Janelle Brown: Smarter Than Your Average Brown (Maybe)

[answerphone]

I feel a bit ashamed to admit, but I'm always distracted how Janelle sits on the sofa during the Talking Heads. 

Her legs are always apart, which looks so unflattering.

[MrSmith]

On 2/10/2018 at 8:21 AM, ginger90 said:

https://strivewithjanelle.com/blogs/welcome-to-the-strive-with-janelle-blog/past-present-or-future

Basically, she could've written this much more succinctly by simply saying what my father taught me: Don't borrow trouble. It's served me well over the years. Though I suppose that's probably a bit too succinct for most people. If anyone wants an explainer, I'll be happy to post one.

12 hours ago, answerphone said:

I feel a bit ashamed to admit, but I'm always distracted how Janelle sits on the sofa during the Talking Heads. 

Her legs are always apart, which looks so unflattering.

Bless you! It's nice to know I'm not alone. I always think she looks like a Pacman frog when she's sitting on the couch like that.

Edited February 12, 2018 by MrSmith
Because some things just demand illustrations...

[AZChristian]

11 hours ago, answerphone said:

I feel a bit ashamed to admit, but I'm always distracted how Janelle sits on the sofa during the Talking Heads. 

Her legs are always apart, which looks so unflattering.

Maybe it's because her thighs are so big that she can't get her lower legs together.  

[MrSmith]

On 2/10/2018 at 8:40 AM, Sandy W said:

"a slice of pizza" right Janelle!

I would just like to point out that if you don't cut the pizza, then there is substantially no difference between "a slice of pizza" and "the whole pizza". Just sayin'....

[TurtlePower]

On 2/12/2018 at 6:08 AM, MrSmith said:

Basically, she could've written this much more succinctly by simply saying what my father taught me: Don't borrow trouble. It's served me well over the years. Though I suppose that's probably a bit too succinct for most people. If anyone wants an explainer, I'll be happy to post one.

Bless you! It's nice to know I'm not alone. I always think she looks like a Pacman frog when she's sitting on the couch like that.

And we've seen how pacman frogs eat, too. Another thing in common. 

[xwordfanatik]

Or as Christine would say, another thingK!  

[ginger90]

[DragonFaerie]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

Ok, I get not everyone is naturally organized, but how hard is it to get a free calendar at the end of the year, or one from the dollar store and write everyone's birthday on it and stick it on the wall, or front of the fridge, or a kitchen cabinet door?  And while it looks like she's working on one of her resolutions by getting cookies for the family for Valentine's day, all I can think of is missed opportunities.  How fun would it have been to get some of the younger kids together and make cookies and let the kids ice them with sayings and such.  They could have even done a batch of cookies and mailed them to Hunter at the Academy

[xwordfanatik]

59 minutes ago, DragonFaerie said:

Ok, I get not everyone is naturally organized, but how hard is it to get a free calendar at the end of the year, or one from the dollar store and write everyone's birthday on it and stick it on the wall, or front of the fridge, or a kitchen cabinet door?  And while it looks like she's working on one of her resolutions by getting cookies for the family for Valentine's day, all I can think of is missed opportunities.  How fun would it have been to get some of the younger kids together and make cookies and let the kids ice them with sayings and such.  They could have even done a batch of cookies and mailed them to Hunter at the Academy

Too much like work for the grifting Browns.  They just don't think the way most people do.  

[Kath94]

2 hours ago, xwordfanatik said:

Too much like work for the grifting Browns.  They just don't think the way most people do.  

Gwen would have written rude things on them in Spanish.  :o)

[Gothish520]

6 hours ago, DragonFaerie said:

Ok, I get not everyone is naturally organized, but how hard is it to get a free calendar at the end of the year, or one from the dollar store and write everyone's birthday on it and stick it on the wall, or front of the fridge, or a kitchen cabinet door?  And while it looks like she's working on one of her resolutions by getting cookies for the family for Valentine's day, all I can think of is missed opportunities.  How fun would it have been to get some of the younger kids together and make cookies and let the kids ice them with sayings and such.  They could have even done a batch of cookies and mailed them to Hunter at the Academy

 

5 hours ago, xwordfanatik said:

Too much like work for the grifting Browns.  They just don't think the way most people do.  

