One Word 2014: Blessing 

We’re one month into the New Year and I’m excited to say I haven’t broken any resolutions yet, and that’s because I didn’t make any! This year the One Word option is something I welcome into my life. If you’d like to learn more about One Word, you can select the One Word 2014 tab near the top left of this blog and learn all about it and why the word Blessing is my guiding word for this entire year.

When it comes to health and fitness I can be quite the downer. I don’t recall ever waking up and thinking, “Yeah, I get to go to the gym and sweat on a machine!” or “Yeah, my aching legs and butt still hurt two days after my lower body workout!” I give thanks to God, but I certainly don’t get all excited about going to work out or HAVING TO lose weight. At times this healthy living journey feels like punishment. In my mind I tell myself I am being punished for having eaten way too many processed foods and not exercising enough.

NEGATIVE THINKING HAS TO STOP NOW!

This is what I told myself yesterday. Negative thinking has never helped anyone lose weight and keep it off. Negativity is not healthy. My word is Blessing, so… what blessings can I find, give thanks for and share with you as encouragement (for those who need that extra spiritual motivation). I give thanks to God that it didn’t take me long to count my weight loss and fitness blessings.

Health Blessings:

I’m alive: Seems silly, but I have to give thanks for this. I’m alive and it can’t get any better than this.

I don’t have terminal illness: Terminal illness isn’t necessarily related to poor health choices, and this is all the more reason to give thanks that death is not at my door. There are many people lying in hospital wishing they could trade places with me right now. I am fairly healthy and I have to give thanks for this.

I can afford fitness equipment and a subsidised gym membership: I don’t have an at home gym, but I have some basics like kettle bells, medicine balls, foam rollers, bands,lots of DVD’s, and yoga mats to name a few. I am fortunate to live in a city where the municipal government subsidises fitness memberships for those with low incomes. For those with limited funds to spare the YMCA also assists individuals and families with the cost of memberships. I am blessed because I have no excuse for not obtaining a gym membership.

I have a choice: Having a choice to decide if I want to commit to being healthy is a major blessing that I think we take for granted here in North America. We have so much food in this country that I get to make a choice between eating healthy or reaching for the not-so-good-for-you temptations. We’ve all seen those sad commercials with hungry people who need our less than dollar a day. I wondered, “If I have a choice, why is it so difficult to make the healthiest decisions”.

ARE YOU BRAGGING OR SHOWING OFF? 

No, I’m not doing either. What I’m doing is counting my blessings and I’m sparing you all the details by telling you that I would have to write a lot more pages if I were to list for you all the blessings given to me by God as it relates to my health journey.

Application:

We’re a month into 2014 (and two days if you are celebrating Lunar New Year). I encourage you to take stock of the many health and fitness blessings that have been made available to you. I sometimes think that if we knew how blessed we were in our quest for health we would be more diligent in taking care of ourselves. We would no longer see our journey as tiring, boring, punishing, a duty, a hassle or any other negative emotion. Most importantly, we would bless the Lord for blessing us with whatever health we’ve been given.

So, go ahead, count your fitness blessings all week long! I’m excited for you to see the awesomeness of God as He inserts Himself into your goals for health and wellness.