So. It Really IS What It Is.

Mind your manners. Do you mind? Put your mind to it! Who is minding the store? I have a lot on my mind.

The mind can mean many things to many people. A most useful aspect of the mind is how it is able to be applied. You can keep important things and people and events in mind. You can have a mind for math. So the mind is versatile, and also highly directable. We can give much credit to the focused mind for our accomplishments.

But there are other aspects the mind that are perhaps even more beneficial than its ability to be applied: the mind’s ability to be open, and also to be present. This is what we can call “mindfulness.” It’s almost the opposite of putting your mind to it, in that it’s taking a load off your mind. Taking a load off your mind on a regular basis sounds good, doesn’t it? It is good. Cultivating mindfulness can truly change our lives. Because it changes our minds. From doing to experiencing. From questioning to observing. From not now to right now. From unknown to known. From seeking to having. Mindfulness delivers.

Mindfulness allows for discovery. Stargazers become Copernicus. At the moment he realizes the earth is not the center of the universe, Copernicus isn’t thinking about how the church is going to freak out when he tells them. (Even though they sort of do freak out, had he not been mindful of the movements of the heavens and open to observing whatever they might show him, he might have gotten caught up in the that’s-not-what-everybody-else-think-s or the what’s-gonna-happen-next-s. He might have missed his discovery altogether. He wasn’t seeking THE answer, either. He was looking, noticing and recognizing. As a result, his mindfulness brought the modern view of the solar system to all of mankind. Copernicus was paying attention.

Mindfulness also allows for connection. Bringing awareness to an experience literally joins the experiencer to the event. A mother bonds with her child at birth. These days the daddy does too, because he gets to be right there, not waiting elsewhere. Their child is born, and they aren’t hearing a crying baby or remembering back five minutes to those horrible labor pains or seeing a bunch of blood…they are instead mindful of the miracle of their child, who is now born. They are now one in that event, in an utterly unique and valuable way.

When it comes to taking care of yourself, and honoring yourself inside and out, there’s no doubt that mindfulness is a worthy practice. Think about it, you don’t see a lot of agitated, frustrated monks. Mindfulness elevates the business of being human. It does the work and doesn’t complain and doesn’t diminish. Mindfulness helps you deal with stress, and make no mistake, stress kills...people, yes, but it also kills good times and opportunities. But mindfulness can be elusive, because it’s more about what it’s not, than what it is. It’s not religious and it’s not athletic and it’s not academic and it’s not even creative. It just is. And that’s all. Don’t add anything to it.

I must admit, I do find it kind of hard. But I shouldn’t. Calling it hard is actually the exact opposite of mindfulness in relation to me trying to be mindful about it.

Pick One Thing: Your Mind(fulness)

An excerpt from Sylvia Boorstein’s writing on mindfulness that tells me how simple it really is: “Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated that that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.”

Sylvia Boorstein should know; she’s written a few books on the subject and one of them is titled just for me: It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness. Accepting the present experience as it is means you have to allow your mind to be open to whatever is happening, without judgment.

Sample: I am eating a meal that took me a long time to prepare and no one else at the table seems to appreciate it, even though I thought specifically of them while selecting a dish I thought they would enjoy. My emotions want to go anywhere from feelings of rejection to labeling others as ungrateful, and I don’t even realize it. I’m too busy getting a little bent out of shape. My immediate actions could range from sarcastic comments bordering on martyrdom (“Well I guess I won’t bother slaving away in a hot kitchen with expensive ingredients anymore since you’re all more interested in arguing about what’s on television tonight…”) to eating in silence while sulking and feeling bad about my wasted effort. Or bad about myself, because really who cares and why do I need credit?

Mindfulness practice: I am eating a meal which I selected with care and prepared with my own two hands. It tastes like the garden, with rustic spices and a comforting sauciness. I am surrounded by my family while we all eat this meal. They are conversing and bantering about what might be important to them at this moment. My kitchen is filled with voices and scents of a lovingly prepared meal.

When I am mindful, what stands out in the experience is naturally what means the most to me. I get to choose what I’m paying attention to, right? I’m the experiencer and I’m open to the event in the present and that allows for discovery and connects me with the event (and the people who are joined by it). I don’t feel like telling my family to shove the vegetable lasagna down their that-show-sucks/no-it-doesn’t pie holes anymore. It’s not idyllic but it’s not resentful either. What is it? It’s food. It’s us. I do bring up a new subject for us to converse about. And I mention that I really enjoy the lasagna, I’m glad I tried making it this way. Whatever their responses are, I accept them as their tastes and their opinion of the recipe (not of ME).

