Disney…the epitome of Magical Thinking. Nothing is more magical than taking your child there for the first time and just watching them enjoy all that expensive fantasy. I admit by the 3rd, 4th and 5th time the magic does tend to fade, that’s when you go to the other magical place, EPCOT that serves “adult “ beverages. Walt Disney and his executive dreamers were very, very smart people. They knew how to engage the child, the child within us, and the adult that was sick of princesses and flying elephants by putting a giant bar (EPCOT) in the middle of the whole complex. You know who the other magical genius is? It’s Steve Jobs, I mean who could have imagined carrying around a computer the size of a deck of cards? I still find my iPhone magical, my iPad magical and my iNano thingy magical. I threw out my old giant cell phone from 1995 but kept my old Sony Walkman that was less than magical but okay back in 1995. Who could have ever dreamed that one day we would run with a postage stamp device that stores a jillion tunes, and not some lunky cassette player strapped to our backs in a neoprene fanny pack? I think there is a strong defense for magical thinking, as long as it’s not so magical you start referring to yourself as King or Queen of the Universe.
Your probably wondering why am I blabbering about Magical Thinking? What does this have to do with fitness? It has everything to do with fitness, because being fit is so magical…okay not really, but it has everything to do with thinking you can achieve a state of health and wellbeing that you currently don’t believe in. Maybe you just have convinced yourself that being overweight is some destiny handed down to you by a genetic relative named Helga. Maybe you have convinced yourself that exercise sucks more than a rerun of Full House. Maybe you tried this stuff before and failed, maybe you went to a gym full of bodybuilding posers and felt stupid and MAYBE you use every negative thought you have to avoid the possibility that your wrong. Cause I think your wrong…you just need a little magic in those thoughts.
Magic…really PT? Yes. What if Steve Jobs never actually had one magical thought that he could overtake the computer universe? What if Walt never thought about building a giant imaginary empire? I read somewhere that Mr. Apple really did have magical thinking, that he actually thought he was super special and while it appears that this caused him to be a rather arrogant man, I’d say it worked for him. It’s pretty hard to picture something you don’t believe in. Which leads me into the concepts of desire and intention. Without getting all Deepak on you, I’ll try to keep this simple. Desire is a wish…I wish I was model skinny, I wish I had a BMW, I wish I had those Jimmy Choo’s . Intention is desire with a plan. I wish I had those Jimmy Choo’s so my plan is to save $50 every pay period for a year or until I have a spare$1,000 lying around. Intention has an action plan and a goal, but no attachment to every single little detail that might make it happen. Life isn’t a static rigid thing, there are always going to be adjustments made to accommodate the bigger picture. There is real science behind this intention stuff and it’s called Michael Bratman’s Theory of Human Practical Reasoning. This theory is also called the BDI (Belief- Desire-Intention) Model, which is used in computer programming of all things! I’ll spare you all the egghead details, just do a Wikipedia search and go ahead and bore yourself on your own. But what I found really compelling was the statement that “beliefs” are stored in a database (we store ours in our minds) and I quote” Using the term belief rather than knowledge recognizes that what an agent believes may not necessarily be true and in fact may change the future” !!! So…if you really believe your destiny is to be an overweight, out of shape human then you may in fact be shaping your future to match that, even if it’s not remotely true.
Maybe you need a little magical thinking to replace all those negative belief’s you’ve grown so fond of. And by the way, an excuse is nothing more than some negative belief you’ve convinced yourself to be a convenient truth. Usually this is the part where I get into a “discussion” with a client, and let me tell you people will hold onto an excuse tighter than Mariah Carey’s spandex. Today why don’t you dare to dream for just a minute that change is possible, matter of fact it could be magical. Take that wish and turn it into an intention, take that intention and build a plan. Set yourself one small goal and don’t be too attached to how you’re going to get there. No one path to health and wellness is the same for everybody, and your goals and desires should be what matters to you not some image put out in a magazine. My goal as a fitness professional is to be your guide, mentor and coach. If you need a magic wand…call me…I’ll help you create some magic in your life.
PT
