Equal & Opposite Reaction Part II

You see, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  If you choose to let the negative things in life be negative in your life, then your life will be negative and all you will see is all of the bad things that happen to you.  But the worst thing is - if you choose to only focus on all the negative that happens to you, then you are losing out on seeing all of the good things that happen to you.  If you choose to see the positive things, then you will see ALL of the positive things, no matter how tiny they are. 
Did you know that 7 positive things make up for 1 bad thing?  You can view this in 2 ways:
Well, there aren't enough positive things to make up for that 1 terrible thing that happened. >:\  (negative)
OR
It only takes 7 tiny, almost insignificant things to make up for that 1 terrible thing? Awesome! (positive)

I mean, finding a penny on the floor could be viewed as positive.  How many times have I been 1 penny short or maybe 4 pennies and I just happen to have 4 pennies in my kids car seat. All 4 he found on the ground! (Because I certainly didn't give them to him:)  The person walking by you in the hall who smiled at you and said hello and they don't even know you.  They could have just ignored your presence completely and kept walking.  Or maybe that person who bumped into you.  They actually said excuse me, instead of just walking on like you should've gotten out of their way when you had no where to go but the wall.

You see every thing in life, and I mean EVERY-THING, can be viewed as a negative circumstance or a positive circumstance.  Let me give you just one example.

The Amber Alert was started after a little girl in Arlington, TX was abducted.  A neighbor heard her scream and was able to call the police department with a description of the vehicle.  Local news and radios broadcasted the information right away.  Unforunately the girl's body was found 4 days later.  But it was this response that gave someone the idea to have this response every time a child is abducted.  As of January 7, 2010, the AMBER Alert Program was directly responsible for the safe recovery of 495 children.  (http://www.amberalert.com/press/national-amber-alert-awareness-day-2/) 
Although this was a tragic circumstance for this family, something good came of it for 495 other families.  What do YOU choose to focus on?

When my family was in a roll over car accident in January 2010 a wonderful lady who witnessed the accident stopped to help.  She was standing outside my upside down vehicle holding my 2 year old and hugging my 10year old daughter as my husband was unbuckling my 4mo pregnant self.  After I had climbed out and was with my kids, the woman looked at me and said, "How are you doing so well?"  (I wasn't crying, I may have been shaking, but only a little.) I told her, "Well, what's done is done. I can't change it and we're all okay. "  Now granted, if we had not been all okay, I'm sure my demeanor would have been different at that time.  But whatever the outcome could have been...What's Done - Is Done.  We can't change what has happened to us.  We can only react.  And how you choose to react is how you will handle life.  I'm not saying it's going to be easy.  You may have to force yourself to do what is necessary and you may have to force yourself to restrain acting the way you really want to act.  But just like your reaction to what has happened to you, what YOU do will also cause a reaction and so on and so on.

So, what will you choose?
Will you choose to allow the negative events in your life define your life and make life miserable for you?
Or
Will you choose to turn those events into something positive?
Learn from them; Grow from them; and Become a better person because of them

Equal & Opposite Reaction Part I

Although experiences in life usually inspire what I write, I don't usually have specific people or circumstances in mind that motivate me to write.  Although people or situations come to me that could relate, they are not usually THE reason I write something.  I've been reading this book/Bible study called Chasing the Lion.  (The book it originates from is In a Pit with a Lion on a Snow Day, by Mark Batterson.  I am absolutely LO-VING this book.  It is all about, well, changing your point of view, really.  What seems like tremendous obstacles or impossible circumstances, could actually be your greatest opportunities.  But you have to be able to SEE the opportunity and then SEIZE the opportunity. So it got me thinking.

How many people let their circumstances define who they are.  I know people who have been abused, molested, have lost husbands, children, parents, close relatives & friends, have been victims of tragedies.  I also know people who have had it easy all their life.  Some financially, some relationally, some circumstancially where nothing bad has really happend to them.  I also know people who have had it both ways.  They have been victim to terrible things and yet have had great opportunities and blessings in their life.  Now some of these people, only see the negative and dwell on the negative, which ultimately blinds them so they never really see all the positive things in their life.  And they are pretty miserable, sometimes fun to be around, but on the inside they feel miserable.  I also know people who have been victim to or experienced great tragedies, but have embraced the blessings and good things that have come to them. 

