Back Up

When I went to see if I could store some photos from my Mac on an external hard drive tonight I discovered some pictures from my old PC. I wasn't able to do what I'd hoped with the data transfer and will have to find a better way later. Part of which means being better about photo editing and organizing on a regular basis. Anyway I thought I would share this picture of me that I found to be quite disturbing in a lot of ways. 

First I'll point out that it was taken in July of 2011, almost 7 years ago. Second, I have to mention that I'm embarrassed about the fact that at that point I weighed almost 200 pounds. As you could guess by the beer in my hand I had been drinking. I was drinking a lot at that time, it went really well with the whole sailing scene and was a key ingredient in my marriage. Needless to say the beer didn't help with my weight.

Looking back at where I was then from where I am now gives me quite the perspective.

I have come a long way.

I haven't had a drop of alcohol in over two years, I stopped drinking shortly after I decided a divorce was the only way out. I had lost weight when started exercising more and also when I went gluten-free (and switched to wine) four years ago but it was hard to maintain the whole time. I now have stayed around 155 pounds since I pushed the reset button of my life. It was scary to let go of the life I had created for myself and I had a lot of doubts at the time but I knew I had to do something and fast.

It's hard to imagine how I felt then versus how I feel now. So much has changed and I know that I am much healthier, physically, mentally and emotionally. 

I wonder what I'll be like in another 7 years? 

Perspective

I suppose with a lot of what we see in our lives it's all a matter of perspective. Our point of view changes the way we look at circumstances that occur everyday.

How do we then consciously shift our perspective so we feel better about those events that seem to happen beyond our control?

I'm beginning to see it's all about awareness and being present enough in each moment to choose. It's really easy for us to go on auto pilot and react or act out of sheer habit. Just like I almost cropped this photo so it was level with the horizon and then I decided I liked it better this way.

Who said I always had to keep the horizon level anyway? All it takes is a moment of realization that don't have to do things the same as we have before. In any moment we can change our minds and our perspective. 

Powerful Perspective

Choosing our perspective is a super powerful move. When we shift the way we see things on the inside it changes the way things look on the outside. Just like a trail in the mountains, you can worry about the journey, struggle over the elevation gain and decide that its way too much work to keep going but when you think about it and realize that at some point you're going to get a clear view of the whole beautiful thing it's much more manageable to take those steps.

We can choose to have an empowering perspective in our life. We the people only have as much power as we are willing to own and use. The beauty of life is our free-will! Free will is the ability to choose. Most of us believe others, who have told us throughout our lives we don't have a choice in certain circumstances yet the truth is that we actually do if only we choose to believe we do. So why wouldn't we just take that first step & choose to believe we might possibly have that kind of power? 

No matter how hard it may seem, no matter how long the hike may take, think about the scenery you'll see along the way if you choose to go there. Push past the fear and act out of love, love for whatever it may be that you really love and know that you deserve it. We have the power to make our lives more amazing than we can currently imagine if we each just own up to the fact that we have the power and some of that power lies in our personal perspective which is malleable. We can choose to be the ones who shape it with our own hearts and our own minds.