Health for a Lifetime

Seven Steps Setting & Sustaining

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Don Mackintosh (Host), Vicki Griffin

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Series Code: HFAL

Program Code: HFAL000205


00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health
00:04 and is not intended to take the place of
00:06 personalized professional care. The opinions
00:09 and ideas expressed are those of the speaker.
00:12 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own
00:14 conclusions about the information presented.
00:49 Hello and welcome to 'Health For A Lifetime'.
00:51 I'm your host Don Mackintosh
00:52 and today we are delighted to have
00:54 Vicki Griffin with us. She is the Director for
00:57 the Health Department. Her Lifestyle Matters
00:59 in Michigan Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist
01:02 and she has the staff that works with her to
01:03 put together all kinds of different materials
01:06 to help people with their nutritional,
01:08 their health needs and we're glad you are with
01:10 us today Vicki. Thank you. Now you give a lot
01:12 of speeches, you give a lot of talks,
01:14 you go to lot of groups, you motivate people
01:16 and you share things from a context of a
01:18 personal testimony. Right. You know you were always
01:22 doing this; you started out kind of an
01:25 interesting background. That is correct,
01:28 and that's probably why I'm so interested
01:30 in these kinds of topics because I know
01:32 what they do for me personally.
01:33 You were, you told me before you struggled
01:35 with Bulimia, you struggled with the
01:37 eating disorder for many years.
01:38 Twenty years from age 11 to age 31
01:41 and I was a runway and involved in all kinds
01:45 of aberrant behavior and attitudes.
01:48 But the Lord gave you victory?
01:49 He did. And you know that the things can
01:52 change for people? I know that they can change.
01:54 So, what we wanna talk about today is how
01:56 to set and then sustain your most important
02:00 goals, how to set goals? I mean you
02:01 didn't have any goals. You didn't have a
02:03 father or mother sitting there saying
02:05 this is what you need to do and why not in the
02:07 regular sense and so some how that happen
02:10 and you have seven steps that you share
02:12 in different venues whether it's graduations
02:15 from health programs or different things.
02:17 You want to share those seven steps that are,
02:19 I guess really tell your story too.
02:22 Well in a way they do, but I just really resonate
02:25 with people that have trouble maintaining
02:28 their goals. People struggle, 54% of
02:32 Americans at any given moment are on a diet,
02:34 but how well do those diet stick.
02:36 Not they were a proponent of dieting
02:40 per se, but people make goals all of the,
02:43 they set goals all of the time.
02:44 They have trouble sustaining the most
02:46 important goals for their life, so we have gone
02:49 in and we have taken a look over several years
02:51 to find out what are the factors involve,
02:53 the principles. The principles of long term
02:55 success for staying with a journey thick or
02:58 thin to achieve your most important goals.
03:00 Okay so let's take a look at some of those.
03:02 The first one you talk about is to Stay Focused.
03:06 Talk to us about that. How do you stay focused?
03:08 Right. How do you say your goal stay focused?
03:10 Why we have chosen this as number one.
03:13 One of the reasons that we have chosen this
03:14 topic as one of the primary things to
03:19 think about is that when a person develops
03:21 an addiction or bad habit or bad pattern.
03:23 They actually lose the, their ability to focus
03:27 on different things and so they become overly
03:30 focused on that, the bad thing they are doing,
03:32 on that one destructive thing and they lose
03:34 the ability to, to be engaged in other kinds of
03:38 mental and physical processes and so
03:40 everything deteriorates in the life and so
03:42 learning how to focus on a positive goal
03:45 and staying with that goal helps to prevent
03:48 relapse, it helps to build structurally into the
03:51 life and into the character those elements
03:54 that are going to guarantee long term
03:56 success, so focus is a very important thing.
03:58 So, how do you do that though?
03:59 I mean you talk about staying focused to say,
04:01 it's easy to say to someone to stay focus,
04:03 right, but how do you develop focus?
04:05 Well there was a study done with Harvard
04:07 Business Millionaires those who graduate from
04:10 Harvard Business School that became millionaires.
04:12 Those that became millionaires
04:15 had written down their short and long term goals.
