Correct Motivations

So, I have a couple girl friends from school are angels sent from God. I took this class this semester called "mind body spirit" where we study the relationship between the body, mind and spirit. It is so wonderful. In that class I have found friends who are just as passionate if not more about this subject than I am. Today we met for lunch and discussed some of the issues surrounding this blog. It was very interesting and I feel like we found some great truths. One of those truths is that although there is absolute truth, there is also diversity among us. For example. I have eyes like everyone else, however the shape and color are very different. Seems simple doesn't it? What about in relationship to health. We tend to put health into a very small box and prescribe everyone the same lifestyle of diet and nutrition. Does every girl look great in the same color of eye shadow! Absolutely not!!! Does every girl look great in the same pair of jeans. So... the jeans work for you.. your bum is different than mine.

I believe that in the area of diet and nutrition we need to find what works for us..

HOWEVER!!!! caution! After lunch I went to a bio review and I was once again bothered by the education system here. Soooo bothered. People go to school to get good grades. What the heck. It was quite the culture shock when I got here. School is literally about grades...about GPA... about BA and PhD and uuugggh Barf. Just another way to climb the social ladder and "become someone". Live the "American Dream" of becoming someone. I am sorry, to be honest I don't understand "the American Dream" so I should not dis it, but every time I hear someone say that I get confused. Are we not already some one importan from the moment we are born? It was God that said "men are that they might have joy". Not, men are so that they can spend their life trying to be rich, thin, attractive, successful and busy.

So, I have held back on my feelings about America, because I know that this offends people, but today I got fed up. I am not hating on America as a nation. I believe that if the nation was filled with honest people who gave Glory to God instead of to their flag then this would be a better place to live.

The reason why I got on that topic is because I just came from a study session where the TA went over the entire test, question by question helping us prepare for the final. School is about grades and test. I prefer it to not be that way. I started off at BYU with a love of learning and classmates would get frustrated with me because in study groups I would open up discussions on topics that were "not on the test" so we were "wasting our time".

Now, after being here for while I understand what that means. We were wasting our time, because the school is not about the love of learning. It is about learning to get grades, or rather cramming to get grades. Much like cramming to fit into your swimsuit? This is where the correlation comes. Working hard because of "shoulds" or "have to's" drains all of the joy out of life.

I used to LOVE class because I would get to learn, but after being worked to the bone for all the wrong reasons, I go to class (if and when I even do!) so that I will know what is on the test. Isn't that sad! Ok, so lets see if you can follow me. My love for learning is dulled to the point where I don't even feel it at all because I am so focussed on what needs to get done in order to get through the class. My motivation to go to class is soooooooooooo small when it is just to get good grades. Since I have caught on to this attitude, my grades have dropped and I hate school. However, when I cared less about grades I did alllll my readings, I went to ALL of my classes and I LOVED school! I got all A's too. I did not even care that much. My A was just a nice bonus to all the things that I was blessed to learn at BYU which is, by the way, an AMAZING school.

I have noticed that it is the same thing with your body and what you choose to eat and how you choose to move it. So... if your motivation to eat healthy and exercise is to have a certain body appearance you have a pretty lame motivation. Then, when you get that body size that you have been working for...where did the motivation go!? Now how do you maintain. So.. you either keep the same motivation and believe that skinnier is better or bigger muscles is better and so at least you will not go back from where you came from!??

So, what is the proper motivation? We talk about oh.. well you should just be healthy to be healthy and take care of your body. I don't even agree with that. I think that we should let go of caring what our bodies look like...much like caring what our grades are and instead find joy in loving to learn and find joy in loving to eat and loving to move.

Think about it. If you could reawaken the childhood desire to play and have fun, then it would be fun to go play soccer or go for a run or learn a new sport or just play! No more "must work out" chore. What about if you truly loved eating? Perhaps you would wait until you were actually hungry to eat because you know it would taste better? Perhaps you would not eat too much because you knew that you were going to go and play basketball afterwards? Perhaps you would not overeat on junk food because it makes you feel gross and cause you to feel angry at some of your favourite foods? Perhaps you would not even want to eat sugar because it desensitizes your taste buds causing other foods to not taste as good. Perhaps you would not be so obsessed with food because you were NEVER going to tell yourself that you CANT eat something. Perhaps you would feel more love and joy in your life. Perhaps you would feel gratitude every time you ate for the job that provided the means to eat it and the farmers that worked hard to grow it, and the God who blessed you to have it in the first place. Who knows!! That will be your own eyeshadow. Your love for food will mean a different lifestyle than my love for food. We will eat different things at different times, but the one thing in common is that we will be happy and at peace. When you truly love someone or something AND are being selfless then you do not abuse them when you learn how to love. I think some don't mean to abuse people and would change if they knew how to love. I think that we should learn again how to love food. Stop hating on it. It is our friend. It allows us to live and grow and love.

Perhaps our eating experience could revolutionize into love instead of shame and guilt. Perhaps we would feel more love and appreciation for our bodies instead of start to hate them kind of like I started to hate school when I was going for the wrong reasons.

anyway, these are my thoughts. I think I am on to something.. not I just need to apply it. God can help me to change my thoughts. Life is not enjoyable when you are walking around just trying to do everything you are "supposed" to do. I want to do things out of love. That is when I am happiest.

I love you Daddy!

Sherry