Innocent Until . . . 

I haven’t had soda/pop/cola (however you call it wherever you’re from) in over 7 years. I don’t really miss it. I dropped weight pretty rapidly when I stopped drinking all the sugar that soda contained. When I first started my weight-loss-journey-to-better-health lifestyle two years ago, I gave up sweets and sugars for a 90 day period to start. I dropped almost 50 pounds in 3 months by cutting back on all that junk, getting my body moving, portion control, and fasting. And of course the weight loss coffee that I use and market through my CBD company helped a great deal. A GREAT deal. I have reintroduced some of those things I cut completely out back into my diet over the last year. It has slowed my weight loss and changes how I feel day to day so I really am careful about how much and how frequently I do eat some of those things. One thing has remained: NO SODA. I used to drink cream and sugar in my coffee if we were at a restaurant. I don’t do that at home; black coffee is fine by me. Every once in a while I crave something sweet to drink. I started drinking a “Sparkling Ice” drink that comes in a variety of flavors. The black raspberry is my favorite right now. On the label, it reads “Black Raspberry Naturally Flavored Sparkling Water.” I never thought anything about that. Recently, I read something that was a little off-putting. I am not going to go into all of that here, but if you want to know what I read, you can google “where does natural raspberry flavor come from” and read what comes up. I really can’t unlearn what I read. No matter how hard I try. Now, I will tell you I am still drinking it. Don’t judge me. It’s one of the few pleasures I allow myself most days. But it made me wish I hadn’t run across the information. I thought about how blissful that ignorance really was!

I am sure most of us have heard the phrase, “Ignorance is bliss.” And to a point, I can understand that. Life is easier when you just don’t know any better. But is it? I think there are definitely two ways of looking at this. Those in the first camp will tell us that ignorance is bliss. Sure, when you don’t know any better, you don’t feel bad about not knowing what you don’t know. I think those in the second camp question that a bit . . . Is that ignorance harmful? Can it be detrimental? There is another quote that has been attributed to several different people that states, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” I am not trying to give my opinion here as to which camp I think I belong. That isn’t what I am trying to do. I think I am asking us to consider, on matters greater than where natural flavoring comes from, what we are to do with information once we receive it. What kind of responsibility do we have with information? 

We live in a world that is very upside down in some of its thinking and people are having a very hard time trusting information that comes to them. Some hear and believe immediately. Some hear and research things out and come to a conclusion. Some hear and refuse to either believe or research. What I am wanting to get us thinking about is information directly related to our health and wellness. What do we do with that? I had to face facts a few years ago about my lifestyle and health and weight. If I was going to live out my life in a manner that would allow me to move freely and function well for a long time, I needed to take steps to correct my path and patterns of eating and other behaviors that I knew were not in my best interest. I KNEW what I needed to do. I can’t claim ignorance on that one. I KNEW what I shouldn’t do. It was up to me to decide what my responsibility was as far as putting to use the information I had. I don’t know where I heard this but I have always believed it to be true: the difference between knowledge and wisdom is action. You can have all the knowledge in the world but if you don’t employ that knowledge in a way that impacts your life or the lives of others for the better you will never see that knowledge turn into wisdom in any form. Wisdom is knowledge in action. I can read books and listen to podcasts. Those books and podcasts can motivate me and encourage and inspire me. But if I don’t put feet to the knowledge imparted I will never make an impactful change in any area of my life. 

This blog is a bit shorter today. I really don’t have anything profound to say! Well, I don’t know that I ever really do. Haha! But I wanted to share a little bit about this topic. I happen to think that information leads to knowledge and knowledge leads to power. Not in a tyrannical ruler kind of way. Just that when you are informed, you can make a decision based on that information and most of the time an informed decision leads to the best outcome. That knowledge leads you to the power over the “less than best” in your life. It leads to the power to rise above our circumstances and the insignificant things in our lives. It leads to the power to overcome the panicked and rushed decisions we tend to make when we haven’t thought things through. Knowledge can lead you to be a better person. Seek information. And then figure out how to best use that information to change your life in every area. You’re definitely worth it.

#loveyourjourney #youreworthit #bettermewithNewYouCBD #Endo30 #itsuptoyou