Mistr

You are doing great! I just want to chime in on last week's mini challenge. I completely agree. Everyone feels like they are faking it a lot of the time. Every now and then you get to use your skills and do something you are really proud of. Treasure those moments. Most of the time you just need to do an adequate job. No super powers required, just get things done. Sometimes that takes a different kind of strength to get through the tedium. One of the myths that we get fed is "always do your best". I'm stealing this from an essay by Marissa Lingen. She notes that only a few things a week are important enough to actually benefit from your best effort. Do you need to keep your kitchen spotless? Probably not. When you have guests - yes, but not every day. You have to pick and choose what to do with your limited energy. It does not help that other people will lobby you to spend your energy on their pet projects. As you get more experience making those choices you will feel better about saying "No". You get practice telling people "that sounds interesting but I'm tied up working on other things". Instead of pleasing everyone you will do what YOU care about and stop worrying about what other people think. Just like building muscle, this takes practice. Some of the time it will hurt. Over time you will get better and feel strong and secure in your choices.

True, very true. There won't be air in the tires. There never is when a bike has been left sit for months. The physics behind this is that warm air bounces off the polymer in the tires and stays inside. Cold air molecules move more slowly and have a better chance of finding the gaps between the polymer molecules. The more the tires get used, the less air they leak. When I was commuting by bike I had to put in air once a week. For casual biking I top off the air every time.

Week 2 Wednesday: Meditation 20 minutesUpper body free weight exercises. Felt much better than expected considering it has been more than a month.Taught aikido. Basic morotetori - kokyu nage, ikkyo, yankyo, iriminage. Thursday: Lunchtime exercise was Vitamoves warmups, knee exercises and thread-the-needle side planks. My log notes say that it has been three weeks since I did some of these. No wonder I can't get as many reps in the do-until-fatigue sets.Two of my coworkers brought donuts. I resisted until after lunch then caved in badly. Waaaaay too many carbs.Went for a long walk with my partner in the evening. He spent part of the afternoon talking to a friend who is having problems with depression. She is telling herself a story that is making her feel horrible. I recognize that from a point in my 30s. I felt like I was old, fat and out of shape and I was not going to get out of grad school before I turned 40. I realized that I couldn't do anything about getting old or speeding up getting out of grad school, but I could do something about being fat and out of shape. I started swimming at lunch and going to aikido again (I had stopped before starting grad school).Bonus for going for a walk - we were in a park by a lake and a hawk swept down and took a small bird right in front of us. Probably a Cooper's hawk. It had stripes on its tail and they hunt other birds. Apparently it cared a lot more about dinner than about having humans nearby.Task 1: packed up my RenFest costume that has been sitting out for a month.Task 2: made granolaTask 3: chopped veggies. The tub of chopped up peppers disappeared sometime in the evening. The peppers had been in the fridge for a week. Looks like me chopping them transforms them from "ingredients" to "food".Task 4: more knitting on mohair stole.

You could do a simple anatomy list meditation. Feel your breath moving through each part of the body relaxing that area on the exhale. Start at the top of the head and work down to the feet. Include or skip over parts based on the time available. Glad that you got past the worried funk. Hopefully the weekend will help get you back on an even keel.

Great mini challenge! Thank you Sara! In addition to the important points Sara makes here, let me add hormones as a major component to emotional response. I found this to be most noticeable when I was tired, stressed and pre-menstrual. The combination of low steroid hormones and abundant stress hormones put my emotions on a roulette wheel. In some ways that was good because it made it obvious that how I felt had nothing to do with the outside world. I could take B-complex vitamins and avoid people until I was semi-rational again. Things are worse when your body is out of whack but not so badly that you can immediately pinpoint the cause. For example, low iron gives the same symptoms as depression. So does low vitamin D. That's why so many programs will tell you to take a multi-vitamin and go for a walk every day. When you feel strongly, take a moment and look at how your biological state might be contributing. If the problem is real it will still be there after you have a snack and a nap or a walk. But you will be in a better position to deal with it.

Yay for having a good day! Have you described the breathing exercises or posted a link? I'd like to give them a try. Most of the other stuff you do is way too advanced to be tempting.

Ouch. Your staff are something else. Somehow I don't think a note from the police station counts for an excused absence like a note from the doctor. I would count that as unapproved personal time off. Great job on taking care of things early! I need to cook the turkey that is hogging my freezer space to make room for the ice cream tubs.

Thank you for posting the photo! That looks like fun. That sucks that the running club did not show up or tell you that their practice was cancelled. At least you got a good run in and saw some new scenery. Doesn't make up for two extra hours of driving but not a total loss. I hope the next group you check out is congenial and has some nice guys.

How are things going?

Yay for fresh air and more sleep!

I grew up in the frozen north. Part of which was settled by Finns. The classic image of a sauna here is the place where you go to sweat, then run outside and roll in the snow or jump in a lake. For half the year it is a luxury to sit still and be hot. Getting sweaty while practicing aikido is not the same.