I have to say, I think I've had it pretty easy.  I haven't really been victim to any great tragedies.  I can definitely name some negative things that I've experienced, losing ALL my grandparents when I was very young, parents divorced in high school, was married, had a baby, and got a divorce all within 18months, all while I was in college, nearly went through a 2nd divorce.  Not great tragedies, but not great times either.  However, I don't let those experiences define me.  I learn from those experiences.  Sometimes I learn from other people's experiences.  I learn what not to do; I learn what TO DO; I learn what to treasure and what not to take granted.  I let those experiences make me who I am by the way I CHOOSE to react.  I could choose to react in a way that is selfish - feeling sorry for myself that i never knew my grandparents or that my parents didn't stay together. Or I could choose to see the good that may have come from those things, or the things that I learned, and maybe to help others with the experiences I've gone through.

You could be like me, became a mother very young. You didn't get to live out those younger years, when you had an excuse to be kinda crazy. You could choose to be irresponsible and live them out now while your children are growing up OR you could choose to be thankful that you were spared the embarrassing moments or maybe even tragedies that could have been.

Maybe you are a mother, plain and simple. You could let that define who you are and let yourself go.  No time for you, all for the children. Maybe you don't take care of YOURself (exercise, eating healthy, looking nice, having quiet time to rest & relax) making you feel resentful, bitter, overweight, dealing with health issues, maybe your marriage is suffering, maybe your kids are spoiled.  OR you could be a Woman...a women of God, be a wife, then be a mother.  One who takes care of yourself, spiritually, mentally & physically, making you not only able to care for your marriage and your family, but also making you feel self-confident, healthy, energized, and ultimately respected by your husband and children.

Maybe you are a business owner.  You could let your business own you. All of your time and effort is spent investing in the business leaving you no time or energy to invest in your spiritual, social, or family life.  OR you could use your ownership and authority to make time for your spiritual, social and family life.

Maybe you've been in bad relationship after bad relationship.  You could feel sorry for yourself and ask what is wrong with me?  What did i do wrong?  or maybe, Why wasn't he has happy, I was?  OR you can take a step back and see what was it that went wrong?  What was I not seeing? What was he not seeing?  And learn from the experience what to do next time and what NOT to do.  So that the next person will be a better match or in the next relationship you'll know how to handle situations when they arise.

Maybe you are a victim of a tragedy or simply have been a victim. You could use that as an excuse to feel defeated when any little thing goes wrong.  OR you can use it to help someone who has experienced the same thing you have, because rest assured you are NOT the only one who has gone through it or is going to go through it.  Maybe even use it as a motivator to fight back: get justice, fight for the cause, start a cause, change legislation, whatever the case may be.  Use your experiences for the good. Don't keep it all in.  You can use negative energy and turn it into positive energy and do good with it.

Don't get me wrong!!  What I am NOT saying is that everyone should be happy go lucky all of the time and no matter how terrible things are in life you should still be happy and thankful.  Well, I'm not exactly saying that.  There are definitely times and circumstances to mourn and times that you have to fight to get out of bed or to face people and life in general.  And you must do those things - mourn, fight, and face. But you can't stay in those places of mourning, an angry place of fighting, avoiding facing the people, facing the circumstances.  You must move on.  It may not be easy at first, but it gets easier and easier...  If you choose to wake up and think of the positive things rather than worry about all the negative things that might happen.

Dairy??

Ok, so all of my posts are mainly my personal opinion mixed with some professional/educated knowledge.  This one is only a little different in that I have very little nutritional education to go by.  Maybe more than the average Joe, but I only took 1 nutrition class and I'm sure there is a ton more info that I could delve into, but I haven't, so these are my speculations based on what I know and what I've experienced. 