The Buddha (big mindfulness guy) said, “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.” Ain’t that the truth… If you’re not mindful, you’re likely to think all sorts of stuff that has nothing to do with what’s really happening. It’s not about optimism, it’s not about ignorance--it’s about what it is about.

Cultivate some for yourself today. Pick a moment to live. Don’t react, just experience. Ahhh. It’s just that simple. If we all would make a new daily habit of mindfulness, I think we might change the world.

Free (then Apply) Your Mind

They say the mind is a terrible thing to waste. I know why. It’s a huge part of what makes you, you. Your brain can calculate for you, but imagining new solutions is up to your mind. So is asking questions. Your brain can send and receive signals for you, but interpretation is up to your mind. So is personal expression. A life consumed by calculations and factual communications could hardly have the depth and expanse as a life of envisioning possibilities, curiosities, considerations and…song. Or dance, or art. All of which of course require brains at some point, but it is minds that pursue storytelling and seek new constructs.

And that is why I think a higher mind is perhaps the greatest thing about being human. Minds are the icing on the brain cake. Eww. Let’s try again. Minds are not the map, and not the directions, but the tour guide through the landscape. Our minds connect knowledge with desire, ability with possibility.

I’ve heard this put in a couple of different ways that really resonate: “You might be able to teach a monkey or a parrot to say words or even type words, but they can’t sit down and write you a poem.” (I don’t know who said that but I remember thinking, wow, that’s what’s so cool about being human.) Also, Albert Einstein, one of the greatest brains and minds ever, said it this way: “The human mind has first to construct forms, independently, before we can find them in things.” (Double wow. Ponder that for a moment. A mind has to construct a form, say, for invisible waves that sound (or data!) can travel on, before we can find…radio. Television. Guided missiles. Garage door openers. Wireless internet.)

I’m not a scientist nor a spiritualist so I’ll stop short of defining the brain versus the mind, or a thought versus an inspiration, any further than this. I’m merely a writer who hopes to motivate and inform people who want to grow and evolve in body and mind.

Pick One Thing: Your Mind

So if your mind is a huge part of what makes you you, it stands to reason that it’s not just “in” your brain. Indeed, I read more every year about the mind-body connection, and how intricate the dance is between every cell in your physical existence and your thoughts. Your nervous system is actually the physical system that connects your brain with your body, and your vascular system connects your heart with your body. The mystery about how your mind connects thoughts with your body (and your life) is yet to be fully explained, but we do have plentiful clues from strong minds in research.

Here is a list of pilot studies proposed by Johns Hopkins’ Center for Mind Body Research. With subjects of study such as the effects of depression and hopelessness on heart attack survivors, and the psychophysiologic effects of yoga on chronic arthritis, well… we see there are fine minds at work with constructing forms and finding new information all the time. If you need convincing that your mind is likely to be working for (or against) your body, your health, and your experience, looking at a list like this will help---little drum roll please--change your mind. Johns Hopkins Mind-Body Research

I pulled this next tidbit off a developing website for a gallery of mind-body research studies and investigations associated with Washington College in St. Louis and its School of Medicine. When I read it, I nodded. They are probably on to something here.

BIOLOGICAL BASES OF HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIORS

We employ theories of behavioral endocrinology and behavior genetics to investigate possible biological underpinnings of health-related behaviors. The hope is to increase understanding of constitutional differences in threat responsiveness and perceived vulnerability that may influence everyday health-related behaviors among individuals as well as between the sexes.

Isn’t going to be great, when thanks to investigations like the above, we’ve increased understanding about how we behave in relation to how vulnerable we feel, or how we respond to threats? This understanding is going to help a lot of people accept what I already sense: thoughts cause life experience.

Sure there’s going to be some hormonal releases and DNA behavior markers in between; that’s the whole point of view when you’re trying to make a case for mind/body: it’s all related.

In some cases we can refer to tens, or hundreds, or thousands of years of anecdotal and cultural evidence. Meditation, mindfulness, positive thinking, the power of attraction, acting only in love, detaching from outcomes, refraining from judgment, and so on. It’s all out there--some of us work with all these practices and tools and they in turn work for us, others of us just go with our gut, or our God, or our good looks.

One thing is for sure, what ever you choose or don’t choose, if you made a decision about it or if you shared it with others; if you’ve discussed it, defended it, rejoiced in it or experienced it as more than a computer would, more than a robot, more than a monkey or a parrot; then you’ve put your mind to it.

And that just goes to show, if you put your mind to it, it comes to be. It's what you do. It makes you, you.

