I keep a pen and pad on my nightstand because The Grasshopper visits at the oddest hours. I was awakened in the middle of the night and wrote down his message: “The path to where you want to go starts on the path you are currently on.”

I believe that’s another way of saying you can only begin from where you are.

The old punch line, “You can’t get there from here” is totally inaccurate. Here is the only place you can begin.

Our sorrows begin when we want to jump to a new path without taking into account where we currently are. There is a lot of misdirection in that strategy. We hop all over the place like a toad on a hot sidewalk. That’s not a successful strategy for finding a path to a refreshing lily pad.

Think of the person (you) who may be dissatisfied with something going on in your life. Perhaps you want to escape such circumstances. If you don’t start on the path that you are on, you will have multiple, unfulfilling flights of fancy.

Weight loss will be a giant flight of fancy for millions in a little over a week. Many are even contemplating that new path now. They are envisioning what they want to look and feel like down the line, but don’t acknowledge where they are now.

Where they are now is the only place to begin. It begins with acknowledging what is here at the moment. Here at the moment is a body that is carrying X amount of pounds. We are so bound and determined to get to where we want to go that we forget to look at where we are.

This isn’t a suggestion to get into a “fat slob” assessment of yourself. That’s never worked in the past, and if it has, it was only temporary.

The new path begins by unemotionally assessing where you currently are. For example, “My body is weighing in at 200 pounds.” My face is fuller than it was a year ago, and my stomach is hanging over my belt. I am winded after walking up 7 stairs. The clothes in my closet don’t fit me.” That is where you are.

The minute pejorative expressions enter the conversation, you are no longer where you truly are. You are in a conditioned world you made up in your head that is far removed from the facts. “I’m a big, fat, ugly load” is an opinion, not a fact. Here is where the facts are.

You are unlikely to get down the path with opinions. Opinions may get you fired up with willpower, but willpower will only take you so far down the path.

It takes personal honesty to face the facts, and once faced, you truly know where you are – Here! If you want to start someplace else, you will do lots of wheel spinning. Someplace else is filled with mantras that never work and are totally devoid of facts. “I am healthy, wealthy and wise” is a noble notion but devoid of the facts that you are 50 pounds overweight, on the verge of bankruptcy, and have a documented history of making unproductive decisions.

It is wonderful to have goals but you’re unlikely to reach them if you don’t start here. Here is the land of grounded assessments. They are grounded in the facts. Once you have that level of honesty with yourself, minus the invectives, you are at a starting point that has greater odds of getting you to finish.

Make 2012 be your “Dragnet” year – “Just the facts, ma’am” and see how much further down the path you go.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING
ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF
STOP SMOKING FOREVER
SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT EVERY NIGHT
IMPROVE YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE
I LOVE MY BODY
RELAX IN 2 MINUTES
FEEL FOREVER YOUNG
VIRTUAL MASSAGE