04:19 They knew where they were going
04:21 and they knew the steps as to how they were
04:23 going to get there. And when they do that,
04:24 what age? They did it, when they enter school
04:27 they had a goal, they had a priority,
04:28 they set it. They did not let the daily
04:31 distractions of life take them away
04:35 and help them, keep them from losing sight
04:38 of those larger goals. So the way to stay
04:40 focused is to look at the, into the eye
04:42 or look into the row to keep the eye on
04:45 whatever it is and just not let the other things
04:48 get in the way. You want to get up in the trees
04:49 and look at the big picture and that's
04:51 something is very, very difficult for some of us
04:53 to do. Some people that are, that are emotion
04:56 based, they are so, they sort of look at situations
04:59 and react. Some writers talk about
05:01 response ability. So we have the ability to
05:04 respond to our daily situations, but
05:07 we can never let the daily vicissitudes,
05:10 ups and downs of life detour us from the
05:13 larger goals that we have, the priorities
05:17 that we have set in life. Whatever the priority
05:19 is that, that is very, very important.
05:21 So it's like the, the old story about the rabbit
05:23 and the tortoise. You know that were racing
05:26 and the tortoise just kept going straight
05:28 to the things slowly, but surely.
05:30 There is an Irish saying that if you go slower
05:32 you will get there faster and that is really true.
05:35 When you appreciate what your larger
05:37 goals are, then every activity that you engage
05:40 in during the day is it becomes an achievement
05:44 rather than just something that you do.
05:46 And so everything that you do in your life
05:48 is going to promote that larger goal.
05:52 Setting a realistic expectations you talked
05:55 about the, this is the second one.
05:57 First one stay focused, set realistic
05:59 expectations. Right. Some people,
06:00 I know these Harvard millionaires is this
06:03 realistic to set the goal I, well one thing
06:06 that, that I would like to, I think I wanna be
06:07 a millionaire. Right well one thing I wanna
06:10 backup just a moment we have a couple of
06:11 examples in the Bible that are really
06:13 important. It says that Jesus set his face stead
06:16 fastly toward Jerusalem. He was going to
06:18 the Cross. He was going into a challenge.
06:20 Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile
06:23 himself with the, with the delicacies of the
06:28 King's table. That's right and it actually means
06:30 he gave his heart to it. Now both of these men
06:33 were facing very negative situations
06:36 they were facing challenges and what,
06:38 when we lose our focus we are trying to
06:41 avert pain, we are trying to find an easier
06:43 path, we are trying to find some shortcut
06:45 and there is no shortcut. We have got to
06:47 understand that the process of working
06:51 through obstacles and meeting challenges
06:53 and meeting pain and dealing with stress
06:56 and all of those things is part of the building
06:59 block to meeting your larger goals.
07:01 We cannot escape the fact that there are challenges
07:04 and obstacles. If it, if it will. If it wasn't hard
07:08 it wouldn't be worth working toward.
07:10 Okay that's part of staying focused then
07:12 what about realistic expectations?
07:14 Well the key to staying motivated
07:16 and this is where people just fall off of their,
07:18 their lifestyle plans. They fall off of their
07:20 goals to read more books or to turn
07:22 the TV off. Part of staying motivated
07:24 is setting realistic expectations.
07:26 I have people come to my office and they say
07:28 you know I, I realize that I need to lose
07:30 a 150 pounds, so from here on now from this
07:33 day forward I'm only gonna have a half a cup
07:35 of oat milk for breakfast and six peeled grapes.
07:38 I'm gonna walk 10 miles a day and this,
07:40 if you take into consideration their
07:42 past history and where they are right now.
07:44 This is a very unrealistic expectation
07:46 they are not likely to be able to follow through
07:49 with that, so it's extremely important
07:52 to make your goals to, to code them off
07:56 in little bite size pieces, so that
07:59 you can experience daily victories.
08:01 And, so realistic expectation, yes
08:04 achieving a small goal, achieving a small goal
08:07 is much more valuable than brooding over
08:09 impossible dreams. Okay. So that's an important
08:13 thing, so for instance, if you know that
08:14 you have a particular problem with your,
08:17 with being impatient or with sweets or whatever
08:20 that particular problems is. You set a
08:22 realistic goal that you are going to achieve,
08:24 in other words you, you are striving for
08:26 excellence not absolute perfection in this area
08:29 because you will become disappointed.
