The mythical stories that exist within every subculture point to the hero and rediscovery. The hero's quest is not one of attainment of something higher than the self, but of re-attainment of the self that previously existed.
As children we are born pure and aware of our being, as we are so connected to our body and our senses. As we learn to think with language, and to interpret, and are socialized; the pure self is lost.
The hero's path is to rediscover the self within that is Being. The self that is in the state of a child; but of a child with knowledge of the path that was previously trodden on, the hope for the path ahead, and the fact that the only moment that ever exists is the present one. Therefore, savor it, the moment; and let go of all constructs of thought. Simply BE
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Friday, July 13, 2018
Mindfulness
Breathe in and focus on the stress that has accumulated over a long work day. Breathe out and let it all go.
A Course in Miracles
I've been listening to Oprah's Super Soul Sunday and several of the guests have discussed a book called, A Course in Miracles. Soooo....I bought it on Amazon for 10 bucks for the Kindle Version.
It's full of empowering and inspiring dialogue. I've started the first chapter, where it discusses the "projector theory." It speaks of our thoughts being the film for a movie, our mind being the projector, and the external world as being the screen.
It has sparked a lot of thought for me already! It's another way of explaining that the outside world has no value, except for the value that we assign to it. While driving to work a car cuts you off, an external event. The bridge between the external world and the internal world are your senses, your emotional responses, and your physical responses. You SEE this occur with your vision. You FEEL this with your heart beating faster and a large gasp of air. You feel fear, anger, shock.
Then, the programming of your brain interprets the sight, emotion, and physical response that you are internally experiencing and creates the "film." You think, "That guy is such an asshole. You can't just cut people off!" Or, you may think, "That was close, thankfully I saw him and braked. That person must be in a hurry to get somewhere. I hope they make it on time safely."
I can see how genuinely responding in these two very different ways can change your emotional and spiritual position for that moment, a few minutes, an hour, or the rest of the day.
Maybe, you complain about it at work when you get there to a co-worker. Continuing the emotional experience of anger and fear. Or, maybe you think the latter thought. Then, you have wished the person well and moved on, grateful that you did not get in an accident this morning.
I hope this course teaches me to respond in the healthier, more positive way of thinking. My thoughts are automatic sometimes, and going to therapy for nearly a decade has allowed me to understand where my thought patterns were wired in childhood.
My purpose as an adult, is learning to change the wiring of my brain. I want to be able to either genuinely react more positively and gratefully. Or, I want to be able to accept my "negative" reactions and be able to calm myself down and come back to a place of positivity.
It's full of empowering and inspiring dialogue. I've started the first chapter, where it discusses the "projector theory." It speaks of our thoughts being the film for a movie, our mind being the projector, and the external world as being the screen.
It has sparked a lot of thought for me already! It's another way of explaining that the outside world has no value, except for the value that we assign to it. While driving to work a car cuts you off, an external event. The bridge between the external world and the internal world are your senses, your emotional responses, and your physical responses. You SEE this occur with your vision. You FEEL this with your heart beating faster and a large gasp of air. You feel fear, anger, shock.
Then, the programming of your brain interprets the sight, emotion, and physical response that you are internally experiencing and creates the "film." You think, "That guy is such an asshole. You can't just cut people off!" Or, you may think, "That was close, thankfully I saw him and braked. That person must be in a hurry to get somewhere. I hope they make it on time safely."
I can see how genuinely responding in these two very different ways can change your emotional and spiritual position for that moment, a few minutes, an hour, or the rest of the day.
Maybe, you complain about it at work when you get there to a co-worker. Continuing the emotional experience of anger and fear. Or, maybe you think the latter thought. Then, you have wished the person well and moved on, grateful that you did not get in an accident this morning.
I hope this course teaches me to respond in the healthier, more positive way of thinking. My thoughts are automatic sometimes, and going to therapy for nearly a decade has allowed me to understand where my thought patterns were wired in childhood.
