Six months ago, I would never have guessed that I'd spend my birthday and Super Bowl Sunday half-naked in front of men and women I'd never met before with "One Decision" painted across my chest in greasepaint, wearing a giant foam "#1" sign on my hand.

But I did. And I think that I had a better time on that Super Bowl afternoon than the men sitting in front of their TVs, eating junk food—because having a "super life" is more satisfying to me now than watching a "super game" of football.

No More Shy Guy
A few years ago, that wouldn't have been the case. I was coming out of a relationship and about to be single again for the first time in years. My problem was that I tended to keep to myself and had a hard time letting others get to know me. I wanted more positive, inspiring people in my life, but I wasn't good at making that initial first step.

All that started to change when I realized how scared I was to share the things that are meaningful to me with others. I have been a Boy Scout troop leader for years. Being a troop leader means a lot to me because I am sharing a common interest with my son and I help other kids develop leadership skills. In this role, I also often called people to ask if they'd volunteer. Yet I sounded more often as if I was pleading than sharing something I think is important. I was worried about intruding in other people's lives.

Since then, I've realized that I want to know that I belong wherever I am and to invite others into my life. I've been working on being more assertive and letting my sense of humor come out. That's helped but then I realized something was still missing—my One Decision. I wasn't sure yet what that was for me but I was about to find out. Judith asked if I'd drive the Winnebago for the book tour, and I said "yes," knowing it would be a transformational experience. And this is how I found my own One Decision.

Everywhere we went on the tour, our goal was to talk about the book and invite people to the One Decision training in Chicago. At first, I felt shy doing this. Then I remembered how I wanted to belong and also invite people into what matters to me. As we stopped at each new place, I started seeing each stop as an opportunity. I started talking to all sorts of people, but I especially noticed the people standing on the edges of groups. I saw myself in them—how they wanted to be included but felt shy. So I always reached out for those folks, trying to create an opening for them like I wanted for myself. As I began meeting new people, I realized my One Decision: to open my heart to other people.

Super Sunday, Super Life

Now I really felt my One Decision and everything was starting to make sense to me. The next highlight of the book tour for me was Super Bowl Sunday—which also happened to be my birthday. To attract crowds to Judith's speaking event that night, I took off my shirt and painted my chest like fans sometimes do at football games. Then—shy me—I made lots of noise to get passersby and TV reporters to notice. I don't usually take my shirt off around lots of people, but I ended up having a good time. And I did attract lots of attention! This put a whole new spin on opening my heart to other people—I was literally "baring" my self!

That was definitely an unusual birthday. But I wouldn't have been anywhere else on Super Bowl Sunday. And now that I'm back, making those phone calls for volunteers is not something I agonize over anymore. I no longer feel like I am pleading for help or intruding on others. I am calling with the realization that I am inviting others to opportunities. I have made the choice to live a Super Life and my One Decision is helping to make it happen.

- Mike N (Chicago, IL)

I almost don't even want to write this article—a public declaration about being overweight does not exactly excite me. I've been struggling with my weight for what seems like my entire life. Perhaps, what is more accurate, is that it's taken my entire life for my head to convince my body that "we" are fat.

I decided when I was 11 (having reached my adult height, weight, body and shoe size) that I was fat. But when I look back at pictures, I see that I was not fat—my body had just grown up several years before the little girl who lived inside. I translated what people said about me into beliefs about myself. When well-meaning family, friends, and relatives remarked on "what a big girl you are," it meant: "what a fat girl you are." I also remember cycles of fear, shame, excitement, and sometimes power from hearing the whistles and "cat calls" from men on the street (message: it is not safe to have this body).

And so the journey began. I made an unconscious decision to become the fat person that other people saw, and that I began to see in myself. Or maybe I just decided that I would not try to become what was impossible for me to imagine. The added bonus was being able to cover up and hide this body that was not safe to live in. Unfortunately for me, I live in a world where bodies rule, so I had to do my best to create the illusion that I was staying on top of and keeping my weight under control.

