Electricity and Turtles

Electricity is an amazing thing.

The other day the cordless phone died. We discovered that the extension cord that that the base was plugged into which went behind a chair (out of sight…) had come unplugged. Two days later we realized that the computer had been connected to that same extension cord. So the good news is that there was and is nothing wrong with the laptop that being connected to the source of electricity wouldn’t cure. Yay!

Nelson keeps feeding us so wonderfully! I keep saying, “I love being on a diet.” And he keeps reminding me that we’re not on a diet. We’re eating healthy and smart. Whatever it is—I’m loving it!

Our conversation started out this way again this morning, and sort of meandered around as we discussed the many dietary and physical changes we’ve made in the last few months. For me, this is the longest period of time that I’ve ever worked on losing weight. I started January 1^st this year and have stayed with it all year. As of this morning I’ve lost 46lbs. My goal was 50lbs for this year. I think I’m going to make it.

I came away from our conversation with a deeper clarity on the book I may be needing to write. Nelson made a comment that much of the “failure” that people experience when it comes to losing weight is tied up in their seeking of an instant solution. I’ve often said I didn’t gain all this weight overnight, I’m not going to lose it overnight either. But we are such an instant and immediate people.

Last week, I was thinking about this as I led prayer in our Sunday School class. Our pastor had quintuple by-pass surgery about six weeks ago. He’s pushing himself in many ways and getting frustrated that his stamina isn’t where he wants it to be. This caused me to start thinking about how much we loathe slowing down—even if it’s good and necessary for our healing.

Then today I was in the reading room perusing my Woman’s Day magazine when I came across an article entitled, “The Joy of Patience.” Our impatience can be totally detrimental to our health—to the point that it can cause us to die early.

In one of the classes I taught this week I was teaching the group how to set SMART goals. One of the articles I read encouraged the person who was thinking about setting goals to make some of the goals or encouragements towards those goals to be visual. I used to do this when I was on a weight loss crusade: I would put the picture of a dress that I wanted up on the fridge as a motivator. These days my visual reminder isn’t a dress—it’s quite different. I wear a ring on my left hand middle finger. It has three turtles on it. I wear it to remind me to slow down.

There’s some more thinking going on, but I think I’ll just get started with this.