Cleaning the House

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Today I’ve decided to help my mother clean the house. It’s not my house, I come here once or twice a year since its about a 10hr drive for me. I’ve decided that my mom needs some help.

It makes me feel good to do something that I know my mother resents because she has 3 other men all the time just making a mess. She is working full time, my father is retired, and my brothers are both relatively not working… most of the time.

But the thought about helping mother out, makes me feel like my stay here has been worth while. It makes me feel like I’ve done a good deed to trump all deeds that I have thus far accomplished.

I think its extremely important to forget yourself for a little while, and think about what you can do for the people around you. You make their life just a little bit more free, and you give yourself a sense of worth and service. This doesn’t necessarily mean clean the house, but it might mean going to get the groceries, doing the laundry, mowing the lawn. Who knows what you can think of as a good thing to do to help out the important people.

Everybody likes some help 🙂 .

So what are you going to do today?

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Pilates Rubbers (Resistance Bands)

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Pilates rubber bands, also known as Resistance Bands, are probably the most versatile, compact, and quick piece of exercise equipment that can be used and owned. Exercising at the gym, at least for me, tends to focus on free weights, doing three reps of 15-20, and around four different exercises sets. But, with pilates rubber bands, I do about 20 minutes with them and I’m exhausted.

Continued here…

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My How Time Flies

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I’ve been thinking lately about how the speed at which time flies to quick. Ideas and plans, designs and goals come into ones head at break neck speed, and in-spite of all the plans and precautions, they still slip by.

What brought this on was looking at flickr photos, and realizing that I’ve got old photos that I’ve promised people I would post. But its not just that, theres ideas involving light painting, plans to read books, arts to check out, the list goes on.

Sometimes it works itself into such a frenzy that I begin to find a panic button badly in need. I always look to the folks at exerciseandmind.com , where they have great ideas on how to keep the mind focused. Its tough though. Sometimes you just want to follow your day(s) dream. In a way, I guess that this is a good thing. Ideals, ideas, goals, etc. are always changing in the path of life, and so should your direction. I guess for me its just sometimes sad, or I feel that I’m forgetting something when I don’t look into projects I’ve got in mind.

I recollect various interviews where the interviewee says something along the lines of: ‘I’ve been working on this project for so long now, its taken x years to get everything together, but its finally here and its so worth it.’ I can totally relate to this. Its just something that happens.

I guess the secret to it all is to keep lists to remind yourself of what needs to be done.

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Feeling Good

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I came across this article today and I thought it would be best if I came out with a feels good blog too. Cause today feels good, and thats just the good truth of it.

I’m sitting in the living room, got some Gnarles Barkley playing, and I just turned up the bass. Life is good.

 

Enough of the that silly talk.

To feel good is essential to living like a champion. Some people start dwelling on things that they cannot take any sort of control over. To be more specific, some folks start to dwell on things like why can’t ‘this person’ change and do this, why can’t ‘the teacher’ change the curriculum to better suit me, why can’t ‘my roomate’ not slam the door anymore.

You may notice my placement of quotation marks in that previous paragraph; cannily placed by yours truly. It was placed there to pull your attention. It was placed there to hopefully pull your attention to the point that one  shouldn’t look for an answer to the question in a source that is outside of their own circle of influence. Yes, I am stealing this from The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey. Mr. Covey points out that there is a circle of influence that everybody has around them. Primarily people we have direct influence on, mainly behavior. Think people like parents and siblings.

A lot of stress can be accumulated from worrying about the wrong thing. I once read something that brought to me the idea of  productive  procrastination. This is basically as it sounds. For example, sometimes one can find themselves fretting over things that they don’t want to do, so they get distracted with little things. Much like what your probably doing now: procrastinating and reading this! 🙂 Either way, I would probably call this productive procrastination because this article aims at focusing on learning the mind, in new and exciting ways. Or, like I believe, it can reinforce facts that you’ve already either known, or feel like you knew. That could be some kind of a paradigm shift if you care to look at it in that light.

The secret to solving this stress and moving into the feeling good place,  is brainstorming, or at least throwing the worry or stress factors around in your head, thinking: “What is it exactly that I’m worrying about?” Soon, yes I promise you, soon you can make a list of things in your life that need to be focused on so that you can reduce the amount of stress, increase productivity, make yourself self happier, and love life a little bit stronger.

I was just about to say that even in the end, the devil wanted to be happy. But then, I am probably influenced by television programming thinking that the devil ever wanted to be happy… Perhaps he only had a interest in doing the baddest, most hate filled things he could think of. So.. bad example.

Remember to focus on things in your life that you can change. Things that you know that you have an influence on, like happiness, being cheerful to people around you, giving support to people around you, having no doubt about your intentions in life, and going for them. What I do to stay focused, is write myself little notes to remind myself of what to focus on, a to do list if you will. Also, I have a quote of the week that inspires me to do what I want to do.

