Brothers and sisters, I want to share with you a simple yet powerful tool I use to make my daily suffering manageable, in the hopes that you will benefit from it.

Yesterday night, I binged on some pretty awful food ... as you all know, the pleasure lasted about 5 minutes, and the guilt and shame lasted about 24 hours. But, I recognized it as being a relatively bad time, and more importantly, I reminded myself that this is not the end of the world, that there will be a better day ... I will make damn sure that there will be a better day, when I show more self-restraint and eat more healthfully. And, sure enough, today has been a good day ... I ate more healthfully and as always, I had a good workout at the gym, and I burned off some of the fat I gained from my binge. Now, the bad day is nothing more than a fart in the wind.

The point I'm making is - resilience !!! Resilience is a very powerful quality that can be developed by doing the following:

- When you're having a bad day, remind yourself that it's not the end of the world ... you will have a relatively good day, sometime in the future. And, you can work towards making it better, somehow.
- When you're having a good day, savor it to the maximum. Recognize it as being a good day, and make the most of it. The experience of a good day is a very important restorative process that reinforces the idea in your mind that, despite having bad days, there will be good times. By doing this, you are consciously conditioning your mind to remember that there are good times, even during bad times.

Another example from my life - recently, I had the most vicious viral infection in the past few years. Two weeks of coughing hell. No gym, diet gone, and I still had to take care of myself and do all the chores myself ! But, I reminded myself that, once I do get better, I'll spend 4 hours at the gym everyday, not 2 as I usually do. And, I knew that the good times would come. And they did

So, by intertwining the good with the bad, you can get through a tough day, and come out on top. And that's how life goes ... there will be poopy days and relatively good days ... just pounce on those good days and savor them to the fullest. This will prepare you for the bad times that inevitably come. And balancing the good with the bad times will give your life a sense of control and predictability.

Please give this a try ... resilience can be very powerful.