Let it Go! Live life beyond your wildest dreams.

Why is it so easy to see each others faults?  Why are we so focused on blame and others faults instead of supporting each other and trying to help?  All humans want the same thing; to be loved and accepted for who they are.  We want to be enough!  We want to enjoy life.  This time of year emotions are running high.  Everyone has their "IDEAL" scenario in their mind about what the ultimate celebration would look like. When things don't turn out the way we plan, and of course they can't always because that's not reality, then we start to have hurt feelings, be disappointed, and bad things start to happen. 
When we focus on others we are focusing on things we CANNOT control but when we ask, How can I help?  What can I do to make this situation better? What can I do different next time?  What lesson am I to learn from this? Then we can feel less helpless, less disappointed and more a part of the solution instead of the problem. 
This time of year is to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  He was born and died so that our sins would be forgiven.  We have been given grace.  We have been forgiven for ALL our sins and loved beyond anything we can imagine in our earthly bodies and yet we hesitate to offer this grace to others.  Have you ever done something and then immediately thought...why did I do that?  Why did I say that?  Or have you ever been really tired, annoyed, had a sick child, an argument with your spouse, etc. and then took it out on someone else because of your state of being at the time?  Yes! It happens to all of us.  We need to apologize immediately, ask for forgiveness and then do better next time.  We all need to extend the same grace we've been given to others.  I don't know about you but I have never PURPOSELY set out to hurt someone.  I don't do things on purpose that I know would upset someone or make them mad.  In our day to day encounters I find how people behave has less to do with me than it has to do with them.  Their own mood, experiences, and issues are what guides their behaviors, not mine.  Once we can realize that and disconnect from the emotions of the situation and just look at the behaviors the better able we become at dealing with whatever is happening in an objective, calm, understanding way.  I'm not saying that what is being said or done is okay or even right just that perhaps the person saying it is having issues, that you may never even know what the issue is, and they may need you to extend grace at that time.  I can already hear many of you saying oh that is unrealistic, ridiculous, impossible to do when someone is upset with you OR you don't know the situations I've been through with this person and what they've done to me and you're right I don't but I do know that NOTHING you do or say is going to change them so the only thing you have to work with is your part.  How you react, respond, etc. is up to you.  That is who you can control, PERIOD.  If you think you control any other human being you are wrong.  By extending grace to another who may not be in as good of a place as you at that moment you will actually be helping yourself.  You will feel better about the situation, you will give them pause for thought because eventually they will realize what happened and probably feel bad and maybe even apologize but even if that doesn't happen you will feel good about yourself and know that you did what you could do to make the situation better.  This is not a right or wrong issue.  As Dr. Phil (I don't like quoting him but I think this cuts to the Nitty Gritty so to speak) says Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?
What we focus on and what we do on a daily basis is what we attract and what we experience.  Do you want more drama, pain, heartache, etc.?  Then keep trying to be right and win (by the way you will never truly win this way). Do you want to be a productive, positive force in your daily encounters that feels good about yourself and attracts more of the same?  Then extend grace in every situation, and love freely, quickly apologize for anything you need to and forgive just as quickly as you would want to be forgiven.  If you find yourself in more negative situations than positive ones then you need to look at what you are focusing on.  Just for today try to look ONLY for the good in each situation.  What am I suppose to learn?  How can I make a positive impact on someone's life?  As you have read this who's name has popped into your mind?  Do you need to forgive them? Apologize to them?  Ask forgiveness from them?  Extend grace to them?  Do it now!! You will be so glad that you did.
Don't be the one that holds back from offering grace becoming a bitter, angry person because the only one you will be hurting is yourself.  I guarantee that person isn't sitting around wasting time thinking about how they impacted you.  They are living their life most likely very happily so the only person you are hurting is you by holding on to the encounter.  Let it go, forgive and live a life of freedom with grace that has already been paid for by Jesus just for you!!!  Let your light shine, YOU ARE ENOUGH!!! God says so and he's already proven HIS love for you!
God Bless,
Nena

