A positive goal which inspires you is the surest path to health, says Pete Vincent.
New Year’s Eve has always been one of my favourite nights of the year. But there is one part of it that I wish I could change. Maybe it’s just me but there you are on the verge of welcoming in the New Year, a fresh start, the moment when you turn over a new leaf, and as the clock strikes midnight you begin singing the same old song you sang every other year: Auld Lang Syne.
For some reason I have always hated that song. In fact it is my least favourite song in the entire world (with the possible exception of Agadoo by Black Lace). It was 1788 when Scotsman George Burns wrote the verse that was later put to music. Isn’t it time for a new song?
Here’s where I’m heading with this. Doesn’t singing the same tune we sing every year set us up to begin doing exactly the same things we’ve always done? And is a similar thing happening for people when they make that same old list of resolutions that are then forgotten within 10 days?
Say your New Year’s resolution is to give up cooked food. First of all, what are you likely to spend a whole lot of time thinking about? Cooked food. And, as the saying goes, you get what you focus on. So chances are you’ll be consuming complex concoctions that look and taste just like your favourite cooked foods instead of changing your thoughts around food and being more aware of what your body actually needs. You may also continue using raw treat foods instead of junk treat foods to fill emotional needs instead of actually addressing the emotions.
The bottom line is that food is fuel. Of course fuel is important because putting in the wrong fuel may stop you getting as far as you’d hoped in life, as anyone who has put petrol in their diesel car knows only too well!
But I’ve met so many people who went raw to address a health condition and who continue to focus on nothing but the health condition and the food that will “cure” their health condition, instead of focusing on something else that will require them to get healthy.
What if instead, they were to start to focus on where they really wanted to be in life and start making lists of the things they want to do and the places they want to go, then begin mapping out their route and everything they might need to get there?
Just for a minute think of your life journey as a car journey. If you take the same roads you’ll end up in the same place, even if you do put the best “super fuel” into your car. And spending the whole day thinking about the fuel will take away from the enjoyment you might have had with the people you are going on the journey with. Of course if you put in crappy fuel or didn’t think at all about the fuel that you had to put into your car, you may break down and never get to where you want to go either. What is needed then is a sensible, balanced approach.
When you have a positive goal that makes you excited when you think about it, you immediately give your body a reason to be healthy. Say, for example, your new goal is to run a marathon. Moving and using your body will create a demand for highquality fuel. You will very quickly find out whether or not the particular fuel you are eating is giving your body everything you need. You will instantly have a gauge as to how well your diet is working for you and how well your body is functioning on it.
Yes, you may have to focus on your diet more initially to re-educate yourself, but a larger goal will prevent you from becoming overly focused on it and will keep you moving forward with your life.
So instead of focusing on giving something up, or on the things that you don’t want this New Year, have a New Year’s revolution and focus on what you do want instead. And while you’re at it, do us all a favour and sing something other than Auld Lang Syne this New Year’s Eve!
Article by Pete Vincent - published int he Winter2009 issue of Get Fresh!
Pete Vincent is the creator of Raw Humour, a raw force of nature that aims to combine the best that raw food has to offer with a generous dosage of 100% raw, Vitamin L12 increasing, fun and laughter.
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