[Mistr]

Mistr Changes Things Up - May 2024

 

I have been doing well with my meditation goal the last two challenges. That is giving me the mental energy to face other things. Time to change things up.

 

I. Move my sleep time

I have been talking about doing this for months, with little progress. Instead of working towards it, I am just going to make it happen. I am setting my alarm for 5:30am and getting up. No snooze, no turning off the alarm.

 

My head-to-bed alarm is already set to 8:30pm. I can make things easier by doing evening prep earlier. If I get things done sooner, I can do fun things like knitting or spinning before bed. I want to move my meditation time to the morning so that I have more flexibility in the evenings.

 

II. Exercise every day

I have been doing some exercise, but not consistently.  Aikido varies a lot in how aerobic or intense it is. I used to exercise at lunch every day in the before times, when I was always working in the office. That routine was great for me getting in good shape and losing weight. I want to set up a new routine that works with my partially remote schedule.

 

Exercise needs to happen first thing in the morning or at lunch. I might say I will work out in the evening, but the only thing I am actually willing to do by myself is go for a walk. I am going to start with working out in the morning and sitting zen at lunch. I have found that I am more willing to go do nothing at lunchtime than I am to go work out 😊.

 

My main focus is on strength training. I am terrified by all the things I have read about people in their 60s rapidly losing strength. My plan is to alternate core  strength yoga (thank you Adriene!) and an all-around routine with TGUs, push-ups and knee PT exercises. I can mix in rowing if I need to work out at lunchtime. If I am having a bad day, I can do regular yoga instead. Just do something.

 

III. Do fun things

Instead of thinking of fun things as a reward for doing work, plan on doing something fun every day. I can give myself time to do creative projects or read for fun instead of doing coloring on my phone. In the cosmic scheme of things, doing knitting is equally important as gardening. No one else cares about me doing either one.

 

Not changing

• Keep doing zen every day. Meditation is making a difference, keep doing it.
• Do aikido two or three days a week. I love doing it and  the dojo is my main social connection.
• Selectively work on making my living space better. Do a mix of routine and one-time projects.

 

I am curious to see where this will get me in six weeks.

 

 

[sarakingdom]

6 hours ago, Mistr said:

My head-to-bed alarm is already set to 8:30pm

 

This is dinner time in my home.

[Sovalis]

I like this for you! Can't wait to see how it all works out!

[Ann of Owlshire]

This is a great set of goals! 

[Mistr]

Zero week - day 1

 

Off to a good start.

 

I decided to do things at home rather than going to aikido Monday night. We got home from the Twin Cities at 7pm on Sunday. That gave me enough time to unpack and sit zen, but not much else. I felt like doing stuff at home would be a better choice. I think that was right. I did things from my to-do list and fun things.

• Transplanted hostas. This is part of my ongoing efforts to fill in the areas under my trees with perennials. Wood chips just turn into substrate for weeds, while hostas will choke out the weeds. Plus the hostas do not mind being divided. They were at the perfect growth stage a week ago, but they are still small enough to move without too much damage. I may do more this weekend.
• Cleaned the hummingbird feeder and made a fresh batch of sugar water. I have not seen a hummingbird yet this spring. I expect them to show up soon.
• Folded and put away a load of gis
• Knit 6 rows on my scarf
• Read reviews of Manor Lords. It looks like a game I would really enjoy. That makes me want to wait on buying it. I do not need another fun thing to fill my time right now. Maybe I will buy it while it is 25% off, but not install it yet.
• Read more of A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind. There are a few helpful tips, but mostly things that make me say "you don't work full time, do you?".

I made it to bed by 9:35pm and got up about 5:30am this morning. I did one circuit of my strength training routine for the first time since February.

 

Tonight may be more of a challenge because I will be helping Dumbledore drop off his car at the mechanic after he gets done with gaming. I have already done exercise and zen. If I do all my evening prep early, I should be able to get to bed close to my target time.  

[sarakingdom]

The thing is, you don't need cleaning tips, you need cleaning help.

[Mistr]

18 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

The thing is, you don't need cleaning tips, you need cleaning help.

 

So true. 

 

The author talks about cleaning things every day. I am looking at the list and triaging when things make it to the top to get cleaned in a week or a month.

