Archive | December, 2010

Doing What I Hate…or Thoughts on Hope

By on December 31, 2010 in emotional stuff, hope/inspiration

In Romans 7:15, St. Paul said this: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

Dude, that was written roughly 2,000 years ago, and when I read that on a blog today, I thought, “Get out of my head!”  And then I realized that some things are universal.  It doesn’t matter if you were an apostle of Jesus 2,000 years ago or if you are a 30-something lawyer in Seattle in 2010.

Man or woman.
Race
religion
ethnicity
socio-economic status
marital status…

None of these things removes you from the reality that, as fallen and broken human beings, we struggle.  We value one thing (health) but choose another (unhealthy foods).  We desire one thing (to lose weight) but choose another (to sit on the couch).  And we do it over and over again, sometimes.

You don’t have to believe in Jesus to acknowledge how profound (and yet, how simple) it is that people today struggle with the same feelings that people 2,000 years ago wrestled with, too.  So why am I bringing this up now?  If the struggle never changes what’s the point, you ask?

Along with flash of total and utter despair discouragement that I initially felt when I started thinking about this, that’s not where the story ends.  The story doesn’t end with the struggle; it only begins there.  Whether you view this in a spiritual light or not (I do), the same lesson is true: you can overcome.

The verse above?  It was written by a man who went on to become a legend in the Christian church, a father of Christianity, really.  (I mean, come on – his stuff is in the Bible, people!)  He didn’t wallow for long in the fact that he wrestled with temptations or struggles – he worked out a way to turn those struggles over to God and to overcome, little by little, day by day.

It wasn’t about perfection for him, and it can’t be for us, either.  We can overcome, day by day.  Maybe you believe in a God who cares about your everyday life and find your strength in him.  Maybe you take a less traditional view of spirituality.  Either way, if you believe that there is something greater in this world than the sum of your decisions over time…that gives you hope.

I don’t know where this is coming from today.  I don’t ordinarily talk about my faith on my blog because while it’s important to me, it’s not what this blog is about.  But I wanted to share what I “discovered” in reading this verse: greater men and women than me throughout history have faced great struggles.  “Bigger” and “smaller” struggles than mine, to be sure.  And despite the universal nature of the struggle, we as human beings have never chosen to just give up.  Throw up our hands, lay down, and wait for death to take us.  (insert melodramatic overture here)

Why?  Because there is hope.  And the struggle doesn’t have to win.  It’s a part of life, for sure.  We can’t avoid it, not entirely.  But we can embrace it, learn from it, and eventually rise above it, at least some of the time.

That gives me hope.

What gives you hope?

Comments { 4 }

Will You Help?

By on December 30, 2010 in emotional stuff, mindfulness, R2P4

As this post is published, I will hopefully be on a plane to Arizona!  I say “hopefully” because I was supposed to leave Wednesday evening!  But when I found out my flight was FOUR HOURS LATE, I called and asked them to put me on a flight this morning instead.  No sense being on a plane at 3:00 a.m. unless I’m on my way to somewhere exotic and foreign.

I was thinking today about being gone for 5 days and what I’d love to see here when I come back.  And you know what?  I gots me some questions and I would love it if y’all would take the time to answer them in the comments.  Do you mind?  I need help and I know you all are just the folks to give it.  So, here goes…

  1. How do you practice mindfulness in your life?  Do you have any suggestions for me as I incorporate this practice into my life?  Not just with respect to food/eating, but definitely that’s a biggie.
  2. How are you working on showing yourself love?  In this post, I talked about a light bulb moment for me, realizing that self-love is a PRACTICE and something to work on every day.  I’m struggling to figure out what that looks like practically.  Any ideas for me?
  3. Do you believe that waking up early is important in living a healthy lifestyle?  If you are not an early bird by nature but you get up early anyway, do you have some tips for how to make that transition?
  4. Do you have any crock pot recipes that you can share with me?  I want to get back to homemade cooking more often, and the crock pot is a great tool for doing this more often without feeling like I’m standing over a stove 5+ hours/week!

I think that’s all for now…but I reserve the right to add more questions!

And…since you’re helping me, please tell me if I/we can help you!  Questions?  Request for support?  Bring ‘em on!

Comments { 7 }

Wordless Wednesday

By on December 29, 2010 in R2P4, running

Comments { 4 }

Where I’m At

By on December 28, 2010 in emotional stuff, gratitude, mindfulness, R2P4

Hey there!  Late afternoon post – evidence of the crazy that is my week!  No complaints, though – the crazy is all work-related and pretty normal since I’m gearing up to take a WHOLE WEEK off work!  I’m flying down to Arizona tomorrow to meet up with my husband and spend the week with his family.  It’s 60 degrees down there today – fingers crossed that it lasts!  I just got back to work from a pedicure to make my toes sun-worthy, and tonight I’m going shopping for a carry-on suitcase so I can avoid the madness that is checking bags.

Health-wise I am in a good place right now.  I realized I was getting all stressed out about finding “the perfect thing” for me in terms of my method of maintenance.  Then once I got all un-stupid, I realized that I won’t find my perfect fit overnight.  And that’s okay.  I am doing a lot of things I know I want to do forever – working out, running, getting stronger, learning to love my body, working on becoming more mindful.  All of the other stuff can wait, and will come over time.

