December 30th 2010

Life is like an obstacle race. When you fall, you just have to get up & run faster! Rula Jebreal’s daughter – aged 14


Positive thinking – you don’t have to spend years on the shrinks couch! Instead you can write out all of your negative thinking, give yourself a counter argument and begin to control your thoughts. Realise that just because you think something, doesn’t mean it’s true. Most people walk around with negative thinking in their head, but if you stop to write it down on paper, you realise how abusive you are being to yourself. You wouldn’t be that abusive to anyone else, so the next time you start thinking something nasty – STOP and question it. A great example of this was my approach to Christmas eating and drinking this year, in the past I’ve done the “you’re hopeless and have no control” conversations where I’ve promised myself I would stick to my diet over Christmas and then when I don’t, I’ve really beat myself up and made myself feel guilty and bad for doing what possibly everyone does at this time of year, and what everyone is really supposed to do at Christmas – ENJOY THEMSELVES! It’s the one time of year when we should relax. This year I didn’t do that, this year I realised that I can relax my regime over the Christmas break, that gaining a few pounds and having cake for breakfast doesn’t make me a bad person, it doesn’t mean I’m weak or useless. I think it actually means I’m strong for not letting anyone dictate to me how I should live my life!

So if you want to make a New Year Resolution this year – positive thinking is a great one to focus on, or even just questioning your negative thinking!

The way you choose to interpret what happens to you has a much greater impact on your quality of life than the events themselves. Are you a glass half empty or half full kind of person – anyone who knows me knows my glass is always full to the brim ;)

For example if it’s raining, do you say to yourself, that’s ruined my day off and be in a bad mood all day or do you say, ‘great, it’s a chance to chill out and spend a day at home watching tv’. The latter choice will leave you feeling more content and less wound up!

Selecting the positive interpretation of any situation boosts your wellbeing, make up your own stories, for example the next time someone snubs you, instead of taking it personally and trying to work out what you did wrong, rewrite the story, “they could have had a terrible night’s sleep because they have personal problems”, they probably didn’t even notice you because they’re so distracted by their own issues. So now instead of feeling awful because you’ve been snubbed you feel good because you don’t have any personal problems keeping you awake at night!

I’m not suggesting that you ignore your problems and pretend everything in the garden is rosy, but rather approach those problems with a positive attitude and realise that there is also a lot of good in your life.

I have a weight problem, actually no I don’t I used to have a weight problem, now I just have an understanding of my appetite. It’s not a ‘problem’ it’s a joy to be enjoy my passion for eating on a daily basis, to constantly work with my love of food, to find a way to be able to enjoy everything I eat and drink whilst being able to be a healthy weight and have a healthy body, keeping myself happy, finding a balance and enjoying life without punishing myself.

Of course I’d love to have a super fast metabolism that meant I could eat and drink to excess as often as I wanted but I haven’t. I’m still glad I love food, I’d rather that, than not enjoy food and be naturally slim!

So is your weight problem a positive or a negative?!