Intention can make any encounter sacred. How do you meet yourself in the mirror each morning?
Fifteen years ago Sondra, a supervisor at Baptist Hospital, saw herself in a family photo. "When I realized how heavy I was I decided it was a sign of self disrespect."
She choose to change. With hard work, Sondra lost forty pounds.
"Congratulations on your will power," I told her.
"It is not will power. It is want power that works," she told me. "I wanted to respect the person in the mirror so I changed my lifestyle and feel so much better."
Today, Sondra's "want power" is still succeeding. That is becasue she did not just change her eating choices. She changed her life attitude. Desire, not desserts, drives her life.
Will you change any one of your behaviors this year? Did you change any last year?
Sondra's simple principle can work no matter what change you seek.
If I think of dieting as punishment I will start thinking of the reward I deserve for suffering – and thus relapse. But if, like Sondra, I change because I want to be healthier my chance for long term success rises.
If I focus on not being irritable then I actually risk becoming more so. But, if I want to live my best self then patience will naturally emerge.
Think of yourself as an ordinary caregiver and you become one. Create a new picture of yourself as more loving & walk into that picture.
I like what Liz Wessel has suggested. Pause a moment at the threshold of each day. What are your intentions?
At this moment, you have not changed a single lifestyle habit. Meet your own needs with love & your best self will enable the changes you seek.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
Leave a comment