TRIGGERS

No. This is not what I am talking about.

And neither is this.

This is Roy Rogers and his horse, Trigger for those of you to young to remember.

A "trigger" can be any stimuli that causes a specific and different reaction. For instance, have you ever smelled a bottle of baby lotion while you were walking up the aisle at Walmart and had it trigger a memory from 40 years before when you bathed and lotioned your firstborn baby? Have you read a favorite poem and had it trigger a memory so vivid of a favorite English teacher that you could almost see her standing at the front of the classroom?

There are all kinds of triggers. My husband uses shock collars on his hunting dogs so that he won't lose them if they start running a deer instead of a rabbit. He doesn't even have to shock them anymore. He pushes a tone button and it immediately triggers a response from the dogs. They come right back to where ever he is standing. (He wishes he could use the collar on me, sometimes! I don't obey nearly as well as his dogs. GRIN)

What we've established in our "chats" over the past few days is:

• If I want to change my unhealthy eating and exercise behavior I must change my beliefs
• I change my beliefs first by replacing lies with truth
• I must repeat that truth over and over for it to become deeply etched in my mind

As I implement repetition of truth, I must find ways to incorporate it into my daily activities.

That's where TRIGGERS come in. I identify activities I engage in one or more times a day, such as driving, looking at my watch, showering, eating, or using the restroom. I decide to pick one or two of them as TRIGGERS to remind me to repeat my new healthy messages.

We all use the restroom several times a day. Sorry if you don't like to talk about such things. I don't either. But it's a fact of life, we do. For most of us, it's one place we are seldom interrupted.

How about using your potty breaks as a TRIGGER for some positive self talk. Write your new healthful messages on an index card. Keep it in the bathroom. Every time you go in there, pick it up and read it. Pretty soon you'll have it memorized. Pretty soon repeating those helpful healthy messages every time you go to the restroom will become second nature - things you do on auto-pilot. Pretty soon your new healthy messages will be etched into your brain. Pretty soon they will be part of your belief system.

What's going to happen when your new healthy messages have become part of your belief system? You got it, sister! Your behavior's gonna change!! HALLELUJAH!!