Friday, June 29, 2007

Flaws...

"Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks." - Goethe


I have a keen eye sometimes, I noticed things around me - returnable pop bottles/cans on the side of the road, weird junk, money. I've found all sorts of money lying in the street from time to time. Kinda hard to spot when you are always in a rush, but can be seen large as life if you slow down.

Lately I have been finding coins. Most are marred to almost being unrecognizable except from the size and color. I have a penny sitting here on my desk that looks like it's been through some rough times. The zinc center is starting to show around the edges and the coin's faces are throughly scratched up. But it still has value. Dollar bills can go through the wash, become covered in muck, even almost totally be burned - but they have value. Some of the extreme cases would need to be turned over to the treasury department for exchange, but as long as some part of the serial number is intact - it still is considered legal tender.

I relate that to our own lives. We are all marred in some way, but we still have value. It doesn't matter that we've gained 13lbs or got a divorce or slipped back into drinking or drugs. These are temporary situations. We are valuable to others, we are meant to help and support our fellow man. Look in the mirror and the person looking back at you has more value that you or anyone could ever think or imagine.

That's how we need to start looking at ourselves - we have worth, we are important...





"Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without." - Confucius




Matty
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com

Friday, June 22, 2007

Posers...

"The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck!" - Author Unknown

Was thinking about this on my daily walks. I have noticed that I see people on a semi-regular basis around town walking as well. They have usually started when the weather got nice and will probably stop when the cold weather starts. I coined that as "fair weather fitness", unlike die-hards like myself that are out in all sorts of weather (except thunderstorms, learned my lesson on that one).

I remember a scene in the movie, "SLC Punk!" where Matthew Lillard's character goes on a diatribe about posers:

Stevo: There were quite a few punks in the SLC back in '85, but there were equally as many posers. Posers were kids who would dress and act like punks but they did it for fashion. They were fools! They'd say sh*t like...
Poser: Anarchy in the U.K.!
Stevo: See what I mean? Posers. "Anarchy in the U.K." What the f*ck's that? It was a Sex Pistols thing. That's where they were from, they were British! They were allowed to go on about anarchy in the U.K. but what does that mean to us in Utah, America? That's all you ever hear from these trendy f*cks like [in really bad British accent]
Stevo: "Did you hear the new Smiths album? It's f*ckin' terriff'!" Stupid posers walking around Utah saying "terriff'" with a stupid English twang. [Grabs a poser with Union Jack patch]
Stevo: See what I mean? What's up with the England bullsh*t. Union Jack is a FAG! I used to know this girl who would only have sex with a guy if he had a stupid f*ckin' accent. So these a*sholes... and there are plenty of a*sholes in this general area would get her drunk and then put on some stupid f*ckin' accent and go to her and say
Stevo: [in really bad English accent]
Stevo: "'Ello misstress! You fancy a shag?" And there she'd be, f*ckin knees in the sky. It was sad, it made me sad! Girl had no self respect!

At the end of the movie he reflected on his own life after his friend died of a drug overdose and came to the conclusion that maybe he himself was a poser.

I've been a poser in a lot of situations, pretending to be something I'm not. I've been a skater poser, a card collecting poser, a Magic: The Gathering card playing poser. None of it was in my heart, I rather wore those things as trendy clothing trying to be liked or admired. It wasn't the true me.

Are you a poser in your weight loss journey? Good intentions don't get you very far. You need to be committed and true in your heart that this is what you want to do.

Don't be a "fair weather" exerciser, doing the exercise when it is convenient. Get into a routine and stick with it! Be like the postal service, "rain, snow, sleet, dead of night..."


"To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice." - Confucius


Matty
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com

Friday, June 15, 2007

Skipping out...

"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?" - Ronald Reagan


This week's episode of "The Fattening of America" I tackled some questions that were raised from the previous episode by some of my subscribers. I've skipped meals on purpose. I've skipped school on purpose. I've skipped exercise on purpose.

You know, I can tell when I skip exercise. I feel sluggish. Right now I am debating on whether or not to walk today. Have a lot of things on my mind and really don't feel like doing it. But I should. I need to get out there and do it even though I don't feel like it. I know deep down that I will feel better once I get out there into the sunshine with my tunes.

Don't skip out of your routine if you can help it. You will know that something is missing...

"The time will come when winter will ask you what you were doing all summer." - Henry Clay



Matty
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com

Friday, June 08, 2007

Fullness...

"You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy." - Eric Hoffer

My latest episode of "The Fattening of America" talks about being full. It's funny sometimes to think that the pharmaceutical companies has a multi-million dollar business in selling antacids, anti-diarhheals, and diet products. Helping to eliminate nature's fullness meter on the one hand and giving false hope of losing what the result of eliminating that signal (fat) on the other.

Does anyone really know what "full" is in their lives? What does it look like? What does it feel like? I think of the big corporate CEOs that make millions in bonuses each year while regular Joe's positions are eliminated. Honestly, what are you going to do with all of that money? Can't take it with you, and I would imagine that acquiring everything your heart desires would get awful boring and tedious after a while.

Read the book of Ecclesiastes sometime, Solomon did just that and found that nothing on this earth can ever satisfy in the long-term.

We need to be satisfied with who we are and what we have first. Then we can work to achieve greater goals in our lives. If we aren't satisfied with who we are(personally/emotionally/mentally/spiritually) - no amount of money in the world will fix that.

Like the freaky woman that constantly has plastic surgery out in California - she has become a grotesque because of her obssession.

"There must be more to life than having everything!" - Maurice Sendak


Matty
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com

Friday, June 01, 2007

Pride...

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." - Buddha

A lot of trouble these past two weeks. Took a song to bring some clarity to the situation. Funny how a book, slogan, article, or song can seem to pierce the darkness of thought and promote a new idea or possible reasoning.

My family has become addicted to a video game called, "Guitar Hero" - my son is getting to be a fanatic about it to the point of having his own cardboard guitar to jam on. Actually, it can be a good form of exercise, you have to stand up to play the guitar and with one hand working the fret buttons, the other hand working the strum & whammy bars, and your feet tapping away - that can add up to some serious calorie burning...

Anyway, among the songs on the "set list" is one by David Bowie called, "Ziggy Stardust". The song is a sad tale of a talented guitar player that let his pride over his ability get the best of him to the point of becoming so self-absorbed that his fans finally turned on him and ended his life.

I got to thinking, maybe my weight loss stall and loss of energy to reach goal is somehow pride-based? Maybe I got too big of a head about my accomplishment that I needed to get slapped back down to earth? The bible talks about pride and this verse caught my attention as I was preparing to blog:

"Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor." Proverbs 29:23 (NLT)

Maybe the events of the last two weeks have been God's way of tapping me on the shoulder telling me that it's not about me... It's about Him and His plan for my life...

Today is a new month, a start to a new weekend, a good day to start over again - with humility and understanding and trust. Trust that there is a plan, a plan to prosper me and my family, and give up the reins of my life to the one that needs to be in control...

"Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly,
The Spiders from Mars.
He played it left hand, but made it too far,
Became the special man, then we were Ziggy's Band..." - David Bowie, "Ziggy Stardust"


Matty
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com