Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Thick Elastic Bands, Carabineers and Girdles

Sometimes, especially in times of extra stress or heavy loads, we might wonder, what is holding me together here?

When it comes to our mental health, that answer is probably going to be a nice set of coping tools such as support of family or friends, a higher purpose, a good counselor, much to be grateful for, and/or a clear plan with attainable goals.

When it comes to our bodies, the answer we’re going to Pick today is Connective Tissue.

Bet some folks never thought about needing to care for connective tissue. (But it's literally holding you together!) Until they started having pain in their knee, elbow, hip or ankle.

Tendonitis is what happens to us when we expect too much from our tendons, and it tends to rear its head in joints where muscles repeatedly pull on bones. Because tendons attach muscle to bone. So you’ve got your Achilles tendonitis, your tennis elbow and your tender back-of-the-knee pain, all the result of inflamed tendons. Maybe they were tight and you kept yanking on them--flexing that muscle, grasping that handle, pounding that pavement with those feet and calves.

And then you’ve got your ol’ ligament troubles, too. I say ol' because it’s more polite than old. Really, ligaments do age and sometimes they get too loose and kinda saggy when you’ve overstretched them past their original plan (dancers, gymnasts, cheerleaders, fast ball pitchers as my witnesses). They get worn down too, holding your bones together your whole life. Because that’s what ligaments do: attach bones to other bones.

You know how underwear elastic just eventually isn’t going to give anymore? That happens to ligaments in a way. Though thankfully ligament wear and tear doesn’t make your legs fall right off your bottom like your old underwear does. What it does instead is cause instability in the examples given above, or tight joints at the opposite end. Ligaments don’t have much natural give to begin with, so they do need your help. Don’t ignore them, and try not to over-pretzelize yourself either, if it's not required by your job.

There's also fascia. You have a sheath of tissue that sort of holds your muscles and guts and stuff inside you, under your layers of skin. It’s interesting to consider honoring your fascia, because its job is so utilitarian. But I have found a way for you to do so.

Pick One Thing: Your Connective Tissue

Tendons are like a thicker version of the elastic bands or cords that are used when someone bungee jumps or at the ends of a hammock where it attaches to the base or a tree. The idea is your muscle tissue ends up as tendonous tissue so it can provide a strong attachment to bones. Which are harder and more solid still. So muscle is juicy and it can flex and grow and pull, but tendon is not so much, so it can hold on to something solid when the juicy part is putting a strain on the whole set up.

If you don’t warm up your tissues before activities, or maintain a regular gentle stretching program, the muscles you use most will aggravate the heck out of the tendons trying to hold on for them.

Ligaments are like steel carabineers that attach hanging things to other long things but allow for movement between then. Examples are rock climbers’ harnesses to the rocks up above them, or pulley systems that might lift a heavy platform with a piano on it. The idea is that you’ve got two strong things that must be attached without being fused solid to each other. Like, your thigh and your calf.

ACL, MCL, PCL… sports fans and athletes themselves have likely heard these terms before, when someone went down and was out for the season. The L stands for ligament. Think of your knee ligaments, then imagine a snapped carabineer. Stuff will dangle.

If you don’t warm up your tissues before activities, or maintain a regular gentle stretching program, the joints you use the most can cause a sudden and unmanageable strain on the ligaments trying to hold your bones together. Some things bear repeating.

Fascia is like an inner girdle of sorts. A sheath is such a good way to think about it. In certain places in your body it holds pretty darn tight, for reasons it thinks are good ones. For example, around your calves and around your pelvic area. Because your calves and your pelvic area have such tough jobs which put a lot of strain on the muscles there. Fascia support to the rescue.

But say you want your calves to grow more muscle? That fascia might hold you back a tad. Body builders might be able to get a little extra edge by stretching the fascia that surrounds their muscles, leaving extra room for development. At least, Arnold Schwarzenegger swore by it. He says that by doing an a chest fly series after his upper body workouts, he was able to build the biggest chest muscles ever, because his blood had already pumped up the muscles, then the stretching maximized the room the tissue had to respond as it repaired.

Massage is another way to release fascia. If you ever hear the term self myofascial release, that means self massage. It usually is called for over large muscles and their attachments. You can use things like a rolling pin or a foam roller tube to work out some pretty tight and tender areas, help you reduce the risk of injury, recover faster from the strain of your workouts, heal muscle fibers in more organized pattern to keep it from tugging weirdly on your bones…and overall, just feel better in the end.

Gentle stretching and proper warm-ups are also a must for long term achievements in fluid movement and agility without pain and popping. All of the above are very useful to offset risks of repetitive motion injuries, from carpal tunnel syndrome to runner’s knee.

Some trainers like to think that there’s no point in stretching past the resting length of a muscle. But many of us like to disagree, especially if we know someone who might, say, want to kick a ball really far… or join a middle age softball league… or slip on the ice.

You never know when you’re going to need to count on a little more give from your connective tissue. So I say, give it a little more love. It’s a habit you should start now, and keep for life, so you can maintain that graceful edge when you’re 90 and competing for the dance queen contest at the senior center. Or when you’re running for public office and want people to remember those pecs.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Muscle, The Mohawk and You

When I think about someone who is the epitome of “the muscle” of the operation, the first one that comes to mind is Mr. T. I pity the fool who doesn’t recognize the value that beast added to his team. Yes, yes, the operation needs the brains behind it and the beauty to distract the others. But it’s the muscle who has to move out in front to get the job done.

Great groups have that muscle. The tank and the cannon. The football lineman. Bad cop, to back up good cop. Peppermint Patty.

The same holds true for the team consisting of all your body parts. Without the muscle, you’re simply not going anywhere. Physically, that is. The muscles of your body move your bones. Without them, you literally would be Jell-O heap of skin, bones and guts.

Fortunately, it’s relatively simple to honor and take care of your muscles. But before I give you a concise two-part checklist of tactics for doing so, I need to sidetrack just a little bit to talk about disabilities that compromise muscle usage.

All people are born with muscles, but muscles don’t work the same for all people. Muscle function depends on the signaling of the nervous system, which depends on the conducting of those signals between the brain and the body via the spine. Injuries to the spinal cord, brain or nerves can cause muscle dysfunction and failure. Examples range from Christopher Reeve’s spinal injury which left him severely paralyzed and contributed to his premature death, to a stroke victim’s facial paralysis. One the result of a violent impact, the other the results of a microscopic blood vessel bursting.

This is all to point out the delicate balance and dependant relationship of all the systems and functions of our body parts. As I go on to talk about muscles in a moment, I’m doing so within the context of teaching able-bodied people simple ways of maintaining their muscles for health and wellness in everyday life. I didn’t want to move on with the writing without taking a moment to pay homage to all the other parts of some people which can and do step in to compensate when muscles just aren’t available to get a job done. The brains, the beauty, the heart, the spirit, the communication, the experiences and the lessons brought to others.

Muscle, when you’ve got good control of it, should be most appreciated. When you don’t have muscles to call in, you rely on your other team members. The sharp shooters and quarterbacks and detectives all matter. And Linus. He mattered a lot.

Pick One Thing: Your Muscles

~~ Feed them well. They like protein. Most people should aim for an average of .8 grams of protein per pound of body weight, per day. People with a lot of muscle or who use a lot of muscle need even more. Many bodybuilders eat three times that amount. Choose clean and natural proteins. Animal meats are fine, eggs and dairy are fine, and nuts too, but a mix of foods in moderation is always a great idea.

~~ Move them in big ways, often. Modern man sits a lot. Evolutionary physiologists are warning us that this could be a big problem. Our bodies evolved over tens of thousands of years in situations that required frequent, vigorous, continued movement. Now we sit in our cars, in our offices, on our sofas, and at our computers, most of most days. We need muscle to be healthy but we’re not going to get much by sitting around on our glutes and telling ourselves that 60 minutes at the gym three times a week should do the job.

