The Daily - Sunday, September 23, 2018

Writing Challenge- Day #25

I hope you had an amazing Sunday!

HEALTH & FITNESS

I went for a nice 1.60 mile jog this morning. Honestly, it was a much shorter adventure than I had planned. As a runner, sometimes your body will dictate how far it will let you go before you have to go, and when you have to go, you have to go. I enjoyed listening to a nice Podrunner track called "134 BPM - Easy Going." I guess picking that track was prophetic in a way I did not anticipate.

Over the last few weeks I have been exercising regularly and I am pleased with the achievements on the activity side of the equation. For one thing, my blood pressure has steadily declined into a normal level (although I am using a medication for it), and today it was 103/78. That is far better than the 150-160/100-110 that I was recording not too long ago. Jogging has definitely helped.

On the other hand, my weight has not dropped all that much. I know exactly why this is: nutrition. There is much truth to the wisdom that you cannot exercise yourself out of poor nutrition. No matter how much we exercise, if what we eat, if how much we eat, and how we eat what we eat are not optimized for better health, then our health and fitness will only be (at best) marginally better. Now is a time for working on better nutrition while maintaining a good effort on exercising and also being mindful of the need for rest and relaxation. Without good nutrition the whole health/fitness triangle quickly falls apart.

My version of this triangle has nutrition as the base. Instead of Mind Set, I use Rest as the third side of the triangle. Each side of the triangle includes three components. Nutrition includes what you eat, how much you eat, and how you eat food. Fitness includes cardio, strength training, and stretching. Rest incorporates sleep, relaxation, and spirituality/mindfulness. Balance in all nine areas brings better health, improved fitness, greater joy.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

Darn it! Another day without a to-do list. It is a good thing that it is a Sunday and also the day before a week-long vacation. Despite not having a formal to-do list, I hit all major items, which goes to prove that many of the items I have been working on are becoming habits, part of my daily rituals. I am happy about that. However, I am preparing my daily to-do list for tomorrow as soon as I finish posting this entry.

PERSONAL GROWTH

Minimalism is an awesome way to evaluate as little or as much of what makes your life what it is, and then to make sure that what is in your life actually brings value to your life. The appraisal of what brings value to our life can vary from person to person. In general, it encompasses things, people, and activities. If you are struggling with letting go of things, and do not even want to think about dealing with people, then perhaps you can look at appraising your schedule. Here is a nice video that explains it from the viewpoint of a mom with four kids.

TIPS & TRICKS

And for a simple way to cook bacon and eggs in the great outdoors. all you need is a simple paper bag.

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

I am sharing this video of an amazing tiny house; when I retire I want to move into a tiny house like this one.

TECHNOLOGY

Ever since installing the new router at home I have been testing the internet speed> one of my favorite test sites is Speedtest.net. The main reason I like it is that you can try several servers to give you an idea of you average speed.

STREAKS - For the record

Current list of streaks:

• Writing: day 25
• Blood Pressure Readings: day 12 (amazing reading at 103/78)
• Logging to SparkPeople: day 15
• Daily Exercise Routine: not counting for now
• Cardio: Yes (1.60 miles in 29 minutes)
• Yoga: No
• Strength Training: No
• Stretching: Yes (morning stretch)
• Meditation: Yes (morning and evening meditations)
  
• Meditation: day 12
• Number of tabs open: day 8

The Daily: August 30, 2018

It is hard to believe that just over a year ago I tried to do this daily posting and could not keep it up. Life seems to get too busy and it takes an enormous amount of discipline to write even a little everyday. But here I am, once more, because there are so many things we can share with each other. So here we go!

