Playing any kind of sport can help us learn many lessons. For me, bowling is a constant source of lessons. Every week, every frame, every shot is an opportunity to learn or re-learn valuable life lessons. Tonight was no exception. After a strong first game (206), my next two games were a struggle (ending with scores of 150 and 160). Some lessons from tonight's sessions:
Never rest in your laurels; just because game one was good does not mean the other games will be.
Adjust, constantly adjust, and be willing to be brave and make big changes when needed. At the end of game two I moved left on the approach and moved my target left a little, shooting three strikes in a row.
No matter what, it is just a game, so have a good time, celebrate the success of others (even if they are your opponents, perhaps especially if they are your opponents).
Stay humble, always humble. My team has been in first place in the league since we started. We are not the greatest group of bowlers, but we were performing well every week, at least well enough to stay at the top of the chart. Tonight, we lost all points, and we all recognize that the other team bowled very, very well, and we did not.
Bowling, like may other sports, is a valuable teacher if we just stop and learn the lessons.
HEALTH & FITNESS
Very enjoyable morning run for 2.16 miles in 39 minutes. I listened to Podrunner's "139 BPM - Sudden Summer" this morning. Tomorrow I will listen to something in the 141-142 BPM, as part of my plan to increase my speed a little at a time.
Blood pressure was still good at 114/81.
Nutrition was so-so although I stayed within my targeted numbers for calories, carbs, etc.
Morning meditation was great and I intend to do another session before bedtime.
“So what is a good meditator? A good meditator meditates.” ~ Allan Lokos
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
An excellent day of productivity with the help of a simple to-do list. I expanded the use of the list to take notes, add a shopping list to the bottom, etc. It is becoming a great productivity tool.
A nice jog this morning (albeit later than normal) for 2.26 miles in 40 minutes to the great Podrunner track called "137 BPM - Paced Out." For the record, I do not profit from any of you using Podrunner's mixes; I donate to Podrunner on a monthly basis and I hope others will enjoy the tracks and also help Steve continue offering these great workout mixes.
My blood pressure was amazing again today. I pulled 109/68 this evening. Jogging, meditation and Yoga are working!
Today was a better day for nutrition.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
During Saturday and Sunday I navigated the days without a to-do list. That was frustrating because I know I can accomplish so much more when I do have a list to help me along my crazy days. In reflecting on this, I realized that the biggest stumbling block was to create the initial list with all the daily items in it. Last night I decided to create a list for each day of this week. That should help me get over that roadblock. Indeed, it worked quite well this morning and I feel much better about all the things I can accomplish today.
The one drawback of creating future to-do lists is that if something drastic changes in your "master list" then you either have to update a bunch of daily lists or re-do them from scratch. However, that is a small price to pay for being organized and more in control of your day. I suggest limiting the list creation to one week at a time. This would also allow us to apply Dr. Covey's planning strategies and put first things first and start with the end in mind. What do we want to accomplish in the week ahead? Let's plan those "big rocks" before all the smaller rocks take space in our mind and schedule.
PERSONAL GROWTH
Enjoy this video on the "AMRAP Mentality." I think there is much value in what the video advocates (warning: there is a commercial for "Chegg" studying services near the end of the video.)
TIPS & TRICKS
If you need some help implementing the AMRAP strategy detailed above, consider using the Pomodoro Technique (and, yes, there is an app for that). The Pomodoro Technique helps you focus for 25 minutes on one task, and then nudges you to take breaks at regular intervals. This time management approach instills the AMRAP philosophy because during the work periods you go all out at whatever the task is, avoiding all distractions (telephone, email, etc.). I have successfully used this technique for decades.
STREAKS - For the record
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 26
Blood Pressure Readings: day 13 (amazingly nice numbers: 109/68)
Today's post will be short. It was a busy, long day that started when I went to bed too late last night which meant I got up late this morning … and it has been one of those days. It was a good day overall. No, really, it was a great day. I got a lot of things done. I had a great experience with our internet provider technician troubleshooting what I thought was slow speeds. Actually, it is old equipment inside the house: need a new router, new network cards, etc. I bought the new router this evening and will install it tomorrow after I get home.
A SIGN
This is my daily mantra as I drive to and from work:
I came across this funny video on quitting sugar for a month; it is worth watching.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
Today was the start of something I had wanted to do for years: a regular, daily Yoga practice. It took me a few minutes to get things set-up, but it was so worth it. I will do the same routine for the next few days and then try something different. Tomorrow, with a little more time, I will learn and do an evening Yoga routine; just a 10-minute sequence to end the day on a high note.