Life. It should move you. Every day.

Stand, walk, run, bend, lift, skip, pick things up, carry things around, ride a bike, dig a garden. Get up right now and do something. If the glutes are resisting, channel your inner mohawk and get the job done.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

"The insulin's connected to the glucagon, the glucagon's connected to the cortisol..."

So, I'm singing my title this week.

It's been a month since I last posted, and to remind you, I promised I would be writing about hormones this time. Well, that has turned out to be a big promise to fulfill. I'm sort of going to half-ditch it, because there is just no way to cover all the things that are happening in you right now on a cellular level when it comes to hormone production, secretion, triggering, timing, receptors, balancing, etc. That's why I started out singing, to distract you in case you're disappointed that I won't be giving you the full rush of hormones you distracted.

Maybe it will be difficult to find out exactly what you can do about the care and keeping of your hormonal health, too. Sure, try to stay healthy, get regular check ups, and report any unusual body system changes you experience to your doctor. Because if your endocrine system is compromised, it’s not good news, you should catch it and take care of it asap. But beyond that, I'm not sure. Research is happening as I write. Along with the song-singing.

Pick One Thing: Your Hormones
Go ahead and try. If you can pick just one, let me know. They are so all intricately involved. It's quite beautiful if you can get past all the science-talk you find when you try to research them. Miraculous, really, to learn the sympony of processes taking place this very second within every cell in your body, as you just sit there and read my blog and hum along.

I think the easiest way to approach this topic is to identify those processes that you can have the most influence over, as well as those hormones that produce effects you can easily identify, and hopefully balance or control. Like insulin, for example. Insulin and its partner in all things blood sugar, glucagon, have a lot to do with your daily wellness and your overall health.

Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are not well-controlled. And many fitness aficionados know that glucagon has to do with glucose (sugar) and then glycogen, which is used as energy by your body during exercise. If insulin and glucagon are not in good balance, you can not only become ill, you can burn energy inefficiently to the point where your body is fueling itself with its own muscle.

Ewww. Nobody wants that. But how to avoid it? If it’s not Type I Diabetes, which is a genetic condition that usually appears in childhood, then it’s Type II Diabetes, and that’s the one you can try to do something about. Stay in a healthy body weight. Eat a balanced diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and avoid all simple carbohydrates such as things made with white flour and sugar. Exercise. That seems sensible enough.

If you get regular physicals, your doctor is likely to spot onset of Diabetes symptoms via your blood work and your consult. Do what your doctor says as soon as your doctor says it, especially if it involves advice on how you can often avoid taking medications by managing Diabetes naturally with lifestyle changes.

Here’s another hormone worth noting: adrenalin. You know it as the fight or flight, prepare you for an emergency, hormone. It courses through your body as a result of threat or stress. Good, to a certain degree. Bad, to another. A constant low level of stress is found in many a modern life. This can mess up the body’s ability to regulate and process all the changes the hormone triggers. Things like increased pulse, heavy breathing, muscle tension, blood flow… sometimes you really do need to relax.

Your body has trouble dealing with all that speed you’re manufacturing but not fully working out (let’s face it, you won't go running from your desk at work the way your ancestors had to go running from the big tiger). Some other chemical/gland wizardry takes place on a cellular level and stressors end up turning into cortisol.

Cortisol is another chemical bad guy from the health, wellness and fitness perspective. It’s produced at the end of the process above, and is stored in fat cells, most commonly, in your belly. This is the reason why the belly measurement in contrast to your hips is such an important one. You might not think you have an issue with stress, cortisol, and waist-to-hip ratio, but if you carry excess fat in your midsection, you’re certainly at risk for more health problems as you age. Some people are shaped in this way, owing to DNA. If that is you, you need to work harder than your pear-shaped neighbor at balancing your stress, diet, exercise and outlook on life, to reduce your belly fat storage.

Once again, the solutions to so many of our potential problems can be found in prevention. So many of the things that are good for your heart are good for your brain, and then we learn they are good for your digestive system, and immune system, and now look here, they are good for your endocrine system, too.

Can you avoid most sweets, especially sugary drinks, pastries and cakes? Can you take at least 30 minutes for yourself every single day, to work off stress and help your body burn fat, not muscle? How about an hour then, three days a week? Lift things, move that body, hold those abs. Stretch and release muscle tension. Get fresh air, let your thoughts go.

Sleep.
Eat wholesome food.
Keep supportive people close in your life.
Enjoy recreation and hard work with equal vigor.

That kind of healthfulness doesn’t sound so bad for this week, now does it?

I’m quite happy now, that even from the complexity of hormones; we can still derive a basic, doable approach to the care and keeping of you. Because just like hormones, we all function best when we work together in balance... I do believe we're connected, through information, in our wellness and in this world.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I'm Sensing There's Chemistry Here

Okay. I say hormones. You say: ________________

What's the first thing that comes to mind? I'm curious. Comment below, please.

In the meantime, I'll tell you what I thought. I thought I was pretty smart in rattling off a list that included estrogen, testosterone, insulin, adrenalin, and wait what else... oh yeah, I'm a migraine girl, so I know about serotonin. And there's the happy chocolate hormone, dopamine! Ooh, and the one that makes you go to sleep. The Thanksgiving turkey stimulates it. Whatsitsname.

Well, well. Turns out what's really brilliant about me is not my knowledge of hormones, but the fact that I have so many that go about their business with hardly a flutter to gain my attention unless something is amiss on the inside. And the business of hormones is complex and beautiful.

I have a whole new respect for endocrinologists, now that I've counted the list of over 50 different hormones in our bodies. Look at this chart for cryin' out loud: Human Hormones

It's a challenge to Pick One in this instance. So many functions, so many connections, all the signals and gate keeping involved...hormones are hard! I've decided to go with my first response, which I bet will be the first response of many, because of this little gem's notorious nature.

Pick One Thing: Your Hormones, starting with Estrogen

Men. Don't leave the room. This matters to you. And if you leave the room I might cry.

Estrogen, or as the biology site I'm using for reference says, estrogenS, presents a topic that matters to both genders. Mostly because everyone has a mother, and/or possibly likes female breasts and pubic hair. (several men deciding to stay just a little longer)

Anyway, it's interesting that estrogen is really a plural. There's a cocktail of all sorts of female ingredients related to estrogen, including sexy stuff like the aforementioned breast and pubic hair development, along with the beloved increasing of adipose (fatty) tissue also known as the "I used to have a better body" syndrome of middle age. To a certain degree, you can go ahead and blame the estrogen, ladies.

The roommate of the estrogens is progesterone. A bunch of regulating and timing functions going along with fertility, pregnancy and birth, that's what you get with that one.

You can read all about this stuff, here: Check out the difference between Female and Male!

Indeed, the human species turns out to be utterly dependant on estrogen and its good friend progesterone. Seems people just can't get themselves conceived and born without some.

Bone density--estrogen. Blood clotting--estrogen.

And on and on. It's no wonder that medical science has been somewhat confused by what to do about estrogen. And we all tend to get confused by all the bad things that tend to happen as estrogen decreases, sometimes cruelly and not at all rapidly, in women between the ages of 40 and 52. Oh, and don't forget the part when it's all coming together in that magical brew known as puberty, followed by further adjustments to the recipe in adolescence and then every 28 days or so thereafter...and after giving birth and what about going off the pill, and remember, there are hormones in some of the meat and dairy products you eat now, too, so.....

So. Let's get to picking this one thing to care for. Poor estrogen gets such a bad rap.

1. Accept it. It's part of life, LITERALLY, and the whole world has to put up with estrogen. S.

2. Eat a healthy balanced diet with a bit of extra protein, calcium, whole grains, plenty of fruits and veggies, and get those good omega 3 fatty acids in there. All of these things keep the whole chemical set in better balance and harmony. Estrogen likes balance and harmony.

