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"Believe"

By Velma Esprit Garnes

At the time of writing this article I’m in Orlando Florida in a beach resort listening to my husband snore. It’s about 5:45am and of course, since we/re on vacation, we are sleeping in. I however, have other things on my mind that I would like to share.

We frequent Florida often and this is the third of I’m sure many visits yet to come, and as I continue to enjoy my stay and watch my vacation days dwindle, I can’t help but be moved by the visits to Sea World.

Sea World would be an otherwise enjoyable visit had I not seen the movie Happy Feet prior to my visit. Instead of enjoying the shows, I find myself obsessively concerned about all the animals in captivity.

I took my kids to see the movie, thinking I was going to see, well, a kid’s movie and I came out on the other side of it with a valuable learning lesson about things I had some thoughts about, but never as in depth as they educated me.

One of the shows we saw the at Sea World is Believe. This show Believe is about a boy at a very young age becomes interested in killer whales, and so from there he starts his research into killer whales. He wanted to know more and learn more about this killer whale culture.

So, on the large screen in the pool with the killer whales there is the movie that plays out about this young boy whom, for now I will call “John”. John is so into the killer whales that he carves out the tail of a killer whale, makes a necklace that he carves out of wood, and dons it around his neck.

Since the theme of the whole story is believe, we are to assume that John is believing so much in the whale that it eventually comes to life.

Now, my point is this, stick with me because I do have one. What do you believe? Do you believe that your life is hard and that no one understands what you could possible be going through? No one has it as tough as you? We all have hard times in our life we’ve all had to endure, we’ve all had to overcome some major obstacles, so what?

What seems to be the major difference between you and Martha (Stewart)? You and Jennifer Lopez? Or any of the other famous Jennifers for that matter. What separates us from those that succeed and those that only achieve mediocre success? Better opportunities? Money? Better upbringing? Better connections? What do you think?

The more I talk to those that I admire, the more I begin to understand that those who reach phenomenal success in life are those that believe. They truly believe. If you ever watch the Martha Stewart show, she may seem snippy, or even snooty to some, but like her or not, Martha believes in what she’s doing.

If you ever watched or heard J.Lo’s story, when she was a complete nobody, she believed that she would be where she is right now. She believed so much in where she would one day be; that she was often ridiculed and always gave 110% while others would sit back and just get by. She lived in it even though she didn’t have it yet. She believed.

Often, when I talk to women who want to lose weight, or even have lost all they wanted, they find themselves in a place where they can’t believe that they’re there. If they’ve already lost the weight, they have a hard time trying to find the right clothes to fit them, or when they do, they get stuck wearing the baggy clothes because they can’t seem to buy the size they actually wear, since they’ve become accustomed to wearing large, xx-large, or whatever their old person was. They can’t seem to believe in their new bodies.

This is a large reason why most people can’t keep the weight off, they find themselves slipping into that “fat” identity. It’s been them for so long, that they find it difficult to imagine being the new person that they are. This is difficult because while in their old bodies, they never took the time to imagine themselves in their new bodies while in the present.

When they finally do get into the size they once were their mind has a hard time catching up to their hearts and they tend to think of the situation as temporary, or they simply hope it lasts for a while, instead of believing that that’s who they are now. When dealing with weight loss it is crucial that you understand that in order to continue to live inside the body that you’ve created, you have to learn to believe that it ‘s the new body that you’re in.

This may sound trite, but it’s not much different than visualization used by athletes in the sports arena. Now more than ever it is understood that where the mind goes, the body follows. It is beginning to be incorporated into medicine as well. Dr. Andrew Weil for instance was among one of the first to coin the phrase integrative medicine, where he is combining mind, body, and modern medicine to heal.

To maintain weight loss, you must use visualization as your source of commitment to yourself. When you spend time in meditation, (and if you don’t you should) you should make a conscious effort to imagine yourself, as you truly want to be. The mind does not know the difference between reality and fantasy. Understand that success must be created within you before it can manifest in your life.

Our feelings determine what we aspire to be and what we can accomplish in life. Where your mind goes your body follows. Author /speaker Lee Milteer of the book, Success Is An Inside Job, she says that she uses storyboards to map out the kind of life she wants for herself, to help her mind’s eye make a crystal clear picture of the goal she is trying to achieve.

I too have adopted this same ritual. This is effective especially if you have a hard time forcing yourself into visualizing what you want. Once you get the hang of it, it begins to become your reality.

You can use visualization, but you can also use words, the words from your mouth are powerful and very important especially since you’re the first to hear them. Make sure when you take the time for visualization weight loss techniques that you are supporting your positive visualization weight loss with positive sayings or mantras.

In the beginning when you’re trying to say things to yourself, such as “You look better than J.Lo, or certainly Paris Hilton would be invisible next to you or whatever it is, it may sound like a farce, but after continual repetition and convincing your attitude begins to change and you will begin to make choices in line with how you feel about your new body and begin to make new and more supportive choices to get you in line with how you feel about your new body and your new self.

Back to SeaWorld; The little boy in the story at the end of the video was shown on a split screen next to the man he has now become wearing the same necklace to show that he became what he believed and so the same is true in life. What do you believe?

References:
1. Milteer, Lee. Success Is an Inside Job, Heart, Integrity, and Intuition: The Secrets to Getting Anything You Want. 1996

About the Author:

Velma Esprit Garnes resides in Gahanna, Ohio where she is a fitness freelance writer, professor and recently inducted into Columbus State Community College’s Sports Exercise Studies Hall of Fame. She can be through her website at www.studiotemple.com