Summary: We adapt Buddha's eight steps to end suffering and suggest specific journaling prompts as a way to deal with food issues and weight loss. <br> <br> -----------------------------------<br> ♦ BUDDHA'S 4 NOBLE TRUTHS ♦<br> -----------------------------------<br> <br> • First Noble Truth • <br> Life contains suffering.<br> (This is sometimes better translated as “Life is stressful, or unsatisfying, or unreliable.”)<br> <br> • Second Noble Truth • <br> Suffering has a cause and the cause can be known. <br> (The desire and want for “more” is a common one.)<br> <br> • Third Noble Truth • <br> Suffering can be brought to an end.<br> <br> • Fourth Noble Truth • <br> The path to end suffering has eight parts.<br> <br> <br> -----------------<br> ♦ THE 8 STEPS ♦<br> -----------------<br> <br> 1) RIGHT VIEW, RIGHT PERSPECTIVE AND INTENTION<br> How do you look at your weight as a reflection of your lifestyle and the sum total of the choices you have made up to now?<br> <br> 2) RIGHT INTENTION<br> What is your "why" behind what you're doing? Are you losing weight for solid, self-nurturing reasons, or is it driven by self-punishment?<br> <br> 3) RIGHT SPEECH<br> This is not just what you say to others, but also the words you use to talk to yourself. How do you *frame* your questions or ideas?<br> <br> 4) RIGHT ACTIONS & BEHAVIORS<br> These are more often the direct result of the thinking and feelings that precede them. See above.<br> <br> 5) RIGHT LIVELIHOOD<br> Are you living in a way that supports your goals to lose weight with self-nurturing? <br> <br> 6) RIGHT EFFORT<br> Are your efforts the result of positive, self- directed thought and intention, or the result of self-rejection, self-judgment, self-measurement, and unstable emotional wants and desires?<br> <br> 7) RIGHT MINDFULNESS<br> Are you examining your thoughts with calm and patient energy, or are you letting them run wild? Are you thinking about what you are thinking about? <br> <br> 8) YOUR CONCENTRATION<br> What is your focus, and what kind of energy is influencing that focus? <br> <br> -----------------<br> ♦ EXERCISES ♦<br> -----------------<br> <br> THE 8 STEPS "MINI SPRINT"<br> <br> Using Mike's mini-sprint framework (free how-to here: https://thehabit.space/journalwriting), create a 4-day mini sprint in which you address two of the eight steps each day. First prompt yourself with what areas of your life have WRONG view, intention, or whatever, and then address how you might turn that into RIGHT view, intention, and so on. <br> <br> JOURNALING PROMPTS<br> <br> • (From Marcus Aurelius) Identify one change that you want to make in your life:<br> • All the that this change will benefit me...<br> • All the negative consequences of *not* making this change...<br> • What if I don't make the change? Where will I be in one year?<br> • Anything stopping me from making this change:<br> • How true are these things? Are there things I can do?<br> <br> » Now go back and re-read and add to all the above.<br> <br> --------------------------<br> ♦ LINKS & RESOURCES ♦<br> --------------------------<br> <br> Mike's book, The Journal Writing Superpower Secret<br> https://thehabit.space/journalwriting<br> <br> Scott's book, Permanent Weight Loss<br> https://scottabelfitness.com/ebooks/permanent-weight-loss/