Everything you’ve done or had or learned has been interpreted by your mind right into its state of existence today. Including your body. This is evidenced by a review of 100 years of research on psychological literature on disease, stress, and behavioral medicine conducted by Oakley Ray, PhD, at Vanderbilt University, and published in 2004 in American Psychologist. So many studies for us to appreciate, and to use in our personal lives and our approach to healthcare. “Understanding how the mind, the endocrine system, the nervous system and immune system all interact (better known as 'psychoendoneuroimmunology' (PENI) is crucial in helping people conquer the stress in their lives and stay healthy," said Ray.

Let’s all giggle at PENI now, at least those of us with naughty minds. Okay, back to topic.

I am including this one example of a research finding from the American Psychological Association to cement the importance of this aspect of the care and keeping of you; of honoring the power and beauty of your mind:

“There is also evidence that an individual's belief system can influence the course of a major illness, such as cancer. According to a study of women with breast cancer who had mastectomies, it was their state of mind ("I am going to beat this") that kept them alive not the severity of their illness. At the five-, ten- and 15-year follow-up, the best predictor of death or recurrence of cancer was the psychological response of each woman three months after the initial surgery. The mental attitude after the surgery better predicted the likelihood of dying or having a recurrence than did the size of the tumor, the tumor's histologic grade or patient's age (Greer, 1991).”

Maybe you don’t have cancer, but there’s probably some other problem you’re dealing with. Let’s ask, then—what are you putting your mind on? How are you wrapping your mind around your problem? What do you want to change in your life (your health, your outcomes, your body, your stress level?) and can you change your mind about it to help make that happen? Mindfulness is our next entry. It seems like it changes everything.

Show of Hands

Turning attention to your hands will bring you both cosmetic and health benefits. From the lofty perspective, hands are a symbol of social and intimate relations, spiritual connection, work, progress and protection. Contemplating all that hands can represent, we can say they are truly a universal metaphor. There’s like a good neighbor, I wanna hold your hand, let’s shake on it, lend me a hand, raise your hand, greasing his palms, blood on her hands, a clenched fist, a gentle caress, stop in the name of love, peek a boo, applause applause, high fives, pointing fingers, all hands in a cheer of team unity. Do we agree? Let’s have a show of hands.

Pick Two Things (& Ten Things): Your Hands (& Fingers)
Hands are one of the most used parts of your body for active everyday living, so the way they feel and the way they look is likely to vary depending on what you do with them. Over time, hands will have seen a lot of sun on top of a lot of action. So they do tend to reveal our age, along with our habits and activities. There are some things you might want to do to help your hands out in the cosmetic department. Then again, not all hands are meant to be models.

Guitar players have beloved calluses on their fingers, for example, and if they play Spanish guitar, they have long nails on the string-plucking hand and short nails on the other. Carpenters and outdoors men tend to have rough hands, with calluses on the palms. You can tell the difference when you shake a rock climbers hand versus a pianists hand. People without a lot of body fat might have rather veiny hands, especially as they get older and their skin thins; while people with extra body fat might have plump hands with hardly any lines at all. All that falls in the range of good and fine, but for those who want to go a bit further, I do have a couple of ideas that can help anyone along with the appearance of their hands.

Handy Suggestions
~My sister in law donned those big yellow gloves for washing dishes and other harsher household chores for years. We’re the same age, but her hands look way better than mine.

~ My friend swears by cuticle oil. In fact, she is addicted to it. It became a self-care ritual for her to use cuticle oil to soften and push back her cuticles, and then to moisturize and give gleam to her nails. Gotta admit, she has nice looking, handsomely groomed nails that even a truck driver could benefit from.

~ If you put lotion with sunscreen on your face each day as prevention, why not rub it on your hands, too? If you have a nighttime anti-aging routine for your face, you could use that on your hands as well.

~ Quit biting your nails and biting your skin. One great way to break the habit is to start taking care of your hands. With the soft skin and cuticle oil and lotion tricks mentioned above, you’ll find that it’s nice to look down and see good hands, instead stubby ragged ones. I used a mental tricks to help me quit. First, every time I caught myself biting my nails or skin, I stopped, rested my hands in my lap and thought, “hands, be still, be cool.”

That was what I wanted to feel and how I wanted to look, so it worked to remind me of what my intentions were. I kept thinking how bad it looked if I were caught gnawing away at my hands, say… in a waiting room for a job interview, or by a cute guy from across the room (I was young and single then). It really worked.

The Hand You’re Dealt
Can you improve your hands in any way besides cosmetically? Sure you can, at least a little.

