Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run asked this simple question today. To be honest I might not have answered it if there had not been a contest involved. ;)
Why?
I am not usually a very optimistic person. I often look for hurdles and stuff that has to be done rather that stuff that makes me happy. Today though I thought about the question for less than about 2 seconds and I was able to answer, "Yes!". What is funny is I did not really think about if I was or not, I just knew that at that moment, I was not unhappy. It was almost a reflex. When I did think about why, I came up with really simple things.
1. Gorgeous weather this morning (doggy walk and my run and sunroof open on my drive to work)
2. Yummy breakfast (more overnight oats)
3. Lunch at Whole Foods, outside, in said gorgeous weather very soon
4. The smell of soup cooking last night reminding me of fall
I stopped at that because the hurdles were trying to creep into my thoughts. This just reminds me to think more in the moment. I don't mean abandon all sense of planning for the future by blowing all my cash on a trip to Anguilla (would be nice though). I mean live in the moment in small ways; a good breakfast, a good sleep, doggie kisses and good cooking smells from my kitchen. I have worries, but maybe I don't have to worry about them 24/7. That might take some effort on my part but the way I am feeling makes me want to start.
Showing posts with label thoughtful. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoughtful. Show all posts
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Best Laid Plans or What Do I Do Now?
I should just stop trying to plan more than a week ahead when it comes to life. Something always pops up and for some reason lately I have not been very good at adjusting to the flow...
ok
I have never been good at adjusting to the flow but I digress. It seems like lately every time I plan out my meals or exercise regime for more than a week, something happens to drastically screw everything up. Take this week for example, I was looking forward to getting back on track with my morning workouts. I had been fighting allergies/summer cold/crap for about 2 weeks. I get up out of bed on Monday morning and go out with the dogs for their walk and then my run. Dear sweet M-dog decides he wants to jump after another dog which leads me to falling down and rolling my ankle...it was not a small roll, I got the sickening pop you hear when you know you are in for a good deal of swelling. I was probably just about as far from my house as you can get on our normal route. I got up and limped home with the dogs and my ankle swelled to the point where it looked like I swallowed half a tennis ball and it ended up on my ankle.
So, no run, no elliptical no cardio really for me. I was able to at least walk the dogs this morning but it was obvious that I could not run or really do a lot of pressure on it. So this interrupts my long term plan of being in better shape before my vacation in a month. I know I still have a month but a couple pounds have popped up out of (almost) nowhere too and so I feel like I am losing a battle here.
I think the lesson here is that I need to be more flexible and more prepared to be flexible. I see the lesson in the syllabus but I don't see me learning it. Seriously, I am actually frowning as I am writing this, like a gumpy old man that needs to switch from rabbit ears to a digital converter box. How am I going to do this?
ok
I have never been good at adjusting to the flow but I digress. It seems like lately every time I plan out my meals or exercise regime for more than a week, something happens to drastically screw everything up. Take this week for example, I was looking forward to getting back on track with my morning workouts. I had been fighting allergies/summer cold/crap for about 2 weeks. I get up out of bed on Monday morning and go out with the dogs for their walk and then my run. Dear sweet M-dog decides he wants to jump after another dog which leads me to falling down and rolling my ankle...it was not a small roll, I got the sickening pop you hear when you know you are in for a good deal of swelling. I was probably just about as far from my house as you can get on our normal route. I got up and limped home with the dogs and my ankle swelled to the point where it looked like I swallowed half a tennis ball and it ended up on my ankle.
So, no run, no elliptical no cardio really for me. I was able to at least walk the dogs this morning but it was obvious that I could not run or really do a lot of pressure on it. So this interrupts my long term plan of being in better shape before my vacation in a month. I know I still have a month but a couple pounds have popped up out of (almost) nowhere too and so I feel like I am losing a battle here.
I think the lesson here is that I need to be more flexible and more prepared to be flexible. I see the lesson in the syllabus but I don't see me learning it. Seriously, I am actually frowning as I am writing this, like a gumpy old man that needs to switch from rabbit ears to a digital converter box. How am I going to do this?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
So Is This What People Do Instead of Watching TV?
Lost night I made mini-cupcakes...70 of them. Homemade. Homemade butter cream frosting. Four different colors.
No I did not suddenly spring a 1st grader from my loins. They are for a Lottery Yarn function this evening. When I was asked to make a dessert for this class the cover of MS Living from February sprang to mind. I mean they are mini cupcakes. How hard could that be? I'll tell you...easy. The hard part...time consuming.
You see, during my recent hibernation, I have watched just about every old episode of NCIS. For some reason it became my favorite show. This is a sign that I am depressed, I watch too much meaningless TV. (I still like the show but how many times do I need to see the "Dead Man Walking" episode, really?) I watched my Dad do it and somehow I seem to slip into the very same habits as he did when he had his bouts of depression. I think one of my lobes is technically jelly now because I have been so attached to the TV.
Anyway, when I realized how stressed I was about the time consuming nature of said cupcakes because another show was on that I wanted to see is when it hit me, I have a problem. I am missing out on way too much by plopping in front of the boob tube to watch Mark Harmon slap Michael Weatherly on the back of the head. It was then I decided to not watch any TV that night, no matter when I was finished. I took my time, playing with colors and swirling the frosting on each mini cupcake. When I was done, it all looked so cute and pretty. It was about 3 and a half hours of work but I made something tasty and pretty. It was a pretty good feeling.
