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.

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

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!

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!

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.