3. Exercise. When you do, other hormones get to jump in and calm the darn estrogens down.

This is the same (good) ole' advice over and over. But it comes to the rescue again, as best it can. No matter what, it does seem like female hormones get the best of everyone sometimes.

Side Note: Did you know MEN have estrogen receptors? hmmmm, that means they need estrogen. I'll look into that further for the next installment of Hormones. Because it's going to take another time or two of picking this One Thing to do it justice.

Teaser: Next time we'll get to the feel good drugs, like oxytocin. Really nice stuff.

But before we do get there, I'll be taking a short hiatus from the Project. A couple of weeks, probably. I've got some stress hormones that tell me they need my attention at this time. As soon as I'm back in the blogsaddle, I'll be bringing you Hormones, Part II--Focus on Your Feelings.

(okay, so there go the rest of the men. ;-) ...I tease the men, really.)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Fuel Up and Fire Up

For the average person, a detailed metabolic rate analysis and the related discussions about increasing metabolism are much ado about nothing. I’m sorry to report that metabolism, which is your body’s system for using energy, isn’t highly controllable.

It’s important if you have metabolic malfunctions due to hypo- or hyper thyroidism, that you get them leveled out with your doctor. Your endocrine system may be compromised for reasons such as disease or other health conditions. They have ways to bring you back to the normal range. Usually, through medication.

Other than that, we have genetics to thank for our basic metabolic potential. Some people’s engines do run faster than others, it’s true. And you can, through nutrition, eating style and exercise, manipulate your metabolic rate a little bit. But you might be surprised at how little. A few percentage points really, that’s about all you can increase it.

Now, you can slow your metabolism pretty effectively, because that is a survival mechanism for our species. You can last a surprisingly long time being malnourished--starving even--because your body adjusts to help you slow down on fuel burning. Food is fuel, so if you’re not getting enough, your metabolism decreases to protect you from…well…starving to death.

This is the reason why very low calorie diets or super-restricted eating habits don’t do people any good in the long run. If you’re going to start eating normally again, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do to your body, which has gone to some trouble and recalibrated itself for less intake, and therefore less energy burning. It doesn’t get all excited about adjusting back up again, especially over several rounds of this during a lifetime.

Working for efficiency, your body begins to recognize this pattern, and then expects you might need it to slow down again, so it adapts. It doesn’t get your rate up quite as high, maybe. When you do gain weight back, it keeps a little extra padding, to (again) protect you for the next era in which you won’t be having enough to eat. Yo-Yo dieters will recognize this as the “Egad, now I weigh even more than I did before I started the diet!” effect.

So, like I said, for the average person, most time spent on metabolic issues (other than medical ones) is more trouble than it’s worth. Why complicate things? Keep your metabolism in check with a simple approach using an engine analogy.

Pick One Thing: Your Metabolism

Fuel up. Food is fuel, in the form of calories. Calories are units of energy. They come in a few different formulas and levels of quality, though. If you use high quality fuel most of the time, you’ll be able to keep your engine running at peak performance. Oh, and do start your day ready. Eat a wholesome, light breakfast within an hour of waking. Every day.

Start her up. You’ve got the gas, go for a ride. An active lifestyle (that’s more than many Americans lead, just to warn you) is enough to burn the right amount of quality fuel in most bodies. In other words, if you eat right, and you move a lot, your body will be happy and find a healthy weight to set itself at.

Fire up. Back to active lifestyle: If you drive most places, sit or stand at your job most of the time, and don’t exercise for about an hour almost every day…you don’t lead an active lifestyle. That’s a sedentary lifestyle. So fire up and get moving to help your metabolism find its way to right where it should be. You should sweat and/or feel your heart pumping for at least a half hour, 3 – 4 times per week. Or that engine will gunk up. Get a little muscle, too. It helps.

Keep your tank half full. Just like your vehicle, it’s bad to run out of gas or to even be low on gas in certain conditions. Although, overfilling your tank doesn’t do any good, now does it? But while gas from the pump would spill out on the ground, overfilling your body presents another problem…see, you have extra storage inside you, in the form of adipose tissue (fatty, and ready for more). Eating something healthy every 3 – 4 hours will usually do the trick.

Don’t forget the lube job. Hydrate with fluids to keep your body running smooth. No need to be overbearing with water consumption if it doesn’t suit you. Milk, tea, juice, and even fruits and vegetables, all count toward your fluid intake. Mix it up if you like, but keep a third eye on the calories. Remember, food is energy in the form of calories. You are going to use a certain amount up. The rest of the calories will be stored….because that’s the beauty of the system!

On Choosing Fuel
Do you need to count calories? Maybe just for understanding, but probably not for long. However it does benefit everyone to do a service check every once in a while. For example, your body might be perfectly balanced and at the right body weight, but a closer look could reveal many of your calories are coming with a lot of cholesterol…or salt….or sugar attached. Not the best fuel choices for everyday eating for the long term.

You can take a peek inside your energy system, by using this nice program for free over at LIVESTRONG.com. It’s called The Daily Plate. Track your foods in an online food journal, make up meals with thousands of ingredients to choose from, and enter your activities to determine if you’ve got the right fuel-to-burn ratio.

Others, who want a more immeidate view of what they are burning, can simply choose to wear a good quality heart rate monitor watch that has a calories burned feature.

Anything more than that is like driving down the wrong alley. You thought metabolism was a short cut, but really, staying on the main road (Eatwell Stayactive Ave.) will get you there safe and sound in no time.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Energy Synergy: The Goldilocks Theory

I've decided to theorize this week, after some intense reading on the technical medical sciencey topic of energy systems in the body. Go ahead, google it if you like. You'll see. A host of charts and formulas, definitions with one familiar word (aerobic--hey I know that one!) out of one hundred, plus letters. ATP, LA, CP, MHR and more. I shouldn't judge. You might find it fascinating.

I do not, so I've decided to Pick One Thing without picking it apart this week. Because that kind of thing can drain you.

Your Energy: What Really Matters

What really matters (according to me and my theory) is that you have enough energy to lead an active life at a pace that fulfills you, a frequency that sustains you and a level that inspires you. Whether you are built for endurance or speed, intensity or tranquility, power or flow, I want you have the right balance of fuel-burning and healthy reserves in your life.

Sometimes it's a fine thing to work till your bones ache and then settle into a warm bed and sleep sleep sleep, knowing you done good and it was worth it. But to work like that without the "it was worth it" feeling later on, can be a different, not so good thing after all. My theory involves me telling you, as you compare the amount of energy you put into any of your activities: "It's what you get out of it that counts."

How do you feel, after all? Ready for more again today, or preparing to build up for more someday? Are you there and all set when people need you...are you there when YOU need you? What if you had to run for your life today? Did you save some juice, just in case?

Sometimes it's a fine thing to rest--sloth, even--till your bones ache in another way. A heavy way. Maybe then you pop up in a flash and get out in that fresh air and plant a tree, walk to church, sweat up a storm, howl at the moon. It's especially good if what you get out of it is something like, "Rest, good. Action, good. Balance, best."

Things have to fit. Fit your needs, fit your timing, fit your body.

Sometimes it's a horrible thing if you want to move more but don't trust yourself enough to meet your own desires. Sometimes you might try to find energy but it's. Just. Not. There.

Or so you think. See, it's somewhere, even when you can't find it. Is it in the foods you didn't eat or the water you didn't drink? Is it in the days you didn't take a break when you needed it or is it in the cushion of the couch where you left your backside for far too many wasted hours?

Did your boss or your baby steal some away, and now you need some alone time to fill yourself back up? Does the doctor have it but you don't have the time to go? Did you just not recognize it, or not know where to look?

