WHY to Fitness

Thanksgiving, not Thankswanting

• Aaron O’Connell • Episode 29

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What if the key to achieving your fitness goals was simply expressing Thanksgiving? Today, we are shifting the spotlight away from our relentless quest for more and instead, focusing on the power of thanksgiving. We'll explore the biblical perspective on thanksgiving, reminding you that being thankful for your body and health is the first stride towards fitness success. Together, we'll examine and unravel the 'never enough' mentality that is often prevalent in our health journeys and start celebrating the goodness we already possess. 

Are you ready to make the most out of your health and fitness journey through an attitude of thanksgiving? Seasoned with intriguing insights, our conversation also delves into the positive impact of a thankful mindset on mental health, and how it can diminish anxiety, depression, and stress. We'll guide you through practical ways to foster thanksgiving and how to serve God with our bodies by giving back to others. Let's step into a space of thanksgiving and, together, embrace the peace and fulfillment that comes with being grateful for our bodies, our health, and the opportunities we have. Tune in, and let's cultivate an attitude of Thanksgiving, not just for the season, but for a lifetime.

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Aaron O'Connell:

How can we take our bodies, our health, our fitness, our physical image and give it to the Lord? We need to find things to be thankful for. We need to start doing things out of thankfulness, not out of desire, and want let's do things out of Thanksgiving, not thanks wanting. Welcome to the WHY to Fitness Podcast. I'm your host, aaron O'Connell, and today I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday. A lot of people's is Christmas and all that stuff, but I really love Thanksgiving because it's the same gathering of everybody, but without the noise and the greed and all the presence and materialistic things that Christmas brings along. Don't get me wrong I love celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, but I feel like I tend to do that almost every day and don't need this specific Christmas day to do so. But that is why I really love Thanksgiving, and that's what this podcast is all about is Thanksgiving.

Aaron O'Connell:

A lot of us, especially in the health and fitness realm, tend to give up Thanksgiving no, I'm not talking about the holiday but they don't realize how important it is of living a life of Thanksgiving. Instead, it seems like everyone's living a life of thanks wanting. You see, the definition of Thanksgiving is an expression of gratitude, especially to God, or, in another definition, if you're looking up on Google, is a public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. God is so good. We should be publicly acknowledging and celebrating all the greatness that God has done for us, but instead it seems like everyone is in this perpetual rat race, always looking for the next thing. You see it all around in the health and fitness realm, you see it in the gym. The coin phrase never be satisfied, always wanting more, always looking to this next thing, it never being enough, always needing to be leaner, always needing to lose a little bit more weight, always wanting to add more size. We're not even talking about the pursuit of money and fame and likes on Instagram, but I'm just talking about the health and the physical image. Even Christians, a lot of Christians, are constantly going to health and fitness for all of these things that they want. It's like they forget the Psalm of David, the very first line, verse 23,. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not want, but everyone's just wanting the next thing, the next thing, the next thing.

Aaron O'Connell:

I've already done a whole podcast on gratitude and all of the physical impacts, the mental health impacts by all the research and biblical insights. If you haven't listened to that podcast, I highly suggest going back and checking out that past episode about gratitude, because this episode is not about gratitude, it's more about Thanksgiving. What do you mean? Aren't they the same thing? Oh, yes, they are, but we need to cultivate the spirit of Thanksgiving in everything that we do.

Aaron O'Connell:

Psalms 104 says enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. The way we enter into God's courts, his gates, is with thanksgiving and praise. We need to be thankful for the things that we get to do. Not, I have to do this. I gotta go work out. I have to change the way I'm eating. I can no longer eat the things that I enjoy. That's not the spirit that God gave us.

Aaron O'Connell:

We should be thankful for the body that God has given us, thankful that we can move, thankful that we still have our health and, if our health is failing, thankful that we still have another chance to make things right. We need to find things to be thankful for. We need to start doing things out of thankfulness, not out of desire, and want. Let's do things out of thanksgiving, not thankswanting. We don't want to be saying you're going thanks, god, now I want this. We're so quick to go past thanks to go right to the wanting. But instead let's look at that word, let's give thanks and then understand how we can give of ourselves. Give of ourselves not only to others but to God. How can we take our bodies, our health, our fitness, our physical image and give it to the Lord? Proverbs 17-22 says a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Being thankful and having a thankful heart leads to better health. But if you're sitting here not getting what you want, not having enough, always looking to the next thing, always with that crushed spirit, it's going to dry up your bones.

Aaron O'Connell:

As I've stated in that past podcast, thanksgiving can combat anxiety, depression and stress. Even Philippians 4-6-7 says do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. So even when we have those things that we want, we should do it with Thanksgiving. When we want that new body, when we want to lose weight, when we want those abs, we should request that to God, but through prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, we should let those requests be known to God, but we forget about that. We're not thankful for the things that we do have the ability to change, for the brains, the beautiful brains and mental capacities that God has given us the ability to choose free will. We're not robots. We have the ability to choose what our future is going to become. Yes, god knows already what's going to happen, how we're going to choose, but we have that choice every day of what we can do.

