For the first two decades of my life I was a bean pole. No matter how much I ate I could not gain weight. I remember nonstop eating of anything within reach and by the time I was varsity football I could not put on weight. Oh those were the days. A concoction, I have forgotten the name, promised I would gain a pound a day, every day I drank one can. I liked the chocolate taste and drank two or three a day for two weeks. Nothing happened and chocolate didn’t taste as great for a long time. Life then was about moving too. Up early, run a couple miles, school, run a couple miles, yard work, outdoor games and non-stop movement until your head hit the pillow. Even attending college, activity was the norm. Sitting in class was difficult when the snow was falling and the ski slopes petitioned your presence. I spent another dozen years at my ‘ideal’ weight. Living the military lifestyle, especially aboard submarines, gave me great food and plenty of time to exercise. Then a couple things happened.

I had a phase change; I got older and I got sick. A couple years of discovering how to rid myself of the illness also included a couple 200mg tapers of prednisone. I still had some of those tendencies to work the see-food diet beyond normal too. I loved buffets and donuts. Pots of coffee and giant porterhouse steaks followed by combination desert trays and heck, I got big.

Ten years ago I saw a picture of me and was shocked. I exercised daily, ran 3-5 miles most days and I felt good. The scale was worthless and it was a guess how much over 250 I was. A second scale, standing on both, suggested somewhere between 325 and 350. I needed a new sports coat around that time. A size 55 with a 22 inch neck and a 44 inch waist made me an NFL tackle at 6’2” but I was already 10 years past playing any football.

The picture suggested, in the strongest possible way, I needed to make an abrupt change. I had quit smoking 15 years earlier, 21 Feb 1984, after noticing my internal dialog had me paying attention to some voice telling me to smoke. Experiencing being used by something, noticing I didn’t smoke cigarettes but cigarettes smoked me, made quitting easy. The voice suggesting I eat is different somehow and I began studying me and food. Over the next six months I lost a hundred pounds easily. I felt better and returned to an earlier wardrobe. I practiced a modified personal version of the Atkins diet. Lots of beef, coffee and an occasional salad and breakfast was bacon, eggs and cheese. I thought I would continue back to my ‘ideal’ 195 pounds.

I agree that ‘diets’ don’t work. Especially the one used to put on the weight. A temporary, even a year of temporary, change will ultimately return you to your current place. A new life style is in order. Finding a certain way, a new way that supports you is the real challenge. Maybe a diet like only popcorn or bananas has its place to make you aware of eating or have you appreciate food again. If when you reach some weight loss goal and return to your previous life style, your previous weight will return too.

Over the last 10 years I have gone from 250 to 220 at least 4 times, maybe 5. I rediscovered 210 once too. I am back to 250. What will it take to return to 200 permanently? I learned a lot during my hundred pound loss and that has been over ten years ago already.

First, can we agree that if you consume fewer calories than you burn a day, you will lose weight? Another way to say it is, to lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more. If you are still not losing fast enough eat even less and exercise everyday more. OK, eat a LOT less. That will work for a short period of time and eventually you will be back to where you began. It has been my favorite torture.

My basic method now is two meals a day. Breakfast, my favorite first meal of the day and one other usually around 4 or 5pm is workable for me. When I spent a couple hours a day at the gym I could eat more and more often, when I was younger I could eat more and I still like to eat a real meal. No seconds it another rule. I also fast on Wednesdays. The conversation for food is really loud on those days. You will not starve to death or hurt yourself and if you do sneak a pear or peach, well, you will just want another or something else. It is an easy way to see who is in charge of you, the refrigerator, your mind or a commitment to keeping your word in the matter. I walk each morning before breakfast. A short hike up one mountain road or another with our street dog Menta takes about an hour and it increases my metabolism the rest of the day.