PERSONAL GROWTH
As I suspected, going to a digital things-to-do list made it easier not to look at it throughout the day. Fortunately, I was able to check off all the important items on the list anyway, but I could have missed something important by not looking at the list at least 2-3 times during the day. Something to work on.
FINANCES
Not logging in your expenses daily is a bad sign that your financial management efforts are about to collapse; that is what has happened to me in the past, and that is what is happening to me right now. Tomorrow evening I will play catch-up with "EveryDollar" until all transactions have been entered. Fortunately, I have been using my debit card for the most part this month, so it will be fairly easy to get caught up. Unfortunately, using the debit card as the main form of transactions tends to quickly escalate and leads to over spending. The flags are at yellow right now, but the flag person is pulling up the red flags; time to get back on track.
STREAKS - For the record
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 22
Blood Pressure Readings: day 9 (a little higher today at 128/78; it was a stressful day at work)
Logging to SparkPeople: day 12
Daily Exercise Routine: not counting for now
Cardio: Yes: 1.78 miles for 32 minutes
Yoga: Yes! A nice 10 minute workout in the morning. Mostly stretching and great to do.
Strength Training: No
Stretching: Yes (in addition to Yoga, I did some stretches first thing after getting up)
Meditation: Yes, 10 minute meditation first thing in the morning, another 10 minutes in the afternoon.
Meditation: day 9
Number of tabs open: day 5 (despite a crazy day at work, I managed to keep the number of tabs and windows to a minimum. I have become very aware of this aspect of computing and how quickly things can get out of hand).
I had a super fun jog this morning, logging 2.47 miles in 44 minutes. I used Podrunner's "140 BPM - Superconductor." My strategy this week is to vary my pace everyday aiming to increase my speed a little over time. For the month of September I want to at least be able to jog at around 145 BPM once or twice. In October I want to inch up a little, maybe as fast as 150 BPM. I am actually not too hung up on the actual number as long as I keep making progress and, most importantly, remain injury and pain free.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
The multi-factor approach to fitness metrics (having four requirements that need to be met in order to qualify for a "successful day") may not be working the way I had intended. This is not a surprise. Growing in anything we do means making adjustments. Life is like one big project made of a myriad of smaller projects; when we follow the project management cycle (plan, implement, measure/ review, adjust) we can ensure success in whatever we try.
My biggest challenge has been missing weight training. It appears I may want to split the four into individual action items and once all four, separately, are achieved, then the goal will be achieved. As I pondered this point I realized that there may be an elegant solution to this: Yoga. Having a daily or regular Yoga practice can help us achieve balance in all four areas I have listed. When I practice Yoga regularly my running also improves. So that is my new fitness goal: at least 10-15 minutes of Yoga everyday.
Here is the Yoga routine I will start tomorrow morning.
For those of you that think Yoga is not something they can do, please watch this short video:
Yoga is something best started with a teacher. A teacher will take care of you, the whole you: the physical you, the mental you, the emotional you, the spiritual you. There is a difference, sometimes a huge difference, between a teacher and an instructor. The latter usually deals with form and technique but may be unable to help with the other aspects of a Yoga practice. Once you learn the basics from a teacher, then you can work with instructors or even videos. I was truly blessed to have started my Yoga practice with an amazing teacher; her name is Juliet Hewitt. There is not a time that I step on my mat that she is not present even if she is not physically there. So, find yourself a teacher, learn the basics, and then take it from there. As Juliet always says, start from where you are right now.
PERSONAL GROWTH
Clutter is a sign of trouble. If we look around, clutter is all around us. For many, it is in our homes, our offices, our cars. Clutter has become a huge industry in the USA. All we have to do is look at all the self-storage businesses opening in almost every neighborhood, or the incredible growth of thrift store chains like Goodwill. Look at this video and you can get a glimpse of the problem.
Soon I will share a bit of the purging I have done at home.
TIPS & TRICKS
The nice hand-written to-do lists I wrote about a few days ago have matured a bit. I moved to a digital version using the "Notes" app on my iPhone. The main advantage I see is the time saving from not having to re-write things left to do at the end of the day. The disadvantage, as I have experienced in the past, is a significant disconnect with the list; it is easier to forget to check the list as often once it is in digital form. Having handwritten notes makes the connection with your brain a lot stronger. However, using digital notes can be just as effective with some discipline. Whichever you choose, having a daily to-do list is a definite must for improved productivity (at least for the majority of us).
PODCASTS / VIDEOS
Chi Running is a running methodology designed to eliminate injuries and improve anybody's running efficiency. I have read parts of the book and love the concept. Here is a video explaining the basics of Chi Running.