[Scaly Freak]

5 hours ago, Mistr said:

 

The author talks about cleaning things every day. 

 

Why am I picturing this author living a life without a full-time job, without pets, without children, without partner or roommates that cause high emotional labor, and without any time consuming hobbies, and without much of a social life outside his home...? 

[sarakingdom]

30 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

Why am I picturing this author living a life without a full-time job, without pets, without children, without partner or roommates that cause high emotional labor, and without any time consuming hobbies, and without much of a social life outside his home...? 

 

The author is a monk describing traditional communal monastic life and how daily tasks are designed to be part of a Zen Buddhist mindfulness practice. It's not a guide to cleaning your home.

[Scaly Freak]

11 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

The author is a monk describing traditional communal monastic life and how daily tasks are designed to be part of a Zen Buddhist mindfulness practice. It's not a guide to cleaning your home.

 

Ah. The book makes more sense now.

 

Though I'm pretty sure there probably are a lot of mental health benefits from building cleaning and all the other chores in a home into a daily routine and just getting them done as we go about our daily life. Whether those benefits come from enjoying a cleaning home or from normalizing the clutter left behind when the day's efforts are complete, that probably depends on the home and the people in it.  

[Mad Hatter]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:41 PM, Mistr said:

I have been talking about doing this for months, with little progress. Instead of working towards it, I am just going to make it happen. I am setting my alarm for 5:30am and getting up. No snooze, no turning off the alarm.

Hardcore! 

 

On 4/29/2024 at 6:41 PM, Mistr said:

III. Do fun things

Always for fun goals. 

 

11 hours ago, Mistr said:

The author talks about cleaning things every day.

Cleaning is so overrated.

[RES]

On 4/29/2024 at 12:41 PM, Mistr said:

My head-to-bed alarm is already set to 8:30pm.

This is also head-to-bed time in my house

 

[Mistr]

10 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Though I'm pretty sure there probably are a lot of mental health benefits from building cleaning and all the other chores in a home into a daily routine and just getting them done as we go about our daily life. Whether those benefits come from enjoying a cleaning home or from normalizing the clutter left behind when the day's efforts are complete, that probably depends on the home and the people in it.  

 

I am certainly feeling the benefits of getting rid of clutter. Seeing things triggers a mental "do I need to do something about this object? If yes, when?". Even if I know it is someone else's problem, I still mentally check to see if any of my things have been left out in that area.

 

Actual dirt is a different problem. I can ignore the bits of cat food on the floor when I am wearing clogs in the house. I feel the need to sweep more often when I am going barefoot. Dust can accumulate for months before it gets bad enough that I deal with it. Maybe I would care more about the house being clean if the surfaces were clear. Just dealing with stuff takes most of my cleaning time, at least outside of the kitchen and bathroom. Those get scrubbed regularly.

[Mistr]

I hit my bedtime and waking up times last night. I even resisted Dumbledore trying to tempt me back to bed when my alarm went off. 😅

 

I did a core workout first thing. My core is fine, but my arms felt weak. WTF?!?

Maybe the strength training will help with that. 

 

Yesterday's fun thing was reading the Rivers of London graphic novel Cry Fox.

The useful thing was running errands on my way home: dropped off dry cleaning, bought cat litter, returned a library audiobook.

 

Tonight I have aikido so I am not planning on getting anything else done. Going to bed extra early sounds appealing.

[Heidi]

On 4/29/2024 at 12:41 PM, Mistr said:

I have been doing well with my meditation goal the last two challenges. That is giving me the mental energy to face other things. Time to change things up.

 

I"m going to take a moment to pause and celebrate this sentence.

HOORAY!!

HUZZAH!!

Go You!

🎉🎉

 

Back to the challenge at hand:

On 4/29/2024 at 12:41 PM, Mistr said:

I want to move my meditation time to the morning

I'm really interested in how (if?) this shift affects your meditation itself. I noticed a huge difference in the meditation and in my day and in a whole bunch of other things, but that might just be me.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 12:41 PM, Mistr said:

Exercise needs to happen first thing in the morning or at lunch.