My purpose as an adult, is learning to change the wiring of my brain. I want to be able to either genuinely react more positively and gratefully. Or, I want to be able to accept my "negative" reactions and be able to calm myself down and come back to a place of positivity.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
GRATITUDE
GRATITUDE
Today I put my three gratitude thoughts in a glass lol
I read about a gratitude jar today and have been listening to Oprah's Super Soul Podcast, where sooooo many of the guests talk about gratitude, including Oprah herself.
Just write down three things in the morning, night, or anytime and drop it in the jar. Whenever you are feeling negative, read papers from the gratitude jar to help get you back to positive town or at least neutral.
I'd like more happiness and joy in my life....but have never found a pill I can take, besides sertraline to help with that.
Even the sertraline, just prevents downward spirals into depression, where all I can feel is hopelessness, mistrust, fear, and sadness. But, it's never really brought me JOY or HAPPINESS. And don't we all want that?
Positive Emotions
Joy is a positive emotion that most people are familiar with, but how do you cultivate it in your life? I'm still figuring that out, but GRATITUDE, is Joy's cousin, and an easy way to train for more positive feelings of gratitude is a Gratitude Jar.
Gratitude pills for today:
- I'm grateful for being able to take a walk, without needing assistance. My legs were able to carry my weight for 20 minutes, my heart was able to pump blood to my legs and lungs, and my lungs were able to give my body enough oxygen to do it. And, my brain ran the whole show.
- I'm grateful for learning some tools today to help me cope with my emotions - one being the gratitude
- Thank you for being able to give yourself enough rest today, take care of your body by eating lots of vegetables today, not drinking, and for learning.
Today I put my three gratitude thoughts in a glass lol
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Intermittent fasting Day 1
I've been hearing a lot about intermittent fasting (IF) on the Today show, social media, and through google searches that show it is backed by science.
I tried one form of IF a year ago where I ate for 8 hours and fasted for 16 hours. I found this form too difficult for me to maintain bevause I would slide the hours around too much to accommodate my cravings and social life. And sometimes I wouldn't maintain the fasting period because I didn't have the willpower. Basically I lasted a week lol.
Now, I'm going to try the 5:2 where you eat less than 500 calories two days of the week.
Today was my first "fast day" and I worked a twelve hour shift (I'm a registered nurse). I ate dinner the night before at 9pm, slept, woke up at 6am and didn't eat all day. During my lunch break at 230pm I took a nap and felt hungry when I came back to work, but drank some water and soon got busy enough taking care of patients that I forgot about being hungry. The hunger sendation also became duller after a while, until I didn't feel hunger.
When I left work at 730pm, I considered going without food overnight again, but felt too keyed up after work to think I would be able to sleep. Normally I'm exhausted after a work day, but I had a lot more energy after my shift ended today.
I ended up going to the store and bought some microwave meals. (I was energized, but I never said motivated to cook!). I came home and ate a Smart Made Mexican Chicken Bowl (320 calories), half an avocado (160 calories), and 30 flavor blasted goldfish (80).
Total calories 560
I ate more slowly and felt in control while I ate. I wasn't ravenous, despite being mildly hungry. I usually devour food after 4 hours of not eating, so I was pleasantly surprised to be able to take 30 minutes to eat dinner. I also still craved a salty snack (hence flavor blasted Goldfish, yummmmm!). The difference is that I was able to stop eating after 30 pieces instead if the 150 to 200 I normally can't prevent myself from eating. (And yes I count goldfish while I devour - am I the only one who does this?). I also like goldfish because a serving is 51 pieces instead of 13 potato chips or having to measure cups of popcorn.
Day 1 was a success! I feel accomplished and more in control of my eating today. Let's see how a feed day goes tomorrow...
I tried one form of IF a year ago where I ate for 8 hours and fasted for 16 hours. I found this form too difficult for me to maintain bevause I would slide the hours around too much to accommodate my cravings and social life. And sometimes I wouldn't maintain the fasting period because I didn't have the willpower. Basically I lasted a week lol.
