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Showing posts with label new year resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new year resolutions. Show all posts
B'SD (Whoops, I'd meant to post this earlier on Monday) A friend and I were chatting the other day and she spoke of feeling frustrated at not having achieved a goal. I asked "What went wrong?" and she replied with a description of how she'd overestimated how much strength, insight, and patience she had to handle a specific task.
Sound familiar? We've all been through this.
We spoke of the goal she had in mind, and I joked "That boat won't float if you use the wrong materials. Build your goal from realistic looks at what you can and cannot do." We laughed over an old joke about splitting the sea.
My friend thought out loud, re-strategized, and we parted ways. Eventually she let me know that she'd achieved her goal having pursued it more sensibly. Life lessons help. We need them. As you pursue the new year, and feel angry or somehow unhappy that you're making slow progress, take time to re-assess what you're doing and how. Float that boat. You'll figure out what to do as you realize what doesn't work. The process of elimination can be helpful. Need more feel-better ideas about the still-new year?
Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your days with self respect and increasing patience. Practice makes perfect.
B'SD 24 Tevet, 5779 Whew, my recent messages focused on my healing realities. You might feel cheated, or curious, about the fact that you're still feeling defeated by some of your problems, however. What you might have missed in the past two blogposts, though, is a mention of my remaining deficits. I still struggle to read. Pixelated images on computer screens literally cause pain in my eyes and tire out my brain's ability to interpret the messages/symbols. I walk away from monitors at frequent intervals and seldom use a cellphone to prevent the screen-related headaches they cause. Even when I read printed matter I must figure out to where, on some page, words or entire sentences "jumped" out of my range of vision. I search for them, recover my composure, and resume reading. I have to keep the last thought I'd read in mind until I find where I left off. It's a wearying task. Letters and phrases swim before my eyes, twisting and turning, flying about at unpredictable intervals. I seek them out and put them where they belong to create meaningful sentences. I tend to memorize frequently needed texts so that I need not read them repeatedly. It's one of my coping mechanisms. I do something else, too, to stay cheerful.
I focus on the miraculous fact that I see at all.
Balanced perspective matters.
All people need to remember what's going right. Our lives are filled with challenges of some kind or another. As you finesse yours (or not), keep in mind that I lose things that fall outside my limited range of vision. That's why my home, especially my kitchen, are in strictly-kept order. I need the "A place for everything and everything in its place" back-up plan in order to find things that would otherwise escape my line of sight. I'm not better off than you, I'm dealing with different issues than yours. I need to keep maps in my head of where furniture and foods are located, which staircases have X many steps, and when a specific sidewalk will turn. It's a blessing that I can walk, and that I can plan out how to cope with vision deficits. Let's face the future with steady resolve, not the "Here and gone" resolutions for a new year. Slow and steady wins on the emotional health path to a better, happier future.
It's a success simply to remain focused,
even as things go ker-flooey.
Some days everything falls into place as if by magic. Let it fall magically into place and enjoy the wondrous fun.
The key to it all is to remain focused, even when you trip or fall.
It's honest to acknowledge challenges and defeats. Such honesty lets you plan for an increasingly functional future. Tears let you lose your sense of frustration. It's a joy to recognize when things go your way. Weeping with happiness is splendid. Wide grins feel fabulous. You're not competing with anyone, even if you or they believe so. You only have to do your best. Yours, not someone else's. GOD is running the show. Want reminders to know whose best you need to beat? Look in a mirror ;^ D
Choose your medical or mental health improvement goals.
Plan to achieve them.
I'm cheering you on in the book and at this blog. Go ahead, reach victories and enjoy them! You made it through 2018. Limping to the 2019 finish line might feel discouraging, but I'm asking you to look over your shoulder at all the territory that you've covered until today. You're farther along than some people, closer to making your accomplishment(s) than farther.
B'SD 21 Tevet, 5778 More and more people are confiding in me that they've failed to keep their new year's resoltuions for even one week. They're hurting, You might be, too. I searched around for some quick insight into the problem and found a recording that just might help its listeners.
