All or Nothing

                   
Rigid thinking, or all-or-nothing thinking
is when you think you're either perfect or a failure,
fantastic, or a loser, on a diet or off a diet.

An example of rigid thinking
with regards to our eating behaviors is:
"What the heck, I've ruined it anyway".

This is the thinking that causes us
to throw all caution to the wind,
and choose to eat whatever, whenever,
and however much we like.

While telling ourselves we'll start again,
…maybe even on a new and different diet plan...
later, tomorrow, or perhaps on Monday,
or perhaps at the beginning of next month.

When the winds blow, a willow sways with them,
while an oak remains still
When a powerful wind comes along,
the willow can bend with the wind and survive it,
but the oak cannot bend,
and so if the wind is strong enough, it will break.

When our thoughts are rigid, just like a stiff tree,
we can easily break. "There goes my diet for today"
Contrast that to an open and flexible attitude,
a middle way, a grey area, which is the place
between eating the whole thing or nothing.

This middle way is: "it's not completely ruined".
The best way to keep ourselves from giving up
when we've taken a misstep,
is to draw our awareness to that middle way,
and be flexible in our thinking.
A partial failure is not a total failure.

If I spilled a bit of food onto a favorite dress I was wearing,
taking care of that mishap right away,
as soon as possible, could salvage my dress.

But if I think "Well, it's ruined anyway",
I'm less likely to get the stain out before it sets.
Even with that rigid mindset.
.......with regards to the spilt food misstep,..... 
I'd be unlikely  to react by choosing to immediately
dump the rest of my plate's contents on my dress.