Week 4: Mindful Monday – Healthy Living

INTENTIONS

I start Week 4 of Mindful Monday – Healthy Living with the INTENTION to, daily, embrace and follow the eight CREATION principles of living life to the fullest.

 The 8 Principles – Week 3

CHOICE

Though still a work-in-progress, I feel good about the Mindful Choices made during the week.

REST

Six of seven nights were restful and met the good sleep hygiene standards of 7-8 hours.  One sleepless night led to a pain flare-up the next day; and, I made a Mindful Choice to let go of DOING and spend the entire day BEING.  In other words, DOING nothing and BEING still.

I was Mindful of Pacing my activities.  Instead of, continuously, walking for 45 minutes on the treadmill, I put the machine on a 1-minute pause every 5-10 minutes to rest. stretch and breathe.  I left the fitness center refreshed rather than exhausted.

ENVIRONMENT

I went on a MINDFUL 45-minute walk through my neighborhood.  From time-to-time, I walked at a slower pace and paused to connect with nature’s beauty:

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A Mindful Walk with Just ME and My Shadow

ACTIVITY

Exercised the body on six of the seven days for 45-60 minutes, I:

  • walked on the treadmill and/or glided on the elliptical machine for three days at the fitness center;
  • walked through my neighborhood one day; and
  • followed my early-morning exercise routine of leg stretches with the Yoga Belt, home physical therapy exercises, and/or plank poses.

I made the Mindful Choice to heed the advice of my massage therapist who is a practitioner of yoga and pilates.  She encouraged me to do plank poses every other day and not daily to give my muscles a day of rest.

Mindfully, I made the Choice to uplift the mind and spirit, daily, with a 20-30 minute meditation practice.

TRUST

My INTENTION this week was building Self-Trust.  I made the Mindful Choice to begin the 21-day Chopra meditation practice, “Become What You Believe.”  

“to seek our true nature and discover our path to health and happiness.  You will discover your soul’s purpose and create a life in which things are within reach.”

I am hopeful that as I grow in the belief of ME, Self-Trust will follow.

INTERPERSONAL

I love going to the car wash with Hubby.  It gives me the opportunity to buy my favorite line of greeting cards.

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This week, I thought about girlfriends that I have bonded with over the years.  I made the Mindful Choice to send cards to three of them:

  • DJ, lives in Illinois.  Girlfriends since the womb and we stay connected via telephone. I last saw her at my youngest daughter wedding in 1998.
  • VB, lives in Milwaukee.  Girlfriends since 1996. We come together twice a year when I visit Wisconsin.  In turn, she sets aside one day to spend with us during her annual Florida vacation.
  • JL lives in Wisconsin. Friends for many years and Girlfriends for the past five.  We connect regularly via social media and always get together when I visit Wisconsin.

OUTLOOK

I re-affirm a positive attitude by reading motivational and inspirational quotes.  I share uplifting words via social media. Both serve to improve my  OUTLOOK on life.

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NUTRITION

I made the Mindful Choices to:

Snack on pistachio nuts and kosher dill pickles as opposed to a 220 calorie piece of cake.

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Read the nutritional label on this container of coleslaw before putting it on my dinner plate.

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Grateful for making the Mindful Choice to change the way I live my life to improve the quality of my life!!!

Week 3: Mindful Monday – Healthy Living

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.

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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,

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

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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

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CREATED DAILY COLOR-CODED CALORIE TARGET SHEETS

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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.

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

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.

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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:

  1. C = Choice
  2. R = Rest
  3. E = Environment
  4. A = Activity
  5. T = Trust
  6. I = Interpersonal
  7. O = Outlook
  8. 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.

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  • 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.
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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. 

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