Energy systems in your body have a lot to do with what goes in and what gets done with it. The proper nutrition combined with the right activity level (for you, personally) is the simplest way to find what's really important (according to me): wellness. Being well pretty much demands that you start here, with doing whatever works to support you in feeling good and having fun.

Not everyone wants to or needs to run a marathon or have seven children or do twenty push-ups or ski on one foot. Not everyone (much to my disappointment) wants to learn Pilates or jump around to Latin music. But EVERYONE, needs to do something, every day, that contributes to the proper mechanics of their energy systems, IF they want to be at their best.

One chair is too big, one chair is too small, but the one in the middle is juuuuusssst right.

Food (not too much, not too little)
Exercise (not too long, not too short)
Activity & Rest (not too crazy, not too lazy)
Oxygen (just get plenty, because it mixes with all the above and makes you whole in a way that is what really, really matters, leading us to....)

Synergy. Your wholeness is more than a sum of your efforts, and you move through life with grace and assuredness. That's how we will know when you are an energy systems rock star. You will be all like, "What? I was just resting after a nice meal, and now I have enough energy to go for a fast run," when the bears come home.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

You Could Be Another Lincoln

Since we picked our brains last week (hah! hidden pun caught me by surprise!) I've managed to honor the needs of mine, in spite of the huge bite of life I have been chewin' on. How about you?

I've been taking my fish oil, eating nuts and using olive oil aplenty, challenging my brain with new research and unearthing my old copywriting chops. I've given the ol' noggin a rest here and there, too. Watching Ken Burns' documentary, The National Parks, on the DVR has had a wonderful calming PLUS inspiring effect. In fact, the subtitle to that film is "America's Best Idea" and it got me to thinkin'...

(flashback to lead up to the connection)
The landscape was already there, but the thought that the country could own the land for public enjoyment as parks, and preserve its wildness for the future, turned out to be genius. The idea wasn't without opposition, and its execution wasn't simple or easy. But in the end, the National Parks system of the United States is a treasure not just for our nation, but also for our planet. The idea is gem. The parks showcase the evolution of Earth and return us to our roots as a species. It's pretty incredible. Thank goodness someone followed through on this.

All that from an idea, which blossomed and grew and was shared and accepted. And now due to Burns' documentary, is hopefully more appreciated by masses. Good idea for Burns, too.

But ideas like these don't come along every day, to just anybody, right? Wrong. It's the exact opposite. Ideas do come along every day, more than every day, and they come along to you. They come through your brain, which is responsible for making you figure out and do the actions that bring your ideas to life. Actually, most of the thoughts you have in general could be called ideas. Unless you only think in facts.

Like, say you're going to make lasagna for dinner this weekend. Knowing how to make lasagna step by step, or digging out the recipe and getting the list of ingredients together are tasks for your fact based brain. But the original thought you had wasn't a fact. It's not as if lasagna is a must, or a legal issue, or a deadline. It's simply an option.

So why are you making it? Is it because you've had such a taste for it but never tried making it yourself? Because you thought you mightbe comforted by a hearty family recipe on a cold autumn Sunday? Because it's someone's birthday and you want surprise them? See, these thoughts are ideas: they turn making lasagna into more than a task--now it's an occasion! A tradition or a desire met or an experiment.

Ideas are the stuff of a rich, rewarding, evolving life. Just like the idea to create national parks as treasures for all time, the idea to create lasagna this weekend is a gem. It might not change the future of our nation, but it will change the rest of your week, maybe the rest of your life, depending on why you had the idea in the first place and what you do with it after. (Tip: eat plenty of olive oil on your salad and bread to offset the saturated fat in the cheese, and add some spinach to the ricotta.)

You know, you could win a woman's heart if you make her a lasagna on her birthday. You could finally heal some secret part of you when you learn that you can cook like your grandma after all. If you thought of it, and you did something about it, then it matters. It's part of your life now!

Some of us are very action oriented and energetic. Some of us are logical and pragmatic. Some of us are wistful and laid back. But all of us could use a little lasagna and a nice view of a pine forest once in a while.

Let your ideas through. Let them blossom and shine. Believe in them. Your brain isn't only filled with facts and blood vessels. It's your thoughts-as-ideas that make your life unique. They make you, you, because they are how you decide to do things and view things. This week, recognize the personal side of your brain for all its worth, beyond the stuff it knows and beyond its role in your anatomy.

Give your personal brain the recognition it needs, to realize what it has had, all along.
Scarecrow:
I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.
I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le, in trouble or in pain.
Dorothy:
With the thoughts you'll be thinkin' you could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.
Scarecrow: Oh, I could tell you why the ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things I never thunk before.
And then I'd sit, and think some more.
I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Be Your Brain's Best Buddy

I picked this week's One Thing well in advance. I had it since last week, at least. But I have not gotten around to bloggin' about your noggin until mid-week. And I have a rushed post at that. I'm behind on thinking about and executing this project for the very reason I am writing it: I need to care for and honor my brain this week, in order to have some brain left to write in my blog about.

In other words, I haven't been practicing what I am about to be preaching. I don't know why not, it's so simple, really. In fact, I'm KEEPING it simple, for my brains's sake. What is it? What is the first cardinal rule I wan to share about the care and keeping of good brains? To help me remember it (a little brain trick here) I made it into a cheer/chant of sorts:

Give your brain a break!
Don't drain your brain!
Let it rest once in a while, won't you please?

Background for minds that want to know:
I've got a new gig writing health and fitness articles on the side. I picked a bunch of topics that are doing the OTHER thing for my brain that will keep it young and sharp--they are challenging it. I'm learning new stuff. I'm expanding my repertoire, and as I love doing that, I have taken on a bit more than I should have.

Now I am teetering on burnout, within just one week. And I'm behind on my other projects, some of which (like my blog) I also love. That's not a great feeling, and I have deadlines to meet as we speak. I'm furrowing my brow, possibly getting a headache, maybe even writer's block.

I find myself searching for a strategy or a word and then I get up for some tofu instead and wonder what the heck have I done? I'm supposed to be my brain's best friend this week, not its ruthless master. I trip over my sock, and it occurs to me that I have done is gone all out of balance.

One thing a brain really needs is someone to keep it balanced. It's a complex, highly valued organism, right? It needs a careful proprietor. Someone to keep it balanced by offering it stimulation and new ideas, and also down time and mindlessness. Oh, and....

...mindfulness. Ah ha! Eureka, my brain has done it for me again. It's calling out for me to be mindful. So, I am minding my time, minding my goals, and minding my brain, starting now. Won't you join me? Already my brain is happier. I have stopped rushing it and started listening to it.

Pick One Thing: Your Brain

We've got the brain's physical health covered in all the past discussion we've shared when we picked our Blood and our Heart. Conveniently, all the same stuff is great for the brain, because it's fueled by the same blood supply. In fact, you could say the brain is the king of all the body's messengers, sending and receiving and reading all the incoming news from your nerve endings, then interpreting and filing them, too. That's a lot of pathways. Keep them gleaming and open with regular habits that tend to your arteries, aortas and the whole circulation gang.

We might devote extra focus this week (and forever) on getting more fatty fish like salmon or tuna in our lives, or at least mercury-free fish oil (don't freak out, I found a great one that tastes okay, so if you want to know, just ask me). Choose more of the other Omega 3 sources, too--plant sources like soy, nuts and flaxseed are tasty and quick. That'll keep our brains lubed and oiled.

But there are two other primary aspects of caring for your brain that I want to really reinforce now. First, your brain will age like the other parts of you, so it does need exercise, like the other parts of you. Oxygen, good, however I mostly mean brain exercise of the thinking sort. Learning something new. Doing a puzzle. Trying stuff with your non-dominant hand. Go ahead. Write your name with your left hand, righties. You'll be adding to your brain's life. Plus it's fun.