08:31 So what you are doing is you are striving
08:34 for continually making better choices,
08:37 so that you are actually building your brain
08:39 in the process and your brain is developing
08:41 resiliency, it's developing new tools,
08:44 new resources for handling challenges and
08:47 change in bite size pieces. You have heard
08:51 this saying, it's, it's hard by the yard,
08:53 it's a trial by the mile. Hard by the yard,
08:56 cinch by the inch and sweeter by the
08:58 millimeter, okay, and so. So setting a realistic
09:03 expectation of what you can and cannot
09:05 accomplish is very very important
09:08 element of long term success.
09:10 Okay so number one was stay focus,
09:11 number two set realistic expectations
09:14 and then our third one was to expect challenges.
09:19 Expect challenges. Or expect, right, challenges
09:23 okay yeah I mean this is pretty logical.
09:25 You are not gonna just behind
09:27 something on the silver platter.
09:28 But people that, people that want to do well.
09:32 It's so easy to just want everything
09:35 to be perfect and mistake free
09:37 and perfectly polished and it's so easy to get
09:40 discouraged, when it doesn't turnout
09:41 just exactly the way you want. When you,
09:44 when you haven't handled yourself in that
09:46 board meeting exactly the way that you know
09:48 that you are. When haven't taken the,
09:50 the steps with your lifestyle that you know
09:53 that you opt it. It can actually eclipse
09:56 improvements that you are making
09:58 and so remember with Thomas Edison,
10:00 he learned a thousand ways in order to make
10:02 a light bulb. So it's very important if you make
10:05 a mistake not to give up, but to get up.
10:09 That's so very very important turn
10:11 your mistakes into victories.
10:13 Now you are the mother of two, yes,
10:15 and you know probably have tried to help
10:18 them stay focused as well as set realistic goals
10:22 and you know given them little tasks, right,
10:25 to do that had challenges. What kind of things
10:26 that you have your kids do they were learning
10:28 these kinds of lessons as they were growing up?
10:30 Oh! Well I remember our son Anthony
10:33 when he was younger, he had a real Math
10:36 Anxiety and he had a lot of trouble with some
10:40 Math concepts and it used to create so much
10:43 emotional tension with him that
10:46 he couldn't work on the problem,
10:47 and so as he got a little older.
10:49 We didn't want him to become entrenched
10:52 in negative thinking and to just become
10:55 a defeatist about this, so we, his father
10:58 is a pilot and so we got him interested
11:01 in flying and when you are learning to fly
11:03 the thrill of flying and the thrill of being
11:07 behind those instruments is a great motivator
11:10 for learning the Math calculations and so,
11:14 so just switching the way that we think
11:17 about a challenge can actually
11:19 help us to surround him.
11:20 So, you have gave him some things to do
11:21 maybe simulator things and little things that
11:23 were small things going towards that
11:25 and then your daughter what do you ever
11:27 do take piano, violin, orchestra or what?
11:29 She did all of those things and, and,
11:31 and they learned how to master difficulties.
11:33 I mean some of these things have challenges
11:36 in them. I mean playing the violin,
11:37 playing the piano can be challenging.
11:39 It's very hard and both of our children
11:40 took violin. Jennie took violin and piano
11:43 and one time one of the children was complaining
11:46 about how difficult it was, especially violin
11:49 you have to just get it just write
11:50 and the teacher said if it wasn't hard everybody
11:54 would be doing it and she was challenging him.
11:56 She was challenging him to accept the fact
12:01 that good things are hard and it's worth
12:03 working toward. So, I mean this is just a part
12:05 of good parenting too. It's not just
12:06 for yourself, but for others to help them stay
12:08 focused, realistic goals, but then kind of break
12:12 it up and help them learn how to deal
12:15 with challenges in small increments.
12:17 Well that's why they have musicians that
12:19 do scales. You know when you are first
12:21 learning how to cook health food.
12:22 You don't go and try to cook a Gourmet meal.