INTERESTING TIDBITS
Not all cookware is safe to use. Here is a video about some popular but not so safe items we may have in our kitchens.
STREAKS - For the record
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 21
Blood Pressure Readings: day 8 (down to 111/71)
Logging to SparkPeople: day 11
Daily Exercise Routine: day 0
Cardio: Yes (2.47 miles in 44 minutes)
Strength Training: No (see above)
Stretching: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Meditation: day 8
Number of tabs open: day 4 (still working on this — today was more of a challenge than in days 1-3, but it is definitely better)
Florence passed quietly over the city in the middle of the night. It is still raining today and will continue to do so through Wednesday. Winds have died down to a constant breeze.
TODAY'S NOTES
Today is Independence Day in my native Mexico. This normally is a day of celebration throughout the country, a great excuse to party and be happy. And yet, throughout the last 208 years, Mexico has struggled to free itself from a seemingly endless chain of dictators. Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1810. A century later, in 1910, the country endured a bloody revolution that was supposed to benefit the masses. Instead, corruption ate through the country so that an elite class, many of them politicians,became the modern version of a dictator. At the same time, the country has been under the dictatorship of its neighbor to the north, being forced to endure whatever the USA wished to impose on them. Political dictatorship, economical dictatorship, cultural dictatorship — Mexico has seen them all, continues to see them all, strives still to free itself from it all. I miss much of Mexico, especially the people. I do not miss the corruption, the immoral inequality between the few ultra-rich and the many poor; sadly, the same is happening in the USA. It all boils down to greed. When those in power are not satisfied with "enough" and instead they want it all, and they want it all for themselves, all the time, for all times. Historically, this is how civilizations begin to crumble.
HEALTH & FITNESS
Another wet jog this morning to log 2.83 miles in 53 minutes. I chose Podrunner's "135 BPM - Amplifier" track and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It was wet, with steady rain all through the jog. I have now removed the NHS Couch-to-5K tracks from my phone. It is obvious I now need to work on improving performance and not simply getting to run 30 minutes at a time.
As planned, I opted to use the Saucony shoes with the improved insoles. It was a great choice. The shoes, insoles and socks got thoroughly soaked. The better insoles made a huge difference in the comfort of these shoes. I enjoyed the run and got back home pain free. Although my shoes were soaked, they only felt slightly heavier than heavier than normal. That was a very pleasant surprise.
Today's run was the second in a row in the rain. With the dampness from the rain and the heat of running (and having a raincoat) my old problem of hives came back both days. In the past I would have opted for anti-histamines and scratched the heck out of every bump on me. For the last two days I simply took a cool shower and did some deep breathing. It only took a few minutes for the intense itching to pass and the hives to begin receding. This condition is called cholinergic urticaria, or heat hives. According to something I read today, I may benefit from using cotton instead of polyester shirts. There is also a suggestion of using a vinegar solution to calm the itching down. Further reading indicates Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) is helpful. I definitely will try it.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
Current list of streaks:
Writing: day 18
Blood Pressure Readings: 5 days in a row. Apparently I missed a reading on 9/11/18. Today's readings are a tad higher than they have been (130/80). Worked on it a little through meditation and got it down to 116/67.
Logging to SparkPeople: 8 days in a row (began entering food and activity data)
Intermittent Fasting: 1 day (I did great last night and fasted for over 13 hours)
Daily Exercise Routine: 0
Cardio: Jogged 2.09 miles
Strength Training: Nope
Stretching: Yes
Meditation: Yes, 30 minutes overall in 10-minute intervals.
(In order to count this one, I am making it a bit challenging. A day will only count if it contains at least 30 minutes of cardio, at least 30 minutes of strength training, at least 10 minutes of stretching, at least six hours of sleep, and at least 10 minutes of meditation.)
Meditation: 5 days (all-time = 40): morning meditation was challenging again today. I chose a five minute meditation and my mind was all over the place. I am going to do at least one more meditative period today.
Number of tabs open: 1 day (down to two tabs open for more than a few minutes. All other tabs either closed or stored in "Read Later" (see "Personal Growth " below).
PERSONAL GROWTH
I am all into challenges. One of the most challenging thing I face everyday is the number of tabs I have open in my browser. I often have dozens of tabs open at once. Some are open permanently (for example, Gmail) and others stay up for months before I get back to them. My challenge for the next 30 days is to keep the least number of tabs open at any one time. This is in line with being a minimalist. Of course, there is always the worry of forgetting what tabs were open during some research. With help with that, I installed the "Read Later" extension in Chrome. Instead of 10-12 tabs, I managed to keep one to two tabs open. I kept Gmail going, and I kept Blogger open to add items to this post. My computer seems much happier this way. And I am managing to get a lot more done without so many distractions. A win-win situation.
