Living A Charmed Life

Add a splash of red to your life!

I have to thank my friend, Kristen, for introducing me to the book:  Living A Charmed Life (your guide to finding magic in every moment of every day) by Victoria Moran.   Reading through this authors thoughts and perusing her website has me convinced that this author must be a kindred spirit.  (seriously – she loves NYC, musical theatre, documentaries, animals, plant based diets, & the spiritual quest).  From what I see so far, she is writing the things I’d love to say… so well done Victoria!
One of the chapters of this book is entitled “Add a Splash of Red” – which as you can see by my photo above, I have done.  Red has energy, vibrance, and allure.   Biblically, red is a color of covenant.
Those who know me well know that I have kept my toe-nails painted some shade of red since the day my now-husband & I shared our first kiss back when we were dating.  I knew this man, this relationship, was something different, special, set-apart… so I marked it with RED, and have kept it that way ever since.   (we’re now on day 603 of our marriage – that’s 1 year, 7 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days for those who want the breakdown).
After reading her suggestion to “add a splash of red” I decided to add the boldest color of red I own to my fingernails for this week.  I think it has a similar effect on my spirit as my penchant for wearing fun socks.  You can’t underestimate its value in bringing fun & vibrance to your soul.  Such a simple act, such an enlivening result!

Although I should end this blog entry there, I also want to mention another favorite suggestion from this book…. keeping a “Serendipity Log.”  This is similar to the idea of a gratitude journal, but the wording seems broader in its implications of what is noticed & noted in life.  The author states it as an “ongoing list of wonders, delights, and positive coincidences.”  I’m going to have to agree with my friend who introduced the book to me that I prefer the title of serendipity log over gratitude journal.  What a great idea!  A wonderful way to notice & note the pleasures of everyday life.

P90X Workout Updates!

I am enjoying my P90X workouts so far!  I had started back in December and got through about a week and a half prior to Christmas travels.  Due to this workout’s portable nature, I was able to take it with me on my vacation and did manage to get some workouts in, however, they were not as consistent as I would have liked, and since I really want to have a solid 90 days with the program, I opted to start over again when I got back in town!  What’s a couple more weeks of progress?  😉
SO I have nearly completed two passes at the first 2 weeks and am about to start my third week…
So far, although I have not yet noticed physical changes (which I knew not to expect so soon anyway, though my husband sweetly thinks he is seeing some increased muscle development) I have noticed my workouts getting stronger with each passing one!  This is particularly noticeable to me on the “Ab Ripper X” portion, which is a 16 minute workout completed about 3 times per week following the regular hour-long workout.  My strength & endurance through that workout has probably made the most improvement.

I was asked yesterday what my favorite workout has been so far, and I think I would have to say the KEMPO X.  It takes me a little more motivation to face intense cardio at 6:30am, but I love the fact that it is a workout full of jabs, hooks, uppercuts, punches, kicks and all other manner of karate type moves.  I am usually more associated with the peaceful expressions of life rather than the tough & aggressive , so this is a fun side of me to play with.   I love the feeling of strength & “that’s right… don’t even think about messing with me” attitude I experience during the workout.  (except with my curiously weak “left foot – kick to the back” which would certainly not get me any advantage points in a true-life martial art altercation).
I can tell that increased muscle will bring me some measure of increased inner confidence too, which feels great.
I do worry my diet will limit the changes that I could be experiencing though.  Although my diet is not atrocious – and I attempt to eat pretty clean, vegan or raw when I can –  I am probably out to eat too frequently enjoying my favorite sushi meals or sneaking a bite of some sugary delight that has been brought to the workplace.
Changes are not all overnight though, and I have actually made great progress in my diet since getting married so I do believe an offering of Grace to myself is in order!

But it’s time to close up today’s blog – it’s YOGA day, so I have a 90 minutes of balance & stretching.  Time to “Bring it!”

Living with Intention

Happy New Year 2011!

I have decided to consolidate my resolutions into the basic theme of living life with intention.   This covers just about every habit I hope to cultivate or change I would hope to make.  It also summarizes the journey I’ve already been on, so it isn’t a new resolution inspired by the turning of a new year.

For me, living life with intention would mean to assess the actions I make in life.  What is the outcome and benefit of the action I am taking?  Does this move me closer to who I want to be and how I want to live, or further away from those ideals?
My studies in Spiritual Formation taught me a tool called The Examen which I can modify & practice to assess my actions & choices at the end of the day.
Traditional examen asks questions such as
“what moments in my day did I find myself most grateful?  Least grateful?”
“what were the most life-giving parts of my day?  Life thwarting?”
or “when did I sense a deep connection with God & others?  Least sense of connection?”