12:24 You learn how to cook beans and you learn
12:25 how to make a burrito and you learn
12:28 how to make a fruit salad.
12:30 You don't go in and try to do some impossible dish.
12:34 Yeah I'm still right there. I mean those are
12:36 kind of challenging for me I'm still working
12:38 on the popcorn recipe. So expect the challenges.
12:41 Okay so what's your next one?
12:43 So for instance, let me just give you a personal
12:45 example. Alright. I love landscaping,
12:47 but I don't know how to do it. And so what I,
12:50 what I, where I started, where I was tempted
12:53 to start was just to give up and be discouraged
12:56 just I would look at these glorious magazines
12:58 with these great pictures and I want my yard
13:00 to look like that, but where I started
13:01 was with a very small budget and a few seeds
13:04 and finding somebody at the local nursery.
13:06 They can give me a little bit of advice
13:08 and so you start with the little piece of land
13:10 and you do just a little bit and it builds
13:12 your ability and our whole message
13:15 it's not the starting or the finishing
13:18 that's not the glory. The glory is in the journey.
13:22 It's in staying with the program as
13:24 you continue to learn and improve.
13:26 We're talking with Vicki Griffin.
13:28 We're talking about how to set and achieve
13:30 realistic goals join us when we come back.
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14:34 Welcome back we are glad you are with us
14:36 on the Health for a Lifetime.
14:37 Today, we are talking about things that seem
14:39 simple to many people and perhaps they
14:41 seem simplistic to you, but they really
14:44 are essential. We're talking with Vicki Griffin.
14:47 We are talking about setting goals
14:49 and then achieving those goals and you know
14:51 some of these things seem pretty simple that
14:52 we gone through how to stay focused,
14:54 set realistic expectations, and
14:56 expect challenges. You know that we are
14:58 going through this list of how to set
15:00 and achieve goal. But really I mean
15:02 as you think about it when I think about these
15:05 things they seem so simple maybe to someone
15:08 that has, has been successful,
15:10 but a lot of people out there just kind
15:12 of a drift, they are not going anywhere
15:14 and they are not going anywhere fast.
15:16 And it's really important to not just tag a list
15:20 like this up on the wall, but this has to be part
15:23 of automatic thinking and response when a mistake
15:26 is made. When something starts to hinder your
15:28 most important goals and interfere with that.
15:30 When you start to become unrealistic
15:32 and you are thinking an expectation to have
15:34 the internal ability to instantly recognize
15:37 and check it is what keeps you on course.
15:40 Now it's ever a time to bailout your goals.
15:43 Well when they don't work, when they become
15:45 counterproductive, when you obsess about
15:47 it or may be the wrong goal,
15:49 it maybe the wrong goal.
15:50 That's exactly right. Have you ever given up
15:51 on a goal? Yes, I'm sure that I have.
15:55 Yes, I have given up on some goals.
15:56 But these are, assuming these are good goals
15:59 you know sometimes people say I wanna do
16:01 this and do that. Right. But then a higher
16:02 source of authority or situation takes place
16:05 maybe their family, maybe they read the scriptures,
16:08 maybe they understand something
16:09 and they go wait a minute wrong goal.
16:11 We don't wanna be inflexible.
16:13 The most important we're gonna actually
16:15 be discussing in a later program what the most
16:19 important goals are. Okay. Seven important
16:21 goals for design your lifestyle.
16:23 Right yeah. And you have, you have your
16:25 personal, personal subcategories of
16:28 achievement that fit into that, but there are basic
16:30 major goals that should be a part
16:32 of every balanced life. Okay let's review
16:34 what we did here we talked about setting
16:37 goals, stay focused we saw first.
16:39 We set realistic expectations;
16:41 we expect challenges, but then maintaining
16:44 a positive attitude. Now you seem to be
16:46 the personification of positive attitude.
16:49 That is really a very funny statement because
16:53 I used to be such a, because of my
16:55 background and my inheritance I was
16:58 naturally very negative person and very
17:00 pessimistic person. When I open my eyes
17:02 in the morning before my feet hit the floor
17:05 if unchecked I will think of every horrible
17:07 thing that could possibly happen that day.
17:09 So you have to discipline yourself of this and
17:11 this is why you put it down maintain.
