A Breath of Fresh Air...

It's February! ... One month into the new year and how are those new year's resolutions for fitness coming along? I believe now is a good time for a motivational shot in the arm.

If you are healthy enough to exercise you are blessed indeed! Keeping mindful of that alone is enough motiviation for me. Phil 4:8 says... Think about things that are excellent! Your mind drives everything about you. Are you beginning to settle back into a lie that exercise is a drag? If so, crucify that thought and replace it with this one instead...

"Consider exercise a breath of fresh air and embrace every opportunity to exercise as a gift from God!"

Let's even consider exercise as a way to give God a great return on his investment in us to be the best we can. Our body is a gift from God and when it's strong will empower our lives and our impact. Pay attention to your body mechanics when you move... throw yourself into it and consider the potential of strength you are capable of simply because it is God who made you to function best through movement. When we pay attention to what's going on with our muscles, bones, heart, lungs and circulation when we engage in physical endurance as opposed to just going through the motions, the payoff is a hundred fold. Pack your mind with every good thing that is happening to your body as you move and watch your motivation soar! God will only bless you in your effort to be fit, strong and healthy! He wants it just as much as you do. Ask Him to bless your effort. Instead of thinking ..."I hate this! Oh, when is it over?" Think..."YES!!! My body is becoming stronger and I feel and look younger! Pressing on is what I really need!"

Get out there today and take it a notch above what you are currently doing. Push yourself just a little harder. Think about what it will take for you to get motivated and then give yourself that gift... It might be joining a club, or purchasing a new pair of running shoes, or finding some friends who you can set a goal with together. I plan to run a race in July this year for my 25 year high school reunion. I am so thrilled the committee decided to include a race as part of the reunion activities because it's motivating me to stay on it. Find out what it is for you and keep on it.

Think... healthy, youthful, attractive and ALIVE! Be free from the effects of life stress... which feel unhealthy, tense, hagard and depleated. Without giving yourself permission to have an outlet for stress through exercise and right thinking the harmful build up of stress will prematurely kill you. Exercise instead diffuses the effects of stress and gives a burst of life giving energy. Everything you do for yourself physically will overflow into every other area of life... you will notice a sharper focus mentally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. That energy, those free flowing endorphins released by physical endurance were meant to be enjoyed by everyone God created. It's part of his design to charge you up for life!

Feeling better about exercise yet? I hope so! Renew your commitment to get up and do it for 2010... remember it always starts in the mind... so keep far away the lies that defeat our accomplishing victory and instead work hard and enjoy the beautiful effects inside and out.

Write down and hang up one of these quotes somewhere to keep you going...

"The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret." ~Sarah Bombell

"Do it now. You become successful the moment you start moving toward a worthwhile goal." ~Unknown

"Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn." ~John Wesley

Stay on it!
Loving always!
Donna