INTERESTING QUOTE
"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
I recently came across this video explaining how an old time management system can be adapted to adult, modern life, for increased productivity and improved life joy. I am seriously considering doing something like this for my time management.
WEEKLY SUMMARY
This has been an amazing week. There are many things I am thankful for as we wrap up the week. Top things to be grateful for:
Hurricane Florence was only a minor inconvenience for us. Although the wind and rain were worrisome, we were fortunate not to sustain any damage. Many people in North Carolina and some in South Carolina were not as fortunate. My heart goes out to them.
I was able to accomplish some major cleaning and purging around the house. My bedroom closet is hard to recognize. There is much more to be done, but the progress is something to be grateful for.
I have been able to jog every morning, and have remained pain free. My blood pressure seems to be stable. I feel well. Life is good.
I have gotten into some great habits, especially making a daily to do list and sticking with it. The list is nothing fancy but it has been working well for getting much done; at the top of the list are items (rituals) I want to follow and the rest are items I need or want to accomplish. As a past user of DayTimers, I am delighted with the success. Getting back to a normal routine will be interesting and a true test of this system.
On September 6 we celebrate "National Read A Book Day" and "National Coffee Ice Cream Day." Coffee ice cream is one of my favorites, and reading a book one of my favorite pastimes. Maybe it is a sign that tonight we should eat some coffee ice cream (my favorite) while reading a book, although we must be careful not to drip all over the pages (especially if it is a borrowed item). J
Lots of things happened on this date, among them:
1620 The Mayflower
departs Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World
1901 US President
William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, while visiting the
Pan-American Exposition in New York
1916 1st true
supermarket, the "Piggly Wiggly" is opened by Clarence Saunders in
Memphis, Tennessee
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divine within you." ~ Amit Ray
HEALTH & FITNESS
I am been good about logging in to SparkPeople everyday for the last six days. I just caught up with entering the food I have eaten. Sadly, this effort brings to mind that I have not been exercising daily as I know I should. Time to get back on it — today! :-)
PERSONAL GROWTH
As I rose this morning I realized I missed one of my streaks yesterday. I was rushed in the morning and forgot to meditate; then got busy all day and did not meditate during the day. And so my streak of meditation days ended at 40 days. Today, I start that streak again. There is an important lesson there: just because we miss one day of whatever activity we are trying to do regularly, it does not mean we need not start all over. The event (in my case, missing the meditation period) gives us pause to evaluate the importance of relevance of that event. If it is still important and relevant, then we must start again. And, as my Buddhist Master often says, when we forget the activity (and we will), then start again, and then again, and be kind to yourself when you find yourself starting over and over. Whether this applies to meditation, exercise, diet, work assignments, cleaning, or anything else, it is a daily process that we commit to everyday.
How appropriate that today's quote is about meditation.
The other lesson from this finding is that rituals and routines are critical in developing better habits and achieving our goals and making our dreams come true.
FINANCES
As I venture into using "EveryDollar" everyday, I learn more and more about my finances. One of the things we must be alert to, regardless of what budgeting/tracking system you use, is the impact of automatic transactions. I have many transactions carefully scheduled, and tracking each manually will be a nice challenge.
POLITICS
I published my "Manifesto for a Better United States of America" as a separate post. It is not meant to be a call for revolution, but for reform. Some of the reform is drastic and could be confused with revolution. In my mind, the time for this type of drastic change is now, perhaps overdue by decades. We cannot continue doing things in the same way and expecting different results. When we waste billions of dollars on war instead of spending those resources on peaceful efforts that would result in less suffering then we miss the opportunity to make a real positive impact in our world.
One of the podcasts I listen to regularly and that applies to anyone is called "Hacking Humans." I think we can all learn from the hacks hackers are using to hack into our lives. Power is knowledge, and knowledge brings safety.
TECHNOLOGY
Have you been the victim of an internet based crime? Not sure who to talk to about it? Try the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3
It is Sunday, a day many reserve for church and family activities.
I am not a religious person but I routinely attend services at the Unitarian Universalist church in Columbia. I love their philosophy and I actually became a member over a year ago, the second organized church I have ever joined.
I am definitely a spiritual person. I am an ordained Buddhist layperson and an ordained minister in two Humanist churches. I do not believe in God in the way many people do (that is, an omnipotent being that punishes and rewards, one who we must fear and obey blindly). To me, God is the Universal energy that connects everything; that is my understanding, and it is likely flawed and incomplete, but that is the best I can come up with. As my Buddhist Master once told me, much of the Universe is beyond human comprehension. Although we see that it works, we do not always understand how it works.