17:13 All the time. So you start out reading
17:15 to be attitude. Well when my husband used
17:18 to go on business trips, I would call him or leave
17:20 a message on his answer phone and say please
17:22 tell me what's going on at your meeting,
17:23 so I will know what to worry about.
17:24 I mean I didn't even disguise at his prayer.
17:26 It was just raw worrying all the time.
17:29 And people like that have that kind of a problem,
17:32 have to take very active steps to overcome it
17:35 and there are some very simple strategies.
17:37 So what do you do to overcome your worry
17:39 wart problem focused personality?
17:42 Well I, I recognize that it's disobedient.
17:46 It's a disobedient way of thinking for one thing,
17:48 because God inhabits praise and it says the joy
17:50 of the Lord is our strength and so when
17:52 I'm outside of that I'm so outside of his
17:55 strength and I'm just dusting to all the other
17:58 steps and goals that we talked about just go
18:00 right down the gutter when I given into incisive
18:03 worrying and catastrophizing people
18:05 that worry tend to catastrophize as well.
18:07 And so I, I recognize that tendency.
18:11 So you know your negative thought patterns
18:13 when they start and you say what do you do?
18:15 I mean I used to have this one,
18:16 a lady in my church excellent health educator
18:18 her name is Amy Sherald and she,
18:21 when she was helping people stop smoking.
18:24 She would have to wear this bigger rubber
18:25 band and as soon as they had this urge come on,
18:28 she just snap that rubber band bang
18:31 and then don't think about something else.
18:32 So that lessons. What do you do?
18:34 What she is doing is really scientific because
18:36 she is lessening the reward of that addictive
18:40 behavior and you also; you also want to reinforce
18:43 the positive thinking. So for instance,
18:45 I go to the gym several times a week
18:47 with my husband because I know that
18:49 it is a going to have a very powerful impact
18:52 on my ability to cope with stress and mood.
18:54 My diet takes care of all this, when I get out
18:57 of bed in the morning in Michigan freezing,
18:59 sleeting cold weather early in the morning.
19:01 You run 15 miles to the gym. No I don't,
19:03 I don't even like to exercise frankly,
19:06 but I know that it is so beneficial
19:08 and I feel so good. So what I chose to
19:10 focus on. I have two choices I can either
19:13 chose to focus on how freezing cold it is,
19:16 how tired I'm. I really would rather spend
19:18 an extra hour in bed; I could focus on,
19:21 the fact that I'm aging and could eventually
19:23 fall apart anyway. I could focus on all
19:25 of those things or I can focus on the fact
19:29 that this is going to give me an amazing
19:31 boost of energy. I'm gonna meet some very nice
19:34 people there. I'm gonna have companionship
19:35 with my husband, I'm gonna build tone
19:37 and muscle into my body and throttle
19:41 up my mood, so I can chose which set of.
19:43 Of course you can also stand before the people
19:45 that you represent as a health department
19:47 director and say I exercise.
19:49 Yes, I could tell them that I do that,
19:50 so you have to make up your mind what
19:54 list you are gonna focus on and you have
19:56 to decide what you are gonna focus on.
19:57 And negative thinking is habitual and often
20:01 times a self pity is a very real factor.
20:03 Self pity is Elisabeth Elliot said that
20:06 self pity is a death from which there is no
20:08 resurrection. It is a sinkhole from which no
20:11 helping hand can save you,
20:13 because you have chosen to be there and so,
20:15 so this self pity attitude and pour me is a
20:20 destructive negative type of thinking that
20:22 just must be overcome. And nobody really likes
20:23 to hang around that. Nobody likes someone,
20:24 Who's always just talking about negative things.
20:26 No, if you throw a pity party you are gonna
20:28 have very few guests. Laugh and you laugh
20:30 and the world laughs with you.
20:32 Weep and you weep alone. That's right.
20:34 Now number five I think our next
20:35 on our list. We have to stay focused,
20:37 set realistic expectations, expect
20:40 challenges, maintain a positive
20:41 attitude, seek support
20:43 and accept responsibility.
20:45 That's right that's another one
20:47 it's very very important.