#getoffthescale #letitgo #forgiveness #weightloss #loseweight #grace #love

Excuses vs. Choices

What we tell ourselves has power.  Are you a person who has excuses for why things aren't the way you want them to be?  Excuses give us a reason to stay stuck where we are and not grow.  Excuses give us a reason to live a mediocre existence; status quo.  Excuses give us a reason to live a life of existing.  Have you ever heard someone give you an excuse for why they are successful? happy? I'm so successful because I just don't have enough time.  NOT 
Choices give us a life of possibilities.  Choices give us a life of excitement.  Choices give us a life of abundance.  Choices give us a life of hope.  Choices give us a life of opportunities beyond our wildest dreams.
I've lived on both sides of this issue and let me tell you living a life of choice is so much better than a life of excuses.
I spent many years living with excuses of why I couldn't lose weight.  I didn't have enough time to prepare the food.  I'm never home and it's hard to eat out and lose weight.  I'm busy with my children and I don't want them to feel deprived.  I don't have enough money to eat healthy.  I work full time and I'm exhausted when I get home.  My husband's ill.  I volunteer.  There are so many events and social functions I have to attend. I have a lot of pain and it's hard for me to eat well when I don't feel well. Diets don't work so why bother.  I'm sure in a few months this new diet will be proven bad for your health so I'll just wait. You name it I've said it to myself. I was so buried in excuses and negativity that I didn't even realize it.  You've heard that old saying "She/He can't see the forest for the trees".  Well that was me!  When you're living the life of excuses you don't even realize it because it is so comfortable and it keeps us from being accountable for our own decisions.  Life happens to us.  It is a victim role.  The negative, hopeless, defeating voices in our head keep us stuck in the excuses.  They feed all the excuses so we don't have to upset the cart so to speak.  But IMAGINE for one minute that you stopped the excuses and decided to make a choice, what if you decided right now to just be aware of the words that come out of your mouth for one day?  What if you wrote down all the negative things you say (or tell yourself) for just one day and then turned them around into a positive statement?  Oh! That's just silly if it were that easy everyone would do it!  Could become; I can make a choice to do one thing today to improve my life.
Just being aware of the lies we tell ourselves is a huge step toward making a positive change.  As Dr. Phil says "You can't change what you don't acknowledge." That is such a true statement because if you aren't aware of how you are sabotaging yourself you will never change.  When faced with lives daily challenges we all have a choice.  We can see the negative and make an excuse for why we are where we are or we can see the possibilities (positive) and make a choice to do something about it.  Life does not happen to us; we make excuses to stay in the negative, the despair, because it serves a purpose for us even if we don't like it.  It may get us sympathy, keep us from changing (which may be scary) or keep us from doing something that is taking us out of our comfort zone.  No one can make us a victim if we don't choose to be.  Think about people you know that have faced adversity much greater than anything you have ever known and they are positive, successful, happy, productive human beings that contribute to the world.  A few people come to mind for me:  Mattie, the little boy who inherited a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease called Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy.  He lived a very short life with this awful debilitating disease but he used his short life to impact millions of people.  He wrote poetry, was on Oprah and spread the message of PEACE being a real possibility in the world.  His foundation lives on to support the dream of peace.  There are people who are born without limbs, blind, deaf, or have other real handicaps, sexual and physical abuse victims, and yet go on to achieve greatness, live with positivity beyond comprehension.  It is a choice they make.  WE ALL HAVE A CHOICE.  Every choice we make determines the life we live.  To some this is overwhelming; to know that they are responsible for where they are today.  Especially if they have always blamed others.  In every situation we have choices no matter what is happening at the time.  Even if the only choice is to accept what is happening and make the best of it.  Do not let anyone or any situation take away your power to choose the life you want to live because the only one with the true power to do that is you.  When placed in a situation you have a choice to make an excuse or make a choice.  I finally chose to make a choice and it changed my life.  Getting rid of the excuses enabled me to release 134 pounds and GAVE ME A LIFE!  YOU CAN DO IT TO! No matter what excuses you are telling yourself now, no matter how old you are tell yourself:
I HAVE THE POWER to change one day at a time, one choice at a time.
Start today! Make it happen!  It is WORTH IT! YOU ARE WORTH IT!
God Bless,
Nena