Aaron O'Connell:

Are we going to do it out of want or are we going to do it out of Thanksgiving? When we do it out of Thanksgiving, we align ourselves with God. We are doing things for Him, not ourselves. We are keeping Him the Lord of our lives, not what we want, because many are a plans of a man's heart, but God determines the steps. If we do everything out of Thanksgiving, wouldn't you say that God's going to make those steps a little bit easier? And when they are hard and we look at and say, wow, let's rejoice in my trials, for they're going to produce my endurance and produce my strength, care, produce my hope and do it still be thankful for God and all the things he's given us, even when we have very little.

Aaron O'Connell:

Go. Look at that famous Philippians 4-8,. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. But what's before that? I've learned the secret of life how to live with a little, how I've learned to live with a lot, how to go in need and how to have abundance. We need to learn to be thankful in all situations, because when we can do that, that's when we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us.

Aaron O'Connell:

Some ways that we can live in Thanksgiving is we can have daily habits that foster that Thanksgiving. We can keep a gratitude journal, all the things that we are grateful for. Anytime you're feeling bummed, go into that journal, read it. We can express thanks through our prayers. We can express thanks by giving back, by going and serving as part of giving thanksgiving. I also encourage every listener to share their thankfulness with others and to recognize blessings in community life. Be thankful for those that are around you.

Aaron O'Connell:

Start doing things within your health and your fitness Out of Thanksgiving for others. How can you give of yourself if you are so focused on self, if you are so focused on your own goals? Are you going to be looking at other people's desires, their needs? Are you going to get blinded by the six pack, all those hours in the gym, by you not being able to eat this, eat that, eat that, eat that. Because I need this body, I need this six pack, I need to lose that cellulite. But instead let's stop looking at those things. Let's get away from the vanity and start thanking God for this beautiful temple that he has entrusted us and that he lives in. His Holy Spirit, lives in us, and when we can give of our bodies to Him and say thank you for this, how can I thank you through my body? I'm going to go work out. I'm going to go make it strong. I'm going to go be capable and ready for anything you give me, lord, for anything that devil tries to throw my way, anything that life throws my way. I'm going to be able to be thankful for all of it, because you cause all things for the good of those that love you and are called according to your purpose.

Aaron O'Connell:

Romans 8.38. This is the whole thing behind why to fitness, the whole thing behind my coaching and my counseling that I do, the whole program that I offer everybody, because we need to learn about why we're doing things. If you're doing it out of fear-based goals, of needing these vanity goals and not giving to God, not worshiping God through these things, it's going to be off. You're going to be stressing we need to find peace in our health, peace in our physical image. The only thing we're going to do that is if the reason we're doing everything points to God, points for thankfulness For Thessalonians 5.18. And everything, give thanks, for this is God's will for you and Christ Jesus.

Aaron O'Connell:

We need to have a continually attitude of gratitude, a continual attitude of gratitude In everything. Give thanks. If you're fat, give thanks, you're still alive and you have the opportunity to get going, to start moving. If you're in the gym and you're struggling, thank God, you're in the gym and you have that ability. Even if you are, like I said, if you're going through some problem, if you have some health inflection, thank God, you're still alive and you can start making the proper choices. Today, god is still in the business of miracles. Miracles still happen and if you can start being thankful and giving your body to Him and start doing the things that produce the peace inside of you, he may just come along and give you that miracle.

Aaron O'Connell:

Just want to help people find peace, inner peace over their health and their physical image, because it's not about achieving some goal. It's about finding that peace that passes all understanding, and only God can give that. And the only way you can get that is if you align yourself with biblical principles. And the biblical principle is that we need to give thanks always, for everything, to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we know that from Ephesians 5, 20. Colossians 3, 17,. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father. Through Him, whatever you do, give thanks and start changing our perspective.

Aaron O'Connell:

Let's shift the paradigm.

Aaron O'Connell:

Instead of looking at things that you got to do you have to do struggling to go to work, struggling to work out, struggling to eat these things no, let's be thankful that we can have those things and, if you're listening to this in America, be thankful that there's a grocery store that offers you endless opportunities to eat food that is going to allow you to lose the weight, to gain the goals that you're looking for, that you don't have to be stuck in a place, that you only have to eat the few things because that's all you can afford, that's all you can find in the grocery store.

Aaron O'Connell:

We need to be thankful for these things. Let's be thankful because for everything created by God is good. Timothy says and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. Nothing is to be rejected if it's received with thanksgiving. So ask yourself, am I struggling with a spirit of thanks wanting where I'm just saying thanks, god, but I really want this, and then you just go gung-ho all about what you want, or do you have a true attitude of thanksgiving?

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Aaron O'Connell

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