Note to newbie's: If you're just joining us, feel free to stick around but you might enjoy the story better if you start at the very beginning. It reads like a book so it's fun to start with the first post and read each entry. Here's the link: Click Here for First Post
So today is it!! Or more accurately, 2 years ago today, I started my journey to a "new me" through a doctor recommended broth fast. I had no idea what it would be like nor did I have any idea where it would take me. And I have to say that I am genuinely not the same person.
The changes have been so extreme that my wife says that she has a new husband....I'm just glad that she still likes me. :-) I look completely different. I act completely different. My attitude is different, and so is my outlook on life.
I now look at each day as a gift. Probably because it is a gift and predominantly because my new life is so much better than my old one. The truth is that the changes are so great that I feel like I was born anew this late in life. Some go through mid-life crisis by buying a Porsche, I just did a restart.
So what have I learned in these last 2 years....People are amazed that I've done this. And it always shocks me how many people say, "I could never do that". Or as my new friend Aleks asked me yesterday, "What made it possible?". I told her, "It was making the decision to do it." I went on to tell her that I would meet some people who would say, "I'll give it a try" Whenever I hear that I think, you won't be able to do it. The problem is you can't try to do this. You just have to do it.
I'm reminded of the scene in Star Wars where Luke Skywalker is speaking with Yoda and Luke says, "I'll try". Yoda's response is, "Do. Or do not. There is no try."
I just this moment, as I finished writing that quote thought to myself...Hmmm, did I get that right, is that what he said, like verbatim? So I looked it up on Youtube. Here's what I found. Take a quick moment to watch this and then come back to this blog. But please come back :-) I have another comment about this. Yoda on YouTube "Do, or do not" "There is no try"
Did you catch the part where Yoda says, "You must unlearn what you have learned". Yes!! It is so true!! I had learned wrongly. I needed to unlearn what I had learned about poor health and negative thinking. In another quote in talking with Luke, Luke asked Yoda about being alone. The conversation goes like this:
Luke: "Master Yoda, are you content? You've been alone for so long..."
Yoda: "Alone? No. Always the past to keep me company."
Yes, and that is sometime the problem. "Always the past to keep me company." Sometimes company is nice to have. But sometimes company is horrible and you can't wait for them to leave. And sometimes "company" or "the past" show up at the most inopportune times. Sometimes the past is like an evil ghost who is there to torment and remind us of past failures. To accuse us in our new life that we haven't really changed. All that old stuff is still there. But like an old girlfriend, or a troublesome car that has since been sold, we don't have to carry this with us. And even a haunted house can be left and we can move to a new home, in a new city, far away from the past. We can learn from the past but we don't have to carry it around like a ton of lead.
Jerry Garcia sings in his song, "New Speedway Boogie"
"Now I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
Other hand I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead."
Yes, what he sings here is true. But a weight of gold has more value than a weight of lead. How we view the past determines whether we carry a weight of gold or a weight of lead. And although we do carry the past with us, we can choose to cary with us the parts of the past that are gold or the parts that ate lead. In truth, we cannot carry both. It’s not possible to carry that much. We can only carry a limited portion of weight, that is all that is possible. For some of us, it’s best not to carry any at all. Life is lighter that way. So if you are to carry the load, make sure it’s gold. For those who try to carry both, they find a weight to great to carry. It leads to failure.
So I chose not to to “try”.
I chose to “Do”. And moving
forward I choose not to “carry a weight of lead”. I choose to carry a “weight of gold”.
