Glass Half Full

I’ve noticed a lot of attention to the usual January topics in my personal life and out there in the media: diet and exercise. With New Year’s resolutions (whether we agree with them or not) come the solutions—eating and exercise programs which seem to provide a fresh new perspective on the same old thing: losing weight. This year’s slant on the new way of eating and exercise seems to be the focus on our metabolism. Metabolic makeovers. I know there are shards of truth among the shattered dreams these promises provide, but I’m skeptical. I know it’s about eating healthfully. Period. More information won’t change the basic facts: eating better and moving more is required.

We like to discuss problems: “ It’s difficult to lose those last ten pounds (seem like a common theme here?)”, or “It’s difficult to get the time for grocery shopping”, or “It’s difficult to take the time to cook”… but with all these statements, we’re only talking about the problems, not the possible solutions. I paraphrase a quote from Lanny Basham, champion of multiple Olympic medals and author of a mental management system, who says: “Come to me with the solutions, then we can talk.”

I thoroughly enjoy Lanny Bassham’s system of mental control called Mental Management. He’s an American sports shooter who won a gold in the 1976 Summer Olympics and silver in 1972; however he attempted to win a gold at Munich in 1972, realizing a mental failure caused him to take the silver instead. This mental management system developed as a result. No, I’m not competing for the Olympics but I love the focus and direction of this mental management system. Losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight for a lifetime requires the tenacity, focus and motivation that the Olympic athletes employ. What I’ve learned? It’s how I look at it. As simple as the glass-half-empty-or-half-full approach to a lifestyle change is the simplicity of the decision to look at new eating programs and ways of exercise as a glass-half-full type of lifestyle.

As for Lanny, he utilized his own mental management system to move forward and within the next six years, dominated his sport, winning 22 world individual and team titles, setting 4 world records, and winning the coveted Olympic Gold Medal in Montreal in 1976. I can’t wait to be a winner like that. Metabolic makeovers. Maybe they’re not so bad.