Purification

So my wife has this thing where she draws a word on a little piece of paper from a small bowl everyday.  The words consist of all sorts of things from love, purification, serenity, courage et cetera.  Whichever word she draws becomes the focus of the day.  I started doing this today and drew the word purification.  I started thinking about it and tried to determine how I could focus on this word all day.  Purification to me is a long-term process but I realized that the purpose of this exercise is to be reminded of things people often times forget.  I talked about one’s surroundings/environment in my about me section.  I feel that I have purified myself a good bit over the years getting rid of all the negativity in my life.  This was one of the steps that allowed me to grow as an individual.  It’s often hard to see through the fog of negativity when one’s surroundings are also filled with negativity.  Stepping out of the fog automatically relinquished some of the things I did not like about myself.  I started to think more clearly and really focus on what I really wanted without worrying about what others would think.  Of course, health was one of those things.

One aspect of myself that I work on everyday is patience and it definitely goes hand in hand (amongst just about everything else) with fitness and health. The one thing I used to love about fad diets was the quick results.  I hated the foods but loved the results.  I was included in the category of people that didn’t think anything else could work.  It would take a couple of diets to realize this approach was horrible and very ineffective.   I remember losing about 45 pounds doing the Atkins Diet.  I was on cloud 9 for a while but fell off of that cloud shortly after when I gained 55 or so pounds, an increase of 10 pounds!  So instead of losing weight I actually gained weight.  Isn’t that the opposite of what everyone wants to accomplish?  Well, once I was able to purify myself of all the gimmicks and quick fixes, I had to face the fact that this was going to be a lifestyle change.  It had to be.  I had no choice (well, I did have a choice but if I wanted to be happier I had to choose my health).

It would take some getting used to and a lot of hard work and research but I kept my eyes on the prize so to speak.  One motivation, as is for a lot of people, I used was visualizing myself in pictures on the beach with my shirt off.  Every time I did, I just wanted to go sprint around the block.  I couldn’t believe I had let myself go like that.  Even though it would take a little longer to see initial results with the whole “it’s a lifestyle change” approach, the way that I got there made me feel so different.  I just had a better outlook on life in general.  I stopped trying to get things I wanted so quickly and realized I had to work for them.  In doing so, the reward was that much more rewarding.  At that point, I knew this journey would be a good one.  In doing P90X, my patience is tested everyday.  The workouts are so rigorous and being well into my second week, one would think I was already ripped.  Not the case.  I know I will get there and have to stay focused.  If anyone out there is thinking about P90X or any workout regimen, then I suggest purifying the mind first and everything else will fall into place.