Healthy Habits 2016 Challenge - Day Six

Day 6.
11/30 - Happy Wednesday.

One of my favorite yoga sutras is 1-14: 
"Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness. "

Patanjali, who compiled the sutras, was referring to a yoga practice, but these are wise words that can apply to any long term goal or intention. It takes time, consistency, commitment AND patience to reach goals and create effective change. These can be difficult concepts to accept or incorporate into our daily lives, especially when we get used to having instant access to stuff or info we want -- Want that app? Buy it now. Love that old movie? Stream it now. What was the name of that book? Google it now. Need a quick gift? Order and send it now.

Want to get fit? Lose weight? Eat better? Uhhhh......there are alot of quick fixes for those too.....but without time, consistency, commitment and patience, the odds of actually creating and maintaining that healthy habit are pretty low.

Confession time -- Back in 2002 I bought into one of those quick fixes and bought an "ab belt." Remember those? You were supposed to strap on this belt and the electrical stimulation of the ab muscles would give you a 6-pack. I saw it on TV and thought, "What the heck? If I can get flat abs and skip the core class, let's try it." It arrived and I think I opened it on the spot. I put the gel on the electrodes (gross), strapped on the belt and turned on the battery pack. It sounded like a buzzing bee. Did I need to turn it up? Cranked it higher, but I could hardly feel anything. And the gel was a big old mess on my belly. What a shocker...it didn't work. My husband laughed at me and said "What did you expect?" I guess I expected quick results! 

Happily, I did find something that worked to strengthen my core though. Going to my workouts classes, running, lifting weights, eating well.....every day, every week (or most days/and most weeks at least.)

The Yoga Sutra book that I use as a guide has each sutra (statement) followed by the translation and commentary of another yoga sage. He offers his interpretation and thoughts on Patanjali's statements. Following sutra 1-14, the commentator makes some very insightful observations about the need for patience and dedication to one's practice. He gives advice on how to stay vigilant towards our practice: "Let us not be like little children who sow a seed today and dig it up tomorrow to see how much the root went down."  

We need time, consistency, commitment and patience.

"Sow the seed" with your intentions that you have written down. We have 4 weeks together in this challenge. Use this time to cultivate your healthy habits, friends. Use this time to practice patience and work on commitment and consistency. While it would be easier to just give up after a few days because it's difficult or you are not seeing change, stick with it. Trust the process or at least give the process a try. 

Time. 
Commitment. 
Consistency. 
Patience.

"I can do this."
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