However, I want to design specific questions unique to my journey which I can ask myself.  The adapted examen questions which initially come to my mind would be:

• What did I do to cultivate my mind?  How did I nurture creativity?  What was the nature of my thought life? Were my thoughts life-giving?
• Overall, how did I manage my time?  Was time spent in wasted activity or enriched activity?
• Overall, how did I manage my money?  Were my expenses planned or necessary, or frivilous & based on impulse?
• What were moments of gratitude in my day?
• At what points in my day did I feel I was walking in my strengths?
• How do I feel about how I managed my body today?  How do I feel about what I used to feed my body?  How do I feel about my level of physical activity?
• What did I do to strengthen my walk with Christ?  What moments did I sense His presence?  What opportunities did I notice to exercise love for others?  What Spiritual Disciplines did I implement in my day?
• How do I feel about the physical space I created or managed around me today?  What felt like order?  What felt like chaos?
• What am I doing to nurture my marriage?  What moments did I most enjoy, admire, & respect my husband?  Have I told him today what I enjoyed, admired, & respected in him?  Am I harboring an low level resentments that could take root?
• What have I done to nurture relationships today?  Who did I invest in?  Would others feel I was a blessing in their today or a burden?  Did my words & actions build others up?

And then a final question:

• Given the answers to the above, what changes can be made in my day tomorrow?

This intentionality sounds more in depth written out than it would really be in practice.  I’m not expecting to belabor & deeply ponder each question, but just ask myself the question for a general sense of things & jot down the overall impression from my day, as well as ideas for the following day.

Life just keeps happening around us.  It will go by with 1001 things intended to have been said, done & lived out.  I want to actively particiapte in choosing my actions & responses to life as it happens… rather than just getting caught up in the swirl of it happening around me.

Starting with me… living life with intention.

Starting P90X WEDNESDAY!

“There is no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll

The time has come!  Let the attempted body transformation begin!   Wednesday is the day I begin my P90X workout program!

This is an intense 13-week, 6-day per week workout!  I am both excited and a little anxious about beginning.  Excited because I do like the idea of the challenge, and anxious because I’m trying to keep myself from doubting that my self-discipline will be up to the task.

I have established exercise routines in the past that I have done okay with, but never a 6-day one, and never one quite as intense as this.   And frankly, my track record of consistency is questionable at best.

However, I’m going for transformation, in mind, body, & spirit.  I want to at least try to give myself this challenge.  As in the quote that kicked off my blog – I’m going to start off believing this is possible for me!  I’m not going to expect perfection from myself, but just that I’ll do the best that I can.  That may mean I’ll only be able to complete a portion of a workout, but I will have given it my best effort in the attempt.

The biggest challenge for me will be (as discussed in previous posts) WAKING UP.  I plan to do my workout in the morning since that is really the only time I can carve out of my day.  Add on to that idea that I want to wake up early enough to workout for an hour and THEN have an extra 30 minutes of coffee & reading time.  That’s a big shift for me.  Hopefully it won’t be more change than I can handle….

I’ll be posting on here about my progress, so I’m going to just put it “out there” that I’ll take all the encouragement I can get!  No nay-sayers, please!  And I’ll take any words of wisdom, advice, motivation, tips & tricks that can get!

P90X… Bring it!

perhaps soon this little white tool will go from dreaded enemy to new best friend.

Sometimes Life Just Gets Big

Sometimes Life Just Feels Really Big

Well, I blew it.  I hate when I blow it.  But I definitely blew it.
Shortly after I was married (562 days ago now) a friend went through a big transition and I didn’t reach out.  In fact, not only did I not reach out, but apparently my friend had tried to call me to tell me about this transition, and I didn’t call back.
I honestly had the intention of calling (even without knowing of the attempted phone call).  I do care about my friend, despite my actions, or inactions, as the case may be.  The mundane details of my own life & circumstances just absorbed me & time just kept slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future.  ….and so I blew it.  Deep inside, after that uncomfortable amount of time had gone by, I sort of suspected I blew it, and sure enough, I heard directly from the source that my inaction caused hurt.  Sigh.

Sometimes life just gets really big.  So (sooooooo) many people, so many needs.  So many trials & transitions (even happy transitions, like marriage!), they just enter in and overwhelm for a season… or two.  I feel like life gets away from me so easily and it is difficult to know how to scale back to keep it manageable.   How many disappointments I leave in my wake, I don’t know, but I know they exist.   All I can do is live the best I can, love the best I can and hope that I’ve filled my world with people who have the capacity for grace when grace needs to be shown.

But grace starts with me.  How do I respond when someone blows it & I’m the victim of their action / inaction?  Truthfully, I think I’m on the offending end more often than the receiving end, and in that realization lies the foundation for any grace that ever needs shown by me.