Let the Diets Begin
Many may have made a gallant effort, but I don't know anyone who has tried more things than me to lose weight. First, let's start with all of the "Just say NO" diets I've tried; No Sugar, No fat, No Salt, No wheat or in combination; the NO "white things" diet! I've also done both Blood type and Body type diets, High Fiber diets, Liquid diets and special foods diets.

To support my dieting efforts, I've tried diet pills and appetite suppressants like Aydes "candies" and Dexatrim. I even had a brief stint with Phen-Fen—thank goodness it gave me headaches or I would have taken them until I was dead. I've made new-age healthful attempts as well, including fasts, cleansings, acupuncture, and vegetarianism. I've also been on any number of single-food-group diets like the Cabbage Broth diets, Egg diets, Celery diets, Tuna diets, Cottage Cheese diets, Grapefruit diets etc. If I had mixed enough of them together, maybe I could have had a meal!

Then there are the support programs. I've been supported in groups with several renditions of Weight Watchers, from calories to points to Quick Starts, followed a couple of years later with one-on-one support in Jenny Craig.

I've even tried multiple diets touted by celebrities—Suzanne Summers, Richard Simmons, and Oprah. And let's not forget Atkin's, both the original and the resurrected version, and the less controversial South Beach diet.

My goodness, I think I even tried Cher's diet (maybe Cher didn't have a diet, she just wanted me to go to a gym and sweat to get a body like hers!). Not that I've been opposed to adding exercise to my program for optimum health. The truth is, I've purchased over a dozen gym memberships, which, I might add, is more than the number of times I've actually been to a gym. In fact, at this very moment, I have a recently purchased gym membership card in my wallet still waiting to be used. Maybe next month...

Tiring of the Counting Game
So you can see, from the moment that I first thought that I was fat, I've counted calories, carbs, points, fat grams, miles walked, pounds lost, pounds gained, all the while counting the number of minutes between one unsatisfying thing to eat to the next. And guess what—all of the things I tried worked! In the past 40 years I've lost enough pounds to equal my total body weight, and probably yours too! And with shame, humiliation and despair, I watched each pound move back onto this woman's frame, overburdened with the weight of childhood demons grown up.

Two years ago I decided to refuse to lose or regain a single pound. I am not wasting my energy on the weight loss game. I had committed to enjoying my life the best I could for a fat person. What was the use in trying to have a thin body, when I so clearly had a fat head? I finally looked like I'd always thought.

Making the ONE Decision
Quite by accident, or perhaps by design, I signed up for a training session with Judith Wright. During the session, Judith spoke about the importance and power of making the One Decision. A decision that was so big, so incredible, so connected to who you are and what you're hungry for, that it guides your life. It's a decision that's so powerful that it can be a touchstone to orient toward when ever you're not sure what to do. It is the foundation that other decisions can be checked against—it is a decision that makes other decisions easier. It is the One Decision that brings you closer and closer to your life's purpose, your truest intent.

So, in that room on that day, I took my first stab at uncovering and claiming my One Decision:
To honor and make manifest God's presence in the world, starting with loving myself beyond measure as a unique gift of God's love.

My mere existence is a manifestation of God, and to deny that is insulting and dishonoring. How could God's will be done through me, if I had no gratitude for the personal gift already bestowed on me? If I didn't see God's love in me, any message, any gift, any good deed would be tainted.

Connecting the Dots
Not surprisingly, when I remind myself to love myself beyond measure as a gift of God's love, I treat my body very differently. What I've done to myself, I would not do to anyone I love.

Every day I'm asking myself questions like, "What would you feed yourself now if you really loved her?" "Is this the best thing for someone you love?"

Little by little, my ability to lovingly take care of myself increases. I've decided that I am worth the extra attention it takes to really take care of someone (only this time I'm letting the someone be ME!). I know that I will not be thin overnight. I've lost 22 pounds and there's more to go, but I feel like my One Decision is helping to reconnect me to a part of me that I gave up on long ago—a part I need back, if I am to do God's work.

- Cassandra M (Evanston, IL)