Book Review: Naturally Thin

We are hearing more and more in the news of late about diet being more important than exercise when it comes to controlling weight. The thing I love about this book is it seems to recognize that the way we eat is something of a mind game. Think of this book as a rule book on how to win the mind game.

Frankel repeatedly reminds us throughout the book how much she hates diets. Her theme is that we need to tune into our 'food voice'. We need to trust ourselves. It is an empowering book and it had an overall relaxing effect on me.

When we are fighting resistance and the urge to self-sabotage, relaxing is so important. It seems to defuse the battle and suddenly it's not so hard to control ourselves.

Frankel is very real in the book, giving examples of times she follows her rules as well as times she doesn't...and how she recovers from that. She's trying to teach us to relax, go with the flow, and most of all keep things balanced.

She is, in fact, so real that at times she's a little bit annoying, but you have to respect her open display of how she lives her life and how her mind works. She teaches you how to lighten up on yourself. This is so important because the self-loathing that we sometimes fall into after messing up generally leads to more self-destructive behavior.

Here are her top 10 rules to eat by:

1. Your diet is a bank account.

2. You can have it all, just not all at once.

3. Taste everything, eat nothing.

4. Pay attention.

5. Downsize now!

6. Cancel your membership in the clean plate club.

7. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

8. Know Thyself.

9. Get real. (avoid processed food)

10. Do what is good for you.

It's worth reading the book to get the details on these common sense, practical, and user-friendly rules. She gives you lots of real life examples of how to apply them. I found myself applying them without much effort as soon as I understood them. It's a must read!

Be Ye Therefore Content

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from my little brother who was 18 years old at the time. The movie "The Secret" had just come out. I had been studying the concepts taught in "The Secret" for many years, but my little brother sat down and watched the movie and from the first viewing had an intuitive grasp of the law of attraction. From that point on he became my teacher.

One day we were discussing gratitude and contentment and he said, "In order to attract in being content, you have to be content."

Do you see the irony in that statement of truth? As we work on creating a clear vision of where we want to go, it is powerful to be able to look at the way things are and feel on every level that if things never changed, we are content, and we will continue to be content.

And yet there is a concept sometimes referred to as "divine discontent." The divine in us is always seeking to improve our situation, to progress. Neal A. Maxwell said that we "...experience divine discontent because of progression mixed with procrastination."

We can use divine discontent to motivate and propel us forward. We just need to be careful not to allow that divine discontent to morph into ingratitude, which is all too easy to do!

What is the difference then, between divine discontent and ingratitude?

Joseph B. Wirthlin said, "Our minds have a marvelous capacity to notice the unusual. However, the opposite is true as well: The more often we see things around us-even the beautiful and wonderful things-the more they become invisible to us...Because we see things so often, we see them less and less."

Ingratitude then, encompasses not seeing the good that is already in our life. It often includes a sense of entitlement, a feeling of being shortchanged. With ingratitude we usually find ourselves comparing our situation to that of others and we come away with a feeling of envy. Underneath it all is usually a deep feeling of not being enough.

As we look a little more closely at our lack of gratitude, we may also find fear, discouragement, even despair. A feeling of hopelessness and a desperate desire to grasp for things we don't feel we deserve may also accompany these feelings of ingratitude and discontent.

Divine discontent, on the other hand, is a curious mix of peace and desire for movement. There is hope that the changes we desire will come to pass. There is clear vision of how we want things to be, rather than a focus on what we don't want.

Divine discontent is accompanied by a feeling of connection to our creator, a humble belief in, and understanding of our own potential and worth.

We have a feeling of contribution, a desire to improve others lives as well as our own. We often recognize being guided by a purpose higher than our own. This purpose gives us drive and energy, a sharp contrast to the discouragement and hopelessness that stems from ingratitude.

When I first started utilizing the powerful technique of visualization, one of the challenges I encountered was that at the end of each visualization session, I would open my eyes, look around, and see what was different or lacking in my current reality. The immediate response to that was a feeling of disappointment and ingratitude for the way things were.

I recognized that these negative feelings and emotions would not get me where I wanted to go, so I made some changes to the end of my sessions. When I opened my eyes, I would look around, intent on finding things I was grateful for in my current situation.