According to experts, you should vary your activities and challenges throughout life to keep all the functions of your brain in tip-top shape. This is why people who have more fun learning new things all their life enter into their golden years with such vibrant brains. Alzheimer's is genetically predisposed, but there's a pile of ways to stave off its onset. Starting with fish and sticking with fun, feed and expand that brain.

Second, there are plenty of other experts who recommend a little of the opposite, as well. What happens to the brain of people who regularly meditate, for example? I'll tell you what--good things. They tend to be sharper and last longer. It seems the "checking out" is as important as the challenge. So take some time off with your brain. Show it around the woods or take in a silly movie with it. Put it down on a pillow, close your eyes, and dream of quiet stars and clouds for a few minutes.

Gaze at a sleeping baby. mmmmmm. (You know, that baby's brain is busy growing neurons like mad while those sweet fat cheeks turn rosy on the sheets. Your brain should be growing nothing but heartstrings and admiration. There's nothing you need to think of, at all, when you watch a baby sleep. like I said, mmmmmm.)

If your brain really were your best friend, what would you hope that it could do, on a regular basis? I bet your answer is something like: have fun, grow strong, enjoy beauty, find peace, be prepared, and accept and share lots of love.

Well, there you go. And here I go. The rest of the week is about balance for my buddy, my brain. It knows, as all best friends do, that it is never, ever too late to encourage me to make a change that sincerely benefits me.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Glorify Your Guts, Part III

Here we are, honoring what sits in the middle of us for one last installment. As promised a couple of weeks ago, we're going to spend a little time this week considering our non-physical "guts" and bringing awareness to the power of what they symbolize.

Let's begin with having guts, or being gutsy. Think about the importance of peoples' courage, their boldness, nerve. The willingness to try new things and take risks has to be integral to our beings; it determined survival and thriving from the earliest days of man.

If you Pick One Thing in this category, you will be honoring a characteristic which brings action to your ideas and will literally be an instrument of change in your own life. As most of us know, change is often beset with difficulty. Change is not easy, and so change is easy to fear.

Which isn't all bad, either. The fact is, some risks should not be taken, and not all acts of daring turn out for the best. That's why we really do need the other aspect of our non-physical guts. We need to listen to our gut and pay attention to our gut feelings.

Intuition can help us make safer choices when we're supposed to, and offers us self-protection from our courage when it becomes mere bravado. There is a great deal to be said for showing up for tough tasks and big opportunities, but there's no need to show off.

In picking One Thing this week, I started by taking a look at what others have said on this subject. I collect quotes, and boy, I sure have a lot of them related to having guts and gut feelings! Makes sense, though--I've sought inspiration on moving forward, improving my self through personal change, and following my own intuitive path, numerous times in my life.

So, since I've saved hundreds of words of wisdom on how glorify my guts, I feel it's exactly the right time to share some with others. In doing so, I'm wishing you the perfect balance offered by a touch of courage, a risk rewarded, a inner voice heeded, and the peace of mind that comes when you are confident in being true to yourself and becoming all you desire to be. As someone once said, "To change is difficult. Not to change is fatal."

Pick One Thing: Having Guts

"First you have to figure out what you want. Second, you have to decide that you deserve it. Third, you have to believe you can get it. And fourth, you have to have the guts to ask for it."
--Barbara de Angelis

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."
--James Arthur Baldwin

"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
--Buddha

"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."
--Dale Carnegie

"We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world."
Helen Keller

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
--Anais Nin

...and one by possibly the exact opposite of Anais Nin *wink*, a quote from Robert Schuller:

"It takes guts to get out of the ruts."

Pick One Thing: Trust Your Gut

"Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data."
--John Naisbitt

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
--Albert Einstein

"...the mind works in possibilities, the intuitions work in actualities, and what you intuitively desire, that is possible to you. ...hitch your wagon to a star or you will just stay where you are."
--D.H. Lawrence

"I may have been lucky with some sort of intuition, but I believe in training a great deal."
--David Selby

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the secret sits in the middle and knows.
--Robert Frost

And speaking of secrets, I stumbled on this one in the 3rd grade, and it still holds honey:

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
--Christopher Robin to Pooh

Monday, September 14, 2009

Glorify Your Guts, Part II

After I started working out with the Pilates method, it didn’t take me long to realize that lot of people do NOT like to work their midsection. Many say that ab work is the one part of their exercise routine that they will gladly skip most often. And they do.

Now, seeing as how I sort of force people all day long to work their abs, I’ve looked for ways to raise awareness about the goodness of a regular core workout. So this week’s Pick One Thing was the easiest pick ever. It belongs under the larger heading of Guts started last week. I give you: the Muscles of the Human Abdomen. (< click there and take a peek. I could spell them out, but really there’s only 5 or 6 of them to get to know. Simple and specified. Gotta love ‘em.)

So why do folks have trouble motivating themselves to give their abdomen the level of attention they afford their other parts? The first reason is probably the most obvious—it’s hard work and it feels strenuous. It’s a tough love thing. We’ll get to that later.

Another reason people don’t feel motivated to work on their abs is because they aren’t consciously relying on them to perform physical actions in their daily lives. You build your bicep and you see it bulge a little every time you pick something up. But you work your abs and…well…what do they do for you, really?

Umm…they only help you breathe, stand, and move, for goodness sake! Your abdominal muscles have two basic purposes in your body. the first, breathing, is quite necessary, yes. The other purpose is to support your spine and its movements. As important as that is (I’ll admit that this information, like many ab workouts, can seem boring.

So that boring thing is yet another reason people hate on ab work: What to do? What’s fun? You’re sick of crunches--okay, wait. All this complaining is not good for your stomach. Let’s move on to the benefits now.

Health & Performance: A huge motivator for some people is the desire to relieve pain. And another is to build total body strength-- core strength is directly related to physical function and physical achievement. And that matters to quality of life. Carry a baby, hit a baseball, straighten out your golf drive, garden--all with the help of better abs.

You need your core to help you be less injury-prone. If you sit at the computer or drive a truck all day, you need inner strength to support your back. Pregnant or post-partum? Core work can help with much of what you’re worried about.

Here’s some good news: there is no need for you to do any sort of workout that causes you pain or bores you. Period. You can do effective, efficient work that is still gentle. Just ask a professional. We can handle the basics rather quick-like and economically, as you’ll read below. But just in case you’re not convinced, consider one more potential benefit.

Hotness: Your abs include a a lot of muscle tissue that is close to the skin. Surface muscles are the muscles we see. They matter for appearance: trimmer waistlines and flatter bellies for women; V-shaped torsos and six-packs for men. Just as it was with the ancient Greeks, these qualities are high on the list of desirable physical traits in many cultures.

NOW DON'T WORRY. Happily, both genders look for nice eyes, faces or smiles first. And brains, kindness and a sense of humor rule over ALL the physical traits. (Those are all other One Things to look forward to!)

For the aesthetically-minded, I have a tip for creating more self-motivation to keep your abs top of mind. Take a picture of the midsection in question and place it in regular view. Then take a few more shots as the weeks go by, while continuing your best efforts at exercise and reducing body fat. Guess what? You will see a difference in yourself that you will like. It’s a wonderful result when your too-tight pants are looser and you stand taller. Go ahead, turn to the side. Your success over time will breed enthusiasm, trust me.

Okay, Let’s Get this Over With

I’m assuming you’re convinced now. Youll pick your abs. If you’re a client of mine or someone like me, you’ve already got your main points covered. Everyone else, use this simple advice to help you become one with your gut!