Thank you Shogun! I knew I started meditating again because of the mini-challenge, but forgot all about those resources. Week 2 Monday: 40 minutes knee/core work at lunch. I had to back off from the reps and times I was doing the last time I did these exercises. Probably because last time was 18 days ago. Argh, I had no idea I had slacked off so much. Now I'm paying for it. Oh well, the strength will come back with work.Meditation 11' 50" after workMade popcorn for dinner. I was going to make broccoli and peanut sauce but the peanut sauce had developed a hot pink shiny stripe. This was a cop-out, I could have had broccoli with cheese. No progress on the cooking front.Tasks: dishes and laundry. Prepped clothes and food in hope of a better day Tuesday.Tuesday: Successfully got up at 5:30am and did knee/core exercises ~40 minutes.Worked 7:30-4:30 so I could go to yoga. Gentle yoga class was okay. Lots of stretching. Nothing too strenuous. More strenuous would have been welcome because the room was on the cool side.Challenge adventure win - used the steam room and sauna after yoga. It felt heavenly to sit in the steam room and get warm. I was chilled enough that it took several minutes before I started sweating. I showered off and sat in the sauna to get warm again before I got dressed. Luxury.I had to go back to work to finish up some things before I headed home. That threw a wrench in my cooking plans. I also stopped by the grocery to pick up some of the really cheap on-sale chicken breasts and they were out. Two strikes on cooking. I got home to find that my partner had set out all the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. I can take a hint. No other tasks done. I opened up the tub of angora and merino so I could say that I was not completely ignoring that project. Thank you Sara Kingdom! I would not have made the effort to go to yoga yesterday if not for you.

My sympathy on everything feeling out of whack. I hope that things fall back in place soon. Ummm, remember what you said about running hills the last time? I know you love the Tribe, but running? Wouldn't more aikido be better preparation for your Japan trip?

I'm sooooo happy that you found another way to get in writing time and are having fun with your story. My partner wants to start writing fiction and transition out of his current job, so I have had similar conversations at home. Most of the panels I went to at the convention two weeks ago were on the business of writing. You might want to check out Business for Breakfast, Volume 1: The Beginning Professional Writer. This is available as an e-book, but also for free one chapter at a time on the author's blog. Full disclosure - Leah is an old friend of mine. She went from working full-time and writing on the side to working part-time and writing more, to working part-time, writing and self-publishing. In the last two years she started publishing for other writers and finally quit her day job. My observation from looking at the writers I know is that a person can make a living writing, but not until after selling several books. Several might be 5-10 depending on the genre and how well they sell. There are exceptional cases where a first book becomes a big hit. Who knows, your book might be the next Harry Potter. You make excellent points about the turmoil in the publishing industry. At some point you will have to decide how and where to sell your work. Right now that seems like borrowing trouble. First you have to have pieces ready to sell. Maybe I missed it, but nowhere in your goals did you mention becoming leaner. You wanted better performance. And how many weeks have you been on your current eating plan?

Welcome Neckramess! How did the first week of the challenge go for you?

Injuries suck. I hope your shoulder is feeling better. Shoulder injuries can be slow to heal - make sure you really are better so you don't strain it again.

Here are some basics to start with. Different styles add extra things to these. Find a place where you won't be disturbedStart short: 2-4 minutes. Increase the time graduallySit in a comfortable position with good posture. This can be on a chair or cross-legged on a cushion. Make sure your seat is high enough that you can keep your back straight without strain. Your hands can be on your legs or in your lap.Start with your eyes closed. Visual distractions are challenging.Basic meditation practice is to watch your breathing. Try to smooth your breath so that it does not make noise.While you sit quietly and breathe, thoughts will arise in your brain. Look at these thoughts as an outside observer. No judgement, just notice. Bring your attention back to your breath. If your mind wanders off on a tangent following a line of thought, check your posture. Sit up, move your shoulders back and down, feel like you are floating. Breathe. Okay, I'm going to sit still for 5 minutes. Ack, my left shoulder doesn't like this. [readjust left hand] Okay, that's better. Breathe quietly Boy, those birds are loud this morning. Breathe I have to remember to take those library books back today. Later! Just breathe now [straightens spine] Breathe I should... It can wait. Just relax and breathe. Briiiiing! Wow, that was already 5 minutes?!? That is how it goes. It takes some practice to give your brain permission to relax and not do anything. That is what focus on the breath is for. It keeps your "monkey mind" occupied so that you can take a break from planning and reflecting.