How is it with you?  Is my reflection something familiar or foreign? Do you get absorbed by life in seasons and leave unintentional disappointments in your wake?  Any tips or tricks to keep life manageable?

Blessed with a very full life.

Listen and Love with Social Media

I was enjoying a soul-nourishing lunch with friends yesterday and we got on the topic of the hold social media can have on our lives at times.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think social media is inherently bad at all – I love it!  I love that I can take a glimpse into the lives of friends or acquaintances that I’ve met along my 30-something year journey.  I am one of those who enjoy the voyeuristic capability of Facebook… “oh, so & so [who I haven’t seen, spoken to, or remembered to think of in 20 years] just got a new manufacturing job.”  Or “whoa, so & so is actually complaining about his ex-wife again on Facebook!”
I like the trivial details of a person’s life.  I’m not going to stop looking, most of the time I find I am interested & actually do care!
So, the challenge for myself is how to give my social media practices value. I’ve decided that I’d like to use it as a springboard to make the extra effort to write the occasional hand-written note acknowledging to a person that I noticed and cared about what they posted about their life.  I won’t get to everyone, but if I strive for one a week, that’s still putting intention into my Social Media.  It is still using it for something other than a trivial way to lose time.
I welcome any other suggestions [from the 2-3 of you who have discovered this blog exists] on how to increase the value of time spent with Social Media!  Any ideas?

Cassie’s Creature Comforts Time (aka… I got up early today)

Knitting, coffee, devotional, candle, flowers

I woke earlier this morning, as planned in my post from yesterday!  My computer & cell phone slept in a different room so that I wouldn’t be tempted to lose myself in mindless web-surfing & facebook checking first thing.  It isn’t that those things are bad, but for me, they don’t tend to nurture my heart, or create a sense of space in my day.  And they don’t motivate me to climb out of bed, they suck me in so I’m apt to delay the start to my morning even longer than the delay I’ve already created via my snooze button.

I had a lovely morning.  I spent time reading, praying, knitting, drinking coffee, petting my dog, and enjoying atmosphere created by flowers & a candle.   So far, I’d say it was the most enriching time of my day.  I would LOVE to be able to keep it up… though I’m honestly very skeptical of my self discipline in the face of warm covers & a few extra minutes of shut-eye. I’m striving for transformation though and am doing what I can to set myself up for success!  So, for day 1…. SUCCESS!

Well, I did hit the snooze ONE time…

Attempting to Train Myself to be an Early(ier) Riser!

So after yesterday’s post, I have attempted to formulate a specific plan to help myself be an earlier riser!  The experiment commences tonight!

First:  I’ve got the coffee maker pre-set to start my morning coffee 5 minutes before my alarm clock is set to ring.

Second:  I have “branded” my morning.  I’m calling it a time for “Cassie’s Creature Comforts.”  I plan to enjoy coffee, a book, a lighted candle, and some nice quiet time.   This way, when I awake, I’m not getting up to “get ready for work” – I’m getting up to enjoy something inviting.  I take delight in those moments.  Coffee isn’t about the coffee, it is about the moment.  Same with the comfort of a candle & a book.  The activity is enriching, but it is the moment that I treasure.

Third:  NO cell phone or computer near the bed.  This will be a struggle for me.  As soon as I’m done typing this post, I’ll be putting my computer & cell phone in a different room.  I am far too tempted even when I DO quit hitting the snooze & wake up, to lay in bed wasting time on the internet, facebook, email… etc.  It isn’t that those things are bad, but it is that they are a hindrance to my goals for my morning.

Again – all this is to help motivate me to awaken early with the intent of having a morning workout and then enjoying my “Cassie’s Creature Comforts” time.   Tomorrow morning will not incorporate the workout, juts the creature comforts.  However, in the next few days, I plan to incorporate the workout PRIOR to the creature comfort time.  Will that work?  I think it might… I do not object to a workout, it is getting out of a nice warm bed for the purpose of getting ready for work that my body objects to.  I believe I can incorporate a workout and still be in anticipation of the coming creature comfort time.

It may or may not work, we’ll see, I’m just trying to set myself up for success in the best way I know how.  I can’t rely on my self discipline alone.  As I read today in the book SWITCH: How to Change When Change is Hard :

We are all loop-hole exploiting lawyers when it comes to our own self control.

Here’s to attempts to close up those loop holes!

“Solutions Focused [Self] Therapy”

I’m currently listening to the audiobook Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath.  This is a GREAT book so far.  I became fascinated by a topic they covered in the 2nd Chapter called “Solutions Focused Brief Therapy.”  And I thought I’d do a little experiment on myself… sort of a “self” Solutions Focused Therapy.