That sounds like a nice idea, but how many people really do that? I don't think it's fair to say that the Browns should be held to such standards when many average people don't do things like that. Some people are into giving for everyone on Valentine's Day, some aren't. I know couples that don't even exchange (which I do think is sad), let alone give gifts to other family members.

[Kohola3]

I think the point is that doing fun things together beats buying some tacky Hobby Lobby gift that will never get used for any occasion, not just Valentine's Day (which, in my opinion is just another "Hallmark holiday" designed to boost sales like Sweetest Day, Grandparents Day, Kids Day, ad nauseum - but I digress). 

Isn't group activities the purported advantage of being in the ginormous family?  All of the togetherness and loving the horde equally?  Gathering the young'uns together to bake and send cookies to their absent siblings/cousins/half-somethings (whatever they are) would be a fun activity and also be an introduction of "do unto others" that the Browns sorely lack.  And trust me, as someone who sends boxes of baked good to deployed military every month, home baked goods are like gold to kids away from home.  Hunter would be a very popular guy if he got boxes to share.

[AZChristian]

10 hours ago, Gothish520 said:

That sounds like a nice idea, but how many people really do that? I don't think it's fair to say that the Browns should be held to such standards when many average people don't do things like that. Some people are into giving for everyone on Valentine's Day, some aren't. I know couples that don't even exchange (which I do think is sad), let alone give gifts to other family members.

You don't even have to re-do it every year.  I made up a Word table for my brother that has all of his family birthdays and anniversaries in chronological order, with a little extra space in case anyone new comes along.  It has just a date column and a name column, so it will never change.

But I am OCD about organization because I think it makes life so much EASIER in the long run.  If more lazy people were organized, they're realize how much less work it is to stay organized than to live in chaos.

[Gothish520]

7 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I think the point is that doing fun things together beats buying some tacky Hobby Lobby gift that will never get used for any occasion, not just Valentine's Day (which, in my opinion is just another "Hallmark holiday" designed to boost sales like Sweetest Day, Grandparents Day, Kids Day, ad nauseum - but I digress). 

Isn't group activities the purported advantage of being in the ginormous family?  All of the togetherness and loving the horde equally?  Gathering the young'uns together to bake and send cookies to their absent siblings/cousins/half-somethings (whatever they are) would be a fun activity and also be an introduction of "do unto others" that the Browns sorely lack.  And trust me, as someone who sends boxes of baked good to deployed military every month, home baked goods are like gold to kids away from home.  Hunter would be a very popular guy if he got boxes to share.

How do we know they don't send him stuff? I am all for snark where snark is due, but sometimes the Browns get critcized for things that are pulled out of thin air. We don't know what the family does for each other. We see what they want us to see, on social media and on the show - some people, even public families like the Browns, don't post every single thing they do and say. It's like someone pointed out on another forum regarding public posts - you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you make a public post about something, people jump on you - but if you don't comment on something publicly, people call you out for NOT posting. Just one reason why I'm not on all those dumb SM sites.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Gothish520

[Gothish520]

5 hours ago, AZChristian said:

You don't even have to re-do it every year.  I made up a Word table for my brother that has all of his family birthdays and anniversaries in chronological order, with a little extra space in case anyone new comes along.  It has just a date column and a name column, so it will never change.

But I am OCD about organization because I think it makes life so much EASIER in the long run.  If more lazy people were organized, they're realize how much less work it is to stay organized than to live in chaos.

Oh I completely support the idea of using some sort of organizer to keep track of holidays, birthdays and special events. You can even set your phone to remind you of things. I was commenting on the idea that Janelle should've gotten all the kids together to bake cookies for Valentine's Day, etc. Sure it's a lovely idea, but I don't know too many families that do that and I'm not going to belittle Janelle if she doesn't.