I hear you about this, too, especially about being willing to do nothing more than being willing to do something over the lunch break. I think this is wisdom.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 12:41 PM, Mistr said:

In the cosmic scheme of things, doing knitting is equally important as gardening. No one else cares about me doing either one.

This insight is so liberating, I can almost see you float.  It's beuatiful to realize we aren't letting anyone down.

 

Very encouraged by the insights in your Not-Changing list as well.

[Mad Hatter]

On 5/1/2024 at 4:50 PM, Mistr said:

I am certainly feeling the benefits of getting rid of clutter. 

The less clutter the less there's to clean!

[Mistr]

I am taking this afternoon and evening to have fun. I may do some things from my list too, but my main focus will be down time.

 

My original plan was to take off early this afternoon to go to an aikido seminar an hour away. I just don't have the enthusiasm to drive for two hours and do two hours of aikido this evening. I knew that yesterday, before I had a sleep fail last night. This brings into focus two topics - aikido and down time

 

Aikido

I have been practicing aikido for a long time. I love it and intend to keep doing it well into my 80s. If I had taken a much different path in life, I might have gotten good enough to become a senior instructor. That typically requires several years of dedicated practice in one's twenties. Instead, I took a roundabout path with some long breaks. I can keep getting better but I am never going to be great. I'm okay with that. It was never my dream to be a martial arts instructor. I can happily stay at 2nd degree black belt for as long as I want. Getting a higher rank would not allow me to do anything special.

 

I do feel a bit odd about my weapons partner moving past me. We started training weapons together when he was training for his shodan test and I was training for my nidan. We tested on the same day. He took his nidan test right before covid. I feel like I lost more fitness than he did during covid. Not to mention that he is 15 years younger than me and training hard for his test. He will be testing for sandan (3rd degree blackbelt) at the end of June. I am happy for him and a bit wistful. Sure, I would like to be able to do all the things on the sandan test requirement list. I can do some of them easily. Others need work. Some would need several years of dedicated physical therapy first. That is just not my top priority now.

 

Down time

It seems that my mind and my spirit do not agree on what I can realistically do. I remember being super efficient and doing all the things. When I try to do that, my spirit rebels. I want to just play phone games or read junk mail. I would do better to just give myself the time to relax and spend that time on things that are more fun and have something to show, like spinning and knitting.

 

With that in mind I just bought Manor Lords. It is a new city building game that has my number.

 

Now I am off to go for a walk with Dumbledore and do fun things.   Have a great weekend!

[Harriet]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:41 PM, Mistr said:

My main focus is on strength training. I am terrified by all the things I have read about people in their 60s rapidly losing strength.

 

Oh, that's alarming. I had heard that people start losing muscle mass in their 40s--about 1% per year if they don't strength train. It's fast enough to make a difference over time, but I didn't know about additional, more rapid loss later. 

 

 

On 5/3/2024 at 11:21 PM, Mistr said:

I do feel a bit odd about my weapons partner moving past me.

 

I often feel envious of what other people can do and how quickly they can master sports and physical challenges. Alas. Gotta keep treading our own paths. Nothing else for it.

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

Oh, that's alarming. I had heard that people start losing muscle mass in their 40s--about 1% per year if they don't strength train. It's fast enough to make a difference over time, but I didn't know about additional, more rapid loss later. 

 

Important factoid to remember: Someone who has been strength training before they hit their 40, their 50s, or their 60s, (it is never too late to start!) will lose muscle mass a lot slower than someone who has not. Also... this assumes that they either stop training, or dramatically reduce the amount of training they're doing.

 

I don't have studies readily available to link to, that show the impact to/loss of muscles for someone who has been strength training regularly and continues to do so as they age, but it's nowhere near as dire as the numbers quoted for someone who has led a sedentary life and continues to do this as they age.  In fact, this slower and less dramatic loss of strength and muscle tone due to age is one of the most quoted reasons for why women should life, that I ever see on "workout reasons that have nothing to do with losing weight"- lists.

 

The loss of muscle mass and strength is definitely something to be aware of and look out for, but for someone who has lived an active life that involves intentional training, I don't believe there is a reason to freak out. Be aware of it, sure. Personally I'm using it as motivation to keep going to the gym and picking up barbells.  

