January 2016 – SeasonedSistah

Wordless Wednesday – January 27, 2016

Week 2: Mindful Monday – Healthy Living

First, thanks to SilverThreading for hosting Mindful Monday – Healthy Living.

Second, I met most of my Week 2 Intentions, which were to live life to the fullest by following the eight CREATION Health principles.

Third, this is how my week went.

CHOICE

Making the CHOICE to BE STILL and BREATHE before REACTING throughout the day. I did just that and experienced less stress, doubt and conflict during the week.

REST

Sleeping through the night is healthy. I went to bed between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. and arose between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Seven to eight hours of sleep is good sleep hygiene according to the National Sleep Foundation. I, also, paced my activities during the day and stopped to rest and breathe, if for no more than five minutes.

ENVIRONMENT

Being in the presence of nature brings happiness and peace into my space. I did not fulfill my Intention to visit a local park or botanical garden. However, I spent time on our lanai, which backs up to a conservation area. Sitting, in silence , I enjoyed the beauty of the lush green trees and my self-created Healing Container Garden.

ACTIVITY

Beginning the day with a 20-30 minute Mindfulness/Meditation practice is how I choose to set the course for the rest of the day. Building upon this foundation, four times a week, I did thirty minutes of either home physical therapy exercises or YouTube yoga practices as well as three plank poses for five minutes – two for two minutes and one for one minute. Walked the treadmill and glided on the precor machines at my fitness center for forty minutes, three times per week. This completed my exercise routine.

TRUST

Holding on to anger and frustration exacerbates stress. For several months, Hubby ignored repeated requests to hang four pictures in my meditation room. I relied on Trust. Married to this man for more than fifty-five years: I know he is reliable, good, honest, and, most of all a loving and caring husband. At 74-years-old, he has earned the right to move at his own pace. After all, I am an independent SeasonedSistah capable of doing many things and Trust that I will be able to hang pictures. If not, I have the number to a handyman service.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Going beyond self and opening up to improve INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS is healthy. So, I reached out and connected, by phone, with a long-time friend, attended a photography class at the local senior center, and signed up to attend a Breast Cancer support group meeting in February.

OUTLOOK

Expressing thankfulness opens the door to a positive OUTLOOK. Daily, I expressed gratitude, verbally as well as in writing, for the five things I was grateful for in my Gratitude Journal.

NUTRITION

Moving away from traditional soul food and toward healthier food options makes sense. However, my southern heritage and African-American roots keeps me tied to these traditional dishes. Fulfilling my INTENTION, I went to one of my cookbooks and prepared three healthy soul food dishes:

Field Peas with Okra
Cabbage
Southern Corn Bread

Field peas with okra and cabbage are traditionally cooked with ham hocks, bacon salt pork or a ham bone. Several years ago, in pursuit of a healthier option, I replaced the pork with smoked turkey. Hubby and I enjoyed the vegetarian versions of these dishes and enjoyed a healthy and tasty Sunday soul food dinner.

Incorporating the eight CREATION Health principles into my life over the last seven days helped to uplift my mind, body and spirit.

Healthy Living is How I Choose to Live.

Wordless Wednesday – January 20, 2016

Week One: Mindful Monday – Healthy Living

Thanks to Colleen over at Silver Threading for hosting Mindful Monday – Healthy Living . Joining her and other bloggers on this life changing journey is the incentive I need to start the new year.

I am in desperate need of a comeback following a healthy living setback from Thanksgiving through the Christmas holidays.

My Healthy Lifestyle Plan

Preparing for a healthier new year, I explored a number of options. Finally, I chose to re-start a program I had tried back in 2010. Even though I completed the eight-week Creation Health seminar, “God’s Eight Principles for Living Life to the Fullest,” I never fully lived up to the eight principles:

C = Choice
R = Rest
E = Environment
A = Activity
T = Trust
I = Interpersonal
O = Outlook
N = Nutrition

Setting weekly INTENTIONS for each CREATION principles is the path I choose to follow on this journey to live a healthy lifestyle.

WEEK ONE – INTENTIONS

CHOICE – take time to stop and breathe deeply throughout the day to improve decision-making skills.
REST – between 7-8 hours nightly and pace my daily activities.
ENVIRONMENT – visit a local park or botanical garden.
ACTIVITY exercise the mind, body and spirit by taking time for mindfulness/meditation practices, workout at my fitness center, yoga, photography, adult coloring and painting projects.
TRUST – through stillness and silence there will be a resolution to conflicts that may enter my space..
INTERPERSONAL – reconnect with a friend and/or extended family member.
OUTLOOK – daily record five things that I am grateful for in my online Gratitude Journal App.

NUTRITION – follow a healthy diet and prepare a meal using a recipe from one of the healthy eating cookbooks gathering dust in a closet under the stairs.

Journeying Toward a Healthy New Year

I look forward to this healthy living journey and the opportunity to share both my challenges and successes in a weekly post.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Alphabet 01/15/2016

Alphabet Sculpture – Winter Park, Florida

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/alphabet/

Blog-A-Versary

January 12, 2013, after weeks of struggling to set up this blog website, I published the first post, “My Final Season: How I Choose to Live It.”

Today, I began this post with what I wrote three years ago:

“As a 70-year-old, I faced reality. Approaching my final season, it’s time to make a choice. My final season, as defined by ME, is the time to focus on ME. My inner voice spoke to ME. I listened. God wants to direct me down a new path. A new journey. A new venture. A time to explore and discover ME. In this final season of life, I plan to open new doors.”

Beginning this blog opened my space up to new people, places and things. I have gone far beyond my own expectations in this discovery of ME.

Blogging took ME down a path to connect with other bloggers who, many without knowing, inspired ME to expand my world. With confidence, I went outside of my comfort zone, explored and discovered:

Yoga

Photography

Container Gardening

Mindfulness – Adult Coloring Books for Stress Relief

Ancestry Research – Maternal Family History

I also want to express gratitude to those bloggers who shared information and thoughts about:

meditation;
mindfulness;
positive affirmations;
random acts of kindness;
expressions of gratitude and thankfulness;
exercise;
spiritual uplifting; and
healthy eating.

Motivated by these bloggers, I expanded and/or incorporated healthy practices into my lifestyle. This has improved the overall quality of my life; and, I am on a path to build a healthy mind, body and spirit.

As I continue down this journey to define ME, expressing gratitude for the doors that have opened and the new doors to open.

Happy Blog-A-Versary to ME

Six-Week Blog Hiatus

I am so, so happy to reconnect with the Blogosphere World after taking a 6-week hiatus in mid-November. During my absence, Hubby and I traveled to Wisconsin. We enjoyed the face-to-face time with the children, grands and friends over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

We came back home to face the monumental task of decorating the inside and outside of our home for Xmas. It was not an easy task for two people on the other side of 70 to:

dig out Xmas decorations and lights stored randomly in closets when space ran out in the garage. I so miss my Wisconsin basement and attic space;
separate tangled lights, haphazardly pulled down and thrown in red containers when the season ended last year;
setup the 5-year-old artificial Xmas tree, which is becoming more difficult as we age and it ages; and
figure out how to work the new fangled laser lights purchased to heighten our holiday visual experience when focused properly. We were not able to get the proper focus.

In between these tasks we readied the house and shopped for enough food to host our three children, five grandchildren, two cousins and one nephew for eight days.

When everyone arrived, seeing them and knowing that I would be in their presence for more than a week was the greatest Christmas gift. The preparation tiredness disappeared and in its place happiness and joy entered my space.

Rested, Relaxed, Restored and Ready to Re-Start Blogging!