This week we started an MKMMA DIET … No, not the kind illustrated above. That’s, perhaps, the topic for another blog, at another time. THIS diet is MUCH more difficult, requires much more deliberate concentration (if you can believe it), yet the successful completion of just SEVEN DAYS on this diet will have residual effects that will echo in my daily life for – well – the rest of my life!
The diet begun this week is call THE SEVEN DAY MENTAL DIET. (HOW TO CHANGE MY LIFE IN A WEEK)Â from a pamphlet written first in 1935 by Emmet Fox. Ponder these words for a minute:
“The most important of all factors in my life is the mental diet on which I live. It is the food which I furnish to my mind that determines the whole character of my life. It is the thoughts I allow myself to think, the subjects that I allow myself to dwell upon, which make me and my surroundings what they are.”
“Everything in my life today – … – is entirely conditioned by the thoughts and feelings which I have entertained in the past, by the habitual tone of my past thinking. And the condition of my life tomorrow, and the next week, and next year, will be entirely conditioned by the thoughts and feelings which I choose to entertain from now onwards.”
“For seven days I must not allow myself to dwell for a single moment on any kind of negative thought.” “… a negative thought is any thought of failure, disappointment, or trouble; any thought of criticism, or spite, or jealousy, or condemnation of others, or self-condemnation; any thought of sickness or accident; or, in short, any kind of limitation or pessimistic thinking. Any thought that is not positive and constructive in character, whether it concerns me, myself, or anyone else, is a negative thought.”
So … you ask … how exactly does one accomplish this? In real life? At a real job? With a real family? (I asked that too!!) The answer, of course, is just dive in and do it with a sense of humor and a really quick trigger finger on the “reset” button. Reset button? Yup. Every time I dwell on a negative thought – let it affect me, let it get to me, make me respond or rehash it … back to day one!
The goal? Let those negative thoughts slide on by without giving them any power at all. Do not consent to give them any attention. I’ve hit the reset button quite a few times this week. After a couple of resets the first day or 2, I was doing pretty well until just yesterday as I was going to bed. I began mentally reciting all the things I had not accomplished that day (I’m supposed to always keep my promises and get things DONE, right?!) and that led into all the things that had slipped behind during the earlier part of the week. OOPS!!!  *RESET*
I’ll keep this up until I make it 7 whole days without dwelling on, or being affected by, negative thoughts. It’s tough, but it is SO worth it. I love the way my mind feels, the way the air feels brighter and my shoulders lighter. It links so well with “Scroll II” in the Greatest Salesman. “I will greet this day with love in my heart.    And I will succeed!!”
Thanks for visiting. More next week. I promise.
Enjoyed your blog. Thank you.
Excellent summary of the Mental Diet – seriously difficult those first few days! How have you been doing lately (I am back up to TWO whole days in a row 😉 )
via @MKMMA_Donald #MKMMA
Thanks Donald – doing better! I get slipped up by, of all things, my dogs. The Old Blueprint must not have had as much patience as I thought! LOL
I love the clear description of the 7-Day Mental Diet. Honest, and true. And I especially like the way you weave the images throughout the text. Very engaging and fun to read. Thank you.
Great thoughts Deb! Glad to me on the journey with you. I may have to borrow a reset button. Mine is getting worn out! Like you I’ll persevere until I achieve a full seven days. NGU!
and we look forward to reading your blog next week. Thanks!