[Kyanight]

20 minutes ago, Gothish520 said:

Oh I completely support the idea of using some sort of organizer to keep track of holidays, birthdays and special events. You can even set your phone to remind you of things. I was commenting on the idea that Janelle should've gotten all the kids together to bake cookies for Valentine's Day, etc. Sure it's a lovely idea, but I don't know too many families that do that and I'm not going to belittle Janelle if she doesn't.

I agree with your post.  I'm not a baker.... I remember baking gingerbread houses and gingerbread men twice with my four kids.  It's just not my thing and it might not be other people's idea of fun with the kids.  ALSO I thought the cookies they bought for Valentine's Day looked awesome.   But you know... just because someone DOES express an opinion doesn't mean they expect YOU to snark along with them.  

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, Gothish520 said:

We see what they want us to see, on social media and on the show - some people, even public families like the Browns, don't post every single thing they do and say.

Possibly.  But the Brown Clowns seem to make every effort to post something on social media daily.  And they are such fame whores that if the did anything vaguely worthy of praise, they'd be filming it, twatting it, posting it, and Instagramming it.  These people love to share every uninteresting detail with the world.

[Gothish520]

40 minutes ago, Kyanight said:

I agree with your post.  I'm not a baker.... I remember baking gingerbread houses and gingerbread men twice with my four kids.  It's just not my thing and it might not be other people's idea of fun with the kids.  ALSO I thought the cookies they bought for Valentine's Day looked awesome.   But you know... just because someone DOES express an opinion doesn't mean they expect YOU to snark along with them.  

Thank you and I agree, point well taken! My bad - sometimes when an observation is made, and I know that it's something I would or would not do that it is getting criticised, I feel like I have to kind of stick up for my point of view - but it's not something that should be taken personally and there are less inflammatory ways of responding. So apologies to @Kohola3 for overreacting!

1 minute ago, Kohola3 said:

Possibly.  But the Brown Clowns seem to make every effort to post something on social media daily.  And they are such fame whores that if the did anything vaguely worthy of praise, they'd be filming it, twatting it, posting it, and Instagramming it.  These people love to share every uninteresting detail with the world.

LOL, very true, and thank you for being gracious in your response!

[Kyanight]

1 minute ago, Gothish520 said:

Thank you and I agree, point well taken! My bad - sometimes when an observation is made, and I know that it's something I would or would not do that it is getting criticised, I feel like I have to kind of stick up for my point of view - but it's not something that should be taken personally and there are less inflammatory ways of responding. So apologies to @Kohola3 for overreacting!

Oh I don't think you should have to apologize and you didn't overreact!  I was just comparing myself to you - only on the 19 Kids and Counting Board.  There are posters who foam at the mouth about every single Duggar - just LOATHE them - and sometimes I don't get what the issue is.  lol

[Kohola3]

No worries, I'm an old lady with few filters.  I don't take things personally!

[TurtlePower]

2 hours ago, Gothish520 said:

Thank you and I agree, point well taken! My bad - sometimes when an observation is made, and I know that it's something I would or would not do that it is getting criticised, I feel like I have to kind of stick up for my point of view - but it's not something that should be taken personally and there are less inflammatory ways of responding. So apologies to @Kohola3 for overreacting!

LOL, very true, and thank you for being gracious in your response!

I like that we're kind and understanding towards one another here. On the RHWOBH forum, the posters turn on one another pretty quickly over petty things (just like the HWs!).

[DragonFaerie]

So I would like to say, I apologize.  I had NO intent of coming anywhere near belittling Janelle or anyone else because she bought cookies vs. made cookies.  I know that with my irregular brain - according to one of my docs, that a lot of times I can say or write something and what I am trying to say does not come across.   I was attempting to convey the sentiments made by Kohola3 in the fact it was a large family and doing fun things together are awesome.   Yes, for me, some of my favorite memories are those crazy times with multiple generations where we got together stringing popcorn, making cookies or decorations.  Those are memories that will last a lifetime.  Regardless if I were a kid or an adult, I was the one that when a kid wanted to put 1/2 a jar of sprinkles on a cookie -I'm good with it.  The kid that wanted to turn his snowman or gingerbread guy into his favorite superhero - on it.  The girl that wanted her halloween cookie to be pink - got it.  The kid that insisted his valentine cookie be black because he'd broken up with "the LOVE of his life" on it - we had to settle for grey, I couldn't make black icing.  When the grandkids and great grands looked shocked as they argued over who got to lick the mixer beaters and GGrandma grabbed them and licked them - priceless.   I lost all of my side of the family by the time I was 45 - GGrands to nieces and nephews via accidents, illness and tragic events.  I was trying to say that the FAMILY missed a great opportunity to build those memories that would be remembered forever, and that made me sad.  And Yes, I have no clue what they did with those store bought cookies or what they did with that night.  None of us know, and yes, I am guilty of assuming - and we all know what happens to those folks - LOL.  It didn't matter to me that it was Valentines' day vs. the first day of summer or National Hot Dog day.  Small celebrations can provide memories galore and sometimes that's all you have in the end.

