Learning to Flourish Part 1

Last year at Colour conference there was a lot of emphasis on the word 'flourish'. I went to that conference only recently having wrestled with God to a place of peace after a very emotional journey of losing my grandma and then having a miscarriage and I turned up as a bit of a wreck who just needed to meet with God. The weekend was a soothing balm to my soul and I left knowing it was time to heal, stand up, move on and flourish, I just wasn't exactly sure how. God started revealing to me bit by bit that an area I really needed to address and flourish in was my health. I was very overweight and facing some issues because of it and knew it was time to face the giant of food that has been an ever present nemesis since my teens resulting in more than a decade of struggling with bulimia. So here I was knowing it was time to face my giant and that God was with me, but no idea how this time would be different, then I heard Dr Caroline Leaf.

I had heard of her through a friends blog and knew she was a brain scientist person but wasn't sure what to expect when she came to Hillsong sisterhood one day. Her talk on renewing our minds through the power of our choices and that we can actually regrow the barren parts of our brains into flourishing trees by choosing God switched on a lightbulb for me and I went home different. I can't explain it any better than that, what she said (which was way more complicated that what I just said) just clicked. I suddenly got that everything is a choice and that as I submit my choices to God I can choose life and flourish, and so I did. Since that day I have lost 23 kg, gone down from a size 22 to a size 14, found energy and strength, and fixed hormone issues, fatigue and headaches with no medication, just by making good choices.

It wasn't a magic potion that made it easy, it was just a revelation on the power of choice, there was plenty of hard work involved in the process. I joined a gym and started exercising, including personal training which is not something I would've ever considered before and I really enjoy the challenge of it. I have found myself doing things I never imagined like bench pressing and boxing! And I started eating right, eating the food God created for our bodies and cutting out packaged, processed crap, the difference it has made not just in my weight but in my health and how I feel has been astounding!!

The picture on the left is from my birthday in April 2012, I don't even look like the same person!

 

These are examples of what I now eat, lots of yummy salad, veggies, protein, some whole grain carbs at breakfast and lunch, fruit and lots of water. Do I feel deprived when I skip the sugary stuff? Nope I feel empowered that I am making good choices for my body and health and I can say no food is worth the way I used to feel. I love clothes shopping now and it's a whole new world that I am LOVING!! I do have occasional treats but they are just that, treats, and then I return to normal eating, the difference is I used to think I needed 'treats' to get me through every single day!!

(This is home made hummus and it's so yum. This was afternoon tea for me and my kids and yes they ate the vegies too. The rice crackers were for the kids but I did eat a couple of them, they are not a regular thing that I eat though.)

 

And I have spent many hours literally sweating my backside off like this....

to achieve goals like this. When I first started at the gym I could barely last 2 minutes on the rowing machine. Once I started doing 5 my trainer set me the goal of doing 1km in 5 minutes, this was my personal best a couple of weeks ago, 1169 metres in 5 minutes. I love it when I smash goals cause then I just set them higher for the enxt time and I love the challenge!!

 

So this year I went to Colour conference and Dr Leaf was there, I got to hear her in more detail and learnt even more, I bought a new flourish t-shirt (in a much smaller size) and I came away with fresh revelation that I will share in another post about other areas of my life where I need to make better choices. It's a journey, I will always be learning, but I think I have made a good start :-)