If I was visualizing a storage room full of food storage, I would focus on the shelves that were already full and rejoice. If I was visualizing new carpet, I would notice the beautiful paint on the walls and how that added to the beauty of my home.

Paul advises Timothy: "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." (1 Timothy 6:8). This can be a guideline to us as we strive to improve our lives. We will always be creating, we will always be progressing. And while we are in this process, we can be content with the way things are, knowing that our choice to be content will only bring us more to be grateful for.

Recipe: Hearty Harvest Casserole

2 large onions, cut and separated into rings 3/4 inch thick
1 each medium green and red pepper, cut into 1 inch strips
1 cup sprouted barley, partially cooked (save 1-2 cups water)
4 tbs. vegetable broth mix
3 medium carrots, cut into chunks
2 large tomatoes, peeled and quartered (or use canned)
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1 lb green beans, snapped in half
1/2 head cauliflower florets
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2-1 tbs. real salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup parsley, chopped

Steam fry onion and bell peppers. Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Barley should be tender.

This recipe is from the book, "The pH Miracle." I make this casserole and eat off of it for a week. It takes some time to prepare, but it's delicious!

Are you putting a dam in the flow?

Anytime we are seeking for real change in our lives, we must create a vision of how we would like our life to be. As we put time and energy into developing that vision and keep our minds open, we begin to be led to possible solutions to the problems that stand in the way of our vision.

Sometimes we become distracted from what we really want because we become so focused, even obsessed, with a step on the path we believe will take us to our destination. Stepping back, looking at the big picture, and asking ourselves what we really want will help us to keep a clear vision of the final destination. This will help insulate us from becoming distracted along the way.

Keeping our minds open is still important. Sometimes the early ideas we are led to are simply stepping stones to other possible roads. As we keep the vision of the destination vivid in our minds, the necessary stepping stones will continue to present themselves.

A block in the flow can occur when we begin to obsess about one of the steps we perceive to be a necessary step on the way to our destination. We need to be flexible, to move around obstacles like a river moves around obstructions. We need to stay open to any possible way to reach our destination.

If we have received an idea that we believe is the next step in our path and it begins to seem as if it might not happen, we don't need to be afraid that we will not reach our destination. We can trust that working on this idea is playing a role in our getting where we need to go. The step we are taking is not the destination.

We can still put positive energy into the solution we are currently working on, but we need not be afraid that if it does not happen the way we envision, we will be left at a solid brick wall. If a wall is put up in front of us on the path we are on, the natural thing to do is to turn, look around, and find another path.

Perhaps the path that truly would bring us the greatest happiness and fulfillment would never have been searched for if a wall had not sprung up in front of the path our feet were once on.

In "You Were Born Rich", Bob Proctor teaches that when we have a clear vision of where we want to be, we must trust that whatever happens is a necessary step to take us to our destination. Even things that might look like mistakes or wrong turns often turn out to be exactly what needed to happen to move us in the correct direction at the correct time.

Thus we can always be at peace and release any fear regardless of how good or bad our circumstances may appear. Once we have reached our destination, we will be able to look back and see how each step, no matter how it appeared at the time, was simply part of the path that presented itself once we knew where we wanted to go.

An example of this might be someone who has visualized higher pay and greater fulfillment at their place of employment. Perhaps a job opportunity comes into their path. All signs seem to indicate that this is the next vital step on the path to what they have envisioned.

They begin to put all of their energy into getting this job. Perhaps things begin to not go so well. They don't feel their interview went well, they notice the others interviewing are better qualified, and they begin to be afraid. Their vision seems to be in jeopardy.

As they feel as if the life they envisioned is slipping out of their grasp, they begin to obsess about this step that they have begun to feel is essential. They are no longer the river, flowing around any obstacles to reach their final destination. Their flow has been dammed. The destination is unreachable. The step they are working on has become their destination as all of their energy is channeled into forcing an outcome.

The universe will always find the easiest, simplest way for you to reach your destination. If you begin to feel that your flow is being blocked, don't give up. Keep at it, but keep a detailed vision of the destination you are working towards.

Put most of your energy into that picture and remain open to any possibility. If the step you are working on is the most beneficial way for you to reach your destination, then keeping this vision will help release any kinks and it will happen. If it is not the most beneficial way, you will gain whatever it was you were supposed to from the experience and quickly move onto the next step.