HEALTH & FITNESS

For several years I have been dealing with a number of health issues. Last year I finally went to a doctor to get a physical. From conventional medicine's viewpoint, my two main issues are high blood pressure and pre-diabetes. With some medication, careful nutrition, regular exercise, and managed rest/sleep, I am beginning to turn the corner on these conditions. I will share more on this later.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

My thought for today: if we want to achieve our greatest goals, we must pay attention to our rituals. A small change in the things we do routinely can have a great impact on the rest of our life. Tony Robbins tells the story of advise he received from a golf pro (see video); he was told that a small change in how a gold ball is hit by the club makes a huge impact on its trajectory and where the ball ends up. Making a small change in our rituals and routines can have a tremendous impact on our life months and years down the road. It is important to remember that we act on "triggers"; for example, we get up and routinely do certain things, usually in a specific order. What if we changed one of those things? Here is an example. Let's say we wake up, hit the snooze button four times (about 36 minutes have gone by), then go to the bathroom, etc. What if we do not hit the snooze button and instead we get up, splash water on our face, and then do some gentle exercises for 20 minutes? How much would that small change impact our health in one year? Ten years? I think it would be huge!

Here is a funny video (warning: profanity used liberally and effectively in the video) on how to change our morning routine:

PERSONAL GROWTH

A friend of mine just watched her life shatter through domestic violence. During long conversations I reminded her of the two most important words we can keep using to settle ourselves for whatever we are facing: I AM.

We need nothing else but those two words. I AM. If we repeat them over and over to ourselves we can center on the fact that we exist and that is an amazing miracle in and of itself.

What we put after "I AM" can be huge in our mindset, our health, and our success. How often we hear people say "I am a smoker," or "I am a failure," or "I am no good at …" (and there are many variations on this: I suck at … , I cannot do math/cooking/skating/etc.).

But what if we used better additives to "I AM"? I am alive! I am successful! I am love! I am safe! I am strong! The impact would be significant in the energy we attract into our daily life.

FINANCES

Saving is one of the most important skills one can master for solid financial success. Here is a good MSN article on saving for the future.

My trick: my paycheck is deposited automatically to my credit union account. I then distribute money to various saving accounts based on goals and needs. For example, I know I need to save $300 each year for car taxes. I get 26 paychecks per year, so that comes to $11.54 per paycheck. I do the same for all recurring and expected expenses: car maintenance, home owner association fees, etc. However, my first payment goes to build and grow my emergency fund. Having an emergency fund is critical to prepare you for the ups and downs of life.

For more tips on financial success, I suggest visiting the Dave Ramsey website. Pay special attention to his Seven Baby Steps advice. Please note: I am not a Christian and Dave Ramsey is, and many of his teachings are based on Biblical references; so be it, to each its own. The truth is, his methodology works whether you are a Christian, a Buddhist or an Atheist. Most importantly, you need not buy or attend his full course to benefit from his knowledge; everything you need is right there in his website. It is simple, but not easy. You will need to stick with it to make it work, and work it will.

POLITICS

Oh my, where to start. I guess it is best to start by saying that this Fake President is a total disgrace to the nation. <sigh> That is not even a good start. I am at a loss for words on how bad #45 is. He cannot talk rationally, he cannot write rationally, he cannot think rationally. He has not grasp on facts, not even the simple, basic variety of facts. You don't believe me? Check the facts! He lives in a fantasy world in which he is Emperor; when things do not go the way he wants them to go, then heads roll and he unleashes his venom on the world. He cannot tell the truth; there is evidence that he is incapable of telling the truth. He may be a stereotypical pathological liar. He tells lies upon lies upon lies. <sigh> This is a sad situation, and our country (if not the world) is in danger while this person is in office. But the most dangerous thing is for us to remain quiet, to label his actions as "acceptable" because they are coming from an unconventional President. If we take nothing else from Sen. John McCain's life, let's take this: we must stand for the truth, and we must stand up to someone that wants to be a dictator disguised as an "unconventional politician."

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

Excellent video on cooking eggs in interesting and delicious ways! Enjoy!

FUNNY STORY

UPS could not deliver a package in Asheville, NC; the reason: bear in driveway.