What do you do when you don’t feel like it, but yet you have made the commitment? Or maybe you do feel like it, but committed not to. Does your mind send you all sorts of convincing arguments as to why it is ok? Some justification that sounds super reasonable? It happens to all of us.

And many times, we listen to these justifications and take the action it is trying to convince us to take. And you know what? It’s normal, and it’s ok.

The real problem comes in when we shame ourselves about it after the fact. When we use our misstep as permission to beat up on ourselves. Like thinking that will do us good, when it in fact does the opposite.

The trick is to view it as an opportunity. What if we took this time after to say, ok, what was that justification my brain came up that sealed the deal? What was that statement that finally said, “You know, that’s right, it’s ok if I skip that exercise, or to eat the ice cream.” Then once we have identified it, let’s write it down, and file it away in our memory, so that the next time that sneaky justification comes in, we will recognize it. That familiar statement will ring a bell and give us a moment to say, “Hey, wait a minute, you tried that on me last time, but now I am wiser, so I am not going to listen to you.”

Let’s not waste our experiences or use them to make it harder on ourselves. Let’s turn the tables on it by using it to our advantage. Let’s learn the game of our own brains and let the observer within help us take the higher path to get where we want to go.

Let’s also not shame ourselves when it happens again, because it will. Maybe many times. Every time is another opportunity to learn about ourselves. To learn about why. To reaffirm our goals and revisit our reasons why. Or, maybe even to modify or change our goals when needed.

It is all a practice. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes if you keep using what you experience as tools to positively keep taking steps forward.