Learning, learning, learning…..

It’s a gloomy Saturday morning and it’s nice to relax….sort of.

Did some coffee-drinkin’, did some surfin’, did some healthy eatin’….

And then I threw on my sneakers and went for a walk in the gloom and the drizzle.

I was thinking about work (of course!) but wanted to shift my focus on all things personal.

Priority 1:  Personal life.

I’ve decided to make my social/romantic life a project.  Good friend Shawna tells me that anyone over 35 who wants to meet someone special needs to make it a project.  OK.

So, I joined Lavalife, Match.com and solicited friends/sisters for single men recommendations.

And I’ve been on one blind date so far.  Not great.

So, on to the next intro.  I have another blind date coming up with a nice man met on Lavalife.  Oh. My. God.  I’m a cliche!  I met someone on the internet.

Even more cliche-ish is that I’m on a mission to lose 3 pounds and get a haircut before that happens!!  Never mind losing 10 before anything (with anyone) more intimate happens.  Do all women do this?????

So, lots of exercise, lots of low-cal, super-healthy food, lots of sleep and no salt!!

Feels good to make some progress here.  Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Moving the Body to Calm the Mind

I had a complicated business lunch on Thursday.  It stayed with me through out the remainder of the day, kept me up on Thursday night, stuck with me on Friday in the form of a headache whick kept right on into Saturday.

Today, I’d had enough.  After some necessary chores and some good solid healthy food (rather than the junk I’d been inhaling in response to the emotional roller coaster), I threw on my sneakers and hit the gym.

The plan wasn’t to go to extremes.  In fact, the plan was the opposite.

I walked on the treadmill to my favorite ballads….and then slowed down my mind with a yoga class.

Oooohhhhmmmm………

It felt great and my headache is finally gone.  I think I have my perspective back.

In the coming weeks as autumn flows through to winter, I’m going to work hard at getting to the gym almost every day.   Moving my body has always calmed my mind.  And I need a place to get a new perspective.  I need to be surrounded by new people and I need to do new things.  Change my energy.

On another note, I ran into a childhood friend from Mrs. Egan’s Grade 6 class at yoga.  Fun!  She’s crazy fit.

Giving Thanks

It’s a beautiful, sunny Monday morning here – and it’s Thanksgiving weekend.

It’s Monday morning and although I do love my job, I’m not working!  For this, I give many thanks.

Instead, I’m cozy on the couch in my yoga pants, with coffee, Ellen, and a laptop. I”ve been downloading my pictures from the weekend.

It was a lovely, fun-filled, food-filled, family weekend.  For this, I give many thanks.

It was nice to be together with everyone, including the Pooch.  We cooked turkey, ate pie and laughed more than I have laughed in a long, long time.  For this, I give many thanks.

And the pie!

My Mom bakes the most delicious pie!  For this, I give many thanks.

Today, I will putter around my lovely little house which I love and get ready for the upcoming week.  For this, I give many thanks.

It won’t be an easy week.  I have some challenges ahead of me.  A meeting I’m not looking forward to.  A policy to write on a subject about which I know nothing – definitely a good learning experience.  However, I’ve had enough adversity in the last ten years that I know I will sail through all of this.  It may take some yoga-breathing in the moment, but I can handle it.

Adversity is tough in the moment, but it certainly teaches life skills that are priceless.  For this, I give many thanks.

And, after a weekend of indugence, and alot of conversation about the many paths to good health, I’m going to make prepping for a healthy week a priority today.  My sisters are a constant source of motivataion and inspiration.  I am sad for everyone else in the world because these two women are the best sisters on the planet, and they’re mine.

For this, I give many, many thanks.

Age and Experience

A day into the new week and it’s feeling great.  I had a great workout yesterday – a 4 mile walk in 60 minutes.  I felt like I was flowing for a part of it – barely touching the ground!

Nutrition has been excellent.  Voila the lunchbox yesterday and today (ate the same thing)…

Yogurt and blueberries for breakfast, baby carrots mid-morning, a tuna sandwich with tomatoes and a salad for lunch, and grapes and an apple for afternoon fruit.  I think I hit all the food groups there!

I was reading The Healthy Tipping Point blog yesterday and Caitlin Boyle, the author, was highly distressed about a rather vicious article published by Marie Claire magazine about her and a group of other women bloggers.  The article was very negative.

I know what it’s like to be attacked and to be labeled.  And when you are  in the midst of that cyclone, it’s hard not to feel completely victimized and hurt.  However, after reading the article, I could immediately see it as a business maneuver.

This is the best benefit of having much more life experience.  Objectivity.   The ability to understand the situation for what it really is.

What people say and do usually reflects their needs, perspective, insecurities, talents, and personality.  My goal of late has been to not let others reflect their opinions onto me.  It’s merely a manifestation of their own stuff.  My opinion of myself needs to come from what is inside me only.

I sent Caitlin an email, and asked her to trust in herself and continue to be authentic and focused.  She sent me a note back thanking me for my kindness.  That’s true class and is a truer reflection of kind of person she is.  I am impressed.

More on Energy

On  Friday night, I had a coffee with a new acquaintance.  I always enjoy meeting new people and conversations, and am generally pretty social.

My observation after an hour was that first impressions are very important.  And so is personal energy.

This person had a very interesting energy in some not-so-positive ways.

And I started thinking about what kind of energy I am contributing to the world.  How does my energy affect those I interact with and what does it say about me?

My intention is to have an energy that is young, positive, dynamic, flexible, growth-oriented, open and accepting.  What can I do to ensure this?

First and foremost, I think it’s important to experience new things and learn all the time.  Otherwise, I feel I will get staid, mouldy, set in my ways.  Old.  Yuck!

Second, I believe that being healthy and fit contribute not only to a great physical energy but also to a dynamic mental one.

Third, bravery is terribly important.   Feel the fear and do it anyway, as they say!!

Energy….what radiates between you and me.  What can I do to contribute more to mine in a positive way?

Energy….

I’ve been thinking about energy lately — physical, mental, karmic……..

Fascinating.

I’m going to work a little on all dimensions of it today.  More on that later….

It’s a sunny, chilly Sunday morning here in Ottawa.  Coffee, laptop, Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN’s House Call….everything a Sunday morning should be!  I do have a plan for the day:  some chores, some exercise, some relaxing.  The chores are household stuff — cleaning, organizing, repairing.  The exercise is easy-peasy — because it’s Sunday.  The relaxing is some reading, some puttering and some surfing.

For physical energy, some Sunday breakfast….

For mental energy….. I have an easy 2 mile run planned.  iPod — check!  Sneakers — check!  Gloves — check!  Gloves…???!

It’s 2 degrees outside!

Time to get moving.  It’s  beautiful morning.  This is the view from my front door.  Later….