Lying to Myself

And 3 Mantras For Honesty and Motivation

If you’re brave, you’re welcome to peek inside the goings-on of my mind for a moment.

Still here? Okay, then, here we go:

I often like to reflect on how my day went, regarding living to my highest ethical standards. If challenged, was I kind to myself and others? Did I do my best level of work? Achieve my exercise goal for the day, even if I wasn’t feeling motivated?

Stuff like that.

Honesty is part of my overall checklist. I’m learning to simply keep my mouth shut rather than say something that’s not true, even when it’s easier to tell a white lie*.

Current Struggle

My creative writing (hello, LifeSoup!) and my health are two of my priorities, and checking in with myself on my standards helps me stay the course. But I’ve been whining a lot lately about how hard it is to maintain my weight (not to brag, but I’m very good at gaining weight - it’s so easy!). My mental story was something like this: “I should be able to eat treats every day because I exercise a lot.”

Except that the reality of biology and science says otherwise. It says, “Either eat fewer sweets, or exercise more.” Solution: I need to hold myself more accountable for the things I choose to eat, and tracking my food helps me stay on top of this.

Now, I don’t talk about physical health and fitness often here, but we can apply this reality check to other areas of our lives - art, relationships, anything. It’s relevant because it’s so easy for us to whine about how we wish things (that we can change) were different.

Through research, I came up with some mantras to help me be more honest with myself and a plan to do better at food tracking, which was where I was really slacking. I’ll share some of them here in case you can use or adapt them for yourself - in health, creativity, etc.:

1. My goals matter more than my impulses.

2. I don’t hide from myself anymore.

3. Of course this is hard - but look at me doing it anyway.

What does any of this have to do with yoga?

Truthfulness is part of the eight limbs of yoga. It’s about the obvious, and beyond: don’t tell lies, and don’t lie to yourself. I go more into these topics in the newly released book, “Don’t Ugly Cry While Driving: Words of Advice From a Yoga Teacher” (get your copy here).

Reflect on this topic quietly, or write about it in your journal.

Peace, love, and honesty,
Cherie Dawn

*Even as I write this, I have to admit there’s actually a gigantic lie that I’ve told someone, but that lie crosses over to another ethical standard, to “do no harm.” Forgive me for the cliffhanger; I’ll probably write more on this in an upcoming LifeSoup.

Upcoming Events

Writing Group - January 13
"Rough Draft Collab” Writers Group
6:30-7:30pm at Campbell County Public Library, Cold Spring, Kentucky
Wanting to connect with other area writers for advice? Join us at this monthly meetup for inspiration and community.
Free to attend, but please register through the library’s website: www.cc-pl.org

Next-Level Yoga Workshop - January 25
4:00-5:30pm at Studio43 Sweat + Soul, Alexandria, Kentucky
You know what yoga is on the mat, but learning about the concepts surrounding that can help you take your practice to new levels. Join us for this workshop to deepen your yoga practice. Bring your mat and a journal; Sign up on the MindBody app.

Book Signing / Q&A - February 12
6pm at the Kenton County Public Library, Erlanger, Kentucky
Celebrating the newly published “Don’t Ugly Cry While Driving: Words of Advice from a Yoga Teacher,” in partnership with Roebling Books & Coffee

Who am I?

My name is Cherie Dawn Haas. In addition to being the author of five books, I have over 500 hours of yoga teacher training, including Elemental Yoga Therapy and Thai Yoga Massage, and a Bachelor’s Degree in English / Literature with a Journalism minor. By day, I’m an art editor for Streamline Publishing, where I help inspire and educate thousands of artists around the world. By night, I’m a creative fiction writer and yoga teacher. Thanks for being here with me. Please share LifeSoup with your friends and family who will benefit from it.