The Dynamic Duo

Okay, UltraBob, you asked for it. Here is my WeightWatcher lesson for the week. Hope you find it as motivating as I did. I have been trying lately to create some “masterpiece” elements in each day.
As usually happens, I find that these principles apply to lots of areas in my life, not just to weight loss.
UltraMom

Make Each Day Your Masterpiece

John Wooden was the most successful basketball coach of all time. His UCLA teams won 10 national championships in 12 years. He has said that the secret of his success was advice from his father, Joshua Wooden when he was young: “Make each day your masterpiece”. He applied that philosophy to his personal and professional life because it made him realize something important: Life is NOW, not later on.
Sometimes we live as if our daily existence is a dress rehearsal for our “real lives”- the ones we’ll be living tomorrow, next week, next year; when the kids are grown, when the promotion comes, when we lose weight. But we are living our lives now, today, in this moment.
When we allow past problems and future concerns to dominate our present moments, we end up frustrated, depressed and hopeless. NOW is the only time we have any control over, and concentrating on the present can bring greater peace of mind.
When you have a “masterpiece day” what does it look like? What are you feeling, thinking, believing? How can you make today a “masterpiece day”?
Mental rehearsing is “practicing in your imagination.” Imagine yourself thinking, believing and acting in ways that will contribute to your weight loss success. Review the Mental Rehearsing tool for living in your Getting Started Book .

Approach each day, each moment, as a blank canvas- a work of art in progress. Artists often make errors they must correct. Sometimes they have to start over. Small “brush strokes” can create a masterpiece.

Following are some quotes that I found thought provoking and motivating:

“Every 24 hours, we live our entire lives in miniature. The key to personal transformation is the willingness to do very tiny things, but do them today.” Steve Chandler “100 Ways to Motivate Yourself”
“We are as likely to act ourselves into a way of thinking as to think ourselves into action. Decide what it is you would like to feel and then act as if you already felt this way.” D.G. Myers ,The Pursuit of Happiness
“Life is what’s happening while we’re busy making other plans.” John Lennon
“A good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow.” General George Patton
“He who waits for roast duck to fly into his mouth must wait a very long time.”-Chinese Proverb
“I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”- Mark Twain
“Make each day your Masterpiece.” Joshua Wooden