You know, all I’ve ever lost on any of the diets I have ever dabbled in was time, a few pounds (that I subsequently gained back) and money.  Oh, and all self-control around chocolate.

Then, one day, I had a revelation. This revelation led to losing a serious chunk of change which I’ve kept off for 8 years.

I realized that I could eat when I am hungry, and stop when I am full – because there will always be more food later.

It may sound simple and obvious, but to me, realizing that I could listen to my body to know when to eat and when to stop was revolutionary.

My next revolution happened a few years later.

I was approximately 30 seconds into my first semester of law school and experiencing the beginnings of a panic attack, complete with brown paper bag to breathe into (once I dumped my lunch out of it).

With so many smart people out there in this 200-person auditorium, blood-thirsty and dangerous – and me feeling like Sookie Stackhouse in Fangtasia without Bill to protect me – I felt waves of fear, nay, TERROR, coursing through my limbs.

I thought, “Panick! Alarm! I will never be the top of my class! And I must be the best! or else I will never be successful!”

And then, it hit me: None of these people know me, just like I don’t know any of them. For all they know, I’m the smartest kid in class – and, what the heck, maybe I am.

I realized that I could create the reality of my law school experience. I am smart, so I’ll be smart in school, I decided.  I will be at the top of the class. I will have my pick of jobs, and I will not believe in this fear.

And that is EXACTLY what happened.

But that’s not the end of the story.

I have had a third revolution that is the most important of them all.

You see, I created my success in law school and the legal job market by KNOWING it was going to happen and working like the dickens — but I missed a very, very important step.

I forgot to ask: Why do I even want this? Is this really the life I want?

About two years ago, I broke my foot.  In Manhattan, a woman on crutches does not get very far.  I could make it to the elevator and to the bathroom. That covers everywhere I went during the summer of 2007, no joke.

With nowhere to go, I was stuck with myself. And it turned out, my self was pretty miserable.

I’d earned all of those things that it SEEMS like a girl needs for happiness. But I’d missed the secret to happiness.

In law school, if I had asked myself the question, do I really want a powerful legal career and top honors in school, I might have shouted, YES!

But if I had asked, WHY do I want the money and power? The answer would’ve been, it will make me happy.

I’ve learned a thing or two about what I REALLY want, and I believe it’s what we ALL really want.

Brace yourself, we’re going to talk about our feelings now.

We say, I want to be thin.  What we mean is, I want the feeling I think being thin will give me (happiness).

We say, I want a job. What we mean is, I want the feeling that I think having a job will give me (happiness!).

The things that we think will make us happy never can for long, because then we want that next thing to make us happy.

That is the secret! We can be happy now, with or without that thing.

We can be happy now by deciding to be happy. We have the power of changing how we think, and thereby we can choose to be a happy person.

Here’s What Else Is Cool

We can also do those other great things, too.

That’s the special bonus!  It’s not like I’m telling you to stop doing things and just think happy thoughts and that’s as good as it gets.

What goes down when we are happy already is that all the things happen much, much faster.

The good things are much, MUCH bigger when they happen & you’re in a good place.

When we have dealt with our junk a little bit and are already pretty cool with ourselves and life, it’s like a whole new level of happy when the good things happen.

I hope this is not confusing or blither.  If it is – just read below:

YOUR TAKE AWAY: Listen to your body, create your reality, and choose to be happy.

Now that’s revolutionary.

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