THE
THINK SYSTEM
16 April 2003
Weigh in report—I lost 0.2 lbs. OK—it’s not like a huge amount, but the
scale went down, not up, so I’m happy. The
trend is starting in the right direction again.
I also stayed for the meeting again. I’m doing that regularly once more—I
have come to realize that I need it. Even
when the topic doesn’t look particularly interesting, I get encouragement by
listening to everyone else’s successes and problems.
Today’s topic was on ways to deal with
upcoming potentially problematical situations, and it was all I could do to keep from
giggling. The leader read of a study where
they took three equally-matched groups of kids. One
practiced basketball for a certain period of time each day, one group did nothing, and one
group read about basketball techniques and imagined themselves playing the game. When the three groups were given a chance to play
at the end of the testing period, the kids who had imagined playing scored better than
those who hadn’t played at all, and only a couple of points less well than those who
had actually practiced.
HAROLD HILL LIVES!!!!!
Harold Hill, The Music Man himself. His scam was organizing boys’ bands, though
he knew nothing about music. He’d sell
musical instruments, instruction books, and uniforms and then skip town with the money
before the parents realized that the kids weren’t learning anything. How he managed to keep the parents paying was that
he had a “revolutionary new system” for learning music—the think system. You never actually touched an instrument. You just thought about the piece of music (the Minuet
in G, for the show).
Well, that’s what this leader was telling me
to do. Use the think system to prepare for
situations where I might have difficulties with food (that would be: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacktime, evenings,
parties, etc. Otherwise I have no
problem.)
I know visualization is a powerful tool and as I
think back over the past year and a half, I realize that in the beginning of this program,
I actually did use it—perhaps without realizing what I was doing.
I remember the very first social event I went to. It was a reception for a man with AIDS who was
going to be carrying the Olympic
torch through a part of Sacramento. We went
to cheer him on and then to party with him afterwards.
I was extremely nervous about how I would handle a buffet and so I thought
about it a lot and made my plan of attack: I
would go into the buffet, look at everything on the table before getting a plate. Then I would fill the plate—once—with
the things that I knew I could eat, and then I would move as far away from the table as I
possibly could, keeping my energies on visiting with the people who were in our
group.
It worked, too.
I was so proud of myself. I had
mostly veggies, but some cold cuts and a piece of some fruit. I recorded all the points in my journal, felt
full, enjoyed the food, and went home feeling in control.
Stuff like that takes work, but when you take the
time to do it, it really does work. I have
been getting lax in that department, but it’s time to start getting geared up to do
it again. I sort of did on the ride home from
Sonora on Saturday. I wanted something to eat
very badly and this was Fast Food heaven, part of this ride. There were dueling burger joints with taco stands
and pizza huts and drive through chicken places. There
was so much grease in the air you could gain weight just from breathing.
I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I
stopped at a grocery store and bought two apples and ate them to take the edge off until I
got home. That was a very good
moment…and it frustrates me that “moments” like that should be becoming
second nature by now, but they are still a struggle.
I still have to use the think system to get myself past the cheesecake and the
"liberty fries" (J).
Next week, if I “think” hard enough,
maybe I’ll have lost more than just a couple of ounces.
Goodbye to URL
I gave URL, my “starter bike,” to a friend yesterday on
permanent loan. She’s thinking of
getting into biking again and since I so rarely use that bike any more, I decided it might
help her if she could practice on a good bike, and so her husband came and took it away. Now it’s just me and the Blue Angel.
I figure this may work out for me. What with Haggie
turning pro and Olivia moving out the state, I’m in need of another biking buddy and
it would be fun to have someone locally who likes to take a “toodle” at sometime
after the sun comes up, not just a race around town in the dark! |
