Mini Goal: March 25th - April 12th

[Adamcaron]

I've been eating a poor diet pretty consistently and it has left me exhausted, unrested, tired, weak, and on top of that: with lowered self-esteem. 

 

On April 1st my buddy is visiting from out of town. We'll be snowboarding, going out, and doing various activities together. My goal is to have energy during this time. I want to feel fit, revitalized, energetic, and youthful. 

 

It's the morning of March 25th and I got no sleep last night after staying up, watching movies and eating. I feel pretty exhausted this morning and I don't want to do this anymore so I'm committing to a brief "sprint" period which will last until April 12th. On April 12th I'll measure the results of my efforts. 

 

Key areas of focus for me will be diet, sleep, and meditation. 

 

Diet: eat only whole foods

 - home-cooked meals (be prepared each day with recipes, meal plans, and groceries)

 - abstain from evening eating, especially trips to the grocery for junk food

 - eat with others for as many meals as possible (share meals with loved ones)

 

Sleep: Get a good night's sleep every night for the next 18 nights.

 - No electronics after 9pm

 - Go to sleep by 10pm (unless I'm socializing with loved ones)

 - Arise at 6am each morning 

 

Meditation: Practice meditation every day for 18 days.

 - This includes mindfulness, calm-abiding, and concentration practice

 - Journal entry each day

 - watch/receive video teachings from my teachers 4 out of 7 days each week. (about 10 days during this sprint-period.)

 

Diet will help me feel clean and give me the nourishment I need.

Sleep will restore my body and help me be youthful, energetic and strong.

Meditation will help my heart grow/heal and make for better interactions with people all-around.

 

I suppose tonight, Wednesday March 25th is the first evening of this sprint. What do ya'll think?

I have a meal ready for lunch at work today. Tonight I'll eat some fresh berries for dinner. I'll meditate between 8 and 10pm this evening then go to sleep at 10pm.

 

Here goes ... (I'll journal todays results tonight before 9pm or tomorrow, Thurs. AM)

 

P.S.

Thank you, thank you! Thank you for this opportunity to confide in you all. It means the world 

[Adamcaron]

Day 1 of 18: 

 

Goal: An Energetic Few Weeks ... When my friend visits for our snowboarding trip, I want to feel fit, energetic, revitalized, and youthful. To achieve this, I'll focus on diet, sleep, and meditation.

 

Day 1 results:

 

Diet:

Things to improve upon:

Ate a few cinnamon roles at work. My colleague bought some for us to share and I enjoyed a one with a cup of coffee while talking with my colleagues. My employer also gifted us a few homemade cookies which I enjoyed. Not exactly healthy but social... I'm always okay sharing food with others because it's about their company. I did however sneak a cinnamon role which I ate by myself just for the pleasure of it--not a big deal but not exactly how I'd like to behave either. ... at night I ate healthy foods, but ate distractedly while watching a movie, which is not ideal. 

 

Things to celebrate: 

I mostly at well yesterday. Had a hearty, paleo lunch. For dinner at night I snacked on whole, healthy foods: hummus, deli ham, and had some strawberries. Arose in the morning and had a cup of lemon/honey tea: yum! I also prepared a meal for the next day: awoke in the morning and cooked lunch for myself... this is great because I'm setting myself for a win: packed a healthy, hearty lunch and I'll be feeling good.

 

Sleep:

Things to improve upon:

Fell asleep while watching a movie. Awoke at 7:30am which is okay but still not as early as I'd like to awaken. Did not follow my rule about 'no electronics after 9pm'. 

 

Things to celebrate:

Went to bed at an appropriate hour, got a full night's sleep, and awoke feeling rested at 7:30am, which is earlier than I have been waking up. Hooray!

 

Meditation: 

Things to improve upon:

My meditation ended rather abruptly with the arising of doubt and restlessness... there was some uncertainty about the instructions and instead of sitting with that uncertainty, I allowed the session to end and decided to go watch a movie. Next time I can do the best I can to continue to rest in meditation, and not impulsively end the session.

 

Things to celebrate:

I meditated last night! Woohoo! I also journaled the meditation experience afterwards. I practiced some calm-abiding and then some concentration/visualization and felt rested during the practice. 

 

Overall I'm happy with how yesterday went. I enjoyed some sweets socially, I meditated, and avoided eating junk food at night. I arose in the morning feeling mostly rested, rejuvinated, and energized for the work day!! For a grade, I give myself a B for the day.

 

Looking ahead, I have enough healthy food to eat today, which is great. Tonight I'm facilitating a meditation class. I'm having some anxiety about this but no matter how it goes, I will stand it. I'll be okay. In the past, after these Thursday night classes, I've had trouble just going home and allowing the day to be over. Often, on Thursday evenings after class, I stop at the grocery and buy some snack foods, then go home, eat, and watch a movie which causes me to stay up late, feel full, and feel terrible and unrested on Friday mornings. Tonight, I'll see if I can simply go home after class and rest: I'll do the dishes, meditate, journal, and go to sleep! We'll see how it goes ...