~ You can strengthen your grip and squeeze strength. Functional movements will do this to a certain extent, as in tennis players and roofers tend to have strong hands. But simple gripping and squeezing exercises will work for those wanting something extra. Say, you want to register your hands as lethal weapons. Or you want to rip a deck of cards in half. Check out a training forum specifically for strong hands (and forearms, because those are related): http://www.bccorefitness.com/seriouslystronghands.html

~ You can increase the agility and quickness of your hands, too. Again, practice makes perfect. Take up guitar or piano or a woodwind instrument like clarinet or flute. You’ll get better at it the better your hands get at moving about quickly in a relatively small span of space and time.

~ Artsy endeavors beyond music will also help you with your hands. Hair braiding can encourage hand finesse, as can crocheting and knitting, paper crafting, oil painting, and calligraphy.

~ How about court reporters and data entry personnel? Them are fast hands. Learning to type and typing often helps keep your finger joints fluid.

On the other hand, there’s that darn repetitive motion syndrome to consider. And good ole arthritis. Joint pain, swelling, numbness, vascular constriction—all of these are the unfortunate symptoms of the dark side of having skilled and active hands.

Helping Hands
~ I started taking a couple of triple strength glucosamine and chondroitin tablets, once a day, a few years ago, and my hands are VERY much better off for it. I had early onset (in my 40s) of arthritis pain, stiffness and swelling in my knuckles and thumb joints, to the point where waking up some mornings I looked like I had been the product of a human/lobster mating. The glucosamine might not have tons of university research proving its effectiveness in humans, but it definitely works for dogs, and for me, so if you (or your dogs) suffer, maybe give it a try.

~ I also recently began supplementing with daily digestive enzymes. For digestion aid, mostly, but in particular I wanted to be more efficient in digesting proteins. And now, I’m certain I am. The addition of bromelein and papain further relieved my joint and hand pain (and my wrists, and knees and neck feel better too, by the way) to the point of I hardly remember that I have this arthritis to deal with. (Except I still stink at tennis.)

I now recover from my workouts better and feel better in my tummy when I eat extra protein. All good. I can’t vouch for these things medically, as I’m not a doctor, but I can tell you they help me. Enough to make me want to learn more about how and why and what else we can do with natural enzymes at our fingertips.

Here’s a book that leads to a list of others that I’ll be checking out in the next year: http://www.amazon.com/Enzymes-Digestive-Health-Nutritional-Wealth/dp/0972591869

In the meantime, put your hands in your own good hands. Pamper them a little, or pump them up, or both. They help you hold on to all good things in your life.

You're In The Arms-ies Now

I love when people start to get into their arms, because it’s easy for me to help them make a plan and help them see results. Plus, I like arms. I like guys’ forearms enough to have apparently steered my younger dating life toward only guitar players. Married one, too. (I didn’t marry Keith Urban, I’m just sayin’ he’s got nice forearms. Like my husband.)


In girls, I really dig shoulders, but who can resist a strong-armed woman ala
“Yes We Can”? Arms and a working bandana?

Sign me up.

Everyone can answer the call to arms with relative ease. Although, please note that not everyone gets dealt the cards for wonderfully-defined arms. You have no control over the insertion points of your muscles, so if your biceps are an inch longer than the guy next to you, you can do the same workouts and drink the same shakes all you like, but his muscles might still be shorter/rounder, and thus have more bulge.

Same is true if you carry extra body fat in the arms—ladies, this point is for you. Some women will never have the defined triceps they have long admired in Madonna,

or their yoga instructor,


or boxer Laila Ali (yep, that Ali).

Not because their arms can’t make it past Olive Oyl,but because in the end, the shapes of our bodies do depend on several factors, not the least of which is special locations of fat cell storage and body type and muscle fiber type distribution and on and on.
Now, never mind all that. There is PLENTY you can do with your arms to help them be all that they can be. And you should do plenty, because the results always show and they look so good. I’ve polled a bunch of fitness-minded friends and found out what they like about arms, how they prefer to take care of their arm strengthening and shaping, and I’ve added a few of my own favorite approaches as well.

If you Pick One Thing and that Thing is Your Arms…

I suggest you select simple, accessible mix of exercises that you can repeat a few times a week. Get real good at them. Take a couple of “before” pictures, flexing, from different angles, too. Get some shadows on those arms. When you see the difference, oh, say as soon as six or eight weeks from now, you’ll realize it, clear as anything: Your arms are hot. So here’s a laundry list of ideas for the care and keeping of your arms, and why that might be important to you. Take those flexy pics and go.