Humans have a tendency to demand an explanation for everything, and so we come up with ideas/concepts about how things work. The problem, of course, is when we grasp unto our beliefs so tightly that we name them "The Truth." When our truth becomes the only acceptable truth then we enter the "suffering zone." We either suffer ourselves when others disagree with us, or we cause others to suffer because they think differently from us.
Those in power love this because that causes us to be divided, fragmented, impeded from working for the collective good. The elite has created all manners of ways to divide us, religion being but one of them. Globally, we are separated by national borders. We are split by races, ignoring the fact hat we are just one race: the human race. From early childhood we are taught to be rivals with something: a different school, a different sport team, a different club. Our world is constantly being fragmented with the main purpose of keeping us apart.
I often recall John Lennon's "Imagine" — I wonder what it would be to not be so divided, to be more united, to work together for the common good. Can we imagine a world without borders, without religions, without competitive team sports, without political parties? Can we imagine a world in which we no longer need to stand against things, in which we stand for things, and then work collectively to achieve those things?
I will share more about Sunday's service tomorrow.
HEALTH & FITNESS
I missed jogging again this morning. Darn it! I went to bed late last night working on "EveryDollar" and did not get up until after 7 AM. I cannot wait for Fall weather so that I can begin running during the day and evening. Let's see what happens tomorrow.
Speaking of fitness, I highly recommend the Darebee website. They provide, free of charge, a huge collection of workout plans, challenges, and other fitness and health information. All their materials are downloadable and printable. All for free. I donate monthly to them. Please consider supporting them if you find value in their resources.
And speaking of Darebee, I plan to start their "90 Days of Action" program tomorrow. I will keep you posted.
MEDITATION
I am on Day 38 of daily morning meditations. That is a record number of days for my meditation practice. Today's session was on Equanimity, the mindful intent of finding common ground with anybody we dislike. It is a powerful meditation because, at the very least, every being wants to be happy and free of suffering; we all have that in common. If we think about anyone we have a conflict with and we remind ourselves that the other person is also seeking happiness then we begin to build bridges with them.
GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS
Tim Minchin is an amazing comedian, musician and philosopher. I love his commencement speech. I have listened to it many times and I always laugh and I am moved and inspired by his words.
One of the most powerful messages from his speech is his plea for people to be teachers. Tim says, in part: "Be a teacher, even if you are not a teacher, be a teacher." We all have something to offer to the rest of humanity. Let us share our knowledge, our experiences, our discoveries. Every story matters, every voice is important. Raise your voice, share yourself with the world. Be a teacher!
One of the most amazing, thought-provoking pieces by Tim is called "The Fence." Enjoy!
PERSONAL GROWTH
For some time now I have been working on becoming a minimalist. Someone recently asked for a definition of minimalism. It boils down to this: a minimalist questions the value of everything in their life. It is not just about material things, although that is a good point to start. It is not about having the least number of things, it is about only having things that bring value in our life. And beyond the realm of "things" we can have other areas such as activities and relationships. We can view the things we do and the people we interact with regularly and find if they bring value to our life (and when it comes to relationships, we could also question whether we bring value into the other person's life). Sometimes we are in a crappy relationship and we are the cause of it being crappy.
For more information on minimalism, I suggest reading the blog by "The Minimalists". I met Josh and Ryan when they were in Columbia some time ago and they are genuine believers in the power of minimalism. You may also enjoy reading Leo Babauta's "Zen Habits". Leo was one of the original minimalists.
FINANCES
I have been using the "EveryDollar" website and app very successfully today. One word of caution. Do not get too far ahead in your monthly budgeting. If you create several monthly budgets and then you decide to add categories to the current month, the new categories do not automatically appear in future months unless you use the "Reset" function (link located at the bottom of the page) which will copy the previous month budget and categories, but also causes you to lose any budget data entered for that month. It is not a big deal, but I wanted to share this tidbit with you.
POLITICS
You may have heard or read that Sen. McCain's daughter delivered a strong message about how America is already a great nation that does not need to be made great again. #45 could not take the high ground on this and went on the attack. How un-presidential these actions are. Childish and vengeful behavior that would be expected of a 10-year old, not the head of state of the most powerful nation on Earth. But then again … perhaps he is not the legitimate head of state of the most powerful nation on Earth.
TIPS & TRICKS
For months now I have been using the "Waze" app to plan my drives, even the simplest ones. It has helped me avoid traffic jams many times. I highly recommend it.
