What Do You See?

Do you see the musician or the woman?

I've lost nearly 40 pounds in 9 weeks. And I find myself disappointed in my efforts. I catch myself asking, "Why haven't I lost more? What can I do to ramp up my weight loss? Why is this taking so long?"

Next time I get on the scale, I just know it's going to say, "Just kidding fat ass!"

In my mind's eye, I'm no different than I was two months ago.

Doesn't this happen to so many of us when we're making changes for the better?

When you are working hard at something, and have been successful at that endeavor, it feels like your mind tries to convince you otherwise. When we work to be more forgiving, patient, kind, mindful, or empathetic how many of us delude ourselves into believing that on the inside we aren't those things?

How many of us see a distortion of who we really are?

The moments of mental weakness we have do not define us. Whether they be thoughts about saying the mean thing, or the thought of losing your temper, or the thought of eating the whole box of cookies. Yes, we are told we are judged by our thoughts. If you have a thought over and over and over, you will likely succumb to that idea.

But, what truly defines us is if we give in to the thought. If you fill your mind with who you want to be, your actions will follow.

One of the adversary's greatest tricks is to try and convince us that we are not doing good things. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our fears. He knows our insecurities.

Next time your mind is filled with thoughts that are contrary to the good you are doing: stop. Where are those thoughts coming from? Are they justified? Could you be doing better?

Or are you being tricked by an illusion crafted by the master of deceit?