Zen
Nana korobi ya oki (fall down 7 times, get up 8)
nana korobi ya oki is a Japanese proverb that translates roughly as “fall down 7 times, get up 8”. Well, I fell yesterday, and fell hard. I’m feeling a ton of stress personally, professionally and financially, and yesterday I made some sad choices in a very misguided attempt to deal with my feelings using food. Of course, those problems are still there, and I only caused myself guilt and regret. I’m still struggling today, but I have made a conscious choice to do whatever it takes today to resist eating or acting out any other way to deal with those feelings. They are just feelings, and I refuse to let them own me. I will call my diet coaches, do an exercise out of The Beck Diet Solution, and anything else I have to in order to stay on program. My life, my health and my sanity are worth more than any food.
The lesson that I’m learning is that I need to focus on the process. I’m struggling in part because I’ve already skipped two days of exercise this week, I haven’t been posting on the Weight Watchers boards much, I haven’t been doing the exercises from The Beck Diet Solution, and I haven’t been making daily phone calls to the guys in my support group. Losing 130 lbs is a huge task, and I cannot do it alone. Heck, I can’t even really control whether the weight comes off, but I can control what I eat today, whether I exercise or not, and whether I use the tools I have available to assist me. I need to surrender to the process and stick to my program.
Today, I get up again. And if I fall, I will get up yet again. I will persevere-the stakes are too high to give up.
Posted by Matt on 03/11 at 11:58 AM
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Zen •
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No one ever died from an itch
In one of my favorite podcasts, Zencast, the host, Gil Fronsdal made a comment when speaking about meditation: “No one ever died from an itch”. He was talking about living with an itch while meditating, rather than scratching it. Not only to preserve your posture while meditating, but also to train your mind and your awareness, that you can deal with an itch or a compulsion without giving in. He brought up the value of that in the context of an addict-you can learn to observe your compulsive thoughts without having to act on them. Keeping this in mind has really helped me this last week with resisting the temptation to eat to deal with the stress I’ve been under. I’ve been trying to stay focused on work, but financial and work stress have brought on the compulsion to eat rather than deal with those issues. Instead of caving in, I’ve been focused on using the Beck Diet Solution to stay aware of why I want to lose weight, and I keep repeating “No one ever died from an itch” whenever I feel the compulsion to go stuff my face. So far, it’s really been helpful, along with meditation and exercise in management of my stress.
Posted by Matt on 02/28 at 10:06 AM
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Zen and the Art of Weight Loss
As part of my journey to a healthier me, I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading about Zen and listening to a wonderful podcast I found on iTunes called Zencast. One of the main principles of Zen is mindfulness, and I think that is one of the things I need to work on the most. Instead of being mindful about what, when and how I eat, I struggle with numbing my feelings with food. Instead of being present in the moment, I let my mind cling to feelings about the past or fears, hopes or dreams of the future. Zen is about developing a stillness to be aware of yourself, and I struggle with busy-ness. For the past couple weeks, I’ve been meditating, and this week it’s been every day. I’ve found that this really helps me with anxiety, easing my fears of the future by being in the present.
I’ve been interested in Zen for many years, but always let other things get in the way. As I learn more about myself and progress through this journey to better physical, emotional and spiritual health, I find that I’m really craving this sense of serenity and stillness, this ability to be present and aware. I think this is important for me to pursue if I really want to get healthy and stay that way.
This article, Weight Loss and the Wisdom of Zen, is really interesting and has some terrific words of wisdom about mindfulness and weight loss:
When you live your life mindfully, each moment becomes it’s own reward. Life takes on an incredible richness. This richness cannot compare to even the most decadent of desserts. With mindfulness, life becomes the dessert!
And now, since my body is telling me that it’s hungry, I’m off to eat a healthy lunch.
Posted by Matt on 01/24 at 11:21 AM
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Matt Meeks