[Harriet]

3 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Important factoid to remember: Someone who has been strength training before they hit their 40, their 50s, or their 60s, (it is never too late to start!) will lose muscle mass a lot slower than someone who has not. Also... this assumes that they either stop training, or dramatically reduce the amount of training they're doing.

 

I don't have studies readily available to link to, that show the impact to/loss of muscles for someone who has been strength training regularly and continues to do so as they age, but it's nowhere near as dire as the numbers quoted for someone who has led a sedentary life and continues to do this as they age.  In fact, this slower and less dramatic loss of strength and muscle tone due to age is one of the most quoted reasons for why women should life, that I ever see on "workout reasons that have nothing to do with losing weight"- lists.

 

The loss of muscle mass and strength is definitely something to be aware of and look out for, but for someone who has lived an active life that involves intentional training, I don't believe there is a reason to freak out. Be aware of it, sure. Personally I'm using it as motivation to keep going to the gym and picking up barbells.  

 

Oh, I'm not too worried about myself. I have done a lot of listening and reading, and I understand that maintaining muscle is a LOT easier than growing it, and can be done with a fraction of the work. And the quoted 1% loss per year after 30  is for people not doing strength training. However, I would like to "bank" some muscle while my hormones are more favourable. Not that it's impossible to build muscle later, just likely slower. It's part of my motivation to keep trying--I'm starting from a quite low level and my training is very interrupted. 

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

I would like to "bank" some muscle while my hormones are more favourable. Not that it's impossible to build muscle later, just likely slower.

 

This is exactly my reasoning as well.  

[RES]

On 5/3/2024 at 5:21 PM, Mistr said:

It seems that my mind and my spirit do not agree on what I can realistically do. I remember being super efficient and doing all the things. When I try to do that, my spirit rebels. I want to just play phone games or read junk mail. I would do better to just give myself the time to relax and spend that time on things that are more fun and have something to show, like spinning and knitting.

I feel this, I'll have all the great plans scheduled out but when I try to get it done like I've laid out in my mind...I get very disappointed. Even when I realize I'm the problem 🙄

[Mistr]

 

It has been that kind of week. We have been short at work between scheduled time off and demands on the team. I found that having half a day on Sunday after being gone the previous weekend was not enough to keep up with regular life. Who would have thought that?

 

I took Monday night off from aikido to do stuff at home. After spending the weekend at the dojo, I felt fine about that. Then Elf got upset about the toilet getting clogged again. I went to buy and new plunger. While I was out, I stopped by the library to return a book and at the co-op to look at flower seeds. I got home and Dumbledore was upset that the washing machine was locked and flashing a red light. He had an online meeting starting, so I went and found the manual. It was useless, so I searched online. That was only slightly more helpful. The answer turned out to be unplugging it a few time to get it to reset itself.  So much for Monday.

 

Tuesday evening I scrubbed the bathroom floor. It really needed it even before the clogged toilet incident. I also scrubbed the downstairs toilet which was getting gross. Then I played Manor Lords and stayed up way past my bedtime.

 

One good thing that has come out of Elf and Cleo being out of action is that Dumbledore is seeing that he needs to do more. He realizes that it is just the two of us taking care of all the chores and that I am doing a lot. I am hoping that I can get him to take on some of the cooking, as well as more cleaning. He has been good about washing laundry. Not so good about folding it, but that can wait a while.

 

I have been doing zen and have been fairly productive at work. Next to no exercise. Some fun. I am handling keeping going by not looking up.

 

[Mad Hatter]

7 hours ago, Mistr said:

One good thing that has come out of Elf and Cleo being out of action is that Dumbledore is seeing that he needs to do more. He realizes that it is just the two of us taking care of all the chores and that I am doing a lot.

Great! Taking care of a household that sight is a full-time job for one person if you have to do everything.

 

7 hours ago, Mistr said:

the co-op to look at flower seeds.

Did you pick up anything nice?

[Mistr]

10 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Did you pick up anything nice?

 

Yes, I got some flowers that are supposed to be good for bees. They are new to me. I will get the Latin name and post it later. I also got some annual flower seeds.

 

My plan is to fill the raised bed vegetable garden with flowers and quinoa. I might get some cherry tomatoes and squash to put in pots. That will solve the problem of the tree roots competing in the raised bed.