1. Focus on your posture. Zipper up your abs. Relieve all that tension from your puffed up chest, craned neck and hunched shoulders. Stand tall, and imagine dropping an anchor your tailbone. If you live life with your abdominals engaged like this, it won’t be long before your awareness becomes practice. People I know have lost 2” in their waistline simply by holding them in and standing tall while performing daily activities. Correct your posture and tighten your tummy all day long for a month or so. It's addicting.
2. Visit with a personal trainer just once, with specific goals stated: you want safe, effective core work that you can perform on your own, a couple times a week to get started. No big commitment there. People like me can help a newbie with a start-up routine in a 1-hour appointment.
3. Get The Pilates Body by Brooke Siler. It’s my favorite book for beginners. It’s never ideal if you haven’t experienced live instruction, but it’s way better than nothing. A bit of a chick book, but the models show inspiring form.
4. Invest in a stability ball, also known as a Swiss or Pilates ball. There’s a nice little book called Get On The Ball that features some great visuals to help you get started. Pick five exercises and do them three times a week. Add in some cardio, too! (Burn more fat and reveal more abs.)
5. If you have a short attention span, and especially if you’re a guy, check out this book by Kurt Brungardt: Essential Abs, An Intense Six-Week Program. He is often quoted in Men’s Health magazine. He also produced "3-Minute Abs". I like his approach because it promises to be doable, which makes a difference in the average day.

Finally,
6. Laugh a lot. Laughing is good work for your abs. Never mind the jolly stereotype. Enjoy your week, and learn to enjoy those abs!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Glorify Your Guts

If we’re going to pick our Guts as our One Thing, we'll have to divide up the topic to do it justice. Oh, where to begin?!

I, of course, want to start with the abdominal region in general, as I have a thing about abs. Being a Pilates instructor, I could launch right into discussion on the sturdy container that is center of your torso. How it is so cleverly designed with its strong sheaths of fascia and muscle and the bones of the ribs, to serve as a fortress for the abdominal cavity which houses so many of the body’s most important organs.

Ooh, yes—and then there are those organs to consider. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle, all of them interdependent, yet each with a clear role. And the digestive system! The physical processing factory of all that goes in and stays in or is kicked back out of the body. The area so populated by multiple bacteria so necessary to balanced health.

It’s all fascinating physical stuff. However, equally interesting is the spirit of these guts. If you’ve ever felt bold or been called plucky, then you know the bit of proud courage that accompanies the state of being gutsy.

When it takes guts to do something, and you go for it, you can feel both the anticipation and the loftiness, right there in your tummy. Scientific studies have actually shown gut feelings to be trustworthy tools for human beings. Conclusions have been published in medical journals and newsstand magazines like Psychology Today. Trust your gut, they say, because it’s correct more often than not.

One German scientist of human cognition, Gerd Gigerenzer, calls it the Intelligence of the Unconscious. He tells us there’s an underlying rationale to gut feelings, which come into play during the course of everything from picking stocks to hitting a baseball.

How to Pick One Thing when Guts give us so much to glorify?

Well, if your gut tells you I’m going to say to myself, just pick one already!, then you are correct. I’m picking the deepest part of the guts first, and working my way out from there. From microscopic bacteria to the elimination of toxins, you’re sure to absorb something valuable out this week’s One Thing:

The Guts of the Digestive System

Here is an aspect of you which is truly miraculous, comprises a good portion of your center, and really matters to the larger aim of living a Wellness Lifestyle.

A quick overview of how it all works should convince you.
Bonus: it starts with food!

Mouth. Okay, while not technically part of your guts, your mouth begins digestion. It’s where chewing and salivating take place, to make it so what you consume can get on down to where the action really is.
Esophagus. Big downward pushing tube. Strong muscle contractions push your stuff down. You can even swallow while standing on your head. Though it is not recommended for folks to try at home. But still, that’s how strong.
Stomach. Break it down for us, tummy tum. The stomach is expandable and filled with acids and enzymes which can hold between 1 and 1.5 liters of stuff. So here is a real key to your digestive guts. It all has to be broken down into usable form.
Small Intestine. 22 feet or so of flexible muscular piping which takes in whatever the stomach puts out, mixes it with enzymes and bile from pancreas and liver, then extracts goodness from that brew and delivers nutrients to the rest of us.
Pancreas and Liver. Excellent guts, these two are. Plenty goes wrong with our bodies when they’re not working well. Insulin is processed by the pancreas along with other enzymes we need to get the good stuff out of what we eat and drink. Nutrients and toxins are processed by the liver. Many “drugs” are dispersed by the liver, and other chemicals are absorbed and detoxified. Basically it's the chemical pharmacy of the body.
Gallbladder. Makes bile, which helps absorb fat, but it’s typically not one of of our favorite organs. Painful when malfunctioning!
Large Intestine (colon): 6 feet of tubing, lined with hundreds of types of bacteria and the rest is what’s left of what’s been consumed. Everything is then turned into stool for the sake of elimination. Without a healthy process of elimination, you can become very ill!
Rectum and Anus. They are the final gatekeepers at the end of the digestive tract. We probably don’t appreciate these body parts as much as we should. They do come in handy, though, and in my business, we’re particularly concerned with the surrounding muscles, otherwise known as the pelvic floor.
Side Trip down the Urinary Tract. Kidneys, like the liver, perform invaluable housecleaning and waste management operations within the body’s digestive process. But the kidney handles the liquid portions, especially focusing on filtering products from the blood. Kidneys also keep the body's waters in balance, regulating and absorbing electrolytes. The urethra is the end point of the system, through which urine is eliminated as waste.
Gut Flora. Your inner bacteria farm is located largely in the abdomen. It’s estimated that anywhere between 500 and 1000 types of bacteria live in your guts, most of them good. There are just as many on your skin, but the ones on the inside of you have a number of special jobs vital to your health, such as vitamin synthesis and carbohydrate fermentation, as well as disease fighting and immune system protection.

For those of you with tummy troubles, replenishing bacteria can make a world of difference. So go for those probiotics, especially after a round of antibiotics, to help you fight off re-infection.

I told you it would be hard to pick only one thing, but we did it!

Check my tweets this week for quick tips on connecting with and taking good care of your digestion. (check out the 5 most recent under Quickies in the left column) In the meantime, go grab a bit of Greek yogurt to help your friendly flora flourish, and send me a comment about how you glorify your guts this week!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Flow With Your River of Life

Outlining this piece today has made me realize something. Most of us react one way or the other when it comes to the topic of Blood. One way is that it's not a real popular topic: sorta creepy, possibly phobia-inducing. The other way is that blood is cool: sorta creepy, rather fascinating.

I'm going for a compromise. I'll say blood is cool, for sure, but its most fascinating qualities (for our purposes) aren't the creepy kind. This week's topic is place where the interests of Twilight fans and Red Cross volunteers alike can flow together. Let's connect with and rediscover blood for all its worth, including its vital role in our bodies and its incredible powers of movement and balance.

What's Cool and Hot about Blood

Writing this piece today has made me realize something else. Blood offers up a lot of figures of speech, classical references, and bad puns. Could be trouble for me, I do love a bad pun, so let me get a few of them out of the way right now, before I give you the beautiful River of Life analogy.

I'm thinking blood gets a bad rap, mostly. Hot blooded leans toward angry, cold blooded leans toward killer. Blood sucking is everything from icky insects to greedy criminals. Blood lines and mixed blood and first blood and so on: these concepts and connotations rarely end up in cozy places. And they say bloody is a very bad word in England.

But there are some nicer references as well. First, we're all warm blooded (us mammals). That means we need to eat a fair amount of food because we convert the food we eat into energy. Due to this, warm blooded animals are often multi-talented and active creatures with well-defined needs for fuel, which we gather or grow or hunt. (Except nowadays we mostly just buy it in the store, and that has caused some undesirable results. See other blog post on shortening the food chain: The Cheese Stands Alone)

Also, when something is in your blood, it usually means that you've got a innate knack for it, an undeniable passion, or are driven by legacy. That's how I feel about some of my own favorite things to do in this life--dancing, gardening, reading, writing, cooking....they are in my blood.

