Saturday, March 17, 2012

March 17, 2012

Good morning all,

There's a lot to be said for carrying the spirit of JOY everywhere you go. I realize there are times when we cannot, and are NOT supposed to, be happy. But happiness and JOY are two different things. Life has many unfortunate experiences that it shoves in our face, doesn't it? But in the middle of the most unfortunate, our spirits can be at peace and have a STEADY place where joy, not happiness, resides. We have to fight for this and realize that internal JOY is worth fighting for and can have a very profound affect on our lives.

Many leading researchers have substantiated the fact that stress can produce hormones which cause extra fat to store around our bellies. It's called cortisol. (most of you have heard of this, I am sure) At first I was convinced that it was another ploy for vitamin companies to abuse we "over weight" folk and taunt us with the next CARROT. I don't know about you - but I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on those "carrots" only to come back to the basic foundation of discipline. And.......what's worse........I continued to confess that I HAD NONE. It was a "laughing matter" which was really a place of DEEP HURT within me. I could ACT happy, make jokes about being fat, and go home only to stare in the mirror and confess that I hated myself. My life walked this road for many years and while I could laugh with the best of them, I had NO JOY. What is sad is that I really believed I had NO WAY of getting joy again - ever.

I continued to ask God how I could have discipline in so many areas and not in the area of FOOD as it affected ALL areas of my life. HOW???? Now discipline is an ugly word sometimes with a not-so-happy connotation. Often, when we think of discipline, we think of being punished or contained or pressed down. It wasn't until I committed to the HCG plan and brought others into my place of hurt who could help me that I began to experience JOY in life again. I made a promise to Chip, my brother, that "with God as my witness", I would not CHEAT ONCE in the 42 days. After that - "I would cheat if I wanted" - but not for that period. I started counting backwards (critical in the journey) and when I reached the final day, I had a new level of discipline and JOY in my life. I discovered that when I denied myself certain things - contained my appetite - pressed down the temptations - and embraced discipline I could laugh again and have REAL JOY following discipline. GO FIGURE! I came to understand the value of being disciplined and that I needed it desperately.

Today - 15 months down the road - I am still disciplining myself and loving life. How about if we make an agreement today to 1) embrace discipline and 2) laugh more? Let's melt that belly fat and have JOY give us strength.

Be encouraged - we CAN be healthy. PK

PS - keep those victory stories, recipes, and photos coming so I can share with the fam. They encourage us all!

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