[Kohola3]

6 minutes ago, DragonFaerie said:

Small celebrations can provide memories galore and sometimes that's all you have in the end.

Gosh, yes, and I think that's what disturbs me so much.  These people worship at the Church of the Almighty Dollar.  The only things that seem to matter are material things;  if they were truly a loving polygamist family then doing things together would be a reward, not a chore.  Like refusing to care for each other's kids or culling out only theirs for rewards or trips is just more evidence that they are polygamist in name only.  They seem to have totally abandoned any religious reasons for it, either.  It's just for the paycheck.

[Gothish520]

15 minutes ago, DragonFaerie said:

So I would like to say, I apologize.  I had NO intent of coming anywhere near belittling Janelle or anyone else because she bought cookies vs. made cookies.  I know that with my irregular brain - according to one of my docs, that a lot of times I can say or write something and what I am trying to say does not come across.   I was attempting to convey the sentiments made by Kohola3 in the fact it was a large family and doing fun things together are awesome.   Yes, for me, some of my favorite memories are those crazy times with multiple generations where we got together stringing popcorn, making cookies or decorations.  Those are memories that will last a lifetime.  Regardless if I were a kid or an adult, I was the one that when a kid wanted to put 1/2 a jar of sprinkles on a cookie -I'm good with it.  The kid that wanted to turn his snowman or gingerbread guy into his favorite superhero - on it.  The girl that wanted her halloween cookie to be pink - got it.  The kid that insisted his valentine cookie be black because he'd broken up with "the LOVE of his life" on it - we had to settle for grey, I couldn't make black icing.  When the grandkids and great grands looked shocked as they argued over who got to lick the mixer beaters and GGrandma grabbed them and licked them - priceless.   I lost all of my side of the family by the time I was 45 - GGrands to nieces and nephews via accidents, illness and tragic events.  I was trying to say that the FAMILY missed a great opportunity to build those memories that would be remembered forever, and that made me sad.  And Yes, I have no clue what they did with those store bought cookies or what they did with that night.  None of us know, and yes, I am guilty of assuming - and we all know what happens to those folks - LOL.  It didn't matter to me that it was Valentines' day vs. the first day of summer or National Hot Dog day.  Small celebrations can provide memories galore and sometimes that's all you have in the end.

No need at all to apologize! I'm so sorry to hear of your family loss, and of course I agree that time shared with loved ones is precious! I was just projecting my own feelings of inadequacy on the situation - I can be lazy, have the best intentions of doing something and then just let time get away from me. It's important to take the time to enjoy life with the people that are important to you and to not take things for granted.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Gothish520

[Celia Rubenstein]

... so how long do you think it take one of the Sister Wives to plaster a bunch of pictures of them doing a baking party with the little kids on her Instagram?

Over on the Duggar threads we call that an "Internet FU." It's what happens when they've been criticized for not doing something ... suddenly pictures of them doing it magically appear everywhere LOL 

[Sandy W]

9 minutes ago, Celia Rubenstein said:

... so how long do you think it take one of the Sister Wives to plaster a bunch of pictures of them doing a baking party with the little kids on her Instagram?

Over on the Duggar threads we call that an "Internet FU." It's what happens when they've been criticized for not doing something ... suddenly pictures of them doing it magically appear everywhere LOL 

Odds are it would be Meri and Sol, the Golden Child.  If Meri is shown having a little baking party that includes Truely and Savanah, it definitely would be an "Internet FU".