I lived aboard submarines for number of years and the norm at sea was 15 minutes or less to sit down, eat and leave. I suspect I had the wolf down you food habit long before submarines. I have found if I put the fork or spoon down between bites and chew a half dozen times longer until I notice there is no food left in my mouth, I am not interested in seconds, the food tastes better and over time my portion size has gotten smaller without feeling deprived. This eating style has taken time and attention along with intention to put into place.

The basic method works well until the holidays appear. Holidays arrive every three or four months it seems. Weekends seem to have way (weigh) too many opportunities for growth too. As the pounds fall off people say, “You look good! Oh, you don’t want to lose more weight, you’ll be too skinny” and other similar gallery comments abound. I have not learned how to redesign their meanings to encourage me to lose even more. Being a food addict may be the most difficult addiction to break.

I used a method promoted by Arthur L. Kaslow and discovered soy and onions, two foods I ate almost daily, were to be eliminated. No small task but living in Colombia makes it easier to avoid soy or vegetable oil. Look at a label and soy is often the first or second ingredient for many products sold at your grocer. Recently I have been looking at Peter D’Adamo’s blood type diet, “If you eat according to what your blood type prefers, then you will be able to perform at optimal levels and lose weight in the process.” Combined with my experience with Kaslow I have added more foods to my do not eat list. Considering I really like most of these and I tend to eat them way past ‘that’s enough’ stage, no matter how long I chew, this will make losing the last 50 pounds permanent. I have to quit eating corn, buckwheat, wheat, lentils, peanuts and sesame seeds; in fact all nuts are now off limits. Pork and chicken appear to throw my system out of balance. I can eat rice, all the dairy I like and beef. This will be interesting. We normally have meals that include only the foods I am not allowed to eat. Enrolling the rest of the family into this will be the most difficult part. None of them are my blood type.

There is one other component that needs to be addressed. We all know what we need to do and we do not do it. Somewhere along the line our subconscious mind missed the lecture on what to do, especially what we want to do. It is a mind of its own. I have discovered a couple different programs that offer a solution. We own both and there is a lot of overlap. Look over the “Super Mind Evolution” and the “Program Yourself Thin” to see if one or both is exactly what you are looking for. They have helped me begin reprogramming my subconscious. Once you reprogram your subconscious, eat the foods your body thrives on and exercise appropriately everything will just fall into place and the weight will fall off. Nice sounding formula at least and it isn’t a fad diet. Hey, I can eat bananas!

Who are we missing?

When I was a child Christmas began not after Thanksgiving but the day the first “wish book” catalog arrived.  Sears and JC Penny had the best ones and there were other ones too.  From the day each one arrived, my brothers, sisters and I would turn the pages with our imaginations in full gear.  Initially each of us was given only a limited time each to view and wish.   Some pages became dog eared and others had initials and numbers identifying who and the order of their desires.   Eventually the catalogs lost their allure and were available for long term dreaming.  I imagined playing with dozens of the trucks, army forts complete with armies and numerous other intricate displays.   There were enough to wet my imagination and I did not let on what my favorite was. Often my favorite changed with the day.  

As I grew older my taste in toys and dreams changed.  Between my brothers, sisters, cousins and neighbors the entire wish book catalog eventually became available if only for an hour or two.   Many of them were much more fun to play with in my imagination than reality.  And there were those my imagination came in second.  

Besides toys my imagination wandered into wondering why the Creator of the universe would become one of us, born as a poor kid in a barn.  I did like the barns at my Dad’s childhood home. They were comfortably warm from all the animals, even in the cold tundra of northwestern Minnesota and the smell of fresh hay and straw was a great place to hide and nap on a cold winter’s day.  He chooses to be poor and begin as a baby made a certain sense to me after all the babies I met had special privileges. 

Father Julian Carron is a Spanish priest and a professor of theology at the University of Milan. He wrote:

The true protagonist of history is the beggar.  If we wish to live this moment as protagonists, that is, without being formal, by following the manner in which we have been educated, each of us must become, or better, recognize what he is: a beggar.

It is easy: each of us must realize his need.  The beggar is the one who is aware of his own human need.

