2006 Tip #8:
Am I in a RUT ?

To realize our goals for fitness and health, it helps to look at our “bad habits.”

Do we have a few ruts we’re stuck in? 

I call these R.U.T.’S –“Routine Unproductive Tracks.”  I know I have several.  And while I work to get out of them, I sometimes slip back into them.  Depending on the duration and depth of these “unproductive,” “below par,” and “less than optimal” patterns in our lives, the harder it is to change directions.  But, we can do it!

After quoting Goethe in the last message, I did a bit more background on him—his diverse quests for knowledge, his search for the meaning of life and for a better understanding of how the world works.  The most famous work of this German writer and scientist is Faust.  The legendary Faust was a magician and the literary Faust --before Goethe’s interpretation --always went to hell.  Faust made a “pact with the devil” to gain more knowledge and to have magical powers to do anything he wanted—in exchange for his soul.  In Goethe’s rendition, however, Faust is ultimately saved by God.  The devil losses.

Are there devilishly difficult “bad habits” and “RUTS” we are tempted to stay with or that we are not strong enough to resist at certain times?  Will some quick magic save us from these negative patterns in our lives?

The lesson I take from Goethe’s Faust is that the magic is actually within us—not in some quick fixes temptingly offered to us in crash diets or pills.  That good magic is our own striving for “Goodness”  --which can and will result in positive change if we focus.  If we become more aware of the RUTS and map out a plan to eliminate them one by one, little by little in most cases, we can save ourselves from the negative patterns.  It takes some continual effort but eventually “bad habits” will be replaced with “good habits.”

So, let’s look at the RUTS we’re stuck in.  Let’s examine our day and our week.  Where do some of our routine activities work against our health goals?  Let’s write down and describe the patterns that are undermining our desire to be fit and to be the best we can be!

May is Fitness Month and a good time to do this introspection.  This month in our grocery stores, look for a small magazine entitled “Prevention Guide:  Walking Fit.”  It is packed with good ideas that can also be found at www.prevention.com.

Here’s one “food for thought”  from page 56:  “Go out for ice cream.  Or an éclair.  Or even guacamole and chips.  Just go out.  Don’t keep your danger foods in the house.  You can’t eat half of a carton of ice cream that’s not there.”

More in the next few messages.  Share your own strategies with me  –how do you avoid some of the negative patterns and “RUT’s” in your life?