B'SD 15 Tevet, 5778 2017 came and went, 2018 arrived and some of us are thinking "So (blankety-bank) what?!" At this time of year, when people are mourning and regretting their lives and choices so far, it can be quite invigorating to meet up with an energizing idea. I hope that you'll enjoy this one: 5 Rules for Life. And this one, too: HOW to be Happy.
Buy the E-book or print edition of
Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your time and effort, including your thoughts, with an exciting sense of purpose.
B'SD 15 Tevet, 5776 My friend Miriam Green has a noteworthy blog about how she helps her mother, who has Alzheimer's. The blog is entitled The Lost Kitchen. It is heartwarming. and nutritious. I feel like a better person after reading each new blogpost. Miriam asked me to write a blogpost she could share, about my experience in such matters. Here we go:
In the USA I supplemented my income by working as a recreational therapist in a nursing home which had a designated Alzheimer's unit.
I would do warm-up exercises with people struggling to read, to remember names and faces. Once I had the crowd keeping a beat (usually with Madonna music), I would speak in a soft, sometimes funny banter to rev up their motivation to keep moving. Exercise oxygenates the brain and charges up its activity. We did stretches, bends, light aerobics and even a bit of dancing.
Sometimes I'd set up a frame to enable people with impaired balance or movement to use a lightweight bowling ball that knocked down pins within rather easy reach. The group celebrated successes together. Inevitably, someone would choose to keep score and boost morale by announcing them. LOUDLY.
If bowling bored the participants, I'd tease the men to play some poker and to show up a dumb broad. They'd eagerly let me deal the cards, declare the rules (I kept them simple) and then they proceeded to demonstrate their card-playing tricks, techniques they hadn't used or thought of in ages! Many smiles creased tired, careworn faces as a result.
Women sometimes baked with me. I'd use the aromas of our dough and various bottles of vanilla, mint, perfume, etc. to perk up long-ago memories. I learned of Brooklyn's background and the impact of the World War II in ways that no history book can teach. I heard of courtships, anniversaries, favorite recipes, and other celebrations of life. And I dabbed quite a few tears on several faces with handy tissues kept for the occasion.
At other times I placed a person's hands on the handle of a real shopping wagon, and walked through a mock supermarket with my Alzheimer's-afflicted companion. We'd select foods, discuss the freshness of the produce, pay the cashier, and put things away in a mock kitchen. Then we'd either cook or converse about life in an environment designed to resemble a private home.
By allowing these people with Alzheimer's to function independently, albeit with friendly, protective company, I learned of the power of confidence. It can bestowed and it can improve thinking skills. It is a most precious gift, a blessing.
Tears sometimes fell from my eyes after the group either cooked a good soup and shared it with one another, or made cakes and cookies. A hearty soup and hunk of bread make a deeply satisfying meal to gladden the heart and to heal the mind. Any recipe prepared with love and devotion can do the same. The people I worked with opened their hearts and spoke of long-ago memories. It was a remarkable experience.
Perhaps you'd like to prepare this pumpkin leek soup in the large white pot in the photograph. It is quite soothing:
Pumpkin Leek Soup
This soup is a crowd-pleaser on any cold day of the year.
1 LARGE leek or 3 small leeks (white part only or with finely chopped greens, per diner preferences) chopped
a handful of arame or wakame (2 different kinds of seaweed that add iodine to the soup) 1 LARGE onion, chopped 3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 lbs pumpkin, cubed (use flat slices for easier cubing) 4 medium carrots, julienned in bite-size pieces or thinly sliced 1 tsp cumin ½ tsp ginger (nutmeg if you like stronger flavors) ½ tsp ground coriander Himalayan or ocean salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste 6 cups water (more for a thinner soup)
If someone who will eat the soup needs help with chewing, you can allow the mixture to cool slightly and then blend it with a hand-held blender before ladling it from the pot into soup mugs or bowls. Otherwise, let your diners enjoy the sumptuous texture they'll chew with their teeth. Medical evidence demonstrates that chewing different textures improves brain function.
