How To Drop Pounds at 500 Miles an Hour

How To Drop Pounds at 500 Miles an Hour

Pretty fast weight loss, hey.  Most people can only drop about 5 pounds a month.  Today I’m going to drop it way faster than that!

Can you guess what I’m about to do?  I’m going home from a business meeting and I’m really looking forward to the flight.  Most people walk around with a long face, thinking about the hassle of travel.  Me, I’m bouncing past the hotel desk, skip the coffee, because I’m juiced already.  I’ll be smiling right through the security check as I take my shoes off!

Not that long ago I saw a woman on a plane.  She was complaining, whining and generally unhappy.  I felt bad for her and figured she was having a pretty bad day, or a bad year, or a bad life.  I thought, “There but for the grace of God go I”.  You know what that means right?  That could be me in another life, or another day, and only by God’s grace have I gone a different way for now.  I use that saying a lot in my head.  The words are unusual enough I don’t say it automatically. Remembering, but for the grace of God it could be me sitting over there, gets me to be a little more compassionate.

Well, once I discovered the true power of airplane travel, I’m pretty particular about what I do when I’m soaring at 35 thousand feet.

I take inspirational materials to listen to, no watching drivel movies for me.  I chose what to read carefully, not negative magazines touting the glory of the latest super model.  I take with me that have some relation to my goals for the year.  If there’s someone I want to emulate, I’ll read their stuff.

I write notes to myself about what I want to accomplish in the next year.  I write thank you notes for what I have received in the previous months or years.

You see flying at 500 miles per hour and 35 thousand feet is a pretty extraordinary experience.  We take it for granted now.  When got on my first airplane, I was so small that I don’t even remember it. My first child flew so much that by the time she was one year old, she had flown on 20 different airplanes.  (Sometimes 3 flights to get to the remote areas we were visiting.)  I’m not saying it’s a good or a bad thing to fly a lot, it’s just how our lives are these days.

There’s a very funny thing.  When you’re up that high and traveling that fast, you have a chance to connect with your “higher” self.  We all have a deep knowing inside about what is good and wholesome in our lives.  This “knowing” self is accessible when we fly.

The take home message is not to take flight time for granted, but to really use the opportunity to your advantage.  If you have a goal weight or a goal activity, this is the time to contemplate your goal. Remember, the goal can be anything you want to do to move yourself to the next step. 

We can ask for guidance, assistance and clarity when we fly.  Of course we can connect with the help at other times too, it’s just that flying is a set-up for success in this type of asking.

So, my friend, the next time you pack for a flight, make a conscious decision what you want to do on the plane.  Then do it with joy and love in your heart!

Love and Gratiude,

Dr. Elin Ritchie MD