Tag: Martha’s Vineyard

It’s Week 3 of Mindful Monday – Healthy Living, I feel self-motivated, self-inspired, and self-directed to uplift the body, mind and spirit.  The CREATION Health program, I chose to follow on this Healthy Living journey allows self-guidance and self-direction through the eight principles of living life to the fullest.  I am enjoying the journey.

THE 8 PRINCIPLES 

CHOICE

After looking at this video, “STOP: A Short Mindfulness Practice,”    Potential stressful  situations, last week, were avoided and/or reduced because I didn’t immediately react to them.  As recommended in the video, I took time to:

• S = STOP
• T = THINK
• O = OBSERVE
• P = PROCEED

I made the CHOICE to add STOP to my Healthy Living Self-Management Tool Box.

REST

Sleep hygiene is excellent, I get 7-8 hours nightly. Pacing my activities throughout the day is my biggest problem.  To address this issue, I went to Google and found a 12-page publication by the University of Michigan, “Improve Your Functioning through Effective Pacing.”  The first few lines grabbed my attention:

“One of the most effective forms of therapy for increasing physical functioning and improving your quality of life is NOT a pill and it’s not an exercise.  It’s changing how you do your routine daily tasks by Pacing.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to add a link to this publication.  You can, however, google — Improve Your Functioning Through Effective Pacing — to access the  PDF document.  Once accessed you can download it to your computer, Kindle or IBook.

When I blog, I over-extend.  When I exercise, I over-exert.   Honestly, I tend to over-extend and/or over-extend while doing most things.  Oftentimes, I fail to stop or slow down until the body crashes and the mind boggles.

I added this document to my Healthy Living – Self Management Toolkit.

ENVIRONMENT

Florida’s rain and chilly weather kept me indoors for most of the week.  On the gloomiest day, I brought sunshine into my space.  In the quietness of our bedroom with drapes drawn, I connected with nature’s beauty by looking through my computer photo album.  I took these photos last summer when my daughters and I went on our annual Mother-Daughter vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

Ninety-nine percent of the, approximately, 12,000 photos stored in my computer photo album are memorable and cherished moments that bring peace, happiness and love into my space.

 

My Computer Photo Album is one of the most important tools in my Healthy Living – Self-Management Tool Chest.

ACTIVITY

I lived up to my INTENTION to, daily, exercise the body, mind and spirit.

Exercise: On Saturday, Hubby and I went for an early-morning walk in our city’s largest indoor mall.  I love the accessible amenities available during non-mall hours for walkers —

• Comfortable Seating
• Accessible Bathroom Facilities
• Coffee and Water

I also got in two days at the Fitness Center and four days of early-morning home exercises.

Mind and Spirit – After an almost two-year absence, I revisited the meditation practice that started me on my daily meditation journey.  The Meditation Podcast offers thirty, free, 8-20 minute meditation practices.

I brought The Meditation Podcast out of retirement.  It is now in my  Healthy Living – Self-Management Toolkit.

TRUST  –

This week I set as an  INTENTION to build SELF-TRUST.  I begin this new journey motivated by five inspirational quotes:

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

“Trust yourself and try not to get lured off course by conflicting opinions that don’t seem to sit right with you.” (Auliq Ice)

‘Never let the thoughts of self-unworthiness re-arrange your prepared passion for failure.  You can do it even if others say you can’t.  But you cannot do it if you tell yourself you can’t.” (Israelmore Ayivor)

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”  (Norman Vincent Peele)

“You can have all the tools in the world but if you don’t genuinely believe in yourself, it’s useless.” (Ken Jeong)

I added these quotes to my Healthy Living – Self-Management Toolkit

INTERPERSONAL 

On Tuesday, I spent a lively and enjoyable three hours in my photography class.  Talking and laughing through most of the class as we struggled to take our first Water Splash Photo.

This is my first attempt.  It took a few tries before I figured out how to keep my hand out of the photo,

I managed to keep the hand out.  But it took many, many, more tries to capture a half-way decent photo.

I added my photography class to the Healthy-Living Self-Management Toolkit.

OUTLOOK 

I listen to Depaak Chopra’s, “Souls of Healing Affirmations.” Uplifted by these positive affirmation upon waking every morning is the building block needed to get through the day with a positive OUTLOOK.  It’s a gift to myself.  (paraphrased CREATION Health)

The Souls of Healing Affirmation is a key tool in my Healthy Living Self-Management Toolkit.

NUTRITION

Encouraged by my eldest daughter, I bought a set of Portion Control Containers to manage and track my food intake. It didn’t work out well.

PURCHASED THE CONTAINERS

CREATED DAILY COLOR-CODED CALORIE TARGET SHEETS

I used the two smallest containers to manage my intake of nuts and ignored the others.  I allowed myself only one container of nuts per day.  A lover of pecans, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, etc., I always buy the largest bag, jar, or can of nuts.  Throughout the day, I visit the pantry and grab a handful.  I hope these little, bitty containers, will help to break this serious nut-eating addiction.

Next week, I will assess the Portion Control Containers and decide whether they are a worthy addition to my Healthy Living-Self-Management Toolkit.