Day Twenty-two

The start of phase four. I can't quite believe it, but this is the last week of the serious habit-breaking phase of the No-Diet Diet.

This week is all about changing how I think. So each day focusses on a particular "thought-dimension" as the book calls it.

Today's one was "self-responsibility" - meaning I have to accept responsibility for all the choices I've made in life, understand that I can change the way my life is by making different choices, and taking the blame where blame is due.

I've got better at this in recent years, but there's still some improving to do where I tend to get defensive straight away about things and blame other people.

It's quite scary though, and I can imagine very scary for some, to imagine that my life is the way it is now in the main because of my own choices. I know this isn't true for everybody in the world, because of messed-up politics and economics, but in this country, the vast majority of us have more freedom than we like to admit. I think if we did, we would be faced with some very uncomfortable truths. We'd much rather blame it on the stars or on the will of God or whatever. But God actually gave us wills, minds and choices of our own to make. Why would we have them if He got to decide everything? Sounds like a cruel form of torture to me.

Dump that horoscope. Stop blaming God (or, incidentally, the dark side) for your problems. You know it makes sense. And so must I.