Your Body's River of Life

It's easy to understand why most of us don't give a lot of thought to the health and well-being of our blood. Until we're threatened with injury or disease, blood remains hidden in the body. But blood, much like your heart, is one of your body's grand essentials. In fact, blood is your heart's best friend. With the help of the lungs, blood regenerates and cleanses itself inside healthy people, to keep them healthy, with astounding proficiency.

Blood supplies nutrients to all the cells in your body! Your heart needs oxygen to survive, so blood supplies it, bringing it in from the lungs. And while blood carries beloved oxygen from your heart to all your outposts--from your brain to your toes--it also delivers a cornucopia of necessities, including hormones, proteins, vitamins and antibodies. Imagine the scourge of planetary infections without those blood borne immunities. And you can't build bones or muscles without proteins or vitamins. Plus what happens to reproduction without the hormones?

Blood. It's the stuff of a life, really.

Conveniently, what you do for the care and keeping of your heart goes a long way toward the care of your blood. Keeping it clear of too many saturated fats, triglycerides and cholesterol, and avoiding high levels of blood pressure, are the first steps to deeply honoring your circulatory system.

Also, make sure your blood is well-stocked and rich in essentials like electrolytes (proper hydration/salt balance, please!) and iron (anemia symptoms affect your heart and blood!). To keep the world's supply of blood well-stocked, perhaps you can be a blood donor.

Nourish your blood, vessels, and heart with plenty of wholesome, lean, natural foods. And be careful with your stress levels. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is terribly hard on your health.

Give the good things that are "in your blood" plenty of attention, too. Your whole self becomes more at ease when you align your life with the ebb and flow of your energy, thoughts, intuitions, talents and desires. If they're in your blood, then they're not only in your heart, but throughout all of you. From your brain down to your toes. Your pulse is a drum, your circulatory system is a dance which is choreographed on your blood, behind the veil of your skin, created in your bones.

Your blood deserves your attention. When you connect with it, remember: Go with the flow.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Take Your Heart to Heart

Prologue: At this point I've declared Pick One Thing to be my new campaign. I'm approaching it as an overall personal wellness project, which I hope to share with others over the course of a year. I've moved the related posts from my Be Well Weekly blog to here, giving them a focused place of their own. My related tweets as TheAbWhisper on Twitter have also been set up with their own identity now, www.twitter.com/pick1thing.

I've Picked this One Thing thing for a couple of excellent reasons. 1. It works. And that's what I say: we should do whatever works. 2. It has infinite possibilities. And that's what I believe in: infinite possibilities.

I started with just thinking about picking one thing, then I tried it, then I noticed good things came after, then I wrote about it, here: Pick One Thing

After that, I picked something more specifically general. Changing Attitude. It was something I could address for more than a day. Something big that really mattered. Then I wrote about it.

Then I had a setback of sorts. Actually, a valuable lesson. (cuz that's what setbacks are usually designed to deliver...) I overshot my attitude and smacked someone upside the head with my cheerleadery-chin-up-life-is-good-opinionatedness. It was an accident, but it bothered my friend. I needed to remember I'm not in charge of convincing anyone to change their attitude to the way I think it should be. For anything to evolve, especially a life perspective, it can take some time.

So I picked Reclaiming Your Time as the next Pick One Thing thing. Many people I know, especially women, need to pick this theme for themselves more often. We have time anxiety, and are impatient. I came up with some pretty good tips for myself, and shared them here.

At the same time I was interested in producing shorter, more-to-the-point reminders and ideas. Enter Twitter. pick1thing is a perfect way to concentrate (and center!) my thoughts with fewer words. If you don't feeling like reading the long blog version one week, you can just check the cute little sister version on the left, under Quickies. Please follow me--click on the link there that says so!

Finally, I arrived at today. I began writing this brief history of Pick One Thing in order to explain how I'm really following my heart on this one. I feel it. It's got a nice rhythm. It can offer a bit of order to the whole of something, or serve as a steady background base drum to keep me moving forward. It can be open or focused. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, all the above. I love it.

So, Pick One Thing brings us to Your Heart (and mine).

How important it is to consider, connect with, take care of, and honor your heart! I mean,
A) Your heart equals life
B) Your heart equals love
C) Your heart equals compassion...feelings...an intuitive guide to your most heartfelt notions

When you're heart gains health, your whole body gains health! It's right in the center of all the action. Grand Central, in and out, all that oxygen, that blood, those arteries and valves...

It pumps you up! It tells you when you're moving too fast, and when you're skippin' down the cobble stones feelin' groovy. When you're worried, afraid, anxious. When you're fluttery, blushing, enchanted. When you're lonely. When you're sure of yourself. When you have eaten too much of a bad thing.

Don't just listen to your heart. Learn your heart. Sure, it's a big thing to pick. But we all have only one of 'em, so really, few things are more worth picking than your heart. I was going to give you more details, about chambers and cholesterol and life spans and stress... but my heart tells me you probably already know a good amount and I don't want to repeat the obvious.

So instead, I'm going to give you some general project guidelines for the week. One day, look up information on the American Heart Association's website. It's a plethora of facts and fyis.

Another day, when you go to the grocery store, buy at least 5 items that are known to good for your heart health. Google "top five foods for your heart" and you'll get results to lead you. Then pull out or search for recipes that feature them, and cook yourself something yummy.

If you smoke, then quit for a day. One day challenge of sheer will. If you get through that day, plan another day that you can get through the same way. If you can get through two of those, you are ready to plan for a life without cigarettes. SO PLAN IT. If you do nothing else for wellness this year, quitting smoking will still be the single best decision you could ever make for your heart (AND all the other parts of you). Your doctor can even help with meds to ease your cravings.

Finally, be sure to open your heart this week. It's never difficult to find some one who needs your care and concern, or a warm smile, or a nod. And remember, YOU need your care and concern, so open your heart to yourself, too. Every time I make a conscious decision to show my love to someone, genuinely, I am always rewarded tenfold. The same will be true for you.

Put your hand there, right now, and make a pledge to it. Say "I heart my heart."

Okay you don't really have to say that, but you should think it. Wait, no--make that, you should feel it. Deep down inside. At the very center of your human condition. How beautiful is that?!

I HEART YOUR HEART. And mine. XOXO

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Be Real About Time

Reclaim your time...your sense of time as your own time to spend. It's your life. Your life is made up of moments. You can really only be in one moment at a time. So what you're doing, in this present moment, in a very straightforward way, IS your life. Because this moment is all we really have for sure, all we can really experience, all we can really use, all we can really live in.

Pick One Thing: Time
Is it too simplistic, or idealistic, to say live in the now; be in the present? It brings a little greeting card verse to mind, doesn't it? Something along the lines of the past being gone and the future being uncertain, so we should appreciate the present...that's why they call it a gift.

What about plan for tomorrow as though you'll live a very long time, live for today as though it's your last? Oh, c'mon! I mean, that's impossible. Who suggests such things?

These are all cliche thoughts, I suppose, and that won't do because I'm trying to get at the truthful, juicy nugget inside this One Thing, Time. I want to be able to see time as something useful to my sense of owning my life and of feeling good about it. Not time as something too fluid to ever grab hold of, and too momentary to ever mold into something long term and worthwhile.

So I ponder (for a moment).

I want to be IN my time. I want to BE in my time. I want to be in MY time.

And it occurs to me. I am in. I can be. It is mine.

Here's how. I (egads, it's true!) take this moment as a gift. Anytime I want to. And I open it up to what I wish to do with it, how I want to feel about it, who I want to be in it... I become:

MASTER OF MY TIME
If I want to use this time to plan for the future, fine. As long as I feel good about it.

If I want to do some general thinking and writing about my time, terrific. Good idea. Do it.

If I want to finish my bookkeeping to-do list but this particular piece of time doesn't offer me enough leeway to do that job the way I know I need it to be done, well, it's okay. I use this moment to schedule that job for Friday, and I write my blog instead.