[Absolom]

Make it so!!

19 minutes ago, Sandy W said:

Odds are it would be Meri and Sol, the Golden Child.  If Meri is shown having a little baking party that includes Truely and Savanah, it definitely would be an "Internet FU".

[ginger90]

They did cookies for Christmas:

Retroactive FU.

[NotEatingKale]

20 hours ago, DragonFaerie said:

So I would like to say, I apologize.  I had NO intent of coming anywhere near belittling Janelle or anyone else because she bought cookies vs. made cookies.  

This reminds me of Teresa Giudice and the Sprinkle Cookie incident of Christmas 2011

[RedheadZombie]

I believe Janelle's girl power statements are genuine, but I think she confuses how wonderful polygamy is to independent women, with how it happened to work out perfectly for her.  Janelle is an independent woman in many ways.  She got to have a lot of kids, yet have them primarily raised by someone else as she worked long hours in a job she clearly enjoyed.  She dodged all the cooking, which she has never enjoyed, because Logan provided breakfast, and Christine provided dinner.  She got regular sex, yet kept the man out of her hair and her business.  She didn't have to deal with depending on Kody and having him fail her children, because he was drawn to her house with all her boys, and she had the older boys to do the "men's" chores that husbands often do.  Because she then put fewer demands on Kody with a "honey do" list, he probably hung out even more while avoiding chores in the other homes.  She was the easy breezy wife, which would have made her relationship with Kody more stress free.  So while this was apparently the ideal arrangement for Janelle, she doesn't seem to see the drawbacks for women in general.

[ginger90]

[MrSmith]

@ginger90 That's a genuinely nice post by Janelle. It's a refreshing change. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[Sandy W]

16 minutes ago, MrSmith said:

@ginger90 That's a genuinely nice post by Janelle. It's a refreshing change. Thank you for sharing it with us.

It seems this is what the sisterhood of sister wives should be all about.  Too bad Meri and Robyn didn't get the message.

[Kohola3]

She STRIVES.

[Sandy W]

20 minutes ago, lma said:

Okay while it is sweet, it rubbed me the wrong way. What the heck does Janelle do besides make peanut butter Fritos? Lady, you have 6 kids. You don’t cook. You don’t comb hair. You don’t decorate/do crafts. You don’t dance. I know this list is random, but what does she do besides growl at Kody when he wears a ponytail? 

Janelle spends her time in Deep Thought.  For the past few years, she has been contemplating how to implement the concepts of Strive, once she grasps it, just watch the ounces roll off her.

[ghoulina]

2 hours ago, lma said:

Okay while it is sweet, it rubbed me the wrong way. What the heck does Janelle do besides make peanut butter Fritos? Lady, you have 6 kids. You don’t cook. You don’t comb hair. You don’t decorate/do crafts. You don’t dance. I know this list is random, but what does she do besides growl at Kody when he wears a ponytail? 

I can't really answer this question, but it's likely Jenelle just wouldn't be good at hair even if she tried every day. Some people just never develop a knack for it. I like that Christine really tries to develop relationships with ALL the kids. She and Jenelle are both flawed and can irritate me at times, don't get me wrong. But I have to wonder what their plural family would haven been like if it was just those two. Christine seems to REALLY believe in it, but does struggle with jealousy. I think she'd do okay if she had decent sisterwives, because she LOVES the big family aspect of it. And Jenelle just seems to not give a fuck about sharing a man. She almost seems to prefer it, so she doesn't have to do the "heavy lifting" every day. I do think those two were almost forced to be allies because of Meri, but I also think their personalities blend well together and their kids seem the closest out of the bunch. 

