Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight
-Buddhist Quote
This Buddhist quote is one of my favorite sayings.
A friend gave me a card (pictured) many years ago when I first started writing books. The very first publisher I submitted my manuscript to responded with a two page letter explaining why I should never be a writer. Ever. It was pretty upsetting. I wanted to quit that moment and never submit another manuscript again. I sat discouraged at my desk and spied this quote which I had hung up on my shelf. I remember deciding in that moment to “get back up” and try it again. Let’s fast forward 15 years. I’ve now published seven books (and one is a New York Times Bestseller). It was the best lesson I ever learned. When you fall down, it’s so important to get back up and keep going forward. I’ve fallen down many more times—and I am sure you have too.
Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight is also a motivational quote I tell many of my clients, particularly when they are making efforts to change their eating and they slide back into old habits. It’s okay. It’s a good time to remember to get back up again and again until you get the hang of it. Keep trying. Things time take and most importantly use your missteps as teaching moments. For example, let’s say you skip breakfast and then grab the nearest thing in the lunch room (often donuts!) when you get to work. Rather than berating yourself and say, “I give up! I never do this right,” use it as a teaching moment to remember that skipping breakfast is the fast track to overeating.
The take home message I want to share with you today is that quotes work because they help shape your thoughts. Thoughts shape your actions. You control the direction of your thoughts. Find a quote that points you in the direction you want to go.
So if YOU are having a tough time today and feel that you have fallen down, my hope is that you get back up and try again to eat in a mindful way!