20:48 Spending time with and forming
20:51 relationships with people who
20:53 have positive life skills is one
20:56 of the best ways to learn new
20:58 habits and new ways of thinking.
20:59 We are gonna become what we
21:00 surround ourselves with and so.
21:02 I always try to find someone in
21:03 school that was smarter, brighter,
21:05 and faster. It wasn't too hard.
21:06 That's a good program. At first and so.
21:09 And there are, there are people that
21:13 God puts into our lives for a reason
21:15 because he wants us to see how they
21:18 are dealing with life, how they think
21:19 about things. I like to find people
21:22 that think about things in a better
21:23 way then I do and I like to adopt
21:25 and practice those new behaviors.
21:27 It's not easy and I don't always
21:29 succeed in trying on new behaviors
21:32 and doing the perfect thing.
21:33 It doesn't always work for me,
21:35 but it's a really great program
21:37 to be on. And the thing about support,
21:40 support is the very important thing
21:42 we all want to feel supported,
21:43 but the only reason you have
21:44 social relationships is for support that's
21:47 really crippling. We also need to
21:49 understand that part of the positive
21:51 affect of social interaction and
21:55 being involved with hobbies and
21:57 projects and classes and friends
21:59 and volunteerism and all of those
22:01 kinds of things. It's important
22:04 because then we have an
22:07 opportunity to manifest
22:09 responsibility to exhibit
22:10 responsibility in various areas of
22:12 our lives and we also have built into
22:17 those situations accountability.
22:18 An accountability is something that
22:20 we all need as human beings.
22:21 We are all gonna behave better,
22:22 when we are around each other.
22:24 We gonna learn better behavior
22:25 when we are in contact with one another.
22:27 It's called social restraint. So not to
22:29 seeking support so that you can
22:31 have someone listen to all year soap
22:34 stories and listen that, but to get
22:35 involved and it holds you accountable.
22:37 It gives you, I mean there is lot
22:39 of studies on this that show how
22:40 people would show up if you know, oh absolutely,
22:42 even if you have a dog that's a little
22:44 more responsibility. You got to take it
22:46 out for a walk. That's right.
22:47 The part of that is self support right,
22:49 having a pet would that
22:50 be okay for social support?
22:52 Yes and you can't, you know.
22:54 A pet alligator or something.
22:55 People join walking clubs.
22:57 They get together and they share
22:58 together and in our society you
23:00 know the remote control, garage door
23:03 openers and air conditioning have
23:04 eliminated the front porch and
23:06 people don't sit on their porches
23:07 and visit anymore, so we are
23:09 losing social contact with people
23:11 and yet this is a very vital element
23:12 for healing and for growth and
23:15 for positive role modelling, so its
23:17 very very important that we engage
23:20 with positive people who have positive
23:22 life skills. It's like my husband
23:23 says you can't sore with the eagles
23:25 if you are walking with the turkeys
23:27 and so you have got to choose
23:32 who you pattern after and who
23:33 you hang with on a regular
23:35 basis very carefully.
23:37 Well they say the banana that leaves
23:40 the bunch usually gets eaten.
23:41 So you got to hang with the
23:43 bananas right. Yeah, I haven't heard,
23:44 I haven't heard that one and it's not
23:45 that we don't care for all people.
23:47 It's not that we don't have a heart
23:48 for people with problems, but if we
23:50 are not gaining skill and strength
23:51 ourselves and exposing ourselves
23:53 to positive modelling. Right, then we won't
23:56 have anything. And this is
23:57 big in your health classes people go
23:58 through them and they just.
23:59 You don't want to just have an event;
24:00 you want to have a process. Exactly.
24:02 So they get involved in alumni association
24:04 or whatever they have. You have
24:06 developed your materials, they have
24:07 noticed that, they are kind of like
24:08 a year long process and people can
24:11 can have that curriculum where the
24:12 one habit is then, you know support
24:15 and social support and all those
24:16 different things very you know
24:18 it's pretty basic but it can't
24:19 be underscored enough.
24:20 People don't realize how important it is,
24:22 they think to themselves well
24:23 if I go and I get this information
24:25 on how to live a better life and eat
24:26 better than, I will just go home and do it.
