the subject of spirituality and mentality, I was excited to see this list on my facebook page (55 Healthy Snacks Under 200 Calories; I have linked it to the website, since it's small, and it will look blurry if I make it bigger):

I will definitely be using this when I go shopping this weekend. I have always had a tough time figuring out what to do for healthy snacks. Any suggestions are also appreciated!