Ooh. I feel the power surge already. Some reading I've been doing about the idea of time shifting--consciously changing my attitudes and habits regarding my time--is really sinking in now. I notice I'm writing in present tense, even. I like it. I pat myself on the back about it.

I review the quote by the author of the book I plan on reading before the end of the year (it's on my list but there's still two ahead of it...one book at a time, Faith). Time Shifting author Stephan Rechtschaffen has my typical time anxiety pegged: "Most of the stress that people feel in any area of their lives is rooted in the feeling of not having enough time."

Dwelling in the present, I see there is always plenty of time....because I'm always here, ready to do my bidding! I accept the fear that I won't get everything I feel I need to get done. What the heck else is new? But I suddenly see, I always have that same potential. I always have a list--I'm alive, for petessake, there's going to be stuff to do!

But the rhythms of my moments, the patterns of how I string them all together, their richness and their shine, their freedom...all up to me.

Ahhhh. It becomes clear. Most of what I have to do, in most moments, is not urgent, despite my assumptions to the contrary. I need to learn to shift gears, really. I can back up from the future into the now and/or move away from the past into the now, and really reclaim my time.

How I spend my day, my hour, my my Time, better be thoughtful, or enjoyable, or productive--somehow it ought to be Important to me. Because I'm trading the moments of my life for whatever I do with them.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Be The Change

This seems to be a very popular notion these days, as I'm seeing the quote being used in a lot of different places: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Mahatma Gandhi

For many people, Gandhi's name is synonymous with peace and non-violence. It makes sense that one of his credos would be along these lines. If you want a peaceful world, than be peaceful. So simple. He's suggesting we put our money where our mouths are, so to speak. More direct still, we should put our beings where our wishes are.

It's a popular notion but I wonder, as I presently contemplate the idea of being every bit whole, does it work? Does it make everyday, rational sense to people? Gandhi, a giant star among notable human beings, can get away with telling people they should put their existence where their dreams are. But I don't quite have his credentials nor his skills. So I have wrestled with the thought that my impetus to cover the extremely broad topic of, well, connecting one's whole entire self, might be too vague to do any real good.

hmmm. I put on my old copywriter's hat. What is actionable in all this? What problem am I helping to solve? Why would anyone want to read this stuff and keep reading it? What do I want people to do with this information, all these ideas on taking care of each part of our selves.

I want this to make a difference in people's lives.

That's the honest answer. And also make a difference in my life, because hey, I'm people, too.

So it occurs to me. My writing has to be the change I wish to see. It needs to enable. It has to tell you some things you need to know. Deliver some calls to action to you. Like,

PICK ONE THING. You are your own perfect project, bit by bit. Build your own existence, improve your outlook, and be the change. And me, too!

You can absolutely pick alsomething truly meaningful to you, all on your own right now, but just in case you'd like an outline and a partner, I'm happy to be your guide. After all, wellness is my business (I own an alternative fitness studio, consult with people on their healthy lifestyles and focus on mind body work...plus have a background in medical writing). Wellness is also my aim.

So, if you want to ride along with me, please, let me know! I'd love your comments and hope to hear about the Things you Pick. Over the next year, week by week, you'll consider how to reclaim your time (next week's topic), love your heart, build your core, pamper your feet, form new habits and renew your energy, and so much more.

Now, none of these directives will do much good if you, personally, wish to see a different sort of change in your world. Maybe you want to be thin, or rich, or skilled at flower arranging. You get to be any change you wish to see, and you get to wish for any change you want. It's all about you feeling whole and balanced, able-bodied and -minded. All the time. Because you decide to.

Pick Specifically!
Here's the play-by-play of how I'm using "Pick One Thing" to specifically drive me to "be the change" and change my attitude to change my days:

1. First, I was honest with myself. What change am I wishing for that I'm not seeing happen? It took some introspection, and I disallowed myself from making any excuses or admonishments in the process. I just identified what I really wanted.
2. I figured out what I really wanted was: "a sense of real personal pleasure as a relished element of my every day".
3. So I picked ^that^ as my One Thing. It happened on vacation easy enough. I read three books without a hitch. But what about now, at home, back to work, with family, hustle and hassle?
4. Well, what about now? I mean, nothing, really. It's the same! I still wish to see this change so I am "being" it. I'm quite simply finding personal pleasures available to me, to relish as elements of my every day.
  • I made coffee and read a book in the quiet every morning on vacation.
  • I can do that here, in my home.
  • I kept the agenda simple, meals & clothing & clean-up simple, while at the condo.
  • I can do that here in my every day.
  • I avoided starting up argumentative talk and opted to table the subject when communication was off-kilter, because it's not fun to fight on vacation.
  • It's not fun most of the time, actually, so I can let things drop and make peacefulness and added pleasure in my every day.
  • I decided there was something fun about staying active and something fun about kicking back.
  • That's a decision I'm sticking with.
I can hardly believe how much inner space I'm creating, how much lighter my heart and mind are, since picking this one thing for myself. It's the kind of existence I've dreamed of, and I'm learning I can live it. Today. Now. Whenever.

So, watch out world, this be this Pick One Thing approach is powerful stuff! At least one thing's for sure. It works for me. And as I always say, do whatever works. BE whatever works. Pick One Thing and work it!

Let the choices begin.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Pick One Thing

Want to lower your blood pressure? Be better about keeping your desk clear? Raise your savings account balance this month? Decrease your low back pain? Tell your boss the truth about your wishes for the future? Learn a new word every day? Figure out why your hip hurts? Have your teeth whitened? Teach your kid to go on the potty? Draft a will?

Go ahead.

Pick one thing. If it's a big thing, then you might have to pick one thing about that one thing, but still, you only need one at a time. Like if you need to pick the right side of your desk today and the left side tomorrow and the future stacking filing system the next day.... well, that's one thing. Honor that one thing (remember, you picked it!) until it is discovered in and connected to you, as an important part of your true self. Not just something you want or wish or think or dream.

The key is, pick ONE.

You have 100% of yourself to give, right? You can't give 100% of yourself to your family and 100% to looking good and 100% to your job and 100% to your home. And so on. This means you have to pick and choose how to divvy up your efforts. When all your most important stuff is accounted for, and you've only got 10% of yourself left to get organized, or catch up with old friends, or find out why your feet hurt so much, well then--pick one thing, and give it what it's due, until it's done.

When you're finished with it, you'll know. Because you'll feel really good about it. So much of life is always in process, as it should be. When you're evolving, you can't always just do it today. But you can do one thing today. This week. This year. Or from now on.

On the other hand, there are plenty of things which are matters of action that can be completed, voila. By you. Rather quickly. Like what you want to finish, or learn, or fix.

Also, some parts of you, which you hardly know because you haven't focused on them, can be renewed and enhanced if you pick them. Making you all the more, all the better.

And please note that even some of the really big things, like be a calmer parent or become a great singer, which might seem like they should take a long time and a lot of effort, are still only a sum of these "one things" that you can pick to do. You can be more patient today with that unreasonable child. You can go do your vocal exercises now, and record your progress.

Pick One Thing!

It's golden. A revolution in the making. It changed my day, and I'm telling you I think it's going to change my life. Because I'm picking "pick one thing" as my One Thing. I'm going to master focusing my attention and efforts, and make conscious decisions to direct myself toward my desires. What I intend to be.

Not sure what to pick?
Watch this space for ideas each week. We're going to work from the inside out with no serious order, other than reconnection and discovery. Use this blog as your guide, or not. Whatever you pick, be true to yourself and do right by it. If you mess up, or forget, pick it again. Remember, each thing you pick is a part of you. And that makes it beautiful. Honor that.
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I will be on vacation and not blogging for a couple of weeks. I've Picked "Catch up on my Reading" (at least 3 books) as my One Thing for my vacation downtime. I'm so excited, the books are already stacked and ready to pack.

Until then, be well. One choice at a time.