I had always been envious of my close friend, Jackie. We have been friends since high school and have stayed friends into adulthood. We've gone through all of the life events together; marriage, kids, and even the inevitable getting chubby. During a barbecue last summer, we were eating a large bag of barbecue chips when she stopped, looked at me, and said "what am I doing? I don't even like chips. I'm not eating them anymore" and just stopped. Since that day, I haven't seen her eat a potato chip. She started eating cleaner after that barbecue, and she lost about 30 pounds over the course of the year. She looks amazing, and I'm happy for her.

     Things are different with me. I'm not disciplined like her. I can't just say "I quit" and never do it again. I've tried quitting junk foo...

Bad mental habits are the thoughts we let roll around in our minds over and over. There is pain with the thoughts, and a touch of "it hurts so good".  Even though, you know you will feel better the moment you stop thinking this way, there is often some part of us that just want to indulge. We often think of these episodes of "round and round" as a private indulgence with no consequence, but the consequences are profound. They affect every area of your life. Do you think if you did the same thing to your child that you do to yourself that there would be no consequence? Of course not. You can try to figure out why you do this. It is typically a "long and winding road, that leads to your door, and will never disappear...".  Mostly we do this because we are human. Or we can just decide to br...

"The present moment is always small in the sense that it is always simple, but concealed within it lies the greatest power...Only when you align yourself with the present moment do you have access to that power."

Eckhart Tolle "The Power of Now- The New Earth"

We often look at taking care of ourselves as residing somewhere in our future and past.  The truth is we can only take care of ourselves right now.  We have plans to lose weight by eating a better diet or getting more exercise.  But contained within that previous sentence is both our past and future.  Our plans are always about the future.  Eating better or getting more exercise are a comparison to what we have done in the past.  When we make plans we aren't actually doing anything to take care of our self.  As we look to our future...

          At the start of this year, I looked at my goals for 2019 and I realized that I hadn’t met many of them. I had a goal to get a certain job, and to get my professional license by a certain date. I came to realize that I hadn’t met many of these goals, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. There are simply circumstances in my life that I cannot control. I can’t control when the state board will meet to discuss new licensees, and I cannot control if a position will come open. The only thing I can consistently control is myself.

          This year, instead of writing down resolutions, I wrote down daily p

ractices I want to do. The idea is that by working on the things I can control every day, I wil...

               Growing up, I never really thought much about the environment around me. Mom was mom, dad was dad, and siblings were siblings. My parents, and most of my aunts/uncles/cousins are pretty heavy. Some more so than others. I always chalked it up to genetics. When I left home and went to college, the weight came on fast. It was alarming, but not enough for me to make major changes. Part of me figured that getting heavy was in my DNA. I had seen my parents lose and gain the same 10-15 pounds. Why would it be any different for me?

               Life went on and I met a wonderful women. We moved in together. She’s a bit of a health nut, so she cooked most of the time and rarely keeps junk food in the house. She doesn...