Dare...Boldly 2011: "No Surrender!" T-81

After some recent personal issues arising, today I am feeling like I am finally in a good place mentally.  I am getting stronger every day...mind, body, spirit.

The other day Elaine asked me "What worked the best for you when you had your best mission ever?"
What a great question!  I have two such times that I would call my best missions.  My very first "mission"(Sept. 2006-Dec. 2006 and my muscle mission with Sharon Harris back in Nov. 2009-Feb. 2010.  These two missions had many differences.  Believe it or not, blogging, "group" accountability or sense of community, pictures or point keeping were not the strong points for either mission.  I didn't blog, didn't have a community support system or accountability system, or even take daily pictures in my very first "mission" in Sept. 2006-Dec. 2006(the first 30 lbs.).
In thinking over the similarities, the only factor I could come up with was my  mindset!  I experienced the greatest personal growth during these two times.
And, so I will do just that with this mission!  I will grow even more in my personal growth in my mindset and my inner man.  I have put out there a massive statement of faith about my dream.   I do not know with certainty that it will be realized, but I can believe with all my heart that it will.  Words of affirmation and gratitude it will be.

Dare...Boldly 2011: "No Surrender!" T-83

I feel I have started over and over again. and that's OK!  Because I never give up!  I will keep starting over and over again...every day!  I can only believe for today.  However, the choices I make today will impact my tomorrow and my next week and my next month...and so on and so on.
Day 1 is done.
I had my meals.
I did my workout.
I have worked on my mind and spirit.
I have taken my pics.



on to day 2...

Happy Mother's Day! Prelude to a Massive Mission

Today, May 8, 2011 is Mother's Day. Thank God it was today and not tomorrow (or any other day past today).
My kids treated me to homemade pizza!! It was so good. And I had too much! But what a special treat to have my kids make me dinner..with their own hands(with a little help from daddy, of course)!

It is the prelude to a massive shred mission!
And my heart is racing!

Life has not been the easiest of travels in recent months, and I know this to be true for many of you, but we do have one thing under our control...and that is what we put in and do to our bodies! Even with the emotional eating that we do(myself included), even that is within our control! We choose!
We also control our thoughts and the words we speak! Our thoughts and words have power!! More than we realize! and it is with that, I put out here these words here!

I was reminded by my Warrior Woman in arms, "Now, if you're in, don't go getting all mushy on me ... you're a Warrior Woman ... get your game face on and suck it up! I don't want to hear about what's going on, I wanna SEE what you can do! Please join me, ... if you dare!"

Which reminds me of the theme I had set for this year back in January, "Dare...Boldly"

It also reminds me of a post I made on another site:
"I was thinking today about my post from yesterday.
If I truly believed I was to go on this trip to Oz in August, why would I let one statement or current circumstance change that? Do I believe it or not? I have had lots of reasons to believe it may not happen over the past year, but I refused to stop believing. I refused to let current circumstances affect my belief.
So, why stop now?!
Why should I let the current circumstances affect my belief? Do I still have faith or don't I?
Faith: Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
I will keep the faith : to continue to believe in, trust, or support someone or something when it is difficult to do so!
There are still 12 weeks until my planned trip time in August.
I started the year with a theme of "Dare...Boldly"
Dare to Think Boldly
Dare to Dream Boldly
Dare to Believe Boldly
Dare to Pray Boldly
Dare to Live Boldly
Dare to Speak Boldly

So Shall I not continue with this "Dare....Boldly?"
Shall I not continue to Believe?
Shall I not continue to have faith that it will be as I have been believing for nearly a year?

How about my posts on Audacity? Do I believe this Audacious Faith?
Learning to believe that God does things that I think are impossible.

Can I dare to believe for this boldly, with Audacious Faith?
A lot can happen in 3 months...a lot of awesomely good stuff can happen to turn things around. Will you dare to think, dream, believe, pray, live boldly with me? Believe that things will change for the better, that doors will be opened, that favor would be ours.
So what I will do to walk out this faith is to move forward with a Transformation...to live it out boldly, as if! to believe boldly, as if. to think boldly, as if. to pray boldly as if. to Speak boldly, as if!

I WILL BELIEVE BOLDLY!!

Monday will be 84 days till take off day. I plan on kicking some butt the next 84 days.

I am going to train as if!
It's a done deal!! I can already see it! I can already feel it! I am already there!