Do you have some ideas on how to make this system more successful? How to continually be a content person at peace with the world? A person who feels good?

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Fast Completed – Mission Accomplished

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So, My fast has now been accomplished. It was a great journey, and I really felt good about doing it. Although, the last 2hrs was probably the hardest. I ended up starting to cook my dinner at 630 (end of fast was at 7), thinking that I’d be done making dinner by 700, but it turned out I finished making it by 645, SO, I had a very insistent roomate who persuaded me to not eat until 700 exactly, by his clock. That part helped me wait until then.

I started eating slow, and continued that way the whole meal. Taking breaks. I didn’t want to eat anything to fast as to hurt my stomach. The whole time eating I could hear it sweetly calling my name in happy lamenting.

My stomach grows hungry again as we speak. This might clear the fridge out this hunger…

So I’ve learnt, as I’ve stated before, that I will not die from starving, and that I can survive. I now know what its like to starve, and I’ve gained this valuable knowledge about my body.

I’m not really sure what else I’ve learnt. I didn’t do soul searching, or meditating, it wasn’t about that this time for me. It was more, I guess, about cleansing my body from badness, and to gain a new understanding of how it works. No, it was not about getting skinny, I’m very fit and lead a very healthy life. Yes, I follow exerciseandmind.com very rigorously.

Anyways, I’ve survived, and will live to tell my friends, family, children, and grandchildren about it.  Yai!

Does anybody out there have any other thoughts on fasting they would like to share with me? I’d love to hear!

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Hr. 60 of 72hr Fast

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This morning I’m not feeling like doing a whole lot. I’m really starting to feel my body getting weak. It’s almost like a drunk feeling, maybe its some kind of diabetes yelling at me? Who knows, wish I knew more.

Getting up to quickly makes my head go a little bit light headed (more than usual!), which probably isn’t the best thing in the world either. I’ve been talking with people about my fast lately, and a lot of them are saying that I’m just being stupid, and whats the point of it, which is a very hard question to answer. How can you explain instinct and primal urges? Can you explain how you get the urge to have sex? Is “she’s just really hot” a good enough reason? hmm.

Suppose I should get some homework done today. Its really hard for me to focus these days. I feel like I should be doing something spiritual to go along with this, but it just seems daunting to focus on not focusing if you can get my drift.

Today is a horrible gray day, suppose I should be thankful that the outdoors aren’t calling my name, for I don’t really feel like going outside today. I’m kinda in a slump lately, which probably isn’t the best thing either for my state of mind for doing this fast. Oh well, I’m a strong fellow, I can put my mind over any matter, and I WILL BE HAPPY ABOUT LIFE.

Any suggestions on something I should try while in the late hours of my fast?

Yesterday I noticed that I started to smell a little bit. More than I normally do 😛 . I guess this is any of the toxins that are choosing to come out of my body. I imagine that today might be about the same. I’m curious how its going to be with regards to that. TBD.

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Hr. 48 of 72hr Fast

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Today was much more of an active day than day 1 of the fast. I had school for about 4 hrs, and have just finished cleaning the kitchen. Yes, I’m getting ready for cooking again!

I’m learning lots of things about myself, even after 2 days.

  1. I’m a human being, and I am capable of of not eating for 48hrs so far (hopefully 72).
  2. When I get hungry after not having lunch and my stomach grumbles, thats all mental.
  3. No, I will not flop over and die if I don’t eat. It will be a slow process.
  4. Certain things loose their validity (ie. negativity, grumpyness, hostility, and remedial conversations.)

This morning, while ironing my shirt, I heard my stomach grumbling. This was the first time since I’ve started my fast that I’ve heard my stomach talking to me. Nothing major though, just the morning blues it turns out.

Now, my roomate is sitting next to me with the wrap that he’s just made, smelling of roasted garlic spice and boy oh boy does it smell good. Also, today I sat down at school right next to the pizza lunch going on. I suppose not the best places to sit while on a fast. But, my mind is stronger than that, I will not take the salted nuts he’s just offered me, I will take my stand and wait another day. Yes.

Nothing else really to note here. Slight light headed’ness. Last night I had a headache, but I’ve been getting those lately for some reason. I guess you could say that it was part of the motivation to start the fast. I noticed that today in class, my legs fell asleep when resting on my knee a lot quicker than usual, but I honestly expect such things to happen when I don’t feed my body food, and also that when I walk for a long time the bottoms of my feet hurt a little bit.

So, so far, all is good. I’ve been dreaming of double chocolate cookies all day…

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72Hr Fast Has Begun

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I have decided to undertake a 72hr fast. It was half spur of the moment, half pre-meditated if that makes sense.

Basically, last night, I ate a very small dinner of one avacado, and one naan with roasted red pepper dip, and had a half of a bowl of Lays chips, and woke up this morning thinking: “I will start my fast”.

