Day 2/ 30 of intentional acts

Rebel without a cause.

I happened to start the 17 Day Diet at the same time I began the 30 Days of Intention. It happens I don’t recommend doing two challenges at the same time; it’s a bit much for those plagued with ADHD, anyway. This particular diet restricts starchy, sugary foods, wine, chips, pretty much all the things I love to enjoy. What I get to eat is unlimited fruits, vegetables and proteins up to 1200 calories. Oh! And I must drink 64 ounces of water each day.

Exercises in restriction bring out the rebel in me, and on day 3 (today) I am feeling particularly deprived. It has been a long day. My task list was laden with things I could not look forward to. I had to send out hundreds of e-mails about 30 Days of You to old friends and colleagues. For a while it was quiet and then the “opt out” e-mails began to swim through my in-box. A few seemed particularly nasty:

“Stop. That is the third e-mail I have gotten about this and I’m only reading the first.”

“I have never met you. Stop sending me e-mails.”

The nastiness kicked up a need for comfort deep in my stomach. This was not a day for deprivation. I needed SOMETHING to make me feel better and since the world wasn’t going to cooperate, savoring a creamy bite of chocolate cake or licking the alien-orange Cheetos dust from my fingers was something I could control.

As I slept walk through my evening with spelling list drills and homecoming plans my mouth salivating as I tasted everything forbidden. And along with what seemed like an impossibly strong external pressure to break my word to myself, came an odd sense of empowerment that can only come from standing at a crossroads. Decision making time.

The problem was not the stocked pantry or my best friend sitting at a restaurant only twenty minutes away. This crossroads was not outside of me. This unfamiliar struggle over what to do next was an internal one. Should I or should I not break the diet, just a little bit. Why did it matter to me? Did it really matter at all?

Human beings are the only beings that can make decisions in a conscious and strategic way. We tend to feel as if we are a ship without a captain, tossed about by the problems and needs of the day. The reality is we are in charge of our thoughts and actions, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable.

That moment of decision, when you can say YES or NO to an action, to choose LEFT or RIGHT at the fork in the road, will be one of the most empowered moments of your life.

Before you make a decision, you still have the option.
Do you feel how exciting it is right before you acquiesce to an action? Or do you blithely skip through the process? You have a job offer and you can say yes or no. If you say YES, you can always quit later. If you say NO, the job will be given to someone else. If I ate something, I couldn’t NOT eat something. But when I held off, I could always choose to eat it.

Conscious decision making strengthens you.
Saying NO to something that is not in your plan or saying YES to something that is strengthens your ability to choose what is best for you. You are working out your “decision-making” muscles.

It leads to group empowerment!
My intentional living will strengthen the lives of others. I show others what is possible when I choose well for myself. Granted, it’s fun to party with others but it’s even more amazing to feel as if you are a good influence.

Learn about life after intentional choices. nd joy of that kind of health. At some point, you have to get a taste of what else is out there!

Life after the best path for you leads to better relationships, a healthier body, completed tasks and a sense of peace. If I never say NO to the things that bring me down, then I will never know the freedom a
Intentional living feels good.
Okay maybe not at the time, but later when you have lost three pounds and people are signing up for your online community. It’s not a bad feeling.

Right now intentional living feels awkward. Half the time I don’t know what I should INTEND to do every day. But that’s because I haven’t been exercising my right to choose my path, down to the smallest decision. I AM, however, looking forward to a life filled with life after this 30 Days of Intention. What will I do tomorrow?