24:28 Well only two to three percent of
24:31 people that actually have that mindset,
24:33 highly motivated people will be able
24:35 to do that, but most people need to
24:37 have an environment around them
24:38 of positive people if they think that
24:40 way and are encouraging those
24:42 kinds of choices and they can continue
24:44 to learn from one another how to
24:46 implement positive choices and
24:48 make them a part of their lives.
24:49 We got about three minutes and we
24:50 got two points, so if that means
24:52 we gonna have to time ourselves,
24:53 but practicing new choices and
24:55 then connecting those are the
24:57 last two and we only have about
24:59 three minutes. We wanna talk about
25:01 both of them, practicing new
25:02 choices and connecting.
25:03 What about practicing new choices?
25:06 Well, for instance, if you are a
25:07 negative person naturally and naturally
25:10 irritable you want to practice positive
25:13 responses that means you practice
25:15 it in your prayers and you practice
25:17 it mentally instead of rehearsing
25:20 over and over the difficulties.
25:21 You rehearse the positive responses
25:24 that you want to be yours.
25:25 As you, the practicing new choices
25:27 would be like going to the gym everyday
25:29 doing these different things practice
25:31 makes perfect. If you're grouchy in the
25:32 morning practice being pleasant.
25:33 How are you this morning?
25:35 I'm happy to see you, may I fix you
25:36 some oat milk. This is practicing a
25:38 response that feels like it's unnatural
25:41 to an impulse, but it's going to create
25:43 a neurologic overlay and actually create
25:46 a new network in the brain and it
25:47 will throttle up your ability to become
25:50 the very person that you want to be.
25:51 Well I mean, with all the respects
25:54 sometimes people can act really nice,
25:55 but they are still seething inside,
25:57 so I think your last one kind of
25:58 address is that. Doesn't it?
25:59 It talks about connection. Oh!
26:01 Absolutely because you know
26:02 circumstances alone cannot change
26:04 our heart, but we must not underestimate
26:06 the power of the spoken word.
26:08 We think that we can say whatever
26:09 we want and that it's not going to
26:10 affect us, but as a man thinks so easy,
26:14 but also as you speak so you become.
26:17 So if you have a will and desire
26:18 to be more pleasant person and
26:21 I'm using this is an example and you
26:22 begin to rehearse pleasant responses.
26:24 It will have an affect on your levels
26:26 of irritability. It will help,
26:28 but we have to remember that
26:29 without the power of God the natural
26:31 heart cannot change. God is at the
26:34 centre of everything and he must
26:35 change our heart. He changes our will,
26:37 He changes our desires, but then
26:39 as we implement the tools that
26:41 he has given us such as practicing
26:43 those better responses.
26:44 What does the Bible say.
26:45 It says put on the Lord Jesus and
26:48 make no provision for the flesh.
26:49 And it says we have to practice
26:51 these things and so as we implement
26:54 these things on principle they will
26:56 become a part of our lives.
26:58 Yeah that's good news too.
26:59 Let's just review what we have
27:01 covered today and look
27:02 out our graphic again.
27:03 Stay focused, set realistic expectations,
27:06 expect challenges, maintain a positive
27:08 attitude. Seek support and accept
27:10 responsibility. Practice new choices,
27:13 but probably most importantly
27:15 to make all those of the words
27:16 connect with God who can really make
27:19 all of those things and to final
27:21 all those things for us isn't that right?
27:22 He is the only one that can give us
27:23 the will and the desire to stay
27:25 with the journey. Thank you so much
27:27 Vicki for being with us. Thank you.
27:29 And thank you for the work you do
27:30 at the Michigan Conference
27:31 and thank you for working so
27:34 affectively with Lifestyle Matters
27:36 and that ministry lifestylematter.com.
27:38 And I know that you know I access that
27:41 many times in my ministry and I know
27:43 it could be a great help to our listeners.
27:44 Thank you for joining us. We hope
27:46 today the simple yet very powerful
27:49 concepts you can incorporate into
27:51 your life and as a result you can be
27:53 focused and be an effective tool for
27:57 the master. May God bless you as
27:59 you have health that last for lifetime.


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Revised 2014-12-17