"Please join me, ... if you dare!"
HELL YEAH ... here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dare to Believe Boldly!

sick

The past few days I have had a sore throat.  Today I woke up with a cough and head ache and not feeling well.  I have stayed in bed all day.  I have upped my vitamins.  I hope it will clear in a few days so I can get back to my program.  time is running.
I am sure stress is a factor in my being sick.  I am just tired...tired of the stress...tired of thinking about life.

on my way Moving Forward

I have been mostly absent this past week.  I am not getting any closer to my physique goals this week, but I am getting closer to being the me I am meant to be.I would like to think that we are all striving for that "Eclipse" Carlos talks about in his blog.. to overshadow or surpass.  “to look or be better”.  I can say that in all ways, physical, mental, spiritual I strive to "overshadow or surpass...to look or be better" than I have before.  

We can not look to other people to say whether or not we are getting closer to that goal.  We do not need other people's opinion.  All we have to do is look in the mirror.  And that mirror will reflect only what it sees.

Inner work on order

Well, this week has proven to be heavy on the emotional side and has me sidelined for a few days.  I know from past experience that with high stress levels I am prone to injury, so I choose not to train.  I know there will be more of these days in the near future for me as life presents issues to be dealt with.
But, I am with Elaine, I Need the accountability, that is why I have never felt I could stop blogging...plus I just feel this is something I "have" to do...like it's a "calling" of sorts.  We all have a story to share and this is how I choose to share mine right now.
My last post says, "If you stop, it won’t be because of what happens around you. It will be because of what happens in you."  And this is so true.  
Right now in my life, I feel  a lot is happening inside me.  Sometimes it doesn't seem so good nor is it pleasant, but I know I am growing stronger through it all.  Transformation is not just about fat loss, as we know here.  And I know it is through the greatest inner transformation that the greatest outer transformation can also happen...and sometimes in unison.  I experienced this last year in my first muscle mission with Sharon.
Even with the speed bumps along the way, I know I can do this again.  It will take a daily refocus on the process and review of the end goal. It will take daily affirmations like the ones in my previous post.  It will take discipline.  it will take determination.  it will take accountability.  It will take belief.

It will take removing the negative and replacing with the positive...in all ares of my life.

Quitting is more about who you are than where you are.

"But the reality is that the external things do not stop people. Those
who achieve their dreams don’t have an easier path than those who do not. They just have a different internal attitude about the journey."

The following is taken from John Maxwell's website. It was too good to not post the whole thing.  How many times do people start a weight loss journey only to quit at the first sign of difficulty.  I know I have at times...and it wasn't because of what was happening in life but because of who I was on the inside...likewise...my best "missions" were those where the internal attitude was on spot.  We need to really be a guard of our inner attitude.

Back in December, I wrote about the importance of starting well. In the comments, many people agreed with me, but they also pointed out the critical nature of continuing after you start. They were right. Like I said at the time, starting and finishing are the two covers of the book. The main part – the pages – represents the day-to-day labor needed to achieve your goal.
Unfortunately, in many ways starting is the easy part. Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings.”
What about you? Are you merely a starter? When the enthusiasm for a new idea fades, when the passion cools, when the odds against you increase and the results diminish, when it looks as if success is impossible, will you maintain your intensity and keep going? Are you tenacious?
Consider the fact that Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he succeeded. Oscar Hammerstein produced five shows that were flops on Broadway before staging Oklahoma, which had a record-breaking run of 2,212 performances. Thomas Edison failed in his attempt to create a workable lightbulb 10,000 times before creating one that finally worked. To achieve your dream, you need to be able to keep going when others quit.
To develop tenacity, keep in mind that…
Quitting is more about who you are than where you are.
Everyone faces difficulty when working toward a dream. And if someone fails, he can make excuses for what went wrong, how the unexpected happened, how someone let him down, how circumstances worked against him.
But the reality is that the external things do not stop people. Those who achieve their dreams don’t have an easier path than those who do not. They just have a different internal attitude about the journey. The great artist Leonardo da Vinci once declared, “Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed on a star does not change his mind.”
The one who achieves the dream sees the journey differently.
Instead of thinking, “Not enough people believe in me. I’ll never make it,” he says,

“My belief in myself is enough; I can make it.”

Instead of, “It’s taking too long to realize my dream,” she reminds herself,

“Dreams are realized one day at a time.”

Rather than, “Enough is enough! I’ve taken enough hits!” she declares,

“I’ve come too far to give up now.”

Instead of, “I don’t have the strength to hold onto my dream,” he tells himself,

“Hold on a little longer. The darkest hour comes just before the dawn.”

Novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe said, “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
And I love how H.E. Jensen expressed an achiever’s way of thinking: “The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee.” The only real guarantee for failure is to stop trying.
So when things go wrong, when the obstacles seem too great, when the difficulties get to be too much, when your dream seems to be impossibly far away, your job is to simply keep going. If you stop, it won’t be because of what happens around you. It will be because of what happens in you. Choose to see things differently. Success is probably closer than you think. Just keep moving forward."