Motivation Tuesday

I really enjoy it when people have themed days on their blogs, like Wordless Wednesday, so I'm considering trying to come up with some of my own. This, however, is motivational Tuesday, which is not even remotely alliterative. :) 

Here's my motivational quote for all you HFH participants, and especially my TEAM, and a question to consider. 

"Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can achieve a permanently happy spirit." 

Norman Vincent Peale

This isn't so obviously about weight loss and maintaining your motivation as some other quotes, but it made me smile this morning. At least in my experience, it's hard to stay on plan and be successful when my heart and mind aren't in a good place. And changing my lifestyle has been fraught with opportunities for failure and pitfalls. To get on the scale every morning one must be a glutton for punishment, because you open yourself up for disappointment and discouragement every single time. The inner workings of the body are inscrutable--sometimes I'm perfect for a week and still gain half a pound, sometimes I'm off-plan for a few days and still lose a couple. Thus, maintaining a positive attitude through the minefield, and keeping my goals and reasons solidly in mind, is the best way to keep up my enthusiasm and motivation. 

And I'm guilty of this particularly--I forget how much of my thoughts are controllable. The negative inner monologue has been going for so long that I sometimes forget that I can actually rewrite it. That becoming happy and hopeful is simply a matter of doing what he says: practicing hope. Just like I train my body to run longer or faster or my muscles to lift more, I can actually train my mind to think positively. When I can't control anything else, I can at least control my thoughts and my own reactions to things. It's not easy, but for me, it's the way to daily joy. 

So, my question: What can we do to practice hopefulness about our successful weight loss? I'm going to put some inspirational quotes, some motivational pictures of clothes I'd like to wear, and a note card with the number of pounds I've already lost, up on the wall in front of my scale, so that every morning when I face that number, I'm also reminded of how far I've come. The knowledge that I have already been successful, that I know what it takes and have done it before, will give me hope. So here it is... my moment of zen. :)

Good luck! Have a great week! :)