Here it goes...After I had my 3yr old son, we found out that he was allergic to dairy.  So I cut it from my diet so that I could continue nursing him.  That was extremely tough given that nearly all my meals included some form of dairy, a glass of milk, a container of yogurt, cheese in a casserole, even butter & milk in cookies, breads and seasonings.  Since this cut out a LOT of foods, I ended up losing a ton of weight and very quickly.  When I stopped nursing him, I slowly reintroduced dairy back into my diet and kept all the weight off. (You see I had formed an excellent habit of THINKING TWICE about what I was putting into my mouth and what was IN that food.)  Well, I ended up cutting dairy out of my diet after my amost 7month old daughter was born in July.  I stopped nursing a few weeks ago and dove write into that dairy having a cheese burger and a few Reese's Peices the very first day and several the last few days.  And, at risk of revealing a side of me you may never see in person, I went...well, let's say I got really hyper one night and acted ridiculously silly. If anyone else had seen me they would've thought I was drunk-I'm not exaggerating.  My husband and daughter will both tell you.  And my husband told me that night after I had somewhat calmed down, he said, "You know, you have been eating a lot of dairy."  DANG IT, he was so right!  But it wasn't necessarily healthy dairy, like a glass of 2% milk or Greek yogurt, it was more like breads, chips, crackers, cookies...I wasn't afraid to indulge in the stuff I had been avoiding.  But here's the thing, I still thought twice about it, I just did it anyway, just because I knew I could.  What I was NOT thinking about was what would happen AFTER I ate that 1 cookies or few chips.  I inevitably wanted more...and ate more.  My brain shut off after that first bite and my taste buds kicked in.  "yummy, yummy, you want more, eat more, eat more"  and I did.

So, it got me thinking, what is it?   Let's just cut to the chase.  The not-healthy dairy I'm talking about consists mainly of what we would normally think of as CARBS:  bread, chips, crackers, cookies.  And we know that CARBS enter our body and are digested & absorbed as SUGAR.  And all that goes along with that.  But here's what we DON'T THINK about.  All those CARBS not only contain carb sugars, they also contain added SUGAR & some form of DAIRY - butter, sour cream, cheese.  Now the ingredients may not say one of these 3 things. Instead it will say: Whey  or Casein and whatever other micro-ingredients it is made up of.  (Disclaimer: Whey & Casein are dairy proteins.  But if they are listed, then that means whatever the seasoning they're using has dairy.  This is where my nutrtion knowledge is not perfect and more speculation.)  The thing about Dairy is that it also has SUGAR in the form of maltose.  Now, I may be a little off here, but here is the conclusion I have come to.  The foods that I have listed above and am calling "unhealthy dairy" and what the majority of society calls "carbs" give us a triple blow of SUGAR!  #1 Carbohydrate Sugar (usually flour),#2 Added Sugar (usually high fructose corn syrup),   #3 Diary sugar, not to mention the FAT because I guarantee you they're not using low fat sour cream, butter or cheese.

So, if your body & brain are sensitive to sugar in that it shuts off and tells you "give me more!" even when you know it's not good for you, then I would highly suggest you stay away from FOOD WITH DAIRY!  And if you're not sure if it has dairy, then it's probably best to not eat it.  This would include some of the following:
Dinner Rolls & Bisquits - from the resteraunt, from the freezer section, from the bakery.  Read the label if you can!  You DO want #1 Stone Ground Whole Wheat, #2 make sure there is no Whey, Casein or Caseinate, Butter.

Crackers & Chips - Baked & Plain are your best choices.  Making your own is even better. 
(Potato Chips - Slice potato into thin slices; Put in a big bowl, Pour 1-2Tbsp Olive Oil; Stir to cover; Sprinkle some salt or salt free Mrs. Dash of your liking, Stir once more; Bake in oven on 400F for 20-30min.
Tortilla Chips - Cut corn tortilla's into 6 triangles (2 tortillas/person = 12 chips is only 110calories); follow the instructions above.)

Cookies, Cakes, Pastries - These we all know we should stay away from to begin with.  But if you have a craving you just can't get past, I would make my own.  There are a few boxed cookies and even fewer in the bakery section that are also dairy free. The funny thing is, the cookies that are DAIRY FREE ARE USUALLY ALSO SUGAR FREE, too.  Hmmm-I may be onto something!

Good Luck Y'all!!

I'm gonig to get back into my old routine - no diary!  unless it's Greek Yogurt. I think that'll be okay for a snack every once in a while.