My Motivation. Moving Forward.

Last weekend our Three Graces retreat was about Motivation.  Faith Casias did an amazing talk about the key to motivation.  My favorite part of her message was having a realistic goal.  Use a photo of yourself at your happiest moment (it doesn't need to be at your skinniest moment) or a photo of your house when it is clean/organized.  I really really loved this concept.  Here is a photo of me from one of my earlier posts about being Fat and Happy.

This is my photo for my motivation.  Andy and I are at Lake Powell before kids around 2003.  We were so so so in love and completely inseparable.  We were living the life that we had envisioned and had just the greatest group of friends.  Andy had started his own business and we were talking about getting pregnant.  I love this photo because I am not my thinnest by any means or my biggest but because I have a good extra 15 lbs on me then and I didn't really care.  I was incredibly happy and confident in all areas of my life.

This girl below was so motivated!  She was just happy to be a part of this beautiful world.

I will use this photo as my motivation for me now.  The goal is to feel the way I did in this moment except now being conscious with open eyes.  My goal is to move forward with love, grace and confidence while at the same time knowing what real pain feels like and using it to grow a lotus within myself.

Dr. Erik Cooper who also spoke at our retreat says it takes 21 days to recognize a new pathway in your brain.  So if you continue something be it good or bad it will show up on a PET scan in 21 days.  It takes 66 days to have it embedded into your subconscious just like brushing your teeth.  You just do it without even having to think on it.  So if I want to embrace my goal and move forward and forget the pain, all I have to do is repeatedly choose (key word here) to keep thinking a positive thought for at least 21 days.  That's the hard part!  Then if I keep doing it for 66 days it will become a truth for me.  You can think up to 60,000 thoughts a day ranging in all types of genres from good to bad to weird to funny.  We have the ability to focus on the ones we want to.  So if you keep focusing on the bad ones for over 21 or 66 days then it becomes a part of you.

I like these odds!  What a great tool for Motivation.  I am going to use this photo as my motivation to focus on moving forward with the good thoughts.  I won't forget about the painful ones but I have a choice on which thoughts/emotions that I want to give my energy too.  

What do you allow your thoughts to focus on?  What photo can you use to help motivate you for your goal?

*Sidenote:  I like to remind myself of the acronym HALT that my mother taught me.  Hungry. Angry.  Lonely. Tired.  If you are any of these things, it will make it harder for you to reach your goal and stay motivated.  So, you need to really take care of yourself to create a new pathway.  

I am so so so ready!!

Mark your calendars for May 13 at 7pm at Canyon Creek B&B on Main St. in Montrose.  Three Graces is hosting a FREE Fire Circle (first 20 people to sign up).  It's an amazing experience to share, release, connect and have your heart touched.  Please join us.