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Step By Step



Did you know research is finding it takes at least 66 days to change a habit.  According to new research by Phillippa Lally and colleagues from the Cancer Research UK Health Behavior Research Centre, the old 21 days thinking was a myth with little research. (Check it out here.  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0908/0908040)

You can't imagine my relief to learn this.

In my quest to lose weight and change my eating behavior, I have failed miserably.  After 40 pounds lost, I stopped being intentional and focused.  Christmas and New Years have come and gone and I am still in drift with this number 1 goal in my life.

Knowing, I'm not a complete failure in turning around 47 years of eating habits in the lofty 21 days I had heard it takes...makes me feel as if getting back on the wagon is indeed possible.

Something about my brain seeking perfection and performance and leaving me trapped in fight, freeze and flight when "I can't do it," or when I have failed keeps me imprisoned.  Imprisoned in fat and faulty thinking.  Limiting beliefs about my prognosis fills my thinking and I quit before I start.

In reading "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamont, I was triggered to remember my days riding horses with my Dad to take care of the cows.   We lived on the prairie of South Dakota and raised cows.  As ranchers, we were entrusted to care for and nurture these animals.  In the heat of summer or the blizzards of winters, we would be out taking care of them. 

He would tell us to trust our horse.  To trust he would know the way to go until we could remember.  To just take the next step.  He warned us against riding for the sake of riding.  Stop, look around and follow your horse.

This is how I am going to start again.  Step by Step.  I'm not going to worry about tomorrow or the past.  I'm simply going to step today and trust the process.  Take the very next step.  In all of my goals.  Today's next step is to review my goals, drink water, read and write. 

What is your very next step?


It takes an average 66 days to form a new habit, according to new research by Phillippa Lally and colleagues from the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre based at UCL Epidemiology and Public Health. - See more at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0908/09080401#sthash.82PQXRAi.dpuf
It takes an average 66 days to form a new habit, according to new research by Phillippa Lally and colleagues from the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre based at UCL Epidemiology and Public Health. - See more at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0908/09080401#sthash.82PQXRAi.dpuf

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