One instant of true awareness would suffice to make us realize how needy we truly are. To become aware of one’s own need means to become aware of oneself, of the fact that he is a man.  The beggar, therefore, is the man who is most self-aware.  And in order to be aware, we must use reason even today, or better, especially today.  We therefore begin to be protagonists when we begin to use reason, which means becoming aware of reality, aware of what I am according to all the factors.

So the beggar is not the one who is most naïve, but who is most realistic.  And, consequently, as we begin to defeat the confusion that surrounds and penetrates us, nothing can hinder us from becoming aware of ourselves in the present moment.

We have no fear of looking at our need, of recognizing that we are needy, because of what has happened in our lives. Yes, we can look with sympathy on what is human because Someone has embraced us; we can look with sympathy on our nothingness because Someone has had pity on it: “I have loved you with an eternal love and I have had pity on your nothingness.”   It is this awareness that can help us to live this gesture.  It is this awareness of standing before a Presence which permits us to take on an attitude of expectation.

The word that must govern, the attitude that must govern in all of us is “expectation,” the expectation of what will be given to us … The beggar has only one option: asking.  Our expectation is one that becomes asking.  Asking for what?  Asking for the willingness to accept and welcome everything that will be given to us today.

 -       Father Julian Carron 

I have paid attention to my expectations.  Adjusting them on purpose or accident is your choice.  I have noticed expectations are the key to happiness and satisfaction. Have a spectacular and wonderful Christmas.  Let’s all make the coming year our best one ever!

John Reese’s blog on How To Get Everything You Want In 24 Hours  is a great read for the season as well.

Mornings walking the mountain roads near our home with our friendly ‘street’ dog Menta is when I am often struck by the obvious.  Many mornings I forget my realizations by the time I return home or the ‘note’ I wrote is senseless.

Last night we read chapter 3 of Think and Grow Rich at www.MoonLightNews.com. The chapter looks at ‘faith’ and how we use and misuse it creating the lives we experience and share with each other. Whatever your dominating thoughts are, they are mixed with your beliefs about them and have intended and unintended consequences.

I noticed this morning the attention and intentions you are organizes how your questions color how the world works for you.  It is possible your questions are a function of your commitments and past way of solving problems that worked for you.  I suspect unless you notice how and what you do, you will continue to have what you have, regardless of all other feeble or extraordinary attempts at changing your outcomes. The dominating thought theory suggests until analyzed your dominating thoughts will not alter the rest of the mix of whatever you put in.

I have noticed there are people who look for what pleases others, what others like and how to create situations that please others. Their emphasis is on what works well for everyone and a general awareness of what is happening around them, especially the effect they have on the circumstances and situations they encounter in their dance of life each day.  Their attention is on others and as the observer they disappear. There is lightness, humor and a spirit of happiness present wherever they go.

The other method and I find it the most common is to look for and at what displeases people. Special notice on what they and others don’t like, the cataloging of circumstances, the attempt to avoid the ‘triggers’ as they understand them, the rules needed to prevent upsets and unhappiness all seem to dominate and be a part of those lives. The emphasis and attention comes from the observer and equates the observed relative to the observer.  The clouds of misery and unhappiness are always overhead or on the horizon.  This method is useful in avoiding landmines providing there is no other way to get where you are going.

If you are looking for what works the sign saying landmines ahead has you veer course as only experts may detect all potential explosions. Miss one and you ruin your day and everyone’s day you are with.   In fact the more people you walk into a field of landmines with the more likely your day will be ruined.  There appears to be gatherings of both types.  Their ‘dance’ makes sense to everyone practicing the same steps.

