Doing Good - Part Deux

Okay, Part 2 of my “doing good” series. Or really, the “doing bad, and how to stop it” portion of the evening. I’m probably the least qualified person short of Lindsay Lohan to be babbling life philosophy. But, I think regular people need to talk about this stuff more. Sure, Tony Robbins seems to have these things figured out. But he’s kind of an exceptional case. And we aren’t all going to be the Dhali Lhama or Oprah or Gwyneth Paltrow. I think if more standard issue human beings talked about the things that we do that seem to make a difference for us, we can really learn from each other things that, you know, make life easier for those of us in the trenches.

I really have come to believe that most of the time when you aren’t feeling good, it’s because you’ve been doing bad. And for me, at least, I’ve broken bad (ha!) down into 3 types: doing bad to your body, doing bad to your life, and doing bad to your karma. Today, bad for your body.

The easiest thing to fix, I think is doing bad to your body. Okay, maybe not easiest, but at least less soul searching intensive. But if you feel bad, you start taking a look around and wondering, what am I eating? Am I getting enough sleep? Do I need to get out and move my body more? It’s hard in the sense that most bad for your body is a lousy cycle to break. If you’re feeling bad, you want comfort food . . . which can lead to more feeling bad. If you’re tired, you gulp more coffee . . . which can make it harder to get to sleep at night. If you feel a little sluggish, you sit down and watch the tv . . . which is the farthest away from exercise you can get. And I’m not saying we should all be clean eating, fitness freaks. But I think everybody has a minimum amount of care and concern that they need to show their body. And when you drop below that level, it can be hard to pull yourself out of the ditch.

I’ve had about 8 years of small steps. Trying to get over the bad for my body hurdle. I’d say I’m about 75% there. I don’t eat as many vegetables as I should. I don’t floss my teeth. I eat too much fast food, and don’t cook often enough. And they will pry the last can of Dr. Pepper from my cold dead hands. But, I can say that with the changes that I’ve made, I feel better at 41 than I did at 31. That’s not half bad.

Tomorrow, we’ll dig in the bad for your life stuff.