[Gothish520]

15 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

I can't really answer this question, but it's likely Jenelle just wouldn't be good at hair even if she tried every day. Some people just never develop a knack for it. I like that Christine really tries to develop relationships with ALL the kids. She and Jenelle are both flawed and can irritate me at times, don't get me wrong. But I have to wonder what their plural family would haven been like if it was just those two. Christine seems to REALLY believe in it, but does struggle with jealousy. I think she'd do okay if she had decent sisterwives, because she LOVES the big family aspect of it. And Jenelle just seems to not give a fuck about sharing a man. She almost seems to prefer it, so she doesn't have to do the "heavy lifting" every day. I do think those two were almost forced to be allies because of Meri, but I also think their personalities blend well together and their kids seem the closest out of the bunch. 

I'm guessing Janelle was thrilled to have Christine come into the family after having to deal with Meri.

[Higgins]

On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 9:58 AM, AZChristian said:

You don't even have to re-do it every year.  I made up a Word table for my brother that has all of his family birthdays and anniversaries in chronological order, with a little extra space in case anyone new comes along.  It has just a date column and a name column, so it will never change.

But I am OCD about organization because I think it makes life so much EASIER in the long run.  If more lazy people were organized, they're realize how much less work it is to stay organized than to live in chaos.

You see disorganization as lazy. It just the way some people's brains work. They have gifts and ways of looking at things that you don't. 

[neh]

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 9:27 AM, lma said:

Okay while it is sweet, it rubbed me the wrong way. What the heck does Janelle do besides make peanut butter Fritos? Lady, you have 6 kids. You don’t cook. You don’t comb hair. You don’t decorate/do crafts. You don’t dance. I know this list is random, but what does she do besides growl at Kody when he wears a ponytail? 

 

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 5:15 PM, ginger90 said:

I am with Janelle on this hair thing.  Hair is beyond me.  My hair stylist made me take an oath with my hand upraised to never, never cut my bangs myself.  Even though I said the slanted, angled look was a new style, no one believed me.

[lookeyloo]

Well, besides Janelle's way of life, doing all that she does (or does not do) not everyone can do hair.  Daughter in law is very challenged and granddaughter had to figure out how to do her own.  I'm too far away and there are no skilled sister wives in their family!!  

[MrSmith]

11 hours ago, Higgins said:

You see disorganization as lazy. It just the way some people's brains work. They have gifts and ways of looking at things that you don't. 

I have to keep this in mind whenever I have the misfortune of opening one my wife's many "junk drawers". They're all a damned mess which chaos would utterly paralyze me if she ever let the mess out of the drawers and into the house. I'm fortunate she keeps her disorganization so well hidden. Amazingly, she knows what's in these drawers and the content have occasionally come in handy.

[GleamingMist]

I can't do hair to save my life either.  My daughter has to get my mother in law involved if she wants anything more complex than a bun/high pony/basic braids.  It's just not my thing.

Christine seems to genuinely love all the kids and this seems like a great way to build a connection with Savannah.

[LilWharveyGal]

The wives are really coming out of the social media woodwork today.  Janelle's contribution is a picture of Axel playing.

[Celia Rubenstein]

Is that baby crawling around on the same floor that turns the bottom of Janelle's feet black with dirt? 

Please, someone throw down a little blankie for him to play on!

[ginger90]

13 hours ago, LilWharveyGal said:

The wives are really coming out of the social media woodwork today.  Janelle's contribution is a picture of Axel playing.

What are the foam rollers?

[Roslyn]

3 hours ago, ginger90 said:

What are the foam rollers?

Yoga prop?  I've seen them as blocks, are they round as well?

[DakotaJustice]

5 hours ago, ginger90 said:

What are the foam rollers?

Foam rollers are not only used as a yoga prop... They're used to break down the facia. There's tons of videos on YouTube! Here's one. 

[Pickleinthemiddle]

20 hours ago, GleamingMist said:

I can't do hair to save my life either.  My daughter has to get my mother in law involved if she wants anything more complex than a bun/high pony/basic braids.  It's just not my thing.

Christine seems to genuinely love all the kids and this seems like a great way to build a connection with Savannah.

Same here.  I was only able to do a pony tail.  My mom would usually do basic braids in my daughters hair.  While my sister would do the more complicated braids.  

[ginger90]

Janelle’s most recent blog entry:

 

Whatcha Thinking?

by Janelle Brown February 28, 2018

One morning a couple of weeks ago I was driving to my early morning workout session.  It is a bit of a drive for these one-on-one personal training appointments, so I was feeling resentful and burdened.  It was such a chore to get up so early and get my butt out of bed…yada yada yada. 

