From the very first moment of our existence, life hands us difficulties and obstacles. In fact, our whole life is a series of efforts to overcome hurdles. When our strength to overcome them wanes, we pass away.
Being self-centered by nature, we are drawn to do only what we want. As long as we want something, we will have the strength to overcome the hurdles to achieve it. But when we have to go against our will, that’s when the problems begin.
For example, no one wants to get up in the morning and go to work, even if we work from home. We must remind ourselves that we have a family to take care of, a mortgage or rent to pay, and other such incentives that eventually get us out of bed.
The same is true with food. No one wants to be on a diet; we want to eat what we want, when we want, and as much as we want. We may also want to feel good and look good, but if the desire for those two is not as strong as the craving for sweets and carbohydrates, we will not be able to resist them and persist with the diet. In other words, we break a diet not for lack of will, but for indecision about which goal is more important.
To succeed with a diet, as with anything else in life, we must first determine why we need it. If we do not understand the benefits of being lean, light, and healthy, we will never muster the determination to eat healthy foods and stick to healthy amounts.
It is a constant struggle to direct cravings, question what we want, adjust our intentions and goals, and strengthen them where we become weak. We do not focus on the desire itself, but increase the importance of the goal: to be healthy and good looking.
The best way to increase the desire for anything is to surround ourselves with people whose goal is the same as ours. Together, we can reinforce and encourage each other when one of us grows weaker. Moreover, if we focus on encouraging others to achieve our common goal, we will not focus on our own weaknesses, and the encouragement we give them will come back to us as additional strength. In this way, we will not find it difficult to succeed in dieting, or in any other goal we may set for ourselves.
The purpose of life goes far beyond maintaining a good physique. Its purpose is to elevate our spirit above the material existence and take us into a new and expansive realm of perception. We are meant to reveal our connections on far deeper and more meaningful levels than any worldly engagement. The purpose of our lives is to experience all of humanity as a single organism whose cells, which are us, know and feel each other as clearly and as vividly as they feel their own bodies, if not more.
But the path to achieving this perception is exactly the same as the one we use in order to lose weight. If we surround ourselves with people who seek that same sublime goal as ours, we will encourage and support each other along the way, and reaching that goal will become easy and quick. If we try to achieve the goal alone, we will not stand a chance, the same as with a diet.