I Need a Tune-up (my simple philosophy to creating a better engine)

 This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2018 at 6:22 pm

When I think of what it takes to move forward through real personal struggle, this is what jumps out at me in regards to what it takes to move past my current condition. Personally, I think of therapy as a little bit about the past, a little bit about the present, and then you get to define what your future looks like. My thoughts, in short:

Ruthless Honesty to Self

• You can make excuses all you want, you can lie to your family, you can lie to friends/acquaintances, you can lie to everybody else, but you still have to look yourself in the mirror and know that you’re making excuses.
• You can’t run from the person in the mirror looking back at you.

Get up off of your butt

• We all want things to change (or let’s be honest, get better). Most of us are great about talking about change, but talking about it from the comfort of our couch.
• You want things to change in your life, then get up off of your butt. Change is a verb, so go back to elementary school thinking to recognize that if I want something to change, then I need to do something about it to make it happen (i.e. movement). I cannot sit on my couch and wish/hope for a change in my current direction, I have to get up and make change happen.

Get off of your butt (2)

• Exercise, yes, exercise.
• The biggest difficulty for the majority of us is getting off the couch to go exercise.
• Here’s the thing, I’ve yet to meet someone who exercised and at the end of it said that they wish they had not done so.
• We need to move. Stop making excuses as to why you are not doing it, your body needs it.

Eat Better

• Say what you want, but what we put into our system contributes to how it will run.
• Better intake, better outcome. Pretty simple.
• You want fast food every day, then don’t be surprised when you feel sluggish and unmotivated.
• You can make excuses, but nutrition contributes to mental stability. Eat like crap all you want, but recognize that when I eat better it has a role in my mental outlook.

The Golden Rule is a Killer

• Tell the truth, no matter what.
• Again, you cannot lie to the person in the mirror.
• So many people talk about how telling the truth is not hard. I guess you are the only person that will ever know if you are telling the truth or lying.
• In truth, my go to is oftentimes to mislead.
• We must practice ruthless honesty. If you mislead in anyway, people will never believe you wholeheartedly. I know what it is like to feel powerless because a person does not believe you. Here’s the thing, how did I contribute to that?

Ruthless Pragmatism

• We get so caught up in our feelings, to the point that we lose the fact that they are JUST FEELINGS.
• How come we get challenged by feeling depressed, discouraged, frustrated, but we never get challenged by feeling happy, confident, or hopeful.
• There is not difference!!!!!! They are just feelings. We, meaning me also, need to look at things as pragmatically as possible.
• Pragmatism – dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. (i.e. Try and take out the feelings and simply look at the situation and what is the most practical explanation.)