If you are looking for what works, among a group of landmines that are forever changing course relative to all the other landmines, you either become one or get hurt, often.  Misery loves company.  I wonder is it possible to dance with what works in spite of the landmines.  Is it possible to defuse enough of the field for workability to appear? Is there some way to shift or turn landmines into sunshine?  I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

Anyone who has ever caught the dream of network/multi-level marketing knows that it’s not perfect but I have yet to find anything better for the average person who has little money and never run a business. I became involved with it because I thought I had a knack for networking and initially I wanted to supplant my primary income. Then I needed to do something other than my previous job because it was not going to continue to feed me. Working from the comfort of home and no commute excited me. It is a more efficient way to make money. It is also easy to ruin your relationships with friends and family and it can be done in as few as 10-15 hours a week. Anyone who has poured countless hours and thousands of dollars chasing the dream knows that it is not as simple as uplines, downlines, and growing bank accounts.

I jumped in only to find that success did not come as easily as I had thought. How come people cannot see the same possibility as I do?  I worked hard but the fact is I did not know enough about the business initially to train anyone. It did not go as smoothly as I had hoped but the experience has been exhilarating.  I was still in training myself and I had to find mentors and coaches who had success to show me the way.  I had to retool my way of thinking and learn new skills. There are drawbacks in this industry. Everyone can do this but not everyone should.  Every product sold today is through some kind of network and yet every distributor involved is not rich.

Shockingly one belief is 95-99% of all distributors lose money. That may be true for ‘tax’ purposes, but whatever the number many people are nowhere near their potential. Many believe in scarcity. They believe they cannot find anyone or there isn’t enough for everyone. Basically their attitudes justify it being too difficult to search and track down more people to become involved, either as buyers or downline distributors. Richard Bach wrote, “Argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours.”

Your family and friends are not a reliable base for success for most of you because you do not know how to invite them or add them to your base. If your friends and family will not support you who else will? Many of you have forgotten how to make new friends. Of course no one wants to be hounded by their distant brother-in-law or old high school teammate to join up in the next big money making scheme or buy whatever wonderful irreplaceable product you happen to be pushing at the moment. Yes, your mother loves you, but no one person is going to make you rich. Breaking out from your life long cocoon is both a rewarding and heart wrenching experience.

Success takes time and effort. The part-time, work-from-home, independent moneymaker is possible and even likely but successful distributors must actually spend enough time to make the business viable. Industry experts tell you that every second of the day is a potential time for marketing. No regular hours. No limits. Always ready and open for an opportunity to share.

This is not the standard make-money-on-the-side job. For many, it becomes a lifestyle. “Pep rallies,” training seminars, workshops and retreats are the industry norm. Network Marketing has its own culture and financial growth is impossible without becoming part of that culture.

If this appears as drawbacks and serious obstacles to your financial success perhaps you need to spend more time on personal development or find something else to do. Most people fail ignoring or denying some combination of these facts.  Any system claiming it allows distributors to bypass these hurdles guarantees your continued failure while adding to their bankroll.

Most ventures lose financially because new clients, leads, and customers can’t be found faster than the ones they have who are leaving. Until you realize it easier to keep a customer than to find a new one you will not spend an appropriate amount of energy and time with your current customers. When you believe the well dries up you walk. Had you continued drilling and tackled the leadership skills needed to support your current customers you would be rich. When your customers (downline) have success more leads hunt for you and more leads hunt them. When you are only contacted by interested leads the frustrations end and the money finds you.

The appeal of this system is that people come to you. There is no more ruining important relationships by your constantly nagging people.  When you use this system only the genuinely interested leads come to you and while many programs promise their system gets it done I know it works here.

One of the greatest assets of any system implemented correctly is it does the heavy work for you. It works while you sleep and in all 24 time zones. The difference between it and other systems is that it will actually save you time while developing your business with no extra effort.

There is no comparable system in my opinion. If your dream is beyond becoming prosperous and has you and all those you know thriving you have found the entry portal. Your success happens by breaking through those barriers you have built in you. Working with those who have done it is the best way and maybe the only way nothing else can. If you are tired of always reinventing the wheel or working a program that has success a couple dozen levels up then check us out and spend the time you need to get to know us. We will.

www.iceburner.net

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