Then, as I sat at the 4-way stop down the street, I realized what I was thinking.  Wait, I am the one who chose to make this appointment.  I am the one who chose to schedule an early morning appointment at this particular gym. 

So, if anyone is to blame for how I am feeling right now, it’s me. 

No one forced me to make these decisions.  I alone am responsible for the situation I am in this morning.  But wait, was it a situation?  Was it a chore?  Slowly I realized that I had once again stumbled upon a mental trap I am very susceptible to falling into.  Maybe you are too.

I often find myself feeling put-upon when I am doing something that shakes me out of my comfort zone. I know that what I’m undertaking is a good thing to do, and, obviously, it’s something that I WANT to do.  However, when I am not tuned in to the inspired part of my psyche that wants to keep propelling me forward, and I am just coasting, I find I feel a touch of resentment towards those same actions.  Odd, isn’t it?  Experts would say that those feelings were the natural response of your ego.  The job of the ego, if you remove all the negative connotations that having a big ego has in our culture, is to keep you safe. 

Some would say that the ego keeps you small, it keeps you from achieving greater things, and it helps us to survive.  

Do you want to simply survive or do you want more?

It seems to follow, that we need to watch for those little lies our minds will tell us when we are trying to be more than what we currently are.  Really tune in to what we are thinking in any given situation that we find ourselves resisting positive changes.  Recognize the thoughts, analyze them to see if they are warnings to be heeded, or just see them as the ego trying to keep you in your safe zone. The zone that is the status quo, that is familiar and comfortable.  For me, I plan on challenging those early morning yada, yada, yadas, facing my fears, and moving beyond the mental trap. It’s the only way forward.

Can you identify thoughts or beliefs that are holding you back?

[DakotaJustice]

14 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Janelle’s most recent blog entry:

 

Whatcha Thinking?

by Janelle Brown February 28, 2018

One morning a couple of weeks ago I was driving to my early morning workout session.  It is a bit of a drive for these one-on-one personal training appointments, so I was feeling resentful and burdened.  It was such a chore to get up so early and get my butt out of bed…yada yada yada. 

Then, as I sat at the 4-way stop down the street, I realized what I was thinking.  Wait, I am the one who chose to make this appointment.  I am the one who chose to schedule an early morning appointment at this particular gym. 

So, if anyone is to blame for how I am feeling right now, it’s me. 

No one forced me to make these decisions.  I alone am responsible for the situation I am in this morning.  But wait, was it a situation?  Was it a chore?  Slowly I realized that I had once again stumbled upon a mental trap I am very susceptible to falling into.  Maybe you are too.

I often find myself feeling put-upon when I am doing something that shakes me out of my comfort zone. I know that what I’m undertaking is a good thing to do, and, obviously, it’s something that I WANT to do.  However, when I am not tuned in to the inspired part of my psyche that wants to keep propelling me forward, and I am just coasting, I find I feel a touch of resentment towards those same actions.  Odd, isn’t it?  Experts would say that those feelings were the natural response of your ego.  The job of the ego, if you remove all the negative connotations that having a big ego has in our culture, is to keep you safe. 

Some would say that the ego keeps you small, it keeps you from achieving greater things, and it helps us to survive.  

Do you want to simply survive or do you want more?

It seems to follow, that we need to watch for those little lies our minds will tell us when we are trying to be more than what we currently are.  Really tune in to what we are thinking in any given situation that we find ourselves resisting positive changes.  Recognize the thoughts, analyze them to see if they are warnings to be heeded, or just see them as the ego trying to keep you in your safe zone. The zone that is the status quo, that is familiar and comfortable.  For me, I plan on challenging those early morning yada, yada, yadas, facing my fears, and moving beyond the mental trap. It’s the only way forward.

Can you identify thoughts or beliefs that are holding you back?

Are you kidding me?!? This is the bazillionth blog post where she's bitching and moaning about how much she hates going to the gym/fitness class/working out. Gawd.