I had dinner with a friend recently, and we were both lamenting putting on a couple of pounds.  She was telling me a funny story about a friend of ours who ran down a list of quick fixes during their conversation earlier in the day – special cleanses, juices, raw foods only.  She listened to her thoughtfully, and then kind of laughed and said, “But we both know what works, don’t we?  And neither of us are doing what works at the moment.  That’s why we look the way we do right now.”

What a fantastic observation.  In 2010, I went to Marianne Williamson’s keynote at the “I Can Do It” conference, and she mentioned a similar idea.  “At this point, most of us have gone to the same conferences.  We’ve read the same books.  We’ve worked the same tapes.  And we need to stop taking notes and go out in the world and demonstrate our spiritual beliefs.”  Likewise, most of us intuitively know what works for us – physically, emotionally and financially.  The trick is to start doing it, rather than deciding to listen to another teaching…to think about what we should start to do.

Having dinner with my friend reminded me how much I need to return to some of these core actions this Summer. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but this is a short list to give you some ideas:

1. I will choose healthy food for at least 80% of my meals.  (Even though I technically met the bar last week, the nachos one night, cheeseburger the next couldn’t have been a good idea…)
2. I will move most days of the week.  (Uh, maybe cutting my walking workout back to 2 miles needs to get put on ice while I work off those nachos!)
3. I will take an electronic Sabbath, powering down my phone by 9 PM every night.

Is there something in your life where you need to return to the basics?  Something going astray – where you know some small changes like the ones above could get you back on track before things get out of hand?  This week, take in the words of Rachel Snyder: “Allow yourself to ask for what you need.  Allow yourself to need help, to need love, to need other people.  Give yourself permission to say, “This is what I need,” to say it without shame, without guilt.  Now allow yourself to receive what is offered.”