Tuesday, October 30, 2007

"Good Girl"

While reading September's issue of "Real Simple" recently, I read this article that I just had to share!


The Power of Praise

"Positive reinforcement works - on children, on work colleagues, even on pets. So why don't you use it on yourself? Take a moment to revel in your own successes and those of others, says life coach Gail Blanke. Everyone will feel better for it."

4 Steps to Becoming a Praiser
1. Point out something that someone is doing right, every day.
2. Seek out good behavior in others that might not be repeated if it goes unnoticed.
3. Make a list ofyour own "wins" over the past couple of months - big and small.
4. Say "Good Girl" to yourself every chance you get from now on.

Do you acknowledge yourself and the good things you do, or do you just move on to the next task?


Encouragement, in whatever format, is vital to every day life. Don't believe me? Next time a small child accomplishes something, try clapping for them and see how much they *light* up! How much more is that needed in our lives as woman? We give and give and give, until there's nothing left of us to give.

It's far too easy to get overwhelmed with all that needs to be done, but what if we encouraged ourselves through out the day? What kind of difference would that make in your life? I know that when positive feedback comes my way, I stand up a little bit straigher, gain confidence and work that much harder.

I'm FAR too hard on myself. I need to learn to relax and relish in the small wins. Without those, there'd be nothing big to celebrate. Boy, once I've made up my mind to do something, there's no stopping me!!! Which... can be a detriment (stubborn), but it's also what gives me my drive, determination and gumption.

In the past, I had a bad habit of starting something, but never finishing it. Well, I really wanted to get back into writing. For me, it's just a stress reliever. It also allows my mind to release some of its pent up ideas. I'm really proud of myself for sticking with this blog. Good Girl, Meredith, for following through.

I'm also so proud of myself for the desire to become healthy, once and for all. I've struggled with my weight my entire life. I woke up one morning literally a year ago and said, I've had enough, something's got to change. I joined Curves October 30, 2006. Since then, I can't tell you how much weight I've lost. Honestly, in order for me to maintain sanity, I had to go by how my clothes were fitting. And truth be told, I've lost A WHOLE SIZE in both pants and shirts. Which, is so exciting! I've kinda been keeping the whole thing under wraps, because with my rate of failure, I didn't want to set myself up for a fall. But now it's out there for all the world to see! Good Girl, Meredith, for sticking with it!

Today, while I was getting my braces off! PTL!!! Tabitha, the hygenist said, "Have you lost weight?" Wow. What woman doesn't love to hear those four little words?!? It's really refreshing to hear encouragement like that. To see myself every day, it would appear that nothing has changed. But to know that others do see a difference, that motivates me to work even harder!

Good Girl, Meredith!!

1 comment:

Stacey said...

Hi, Meredith,

Congratulations on your weightloss AND on getting your braces off! It's really great that you have stuck with this for a whole year. It's often easy to START a healthier diet, but very difficult to STAY with it very long. I feel sooo much better when I eat healthy, but if I ever get into those bad habits, its a nightmare to get back on track!! (Halloween candy is not my friend)