Photography – Page 2 – SeasonedSistah

Week 7: INTENTIONS

Thank you Silver Threading for hosting Mindful Monday – Healthy Living. My INTENTIONS for Week 7:

Prepare three healthy dishes from new cookbook.
Neighborhood mindfulness walk and capture nature photos x 1 day.
Fitness workout (cardio and circuit weights) x 3 days.
Indoor mall walk x 2 days
Walk through local botanical garden and capture nature photos x 1 day.
Color one page in a mindfulness coloring books

Week 6:

CHOICE

Last week, I made the CHOICE to live by the CREATION Health principles in the following ways:

REST

Sleep

I met my goal of sleeping 7-8 hours nightly. According to my Fitbit, the 7-day average was 8 hours and 50 minutes.

ENVIRONMENT

At-home access to a stress reducing and spiritual uplifting ENVIRONMENT is a blessing.. When I am unable to get out and about, my Healing Container Garden is always there.

ACTIVITY

Early Morning, at-home exercises for the:

Body – physical therapy home exercises x 2 days for 15 mins.
Mind and Spirit – three guided meditation practices.

I did get in three days of additional exercise for the Body;

30-minute LA Fitness walk on the treadmill;
60-minute mall walk; and
40-minute mindfulness walk through the neighborhood.

TRUST

When it comes to TRUST and SELF-TRUST, I admit to being a work-in-progress. Through self-education, I hope to find answers.

This week, I read the first three chapters of, “The Courage to Trust: A Guide to Building Deep and Lasting Relationships.” I completed two Self-Discovery Questionnaires:

How Much Do You Trust Yourself – Based on my responses, the answer: “Distrust of yourself is destroying your self-confidence.
How Much Do You Really Trust Others – Based on my responses, the answer: “Your distrust of others is very high, limiting the depth of intimacy.” This was quite revealing given my 0=none response to the question, “Do you believe you don’t know how to have truly intimate relationships.”

I no longer wish to live as a “a naked person” who distrusts self and others. Before my space opens up to Trust and Self-Trust, I must first learn to discover, embrace and express love of self. I am working on it.

INTERPERSONAL

To uplift the mind, body and spirit, I decided to take part in the 8-Week Palouse Mindfulness online training program. Organized and coordinated on Facebook by Sister Blogger, Elizabeth, over at My Eyes Are Up Here.”

Last week, the focus was on communication. The reading materials and videos provided a lot of helpful information to improve both our listening skills and managing anger.

Going through this training on communication was an eye-opening learning experience.

OUTLOOK

Daily, I worked at maintaining a positive OUTLOOK by:

practicing daily morning meditations; and
sharing inspiring quotes with friends and family on Facebook and Instagram.

NUTRITION

Instead of drinking diet sodas daily, my 24-year-old granddaughter challenged me to change to lemon water. I found a number of articles in support of this and was surprised to learn of the many benefits. Now, a glass of lemon water is always close by.

Week 6: Mindful Monday – Healthy Living

Week 6: INTENTIONS

Thank you, Colleen, for hosting Mindful Monday – Healthy Living. I begin each week with the INTENTION to mindfully move outside of my comfort zone to explore healthy living options.

Week 5: 8 CREATION Health Principles

CHOICE

I made the CHOICE, several weeks ago, to Stop, Think, Observe and Proceed before acting. When I take time to STOP, I make healthier decisions in all areas of my life.

REST

For more than a year, I have fulfilled my INTENTION to get 7-8 hours of sleep nightly. I slept 11+hours on Sunday and Thursday night. Was this a healthy night’s sleep?

Seeking an answer, I went to WebMD, Sleep Disorders Health Center and read the “7 Myths About Sleep”

Here’s what I found out:

“MYTH: If you can get it, more sleep is always healthier.

“FACT: …Some studies have found that people who slept more than eight hours a night died younger than people who got between six and eight hours. What scientist don’t know yet: Whether sleeping longer causes poor health or is a symptom of it …. Long sleepers may suffer from problems such as sleep apnea, depression, or uncontrolled diabetes that makes them spend more time in bed.”

I believed the MYTH. Even though I am being treated with overnight oxygen for sleep apnea, I am not concerned about the FACT. If I begin to routinely sleep more than eight hours, I will check in with my pulmonologist.

ENVIRONMENT

I struggled through congestion and a cough that kept me housebound for most of the week, but I was able to connect with nature’s ENVIRONMENT. I looked at photos taken during past mindfulness walks through my neighborhood; and felt as though I was in the presence of nature.

ACTIVITY

I began the week taking care of a sick husband with a cold. Several days later, I came down with a cold. I wasn’t able to follow my normal weekly ACTIVITY routine; but, I was able to go upstairs to my relaxation room to exercise the:

body — physical therapy exercises, leg stretches, yoga belt and plank poses for 30 minutes x 3 days.; and
mind – mindfulness and meditation practices for 11-30 minutes x 7 days.

TRUST

This week, I went online looking for reading materials to address my SELF-TRUST issues. The one that drew my attention, “3 Ways to Develop Self-Trust,” written by Ms. Margaret Tartakovsky, M.S., Associate Editor, Word of Psychology who states:

“Everyone in your life has the potential of betraying you. They may leave. They may pass away. They may make a rude comment. They may cheat. They may lie. They may disappoint you in many different way. We can’t count on anybody 100%.”

To develop SELF-TRUST, Ms. Tartakovsky recommends:

Avoid people who undermine your SELF-TRUST.
Keep promises to yourself.
Speak kindly to yourself.

Having lived for more than 73 years, I have been hurt and abandoned by people who I loved and trusted. In most cases, it was short-lived and temporary. Other times permanent — Like my mother passing away, almost 48 years ago, I am just beginning to deal with the hurt and pain of that.

Also, I am still reading the book by Tara Brach, “True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart.” It is bringing me closer to understanding that SELF-TRUST will come when I am able to unconditionally love and nurture ME.

INTERPERSONAL

While building SELF-TRUST, I do not want to compromise developing strong INTERPERSONAL relationships.

Searching for guidance, I found this book written by Cynthia Lynn Wall, “The Courage to Trust: A Guide to Building Deep and Lasting Relationships.” She writes:

“The person you need to trust first is yourself. No one can be consistently supportive of you as you can learn to be. Being kind to yourself increases self-confidence and lessens your need for approval. Loving and caring for yourself not only increases SELF-TRUST, it also deepens your connection with others.

Inspired by this quote, I purchased the Kindle version and look forward to beginning this new learning experience.

OUTLOOK

Feeling under the weather and out of sorts this week with a cold, I tried to maintain a positive OUTLOOK.

For the entire week, I connected with The Meditation Podcast to uplift the mind and spirit. I was able to let go of the negative and embrace the positive by practicing the following meditations:

Power of Kindness
Emotional Clearing
Positive Thoughts
Peace
The Healing Smile

NUTRITION

Luckily, I found all the ingredients for this Turkey Vegetable Soup in the fridge and pantry,

Chicken Broth
Dry Onion Soup
Canned Tomatoes
Tomato Sauce
Frozen Mixed Vegetables
Frozen Okra
Turkey Legs

I dumped everything into the slow-cooker and ended up with enough soup to carry Hubby and I through the week. When I have a cold, a hot cup of soup makes everything better.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY – FEBRUARY 16, 2016

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.

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.