Spiritual | A Love Lee Place

Decisions…Decisions…Everyday we are bombarded with decisions; from what to wear, what to eat, or what to do with our day. Heck, sometimes we have to decide what to do from minute to minute and don’t even have the luxury of planning a day. You get the picture…Right?

Well, this week I’ve been making arrangements for my mother’s care and have been inundated with decisions… I had to:

Decide on a Primary Care Physician
Decide on a Dentist from a long list of preferred providers
Decide on which pharmacy to use
Decide on a provider service
Decide on a Home Health Agency

I think you get my drift. Some decisions were easy for me and others were extremely difficult. I have no idea how our geriatric population navigates the healthcare system without a medically trained individual to help them. When I tell you it was difficult, I really mean…IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!!

So as you can imagine, one evening when Richard asked me, “Hey Babe, what’s for dinner?” I just about lost it! My response was, “Please don’t make me decide. My brain hurts!”.

Yep, you guessed it! That man of mine jumped into action and not only decided; HE COOKED!!!

Now, I will say that not all decisions are difficult but everything we do begins with a decision. I recently heard that statement in a podcast and it caused me to pause. The pause…That’s an important component of processing for me. It’s that period of time when what you heard begins to really sink in.

And there it was, my “aha moment”. Oh my gosh…It’s my decision not my husband’s, not my mother’s, not my kid’s or grandkid’s!!! It’s my decision and I get to choose. Not only do I get to choose..I either celebrate or suffer the impact of my decision.

For example, in December of 2023 I made the decision to commit to a low carb/ high protein lifestyle. Now this was not a decision about weight loss but more about feeling better. It was also about mentally and emotionally releasing weight. To use the term weight loss would mean I lost something and I needed to find it but to release the weight was to let it go and not have to find or replace it.

So, committing to a low carb lifestyle was my first decision and since then, I have had to decide daily whether I would continue to honor my initial decision or would I make a different decision.

Either way…I GET to choose. Now you talk about EMPOWERING!!!

For a solid year without fail, daily I honored my decision to follow a low carb lifestyle. As a result, I have released 20 lbs. Some might say, “Only 20lbs?…That’s not much in a year!” Haha, to that I say, lug a 20 pound bag of potatoes everywhere you go and tell me it won’t make you tired!!!

Recently, I decided step out of my low carb lifestyle on 4 different occasions. While I didn’t add to my weight, I did suffer some consequences such as bloating, swelling, brain fog, and malaise. Yep, I chose to:

Eat what everyone else ate for Christmas
Eat the pizza that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious
Eat a piece of homemade Italian Cream Cake to celebrate Richard’s Birthday
Eat a piece of homemade Chocolate Cream Pie to celebrate Mother’s Birthday

Ok…Ok…Ok..

To be totally transparent Richard and my Mother’s Birthday’s are on the same day…YIKES!!!

As you’re reading this, I am sure you’re asking, “Lee Ann, Why on earth are you sharing all this?”.

Well, here it is in a nutshell…

You get to decide:

What’s best for your physical body
What’s best for your emotional wellbeing
What’s best for your Soul Spiritually
What people you want to associate with
What you want to be when you “grow up”
What kind of legacy you want to leave

My Friend…It All Starts With a Decision and You Get to Decide

PS: I’m writing this post sitting at the kitchen island while staring at the remainder of the Italian Cream Cake and I’ve decided to honor my 1st decision…No Cake for Me!!!

I LOVE New Years…It is a celebration of getting rid of the old and bringing in the new. Old habits and emotions are discarded and replaced with new and innovative ideas and practices. A time to Clean our Slates and Clear the Clutter.

So isn’t it fitting that the Christmas takes place just before the arrival of a New Year? Snap…I had not thought of this before today…It is actually the celebration of the birth of Christ that prepares us for a fresh start and new beginnings.
For me, any transformation should begin with an analysis of the areas which most need attention. This can be applied to our Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, and Professional lives. A cleansing of all the piled up crap from the year before that has weighted me down internally while clearing the clutter from my external surroundings.

Spiritually, it is a time to reflect on the things I’ve done which make my Heavenly Father sad. I not only want to acknowledge them but reflect on what drove me to those choices. Once I am able to understand the origin of my infractions, I am better able to ask God for his Mercy and Forgiveness and trust He has covered them with His Grace. Only then will I be better able to receive the assignments He has for me and others are able to see Jesus in me.

Physically, now that is a bigger struggle for me. I often overindulge, stay up later than I should, and blatantly refuse to exercise. Now for whatever reason, this one is quite the challenge for me. This is the area centered around the new year I don’t particularly enjoy. It seems just as soon as Christmas is over…Here come all the weight loss commercials. Rather than pursue the source of the weight gain (typically emotional) I seek a quick fix, a pill, or a membership at the gym. Then by February or March (actually before the end of January for me) I am back to my old ways and have spent a fortune with minimal results. This has been a life long battle for me. My goal is to change the focus from food to the identification of the attached emotion and then deal with it.

Emotionally, now that is an ongoing challenge!!! Clearing the emotional baggage that piles up is a momentous task! Today’s emotions are often linked to emotions from early years and even childhood. So it is critical all feelings are cleared rather than packed down creating imbalance and havoc in life. ( Read more here “Moving On”).

Professionally, nothing pleases me more than to start a blank spreadsheet with the new year’s date on it or a new binder. Both are blank slates and pregnant with opportunities for improvement over the prior year. A New Year allows for creativity, review of processes, and improved productivity. It also provides an opportunity for review of the previous year’s accomplishments and can be utilized for setting goals for the upcoming New Year.

While the New Year brings on a New Hope for a fresh start it also brings with it quite a bit of work as well…