Yay for getting your dojo set up! Congratulations on analyzing a new exercise program and not immediately wanting to switch. Learning behavior FTW! Ummmmm, not quite. I got disillusioned with hypocrisy at my family's church when I was a teenager. My parents were not religious and didn't care if I quit after I was confirmed (at 13 or 14). My grandparents cared, but did not make a big deal about it. I looked around at a lot of religions before finding an eclectic pagan circle that I liked. I kept it quiet out of respect for my grandparents. No conflict. You know, being really good at dramatizing things is the main job description of a DM. The system is just window-dressing. Just saying. I hear you on being frustrated with slow results and having to do work that you don't value. Have you read any of the links on willpower and ego depletion from Teirin's thread? The author's are making a case that using energy to do things you need to do but don't want to do is exhausting. Literally mentally exhausting. That does not leave energy for doing things you want to do but don't need to do. So you are on the right track. Not only do you need to block out time, you need to block out time when you are not already depleted from pushing yourself to do other things. What makes you think your first year of writing needs to be good? From all the writer blogs I've read, the important thing is getting pieces done. Good comes along later as a side benefit. Just like physique is a side effect of training. I love the squee in this post. Yay for finding a way forwards! Notice something here. You are feeling pressured about the writing. You made a goal for yourself and you feel guilty about not reaching it. Thing two: you had a bit of money and time and you bought a book on core training. Not a book on how to write or get published. Thing three: you are all thrilled about signing up for a trainer certification course. No squee about the fun new story you are writing. No judgement from me, just observation. You post long detailed descriptions of exercises and workout plans. You love new workout schemes like my partner loves military history books and I love spinning fiber. Are you spending your time doing what you really want to do? (not counting work for money that you have to do)

You are building on success with ambitious goals for your second challenge. How is it going so far?

What is aerial yoga? I get an image of yoga poses with silks, like circus work. Good for you getting ahead on running and running your commute. I can just see you jogging into the gym, jogging to the weight room, pumping out your sets, and jogging out the door. All an easy day for you.

Thank you for explaining. Many things make more sense now. You certainly got dealt a bad hand in your biological family. I'm glad that you have great kids and have found a much better family of choice. I like your description of how your attitude toward your relationship is changing. In some ways it sounds similar to shifts I have had to work on. Things like not being resentful of my partner's free time when I over-scheduled myself. Relationships are complicated. I hope you have a wonderful celebration at your wedding.

Good job getting more sleep. I hope you are feeling better today.

Sunday Exercise: medium walk, dancing Food: no cooking, light on veggies Meditation: 11 minutes Things: Cast off one edge of mohair stole. Almost finished!Sorted clothes my mom sent home with mePut summer clothes in dresser and closet, packed up winter clothesBalanced checkbooks and updated Gnucashfiled papers from last two weeks of billsPrepared dances for teachingOne load laundryAt least I realized that preparing for teaching always takes longer than I anticipate so I started in the morning. I spent a lot more time sorting through dances I could teach than actually preparing the ones I chose. I completely dropped my cooking plans for the day. Working in my office with piles of mess is driving me nuts. My plan for tonight is to deal with the worst messes. At the very least, clean up my desk. Also to do laundry because the underwear situation will soon be dire. Week 1 wrap-up Exercise/wellness: I kept moving most days. No upper body or HIIT workouts. Walking outside was fun. I need to keep up my knee exercises. My left knee is cranky again. I'm enjoying the meditation. Food: After a week of eating anything I damn well please, my weight is back down to 159. I like this trend It proves that I can have the occasional donut and still lose weight. Doing all the things: Big win for the week was getting my taxes filed on time for the first time in years. Also getting the tubs of summer clothes out of the living room and into the dresser and closet. Making progress.

Yes, the meditation seems to be helping me let go of distractions. At aikido on Saturday, sensei had us work on a connection exercise. We were supposed to keep gentle pressure on each other and feel when there was an opening. At an opening we were supposed to switch who was leading and who was following. It was okay if one person led another into a fall, but we were not supposed to try to throw. My partner was having trouble letting go of doing techniques. Sensei came by and tapped him on the forehead and told him to empty his mind. That is exactly what meditation practice is for. The extra focus makes a difference when I am on task. It is not enough to get me past having to do something I don't want to do. I need to keep working on including fun things in my planning. Otherwise I feel like all I'm looking at is work, and I want to goof off. Today for example, I decided to go home after work instead of to aikido. I want to make more progress on cooking, sorting files and laundry. Clearly I need to plan some time spinning or knitting so I am not a total grouch about too much work. Classes currently on the work calendar: YogaGentle YogaBarreInsanityBarbellsRippedCyclingBootcampThese change from time to time. Zumba and Piyo (pilates/yoga) are on the list but not on the calendar right now. Most of these are in the building across the street from mine. Yoga is a couple blocks away. That makes it challenging for me because my department is on a tight schedule around lunch. Most of the company is more flexible about hours. I danced last night and the toe did not hurt as much as I expected. It has turned amazing colors. Probably it was lucky that only the outermost joint is injured. I don't need to grip with my toes in any of my normal activities. Going up on the balls of my feet doesn't bend that joint. I am wearing Dansko clogs today to protect my toes from bending.

Wait a sec, that's your wedding you are planning? I was thinking it was your mom and her girlfriend. I hope this means you and your partner have worked out the things that were bugging you last fall. Have you tried any of the non-caffeinated alternatives to coffee? I've been drinking Pero. It is warm, savory and brown. It tastes good plain or with cream. Not as acidic as coffee and none of the bad after effects.