Mark Fournier teaches the following mantra when working on an outcome: "I am not attached, there is an infinite number of possible outcomes". Release the fear, go with the flow, keep a clear vision awash with positive emotional energy, remain open, you will arrive.

Affirmations...or self-delusions?

There are effective ways to use affirmations, and not so effective ways to use them. Louise Hay, author of "I Can Do It!" says in her short book of affirmations: "Some people say that 'affirmations don't work' (which is an affirmation in itself), when what they mean is that they don't know how to us them correctly. They may say, 'my prosperity is growing,' but then think, Oh, this is stupid, I know it won't work. Which affirmation do you think will win out? The negative one, of course, because it's part of a long-standing, habitual way of looking at life."

In fact, saying our affirmations at times like these feels more like participating in grand self-delusion than inspired self-improvement. We might even ask, 'how can lying to myself get me where I want to go?'

In the past I have answered that concern by using my affirmation sessions as imagination sessions. I think that maybe if I pretend hard enough that it's true, I'll get over this feeling that I'm repeating lies to myself.

Even during the pretense, however, we still have that feeling deep down that says, 'this is so not true!' After all, if it were true, why would we be focusing on the affirmation anyway?

That deep down feeling of doubt is counterproductive to the changes affirmations can instigate in our lives. Although there is a place for being able to imagine in great detail the life we are trying to create, affirmations are most effective when we know on some level that we are affirming truth.

We must remove the wall of disbelief deep inside ourselves by looking for the truth within the affirmation. Once the wall is down, the power of the affirmation is free to work without restraint in our lives. The truth that we have affirmed begins to become more and more true in our lives.

As you look for the truth within your affirmation, remember that so much of how we perceive our reality is relative. Everything we see in our lives is completely dependent upon what we are choosing to focus on.

Let's say, for example that you are trying to create more income in your life. You decide to start first with visualizing and affirming a raise at work. The affirmation you choose to use is one from Lousie Hay's book: "Wherever I may work, I am deeply appreciated and well compensated."

As soon as you say this affirmation, you think about how ridiculously untrue it is. Your boss hired you 2 years ago with a written promise of a 6% increase each year for the next 2 years and an implied promise of much more. He's done nothing. You've talked to him several times already and he continually puts you off.

You think about your peers (five of them, to be exact!) who've had increases, in spite of the company wide freeze on increases. It's injury added to insult! Not only are you not well compensated, but clearly you aren't appreciated!

At this point most people would try to imagine a different world down at work where their boss is appreciative and keeps his promises.

The problem with that approach is, again, the powerful feeling of disbelief being repressed deep inside.

Instead, look for any grain of truth that supports the affirmation and focus your energy on that. When we do this, the walls come down and we find ourselves fully invested in the affirmation. All of our energy is then able to flow into creating more of what we are affirming.

When you say the affirmation, think of the cook in the cafeteria who thanked you the other day for the new materials you were able to acquire for them. Think of the woman you manage who you were able to give time off to when her daughter was sick. She appreciated you!

The law of relativity comes in handy when you are saying the phrase, 'well compensated'. I'm sure without much effort, you will be able to think of situations which, in comparison, show you to be 'well compensated'.

Anything you can do to make the affirmation feel more true to you will help. Think of how much you earned at your last job. Perhaps in comparison to that, you are well compensated now.

This is not the time to focus on your peers who earn more than you. It's not the time to think about how far away you are from where you wanted to be at this point in your career.

Use the law of relativity to help you in your cause, not hurt you. This frees up your energy for creating. It removes your payoff for being a victim. It puts all your focus on where you are going, instead of where you've been.

Another example might be in your relationships. Let's say you use another of Louise Hay's affirmations: "I am in a joyous, intimate relationship with a person who truly loves me."

It's so easy at this point to think of all the ways your relationships don't meet this criteria.
Let go of your need to feel sorry for yourself or to find what's wrong. Start looking for the little tiny ways this is true in your life.

What we look for, we find. If you had a flicker of happiness in your relationship two weeks ago when you saw your spouse wrestling with your puppy, focus on that.

When we say our affirmation, if we will focus on some aspect of it that is true now the walls of disbelief come down and we are able to channel our energy, to connect with the power of affirmations, to begin to create something we really want in our life.