I guess what I am trying to get at is, I need to lift my head up to fully move out of my March crud and into the spring. There is too much out there to do to spend my life with my head down.
No I did not suddenly spring a 1st grader from my loins. They are for a Lottery Yarn function this evening. When I was asked to make a dessert for this class the cover of MS Living from February sprang to mind. I mean they are mini cupcakes. How hard could that be? I'll tell you...easy. The hard part...time consuming.
You see, during my recent hibernation, I have watched just about every old episode of NCIS. For some reason it became my favorite show. This is a sign that I am depressed, I watch too much meaningless TV. (I still like the show but how many times do I need to see the "Dead Man Walking" episode, really?) I watched my Dad do it and somehow I seem to slip into the very same habits as he did when he had his bouts of depression. I think one of my lobes is technically jelly now because I have been so attached to the TV.
Anyway, when I realized how stressed I was about the time consuming nature of said cupcakes because another show was on that I wanted to see is when it hit me, I have a problem. I am missing out on way too much by plopping in front of the boob tube to watch Mark Harmon slap Michael Weatherly on the back of the head. It was then I decided to not watch any TV that night, no matter when I was finished. I took my time, playing with colors and swirling the frosting on each mini cupcake. When I was done, it all looked so cute and pretty. It was about 3 and a half hours of work but I made something tasty and pretty. It was a pretty good feeling.
I guess what I am trying to get at is, I need to lift my head up to fully move out of my March crud and into the spring. There is too much out there to do to spend my life with my head down.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Feeling a Little...
...helpless today. This is a little deep. It kinda sprung up out of nowhere so I promise to write more fun things later but for today, I think I needed to get this out.
I logged onto Comcast to check my email and there was an ad on the right the almost made me cry. It was from the WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) and there was a small bear that was being used in bear baiting. Bear baiting has been around for hundreds of years. Years ago, a bear was brought down by dogs for sport inside a ring. If that wasn't bad enough, now in countries like Pakistan (where is it actually illegal) they remove the bear's teeth as a cub and then let the dogs rip him to shreds. If the bear is not fighting then they secure him with a chain through his nostrils. The bear has no defense. It never actually lives, it's body won't let it give up.
Now, I realize that with the homeless crisis in the US, children in China basically poisoned by their milk and the countless amount of people that have been affected by war that this might not seem very important. To me though, it was a symbol of just how bad things are when it comes to humanity. What are we doing to each other? We are supposed to have this higher knowledge and the will to rise above base lower animal instincts. In reality, the animals that we are supposedly above, are better than we are.
I think this is why so many people latch onto this platform. It is pretty easy to love an animal that supposedly isn't as smart as humans are. It's easy to point fingers at others who are torturing creatures that don't have a voice. It is much harder to love and embrace a person who's culture is very different from our own but who still are tortured and killed for sport. That's what most wars and battles are about, sport. Who won, who lost, what the winners got to take from the losers. The 'smart' people who direct these wars of sport are the only winners. The people who battle are not the winners. They come away, scarred, mentally and physically. The people who direct the wars, from the sidelines, from offices or even caves in the middle of nowhere, they are the winners and collect the spoils. They are the ones removing the teeth of that little cub so when it gets older they can watch it killed in their own sport of war.
This has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with today's politics. It has to do with what we are deep down inside ourselves. We are human and with that comes responsibilities that are not governed by which God we believe in or which party we vote, but in the fact that we are plainly human beings. That DOES (or did ) mean something. What it means, fails me at this point and time. Which is why I feel helpless today.
I logged onto Comcast to check my email and there was an ad on the right the almost made me cry. It was from the WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) and there was a small bear that was being used in bear baiting. Bear baiting has been around for hundreds of years. Years ago, a bear was brought down by dogs for sport inside a ring. If that wasn't bad enough, now in countries like Pakistan (where is it actually illegal) they remove the bear's teeth as a cub and then let the dogs rip him to shreds. If the bear is not fighting then they secure him with a chain through his nostrils. The bear has no defense. It never actually lives, it's body won't let it give up.
Now, I realize that with the homeless crisis in the US, children in China basically poisoned by their milk and the countless amount of people that have been affected by war that this might not seem very important. To me though, it was a symbol of just how bad things are when it comes to humanity. What are we doing to each other? We are supposed to have this higher knowledge and the will to rise above base lower animal instincts. In reality, the animals that we are supposedly above, are better than we are.
I think this is why so many people latch onto this platform. It is pretty easy to love an animal that supposedly isn't as smart as humans are. It's easy to point fingers at others who are torturing creatures that don't have a voice. It is much harder to love and embrace a person who's culture is very different from our own but who still are tortured and killed for sport. That's what most wars and battles are about, sport. Who won, who lost, what the winners got to take from the losers. The 'smart' people who direct these wars of sport are the only winners. The people who battle are not the winners. They come away, scarred, mentally and physically. The people who direct the wars, from the sidelines, from offices or even caves in the middle of nowhere, they are the winners and collect the spoils. They are the ones removing the teeth of that little cub so when it gets older they can watch it killed in their own sport of war.
This has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with today's politics. It has to do with what we are deep down inside ourselves. We are human and with that comes responsibilities that are not governed by which God we believe in or which party we vote, but in the fact that we are plainly human beings. That DOES (or did ) mean something. What it means, fails me at this point and time. Which is why I feel helpless today.
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