I’m reading more of the Tim Ferriss book I mentioned last week, The 4-Hour Body, and it’s fascinating.  Not so much what he tells you to do, but the idea that he spent so much time basically “hacking” his body and figuring out what works.  And I realized last night while reading, that that’s what I want to do.  My desire is to spend my life “hacking” my body.  What foods make me feel best?  Which ones make me break out (sugar)?  How many workouts per week, and what kind, make my body feel its best?

Also?  No more of the beating myself up.  No more feeling like a failure because I messed up on the no sugar challenge I agreed to with Tara and Thais.  Not that I’m giving up – far from it.  But I realized today (anew, as I have been doing lots lately) that feeling shame over a mistake is not productive for me.  And it’s not loving to me.

Speaking of loving me, have you read Karen’s guest post over at Miz’s place today?  If not, please do.  No, seriously – skedaddle.  We’ll still be here when you’re done.  It spoke to me in this way: loving yourself is a practice.  Meaning, for me, that it requires PRACTICE.  It’s not something that will suddenly happen overnight, and certainly not if I don’t make it a priority.  So I am going to think about ways to make this a priority for me from now on.  The practice of loving myself wherever I am, no matter my circumstances.

So that’s me today.  Having a great day filled with enough sleep, productivity at work, good healthy YUMMY eats, no sugar, and working on the self-love.  And, really?  Most importantly – figuring out how to be okay with where I’m at, wherever that happens to be.

FYI, I’ll be out of town for a week and will likely not be able to post a whole heck of a lot, so don’t miss me too much.  I’ll be back as often as I can!

Comments { 6 }

3 Christmas Gifts

By on December 26, 2010 in body, eating, family, food, gratitude, holiday, hunger, mindfulness, R2P4, working out

Good morning, friends!  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and were able to spend time with your nearest and dearest yesterday.  I had a fantastic day with my family.  It occurred to me as we were sitting around the dinner table last night – just the 11 of us – that our “small” family Christmas might be more than many people can take!  It was loud and crazy and there were kids yelling, a baby crying (not often, though), too many butts in the kitchen, a maze of toys and small pieces to step over in just about every room…and it was perfect!  When you picture my family, start with the family from My Big Fat Greek Wedding…switch the ethnicity from Greek to Lebanese…tone down the crazy by about 50%…and you’ll have a decent idea of what my family is like.

3 Christmas Gifts

Even in the midst of that chaos, I continued to think about some of what I’ve been chewing on lately (pun intended).  And I re-realized (yes, I’m that girl who has to learn the same lesson over and over again…sue me) a few things that made me feel pretty darn silly.  In a good way.  These three realizations are a gift to me, for the reasons outlined below.  I’m sharing them with you in the hopes that maybe something in here will be a gift to you.

Realization #1: I am okay.  I am okay now.  I will be okay in the future.  This doesn’t mean that I will not struggle, stumble, fall, or trip multiple times in life (heck, multiple times per day!).  But one thing being with my family makes me realize?  I’m so blessed.  I’m loved.  I’m not alone.  No matter what I go through in life, I have a whole bunch of people in my corner who would do anything to help me succeed.  What more can I ask?

Realization #2: My body craves exercise.  My plan was to get in a hard cardio workout on Christmas Eve, but one thing (staying up late the night before) led to another (sleeping in) led to another (packing my gym clothes but going to my sister’s house with the intention of stopping at the gym on my way home instead of on the way there), and my workout didn’t happen.  I let it not happen.  And you know what my body told me?  Cut that shit crap out.  My body craves movement now in a way I never realized before, and when I go more than one day without it?  I hear about it.  Harder to sleep.  Back starts to ache.  So, note to self…unless extraordinary circumstances exist, the workout has to be my #1 priority.

Realization #3: This is probably the most important one.  My body is satisfied with far less food than my mind. Maybe this is a no-brainer for y’all, but I think I’m learning this lesson in multiple ways over time.  I realized this last night as I was still feeling full from dinner when I got home at 11:30 p.m.  Granted, we ate late, but this was a mini-revelation for me!  I had eaten over 3 hours before and I was not yet hungry!  And what’s more, I had only eaten one plate of food!  Which was at least half vegetables! 

This body of mine, it is wise.  And it has known ever since I lost this most recent chunk of weight that I don’t need as much food to nourish my body.  My mind?  Not so much.  Lagging behind the body a bit.   Rebelling against what it views as “restriction” and “deprivation” in terms of reduced food intake.  But even though it was kind of a “duh!” moment, it is also so encouraging me to re-learn this lesson.  Because all I have to do is learn to pay more attention to my body than to my brain.  Learning to be mindful of what I am eating and why will be hard, but ever so worth it, because my body knows what it needs…all I have to do is listen.

So along with the new watch and the gift of cash from my parents and the wonderful hand-made ornaments and drawings I received from my family, I am also treating these reminders as gifts, too.  I am encouraged, my friends.  I know what to do.  I know I am capable.  I know the struggle is not over.  But I know now more than ever that I can succeed.  You can, too!

How was your Christmas?  Did the holiday help you remember or realize new things about yourself?

Comments { 14 }