Day 6...The Power of Intention

We've all heard the saying, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions," but I truly believe that having clear, tacit intentions is the key to achieving change. Danielle, one of my new readers, suggested I look at "The Secret" in order to help find the job that's the best fit for me. If you haven't heard it touted on Oprah or in the blogosphere world, "The Secret" is a book/movie with a premise based on the "the law of attraction."

The law of attraction is a metaphysical belief that "like attracts like," that positive and negative thinking bring about positive and negative results. For example, according to the law of attraction, someone thinking, "I need more money" allows the person to continue to "need more money." If the person wants to change this, they would focus their thoughts on the goal of having more money rather than the problem of not having enough money.

Basically, what we visualize- -whether it's a particular job, body type, relationship, car you want to drive-- puts energy out there that the universe answers. Supposedly, Victor Hugo, Isaac Newton and even Beethoven used foundations of The Secret to gain success.

So much of what I've been struggling with-- weight, lack of a full-time job, etc...is manifested in that cycle of focusing on the problem, instead of focusing on the solution. "I feel fat," "I'm broke," "I'm depressed" just puts negative energy out there that is usually answered with--- yup...more negative energy. Granted, it's kind of tough to have a perpetually positive attitude when you feel like you're paying for bad karma from a previous life! Lately, I think that in a past life, I must have been a serial killer of kittens, grandmothers and Sunday school children, there's been so much bad shit going on!!! Seriously, people, paybacks are HELL-- and just wait till you walk that road of good intentions right into the fiery jaws of the inferno!!!

OK, back to POSITIVE energy and GOOD intentions....That is the idea behind writing about the positive changes I'm making in my life-- concrete positive changes (weight loss, organization, etc...) that will energetically return with more positive results (job, money saved, less stress...) I think that all starts with how you feel about yourself. I had gotten into a beauty rut of not feeling like putting on make-up or dressing cute lately, so I'm trying each day to put some time into feeling good about me-- splurging a little on some new make-up and cleansers this weekend. I love hats and JP just bought me an adorable cap which I happily donned on my errands! My jeans are definitely looser, BTW!

I've also started a vision board (pic coming when I've finished it) which is a practice within The Secret to help you visualize tangible things you want in your life. I'm wondering if the 1985 Mercedes Roadster I dream of will magically show up in my driveway? Um...Prolly not, Parker.

These bad ass Progrid Kinvara Saucony sneakers that I want for Dance Cardio, on the other hand, might be a more reasonable request.

Despite a minor setback weight-wise today (up .4 pounds, although I have a feeling it is due to some over-salting last night and the fact that I hadn't had my morning, um, movement. Sorry --TMI!) Regardless, (positive, remember!) I'm still down 8 pounds in less than a week and have been very careful today about portions and sticking to the diet.

The cool thing about following the TAM diet is that it truly is a Body Re-set, helping your body remember the power of fresh fruits and veggies! I am not a huge fruit or vegetable fan at all-- in fact, as much as I love to cook, I have been guilty of preparing elaborate meat/carb meals, all but forgetting the vegetable portion! Vegetables BORE me, and I just don't love them enough to get super excited about them-- but....all that is changing. I'm considering it a challenge worth tackling---and a delicious one at that.

Months ago, I bought a juicer and it has sat in a cupboard, unopened, until today. I had read about the "Super Green Juice" touted in Tracy's book and numerous other vegan/detox type diets and thought the combo of kale, apple and lemon sounded atrocious. Last month, I attempted "kale chips" (baking kale with sea salt and lemon) and while not horrible, they weren't exactly like noshing on Pringles! So, I put the juicer together, plugged the sucker in and popped the apple, kale and lemon juice in with the "food pusher" (a nickname I would have lovingly given my grandmother, who would relentlessly insist we had seconds and thirds of anything she cooked-- and we did, cuz it was so good!!) Slowly, juice started dribbling out of the

spout, first apple juice,then bright green juice from the kale. I stirred it up and almost held my nose taking the first sip....But it was... DELICIOUS. We're talking Scrumtrulescent....as in, "I want to drink that scrumtrulescent juice every morning!" *Will Ferrel hilariously coined the term on SNL!*

On the organizing front, I've tackled the fridge and the cupboards (Look how pretty and healthy everything looks! Tracy would be proud!) JP's mom gave us a $200 gift card to Publix, so I bought most of my ingredients for the next week.

I can't believe it's nearly been a week since I started Bootcamp-- it's gone by fast! After tomorrow, I will be taking pictures and posting measurements-- very excited to see if there are any inches lost along with the weight.

Workout Update:

I did 40 minutes of Bootcamp cardio modified for the rebounder-- I pretended I was punching and kicking those bitches from the bar (neither of whom had the courtesy to call me back, by the way-- LOSERS.) It felt good to get out that aggression! I also added another 5 minutes with dance #1 from Dance Cardio II for a total of 45 minutes. MS work was hard as hell-- I wasn't as sore, so I put on the ankle weights (1.5 pounds each) and did 25 reps...incredible how much harder it is with barely 2 pounds on each leg! Makes you realize how much easier it is to move with less weight on your frame.

I will sign off with my new fave song for Dance Cardio by LMFAO: "Sexy and I Know It." Best line: "Girl look at that body...I WORK OUT!" Just feel the power of that intention in your accessory muscles!! Whoop whoop!

Thanks for reading!

xxoo