Published:
11/16/2010 05:06pm
If You Lose Weight, You Just Might Find it Again!
It's great that so many people are getting interested in the law of attraction, positive thought, and focusing on desires to bring them into existence. Many books and shows discussing these concepts are relating them to wealth and prosperity. Guess what? These same principles apply to weight reduction, as I discovered for myself.
About five years ago, it occurred to me that, if I was going to teach people to be healthy in all areas of their lives, I'd better demonstrate this personally. My grandfather gave me a bit of advice when I started teaching. He said, “When you talk, it's your ears that are the closest to your mouth. So the first person who should be listening to what you say is you.”
I was reminded of this as I talked about being healthy to a group in Toronto, Canada, and realized that I was overweight. At the time I was 225 pounds. (At least that is what I told myself. I think it was a bit more.) If I were 6’2”, that would be great. But I am 5’8”, and according to medical charts, I was obese! So I applied the tools I teach for creating lasting change to my situation, including the positive focus.
But I realized that, before beginning that positive focus toward a goal in this or any area, tackling certain issues and taking some action would be required to make my focus effective. In my seminars I always ask if anyone has succeeded in obtaining their desires through focus alone. I am lucky to get one positive response to this question per year! The vast majority of us need to take some other forms of action as well.
For example, you may need to deal with certain fears. If you want to start exercising but are afraid of working out in a gym, no amount of positive thinking is likely to change that. Is it possible that positive thinking alone could change your fear of the gym? Possible, but unlikely.
So conquer the fear first. Many people need an approach that works, and here is one that I've used and taught to others over the years. In my lineage of Huna, the process we use is Ho`oku`u which means to release. The process involves the concept of higher consciousness, as well as energy work. It was practiced in ancient Hawai`i and was one of the reasons why there was so little mental illness at the time the first Westerners came to the islands. Based on the principles of the Higher Self (sometimes referred to as aumakua), we have the ability to make everything in our life pono, or right. Therefore, through a specific connection with the aumakua in the Huna tradition, we are able to release negativity and trapped energies.
Once the fear of action is released, it is time to take action. In Hawai'ian one word that is used to describe taking action is hana. Whether it's shedding pounds, gaining wealth, or finding a relationship, we need to hana and get out there and do something. Positive focus is not the most useful tool at this step. If you sit on the couch all day and just focus on being slimmer, not much will happen. I've tried it, just sitting and focusing (maybe it was wishing) on the disappearance of my excess weight. But it didn't.
So I followed the steps that I knew would work. My personal fear in health was around what others thought. I was afraid, if people saw how unhealthy I was, that it would have a negative impact. Once I conquered my fears using the Huna techniques, I began to take action. I started working out regularly, and I ate the right foods. Sure enough, the pounds started coming off. After a few months, I got to about 195, and I decided I should celebrate! We went out for a big meal, and I had my favorite desert, apple pie a la mode! I told myself that it’s ok; I will work out tomorrow, and I don’t have to worry because I am a changed person, and I will never be that big again.
Of course if you have ever done this, you know that the re-introduction of sugar caused me to sleep in the next morning and have a massive headache. So I skipped the gym and snarfed down more sugar to feel better. Within a week, I was back up over 200 again. "How can this be?" I tho