I did a little research on the subject and I think it goes without saying that eating junk food isn’t good before a fast, but also that one should plan ahead a day or two and structure their diet tapering down to nil food. The key though, I feel, is to ensure that you are eating healthy foods prior to the fast if you wish to feel as little pain as possible.

So now, as I’m in hr.20, I’m feeling good. Not to hungry and feeling the inside of my mouth tasting a little bit weird. You know when you are about to get sick, and your glands inside your cheeks start to salivate? Thats kind of what the feeling is like, minus the oozyness. But I can feel those glands going! I guess this is a good thing.

The purpose of this fast isn’t necessarily a detox, as much as its a spiritual/mental thing; its about control my body and mind to an extent that I can do anything. I suppose I’d be lying though, for in a way, I have been feeling lately that my guts are becoming toxic, I wont discuss the details to save my blog from becoming explicit… to much.. 🙂

I’ve also learnt that when coming out of the fast, I must ease my body back to eating levels a non-faster preserves. No-problem.

Right now, like I said, everything is going good. I went for about a 45 minute walk earlier this afternoon, at about hr.16 or so, and it was ok. One thing I’m noticing is that I’m a little bit light headed, and I’m very conscious of every little squeek that my body gives me in refute to my movements. Its hard to tell whether I’m just aligning with my body more, or if its because of the fast that I feel those tweeks. Either way, I’m happy, feeling good, and glad that I’m finally doing a fast.

I’ve been having weird cravings, earlier it was a grilled cheese sandwich, and then it was a Big Mac. Weird because I don’t eat dairy anymore, or eat fast food anymore, McDonalds for at least 5 years, and dairy for at least 2yrs.

For more information on fasting, check out : exerciseandmind.com

At any rate, I highly suggest for anybody to do one, if not for longer at least 24hrs. I’m already feeling more positive and more in tuned with myself.

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Eating Healthy Day by Day

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Alot of people feel that the word “diet” is something only fat people and health nuts use, but folks, dont be afraid. Its not that bad to use the word. In fact, truly, by definition, diet is just what you eat, not relating to or pertaining to specific food groups.

So, the key is to stick to foods that are healthy, I guess this part is obvious. The real challenge is to create ways to incorporate this into your life, so from exerciseandmind.com, lets break it down meal by meal.

Keep your breakfast simple: fruits and vegetables. no sugars added, no fansy schemes, just a simple meal. The people at exercise and mind recommend a blend, fruits, oats, flax and almond milk. The almond milk has calcium if your afraid for your bones!

For lunch its also simple, keep a sandwich, wrap, salad, or get creative with leftovers! Its not that hard now, come on!

For dinner, be brave and make your own meals. It only takes approx 20-30 min to make most dishes, and they are gratifying once you’ve created your own.

A key to making a delicious dish every time, is to have a good stock of spices. A trick I use is to go to the spice isle every time I go into the grocer, and each visit I pick out one new spice. In a few weeks, you’ll have a nice big selection. Go for the spices that even the non-cooker knows the names of, oregano, tarragon, sesame seeds… etc.

Most of all, enjoy making the meals. Its a great feeling to know your ea

ting healthy. When you go shopping, just simply dont buy the junk food that your trying to stay away from. Instead, spend a few extra dollars for a really nice steak, or a rare exotic fruit to try out. It really does make a difference.

Good luck!

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Beautiful Day in Vancouver: List, Lists, Lists!

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Today, as yesterday promised late in the day, is a beautiful day. I look out my window an the sun is shining brightly, I have my window open letting in some much needed fresh air, and life feels good.

I’ve decided today is going to be productive, so I’m going to get alot of things done that I have been waiting a while to do. I usually end up making lists for all sorts of things, lists are my best friend, but today it just seems different.

I heard an angel last night, and it answered all my questions. Life is a happy time, this is what were here to do.

I will not bore you with the exact details of my list, but I will share with you how I make my lists. First off, I sit and think to myself: “What do I need to get done, what do I want to do, and what can I do.” It doesn’t matter to me whether its remedial, tricky, expensive, or laborious, I still write it down. I have, in my bedroom/office, a white board (or rather clear board) I got from IKEA, where I scribble down my list. I take as long as it takes to write the list down, If need be I write in the corners and tiny open spaces, but I find that I usually stay on top of things. Its really hard sometimes to come up with a full list. Sometimes I just put reminders of ongoing things that I have to do, like do homework, or write, but I write it all down on the list so that I can have it there in front of me.

In this way, I can look at the board for things to do. Everybody, I’m sure, has had bouts where they knew they had something they wanted to do, but then forget what it is that they wanted to do. This is why the list is handy! When I finish doing something, and I’m just klunking down onto my chair, I can look over and say, hmm, what can I cross of now.

The fun of it all is that as you accomplish more and more, you get to cross off more and more. And when you started the day with a full board of things to do, and you look and its 1 or 2 in the afternoon and your whole list is clear, trust me: this makes you feel like you accomplished a lot.

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