This form of therapy focuses on the present & future rather than excavating the past.  The therapy kicks off in step #1 with a central question with regards to whatever the problem is:  if you woke up tomorrow & a miracle had occurred & this problem was gone, what is the first sign that indicates something is changed & the trouble is gone?
The therapist then starts to prod for specifics asking questions like “with the problem gone, what did you do differently?”  The goal being to identify tangible signs that the miracle happened.  What are the first small signs that indicate the problem is gone?
It is important to focus on the small changes & avoid overly grand & unattainable ideas.

The 2nd step of this therapy is to ask the exception question: “when was the last time you saw a hint of the miracle even for just a short time? What was different about the last time the problem was better?  In what circumstances does the problem seem to be better?  What might be noticed about me with problem gone?”
Analyzing what worked, rather than focusing on the problem & the issues it created or what issues created the problem in the first place.

I wonder if it is possible to do a little round of “self therapy” with this and have it lead to change?

For instance…
My problem:  I want to commit to getting up earlier so I can workout, have some quiet time, & not feel rushed in the morning, but I’m too tempted to sleep in until I have to rise.
So, if I pretend a miracle happened & when I awoke tomorrow & the problem was solved, what’s the first sign I would see that shows me something is changed & the trouble is gone?  Hm…   I wouldn’t be tempted to hit my snooze button.
Other signs?  What would I be doing differently?  I would awaken & get out of bed & not be tempted to linger in bed sleeping or playing on the internet.  I’d hop up, enjoy some coffee, get an exercise in, not feel rushed, not have to negotiate in my head how to cut time-saving corners now that I can’t accomplish what I’d like in the time I’ve given myself.  I would feel productive.

Exception question:  When was the last time I saw a hint of this miracle even if for just a short time?  What was different?  What circumstances lead to things being better?   Last time I saw that miracle was on the weekend.   What was different was that my alarm wasn’t waking me up, even though I awoke about the same time as normal. I wasn’t facing the job of getting ready for work.  I felt rested. I didn’t have to be anywhere.  My husband was home too.  The dog needed let out.  I was anticipating the day ahead.  Looking forward to relaxing with coffee.  I knew I had space ahead of me to enjoy a nice drinking in of my morning (pun intended).

So to identify one small goal out of that I think would put me on the path to change would be to create a motivating moment I anticipate in the very first part of the morning.  Perhaps I need to set my coffee maker on a timer the night before (drinking coffee is motivating, but making it is not) – awaken to coffee waiting for me, plan to spend a 10 -15 minute quiet coffee time doing something soul nourishing that doesn’t feel like a chore.  I can “brand my morning moment” & have it be a regular coffee time that I look forward to (I am a sucker for familiar “moments”).

Hm… I might be on to something for myself!  I need a little more work at it, but I’m already excited about waking up to NOT having a “chore” be the first thing I face (making coffee is a chore b/c I’m just that lazy first thing in the morning), I’m excited about “branding” my morning moment & giving myself space to enjoy the start of my day!

I’ll let you know if it works… but not tomorrow because I stayed up too late writing this post to wake extra early tomorrow.  😉

In praise of Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts!

I enjoyed my vegetables as a child… broccoli – covered in melted slices of American cheese; and salad – covered in bacon bits & creamy blue cheese dressing.

As I have grown, my tastes have matured & I have simplified my broccoli & salad to enjoy without the over-the-top sundries.  I am now a huge advocate for the vegetable in all its simplicity!  However, I was never all that fond of brussels sprouts or cauliflower until recently.  I am proud to say I have turned a corner (as has my husband)!  We discovered the secret to us enjoying these vegetables… not overcooking them.  The method to our enjoyment has been in putting a little olive oil in a pan & gently sauteing these delights a couple minutes until they are slightly browned but still very firm.  A little sea salt to taste, and voila!  And you don’t get the sulfur smell from the brussels sprouts since that odor is released when they are overcooked!
The other night I found a recipe of Cauliflower “Steaks” over a bed of Quinoa that tasted amazing!

The best thing about these veggies is that they are powerful cancer fighters!  Both are members of the cabbage family, which may contain more cancer-fighting nutrients than any other family of veggies.
Brussels Sprouts contain the compound “sinigrin” that aids in the process of apoptosis, which is essentially precancer / cancer cells committing suicide!  And both cauliflower & brussels sprouts contain the compound “sulforaphoane” which helps inhibit cell proliferation & also helps neutralize carcinogens.
So praise for the newly enjoyable taste to my taste-buds!
If you’re a cauliflower / brussels sprout hater, experiment with various ways to prepare them!  It could just be that you need a new method of cooking.  It is worth it to you health to adapt your tongue to have a taste for these delicious treats!