As recommended by a fellow YJ community member, I picked up a Baron Baptiste book last week.  The book's title is "Journey Into Power".  Now I just cracked open the cover last night, and I have to say, this guy knows how to speak to people.  I read the introduction and started in the first chapter where he talks about rewiring your mind. 

He mentioned about how we always attack the so called "problems" in our life directly.  Like with me, back in school I was just shy of 6ft tall and tipped the scales at 125lbs.  That is tiny for a guy with that height.  I was in shape though, just severely toned.  I am far from anything close to resembling a "hunk" body type.  Granted I was under 7% body fat, but that does not mean much to the general public.  Later in life I found myself worrying what others thought of me.  I started weight training.  I was so focused on gains that I soon was lifting incorrectly and lifting far too much weight.  This resulted in a shoulder injury where I had to not lift for months.  Well time passed and I did not return to the gym. 

A few years latter I married and next thing I know I went from 145lbs to 170.  170 is my home right now.  I started working out again and this time I was focused on the action of working out instead of what gains I could produce.  Before I would force myself to lift a weight I had.  Now if it is too much, I will gladly put it down and grab something lighter to work out properly with.  I had learned from my mistake.

After reading the first few pages in the rewiring your mind chapter, I found myself questioning my quest for a sculpted body.  Granted I have been making progress that I can now notice, but is that truly making me happy?  Good question.  I started to think, is this what I want because I want it, is this what I want because others would notice it, or is this just a waste of time?  Well, it was all three. 

I found myself becoming the victim of society.  The media and many companies thrive on selling ideas of what people should look like.  Need one example, just look at shows like Entertainment Tonight and TMZ.  They will slam any celeb for not looking in "tip top shape".  Heaven forbid if you wear something that some people do not like, you get on the worst dressed list.

What is with people focusing on looks so much?  It is because that is what society has implanted into our brains.  You have to look the part if you want to play the part.  In order to get noticed, you need that perfect body, the pure white smile with perfect teeth, the insanely expensive haircut with the same priced hair care products, the high-dollar car and the name band clothes.  It is nothing more than a con to make us materialistic.  Does going out and spending your paycheck on these high priced items really make you happy?  You think so when you are buying them, but you get home and realize that the emptiness in your heart still exists.

I used to be materialistic, in a bad way.  I had to have the latest and greatest computers, phones and I needed a car that was appealing in some way.  I never really fell for the whole expensive clothes thing.  Then again, seldom do people fall for all the cons out there.  We do all fall "victim" for a few of these items.  I quoted victim because is that not what society has told us we are?  If we have a pain in our shoulders, are we a victim?  No, not in my mind.  We are not all as innocent as we would like to think we are.  We have aches and pains because of years of abuse on our bodies, due to imporper lifting, bad information, bad eating habits, and poisoned thoughts.  We have been striving for the false look of happiness instead of looking in ourselves to find it.

Turning internal is the key to happiness.  The more I have sat on that thought, the more it makes sense to me.  I have started to slowly analyze everything in my life.  I find myself questioning why I got that 42" plasma TV in my living room.  Did I really need it? Not at all.  Would I be sad to see it go?  Honestly, not really.  When I am at home alone on my days off, I find myself with the TV off, just enjoying being unplugged (that is, if I could pull myself off my computer game. I am working on it!).  Reading is truly a great tool to have because it forces you to use your imagination; instead of relying on others to show your their imagination via TV or internet. 

For the first time in my life I am happy with the car I own, I am happy with my home, with the clothes in my closet, my simple yoga mat, and my life.  I have pushed away my thought process of "glass is half empty" and adopted the "glass is half full" approach.  I still find myself falling for the media and what it is selling, but I catch myself so much sooner.  Maybe it is the economy, maybe I tapped in my internal wisdom that I rarely use, or maybe reading a few lines of a book opened my eyes.  Either way, I feel that we all need to learn to unplug.  To step back and say it is allright to have a car that is older than 3 years.  To open our eyes and enjoy what we have instead of craving for what we think we need.

For once I looked in the mirror and found myself happy with what I saw.  Instead of seeing myself in the mirror with the small gut I have obtained since being married, I told myself "You look great and you don't have far to go to get into shape.  Feel blessed that you have the metabolism you have and hold a healthy weight".  Granted I still feel I have improvments to make with my body.  I want to be healthy, to feel that alive feeling, to be happy, and to live a long time on this earth.  The first step is accepting who I am what I am.  Now I am just on a journey to better health.  My eyes are opened, ready to take in what information passes my way, ready to soak up anything that contriubutes to my internal happiness.  That is the image people see, self confidence, inner peace, and a loving heart.  They say the eyes show a person's soul.  What would people see when they look into yours?