I received my blood results from my annual physical just before the holiday break. To my surprise, my cholesterol is high. (With a growing appetite for rich foods like cheesecake, should it have really been a surprise?) The doctor suggested I might go on medication to reduce the cholesterol. I politely refused. However, the news has brought my health into focus like never before.
Like many people, I resolved I would get healthier this year. While 45 percent of Americans set New Year's resolutions, only eight percent are successful at achieving them, according to a survey by the Opinion Corporation. Why is that?
And then an epiphany occurred during the holiday break. With some downtime, I realized I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get fit and healthy. I’ve been in pursuit of fitness as if it were some ephemeral thing. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks that there’s nowhere to get to. I simply decided to be healthy. Like Hamlet, to be or not to be is the question.
Assume the Role
First, I created an ideal picture of health and fitness. I then imagined myself already being the ideal picture of health. I’ve transformed myself by thinking from the ideal instead of thinking of the ideal. This is a slight but profound perspective. Every state is only a mere possibility as long as we think of them. Every state becomes real when we think from them.
I’ve realized my entire thought system must be transformed. The first step was creating and fueling the desire to change. Then I decided to make the future dream a present fact. I’ve created an ideal of the person I want to be and assumed that I’m already that person.
The feeling of health, vitality and fitness has become so vivid. You will know you’ve attained the feeling when you are possessed by it and the concentrated focus fills the mind and crowds out all other ideas. It causes self-defeating thoughts to disappear and reduces distractions. You must be conscious of being healthy if you are to realize what health is. Health is not created. It is displayed.
Be. Think. Act.
Healthy decisions have followed suit. I’ve altered my diet; I’m drinking more fluids; and I’m taking cholesterol-reducing supplements. I’m also physically active six days a week. I registered for a half-marathon in March. After a night of planned consumption on New Year’s Eve, I woke up at 7 a.m. to get in my 4 mile run. I didn’t feel much like running after a night of socializing and watching the Possum Drop (a local, folksy New Year’s festivity). However, the great thing about being is that it allows me to “have” my feelings and not be ruled by them.
Wayne B. Moss is BGCA's senior director of Sports, Fitness and Recreation.
Some may dismiss this approach as fantasy. However, we know all progress has come from those who didn’t accept the predominant view of the world as it is. Today there are no tips today on what to do, only a recommendation on how to be.
Working with my doctor, I will continue to think like an active and fit person. I’ll report back soon on how cholesterol reduction is going!
Have a happy and fit 2013!