Now, I'm going to try the 5:2 where you eat less than 500 calories two days of the week.
Today was my first "fast day" and I worked a twelve hour shift (I'm a registered nurse). I ate dinner the night before at 9pm, slept, woke up at 6am and didn't eat all day. During my lunch break at 230pm I took a nap and felt hungry when I came back to work, but drank some water and soon got busy enough taking care of patients that I forgot about being hungry. The hunger sendation also became duller after a while, until I didn't feel hunger.
When I left work at 730pm, I considered going without food overnight again, but felt too keyed up after work to think I would be able to sleep. Normally I'm exhausted after a work day, but I had a lot more energy after my shift ended today.
I ended up going to the store and bought some microwave meals. (I was energized, but I never said motivated to cook!). I came home and ate a Smart Made Mexican Chicken Bowl (320 calories), half an avocado (160 calories), and 30 flavor blasted goldfish (80).
Total calories 560
I ate more slowly and felt in control while I ate. I wasn't ravenous, despite being mildly hungry. I usually devour food after 4 hours of not eating, so I was pleasantly surprised to be able to take 30 minutes to eat dinner. I also still craved a salty snack (hence flavor blasted Goldfish, yummmmm!). The difference is that I was able to stop eating after 30 pieces instead if the 150 to 200 I normally can't prevent myself from eating. (And yes I count goldfish while I devour - am I the only one who does this?). I also like goldfish because a serving is 51 pieces instead of 13 potato chips or having to measure cups of popcorn.
Day 1 was a success! I feel accomplished and more in control of my eating today. Let's see how a feed day goes tomorrow...
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Dining out
I worked out quite a bit today and went to bodypump, 20 minutes of Zumba and ran a couple of miles. Then I went out to dinner and had scallops, dressing soaked spinach with pancetta, a piece of flatbread and pork loin as well as four drinks (3 glasses of wine and 1 Jameson on the rocks). Basically what I ate is equivalent to the amount a I worked out plus some. Calories add up so quickly and are burned so slowly in comparison!
I took in enough calories to maintain my weight even with the added exercise but did make any progress towards losing weight.
I'm not going to beat myself up about this but be proud that I tracked what I ate and how much I exercised since these are the "goals of the week".
Start again tomorrow.
I took in enough calories to maintain my weight even with the added exercise but did make any progress towards losing weight.
I'm not going to beat myself up about this but be proud that I tracked what I ate and how much I exercised since these are the "goals of the week".
Start again tomorrow.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Costco
Last night at work my friend persuaded me to rejoin my gym and to go to a class today. We started by heading to Costco where I picked up a two year membership to 24 hour fitness for $370.00, which is actually around sixteen dollars per month. Not bad right! I also loaded up with a cart full of vegetables and was prepared to eat mostly veggies, lean proteins and fruit for the next week, with one "cheat" day.
The last paragraph was a draft of a post that I wrote two weeks ago. I was supercharged to start eating better and be more active. I did go to the gym three times a week the past two weeks and started eating a bunch of salads and counting carbs the first week. However, this last week has been tough. I had some life drama (including one jerk of a guy I was dating) and also was bombarded with a rough and tumble monthly visitor. I'm sure this is all TMI! Anyways... those are my excuses. Seeing them in print makes me realize that they are just that....excuses! I mentally allow myself to make poorer food choices when I have "stressors" in my life. I know that I tell myself a few different things:
1 - It's okay to eat a cookie or order Jimmy John's because you are at work and have to stay up all night so you don't feel great and it's okay to eat crappy in this situation
2 - It's okay to indulge and get a cookie and candy because you are on your period and have hormonal cravings
3 - Something really emotional happened to you recently so you deserve to soothe yourself by eating some fries
Those thoughts are paraphrased, but you get the jist. This week I'm going to work on changing some of the thoughts that run through my head. I want to tell myself:
1) Your at work and feel tired because you work nights so eating a salad or something lighter will help you to have better energy levels
2) You are having hormonal cravings. It's okay to treat yourself to a cookies or candy but not both. And better yet - a piece of fruit could satisfy that sweet tooth too. Try the fruit first and see if you still HAVE to have the high calorie treat.