“I've been having fun with ropes workouts lately … been doing a little something at least once a week … great for the arms, and really seem to do a number on the wrists & forearms which I've always had a hard time figuring out a way to work….Right now I'm focused on whole body compound movements for the most part, but I still like to tack on a little extra arm work at the end. The usual 'Guy Stuff' like curls, dips, tri kickbacks etc. Pull ups and chin ups too, all different grips to hit different parts equally.”

“I'm a sucker for pushups. I like doing them, I like being able to do them, and I like my arms (and chest) from them. I like them with my feet elevated, with just one arm elevated on a medicine ball... I also like my slosh tube and inverted shoulder presses.

“Triceps dips, skull crushers, hammer curls and pull ups are some of my favorites...really anything that gives me the results I am looking for I have a thing for great arms and shoulders…it is usually the first thing I notice when I look at someone”

“My favorites: rows, deadlifts and chest presses. These three have helped me build stronger and leaner arms. Compound movements…My favorite part of my arms on me is my forearms. I have popping veins in them now.” (that's girl talk, by the way)

“Lateral shoulder raises, military shoulder press, and triceps dips (whether for dip bars or bench [weighted on a bench though]. I got to play on TRX ropes today, and the dips from those were amazing. I think hammer curls are fun vanity exercises, for what it's worth.”

“My favorite arm exercises are hammer curls and one arm triceps extensions (on a cable machine) and bench presses, which also mess with the triceps. My (and my wife’s) favorite arm parts are my forearms. Though the hammer curls and other curling exercises aid my forearms, a continued diet of regular and reverse wrist curls (both of which are my least favorite arm exercise) are what keeps them the way they are.”

“I do military press & deadlift but it's not until I do about 150 - 200 push ups every other day that I start noticing how much firmer and defined my triceps & biceps are. Think the best workouts for me (body weight - no equipment) are Intense Push Ups and Chin Ups or Pull Ups. With equipment: Push Press or Military Presses, and Bench Press (although since I do Push Ups, I don't do this anymore).”

“I like Push ups, Dips, Plank Ups, Dive Bomber Push ups and Pike Presses...do 'em every day...in some form or another.”

“It took my trainer months, maybe a year, to make me forget about my arms and just do compound movements. She promised me my arms would not get smaller. A couple years later after mostly compound movements, my arms are a lot stronger. I can't say they bulked up or anything. But I just recently decided to try arm exercises again and I'm way ahead of where I left off a couple years ago on arm exercises. So I am a huge proponent of compound, functional lifts in place of isolation exercises. Arms, legs, shoulders - doesn't matter. I like compound best.”

“Here is one isolation exercise I can vouch for. It is a rotational exercise for the forearms. So many forearm exercises are curls. These are not curls. I discovered this while doing rehab work for bicep tendonitis. It happened to do very good things to my forearms. This is a movement that doesn't get much work in compound exercises. It also does a lot to strengthen the muscles that are attached to the tendons leading to the biceps.”

“Weighted tricep dips, military press, tricep pushups (ouch). Also yoga. Dolphin = amazing. And, I never use a supermarket trolley: take a basket every time, carry it round the store, carry your groceries to the car, etc. Your arms will love you for it!”

From Faith: Add to the above shopping basket tip—carrying around babies does some great things to baby-mama arms, that’s for sure.

And, although I don’t do it, I admire rowing as a sport and wish I had those skills. And arms. One thing that I always think of high rows and low rows--I do a lot on the TRX straps and those row movements (along with tri presses) are so killer with body weight hanging out there like that. However, I was just thinking of a rowing machine as well. Don’t have access to one, but functionally, people who row…well, they have such great bodies, and their arms are beautiful.

These pics are from the World Rowing Network site and US Olympic site...now let's get to work.

Non-Fat Half Calf, Please

While thighs are such a thunderous concern for some, the lower level leg love is really lacking for others. The bottom line is this: there's only so much you can do if you're going to focus on your calves. Go ahead, pick calves as your one thing, though. Because mostly, after the basics, you're going to need to learn to appreciate them for all that they are.

For example, they are almost always on duty. They are built that way, to hold you up all day long. Your calves are the direct conduit for whatever ideas your feet have about travelling you around. But, like Popeye, they are what they are and that's all what they are. You've inherited most of your calf qualities already. Yes, you can affect them with diet and exercise. A little. But if you want to wear the tall black boot and can't get the dang zipper up past your soleus no matter how hard you try, I gotta tell ya', you may have to just rock the pumps and strappy sandals in this life instead.

Here's an article overview that answers the calf reduction (or calf-building, if you turn the info. around) question in a pretty straightforward way. It's on eHow, written by me.

Calf Reduction

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.