What a week, So I start out driving to work thinking its a two hour drive and I will get a little breathing escercises in listening to the sound of the ocean on the stereo and the next thing I know I am facing headlights on the interstate. A little common sense needs to go along with meditation and I am calling it personal growth. I believe meditating before bed, turning off all electronics and seeing what you want to accomplish the next day has really helped me make my goals at work.
Next I love the saying "One cannot lead another that one has not gone himself". Picture this you go to an AA meeting trying to get sober and the guy up front is staggering and slurring his words smelling like a bottle of scotch. You wouldnt have much faith in his ability to lead you to sobriety no matter how much he told you that not drinking would make your life better. I personally have ran weight loss clinics and I can show someone how to loose weight with every certification you could imagine but I have never been overweight and I am missing a big peice of the physicologiical and emotional part of the puzzle, I dont know how it makes them feel yet I get results I could be better if I would have lived it rather than studied it.
Your statement about the drunken man running the AA meeting is right on! You hit the nail right on the head. When I was a women counselor for beaten and battered women I found it very hard to "lie" to them and say the things like, "I understand" "you need to just leave" and "you did the right thing" and "you will be fine if you do not look back", and then it hit home for me and I realized I knew nothing about what I was trained to talk about. So I do understand where you are coming from in your profession.
ReplyDeleteArline T.
I personally liked your example of weight loss. A lot of people who work as personal trainers, weight loss consultants, and fitness class instructors have never been unfit or over weight. This is not to say that there are not any out there who were not overweight or went through a period of their life where they were unfit. It is just to say that they are few and far between.
ReplyDeleteI myself started doing weight loss consultations because I hate and I do mean hate, most weight loss programs and diets. I feel that they leave out a very crucial element. The individual. I had to teach myself how to eat right but had an opposite problem growing up. I had great difficulty gaining weight. If I did not eat 5 full meals a day I would actually loose weight. And before anyone starts to say it, NO, there is nothing wrong with my Thyroid. (I have grown tired of hearing this suggestion that has been ruled out.) I then gained weight with my first pregnancy because it changed my metabolism drastically. It took me four years to figure out my new metabolism and body chemistry. Then I had my second child and it went back to the way it was before. After my third and final child I seem to have balanced out to what is deemed as average or normal. This too has taken some getting use to. Weight loss and personal trainers should at the very least have to wear a fat suit so they have a better understanding of what it feels like. It is very different.
And as far as meditating in the car. I never recommend it. I find the best thing to do when driving is to leave my phone in the trunk and play happy and energetic music. For long drives, add cruise control. This helps keep you focused and in a better mood in a traffic jam.
---Anita Rachel Scott (Goehring)