Good morning… I woke up at 0530 full of energy and that was the strangest feeling I have felt in a long time… My years of disturbed sleep patterns are disappearing slowly and I am starting to see the world from a new angle, through new eyes… Well, philosophically speaking anyway… I didn’t get LASIK or anything; I’m just considering the world without the fog of substance abuse. For clarity, “fog” is another metaphor… How about I didn’t wake up feeling like shit? Damn it… I’ve never really “felt” shit and I can only guess what it feels like. So… I woke up this morning still adjusting to greeting the world without being hung-over, tired, bleary eyed and angry? I think that’s clear enough…
The issue now isn’t with the alcohol anymore. The trick is staying motivated and that’s what I want to talk about today. Well that’s part of what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about epiphany, motivation and discipline because those three things, in that exact order are the keys (fuck, another metaphor…) to unlocking your life. You see, you live in a prison and that prison consists of your bad habits holding you back from the potential that you have… Sorry to inform you but you could actually live a far better life that the one you are living now…
What? You say that’s not true?
Yeah, it is… Science says so… Let me explain myself here with yet again, another analogy…
For the sake of saving time and simplicity because you certainly don’t want a lesson in the combustion engine, just understand this one simple concept… A motor is about good components and good fuel. Ever stop at a gas station and pump bad fuel into your vehicle? A little water in the gas can fuck up your whole day… Throw a little sugar into the gasoline of a cheating spouse’s car and they aren’t going anywhere… I once accidentally pumped diesel fuel into a gasoline powered engine and it smoked more than chimney with the flue closed… The point being that quality fuel for a motor is in direct correlation to the performance of the engine… There is a real difference between Chevron Gasoline and Debbie’s Convenience Store, Food and Largest Ball of Twine Roadside Rest Area (Where we also feature gas…) Don’t believe me?
Of course you knew this… It’s pretty obvious… If we had the extra cash, we would buy it consistently, that’s a no brainer. Even running a tankful of quality fuel once in a while makes a difference. It cleans the system out and cleaner system equates to better performance…
Now where I am going with this in relation to epiphany, motivation and discipline? Well… Let’s talk about epiphany… Epiphanic moments take epiphanies to explain… Shit… Now we’re stuck in a closed loop, aren’t we… How about a definition of epiphany, that might help… These moments are about feelings so they are hard to explain. An epiphany is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. Now these are powerful realizations. Your mind is constantly trying to put the puzzle of reality and existence together behind the scenes of your experience. It’s that moment when you add up a bunch of simple truths and suddenly you see a bigger picture. In literature, they are called “aha” moments. Does that make sense? Think of it as having a child mind and the little truths that make that up and as the child gets older, truth one, truth two and truth three suddenly merge into one big TRUTH we could call a deeper realization or an understanding. Epiphanies change the way you think, the way you approach problems, the way you live your life.
On we go…
Now take that good gasoline for engines make the engines perform better and really think about it for a second. Good gas means high performance. High performance fuel for race cars has a legitimate purpose.
Human = Race Car
Life = Race
Food = Fuel
C’mon… Don’t balk... Chicken nuggets with sweet and sour sauce are fucking delicious… Deep fried anything is delicious… Delicious doesn’t equate to healthy and you know it… I’m not going to launch into a food blog moment here but when if you could just get a realization, an “aha” moment that this truth is important then slowly, you might be able to eat healthier and yeah, I know everyone wants to it’s just incredibly hard. Fuck, it’s almost impossible in our culture. We grow up on fast food, pre packaged garbage that has little or no nutritional value. We live in a culture where throwing an apple slice into a happy meal makes us breathe a little easier. Our children are besieged with advertising that mesmerizes them into eating absolute garbage. This isn’t hyperbole, these are facts. Go online and check out the nutritional value of the shit they hand you in the drive thru. Couple that with the prepackaged shit they sell you in the grocery store and you can see why over one third of Americans are overweight and another one third who are obese. The bizarre idea that you can be obese AND malnourished is astounding and sounds nonsensical, but welcome to America…
So there is your epiphany, hopefully… When the realization that what you feed your body really does affect your performance becomes a fully formed, fact based idea in your head and not just a saying on a t-shirt, then you can got to step two…
Motivation… Now we have that issue of whether or not you have will power… Uh oh… Another roadblock…
Lets take a look at something here and maybe we can add it to the base of knowledge. When we eat poorly, we feel bad, we have no energy, foggy thoughts, poor sleep and our perception is like looking through dirty glass. We can make out what is on the other side of the glass, but cannot get any detail. So we fuel the machine inadequately, we operate on a substandard level and we have no motivation to change it. We have just enough operational capacity to keep stopping at the Burger King and Whoppering ourselves into extra cheese oblivion… By the way, that shit on a Whopper isn’t really cheese… Just so you know… They serve a “cheesy substance” that’s made from cheese and other ingredients. It contains only 60% cheese and 40% fillers. Although casually referred to as American cheese in the US, it’s usually technically referred to as a pasteurized cheese food product… *gag* Anyway… In order to break that cycle, we need to eat enough good food to get enough long term energy to make better decisions and have the vigor to cook a fucking meal at least once in a while. No, not a frozen dinner, but a meal… Like food… Remember food? Before factories, food was thing… Still is, you just have to do some research, some shopping and take the time to learn how your oven works… No, the big white thing with the grates or swirled metal rings on top and the glass door where you store some pots and pans you don’t use and hang your kitchen towels. Not the box on the counter that heats your coffee in one minute…
Yeah, I’m being dramatic here but there are people in our culture who have no idea how to prepare a meal that doesn’t come with directions on the box…
So (hopefully) now you have the epiphany and if you start to eat correctly at least once in a while, some weird feelings start occurring and you feel better. A little more energy, a little better sleep, a little better life… In order to feel motivated, the first few weeks you have to force it…
That’s called discipline and let me alert you here. Discipline is awful… Discipline makes you stop at the grocery store and buy fresh greens, fresh meat and vegetables and go home to cook when you feel like a pizza. Discipline drives by McDonalds. Discipline makes you get up and exercise when you don’t want to. Discipline is a harsh taskmaster when you want to fuck off. But listen, discipline makes you proud of yourself. When you study instead of playing video games, you get good grades and that makes you proud. When you eat right, lose the weight you wanted, you’re proud and pride does something you don’t expect… Pride in your achievements motivates you… Holy Shit… Did you catch that? (*epiphanic moment*) <= insert dramatic music here...
Bad habits = bad feelings = no energy = no motivation = more bad habits
Repeat, repeat, repeat and health declines, life is substandard…
Good habits = good feelings = health and energy = motivation = more good habits
Repeat, repeat, repeat and good health and productive, happy and satisfying life…
So why aren’t you feeling good? Do you feel like broccoli and fresh fish are things you don’t deserve?
Get to work… Time is wasting…
Have a great day, it’s really up to you…
Epiphany leads to Motivation that leads to Discipline and Discipline creates Epiphany
Love ya… Mean it…
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