3) I'm feeling emotional. How can I soothe myself without food?
Thoughts are hard to change, so I'm going to start working on these and will keep you updated.
This week my goals are:
Gym - Monday (today), Tuesday, Friday
Eating - track my food intake for seven days, Monday the 21st to Monday the 28th
By the way I track my food on MyFitnessPal on my phone or online. It's a really great app that you can create your own homemade recipes to use to track your caloric intake as well as having a comprehensive library of food that you can search for and track.
Gonna starts out with a goal to simply track my food since I read all the time on other blogs and in scientific studies that a food journal helps people be more aware of their food choices and consume less calories (without even trying to change your what you are eating)!
I figure that since my attempt to drastically change my diet two weeks ago failed I should start by making a smaller, easier change to track food rather than re-hauling my all of the eating habits that I have formed over years and years. I know that starting a diet or eating clean or eating low carb works for lots of people, but I have never been able to maintain drastic changes to my diet. Therefore, I'm going to start with the new habit to track my eating because it feels more manageable and attainable. And hopefully will help me to be more conscious of what I'm eating but more importantly how much I'm eating of any given food which will naturally change my eating habits.
Crossed fingers, determined mind set......Ready, set.....Go!!
The last paragraph was a draft of a post that I wrote two weeks ago. I was supercharged to start eating better and be more active. I did go to the gym three times a week the past two weeks and started eating a bunch of salads and counting carbs the first week. However, this last week has been tough. I had some life drama (including one jerk of a guy I was dating) and also was bombarded with a rough and tumble monthly visitor. I'm sure this is all TMI! Anyways... those are my excuses. Seeing them in print makes me realize that they are just that....excuses! I mentally allow myself to make poorer food choices when I have "stressors" in my life. I know that I tell myself a few different things:
1 - It's okay to eat a cookie or order Jimmy John's because you are at work and have to stay up all night so you don't feel great and it's okay to eat crappy in this situation
2 - It's okay to indulge and get a cookie and candy because you are on your period and have hormonal cravings
3 - Something really emotional happened to you recently so you deserve to soothe yourself by eating some fries
Those thoughts are paraphrased, but you get the jist. This week I'm going to work on changing some of the thoughts that run through my head. I want to tell myself:
1) Your at work and feel tired because you work nights so eating a salad or something lighter will help you to have better energy levels
2) You are having hormonal cravings. It's okay to treat yourself to a cookies or candy but not both. And better yet - a piece of fruit could satisfy that sweet tooth too. Try the fruit first and see if you still HAVE to have the high calorie treat.
3) I'm feeling emotional. How can I soothe myself without food?
Thoughts are hard to change, so I'm going to start working on these and will keep you updated.
This week my goals are:
Gym - Monday (today), Tuesday, Friday
Eating - track my food intake for seven days, Monday the 21st to Monday the 28th
By the way I track my food on MyFitnessPal on my phone or online. It's a really great app that you can create your own homemade recipes to use to track your caloric intake as well as having a comprehensive library of food that you can search for and track.
Gonna starts out with a goal to simply track my food since I read all the time on other blogs and in scientific studies that a food journal helps people be more aware of their food choices and consume less calories (without even trying to change your what you are eating)!
I figure that since my attempt to drastically change my diet two weeks ago failed I should start by making a smaller, easier change to track food rather than re-hauling my all of the eating habits that I have formed over years and years. I know that starting a diet or eating clean or eating low carb works for lots of people, but I have never been able to maintain drastic changes to my diet. Therefore, I'm going to start with the new habit to track my eating because it feels more manageable and attainable. And hopefully will help me to be more conscious of what I'm eating but more importantly how much I'm eating of any given food which will naturally change my eating habits.
Crossed fingers, determined mind set......Ready, set.....Go!!
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