Include a fresh-made or flavorful store-bought loaf of soft bread on the side and enjoy the hearty, heart-lifting meal.
Have you noticed the jars of home made sauerkraut in the photo?
They were prepared according to macrobiotic recipe.
The contents are delicious.
Friends ask me to prepare it for them.
If you want to learn of other health-promoting ideas, read
Making New Year's resolutions?
Start 2016 with a better approach to your health or a loved one's. Read the book!
Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your meals with body-building, health-supporting food.
B'SD 20 Elul, 5775 I've been busy tending other people's needs (I'm cooking my wholesome menu for other people so they can heal as I do) and lacked time to update the blog. But with Rosh HaShana, Jewish New Year coming soon, I've focused on time to post today's message.
But what about the goals/resolutions people tend to make at New Year's time?
I prefer to avoid making resolutions. I'm old enough to know that people tend not to keep the promises they make to themselves.
Let's look at self-improvement a bit differently this year.
One reading of the
book
lets you know of my preference for
self forgiveness and self respect.
I'd like to share some related thoughts with you: Goal-setting tends to scare the goal-setter. You come up with excuses about why this or that didn't "work out," knowing all the while that it was YOU who didn't do necessary work. "It" had nothing to do with the failure.
Your failing, perhaps, was to decide that you're not good enough, or that life's not good enough, until your goal - or someone else's - is met. That's a brutal approach to life. Enthusiasm dies when tiny parts of the goal are reached, or not. There's more to you than that.
Instead of pinning your hopes - and self-worth - on a goal, focus instead on processes that work for you. EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge is full of options you can take. You know of others. Use them to your advantage.
Keep plugging away with methods and mindsets that help you to feel and to function better than if you did not think and behave that way.
Appreciate the things going right in your life, too. Some of them can be BIG surprises.
Pay attention when people compliment you. Focus on the goodness within you. And appreciate yourself for doing things so right that other people appreciate you, too!
Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism.
Fill your heart, mind and soul with self appreciation.
B'SD 15 Tevet, 5775 It's after sundown and technically Tuesday for me, in Israel. You might be having a Monday, recovering from a raucous weekend. Let's focus on some character-building stuff that makes all of us happier. I've spent some appreciable time deep in thought about some directions I want to pursue, and directions I've already set out on. Before I share information about that with you, let's keep our focus on the new calendar aka fiscal year, 2015. Life's not only about financial earnings. It's about the Quality of the Lives We Lead. Many people are unsung heroes and heroines. I wrote about several when I was a reporter/feature writer. I know other unsung heroes and heroines whose efforts would be compromised by publicity. I cherish their acquaintances and friendships. OK, back to the daily grind. Some of use seek ways to become heroic, to ourselves and/or to the world at large. I have a preference for quiet heroes who simply get the job done, leaving other people better off than they were. Fanfare makes me doubt the efficiency of some goodhearted efforts. None of us can be especially helpful to anybody, though, without being good to ourselves first. Much of my public presence, and private life, is about promoting sensible self care. Care to read over my shoulder again? Let's enjoyCounting Your Blessings and Changing Your Lifetogether.
Count your blessings and begin to change your life
Have you made any resolutions for the coming year? If not, try the following. Each is potentially life changing.
Please let me know your thoughts about that essay. Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity.
Face Your Future with Optimism. Find yourself, deep inside.
Slimmer you seems to be hiding under lots of fat, hmmm?
Holiday season coupled with weather that makes us want to remain indoors is a potent mix of calories and lack of movement. Excess calories are not burned up, muscles tighten and colds make you hibernate under the bed covers. Fat accumulates. Fast. Three years ago I shared a Whittle
YourWaistline
update about how to easily lower your weight, cholesterol and cardiac risks. The major point of the message was to move more than you already do and to eat less than you have been.
There's no need to buy expensive exercise equipment. Invest in a pair of sturdy shoes because walking is free. It's increasingly fun as you allow yourself to interact with people outdoors. You'll even see lovely sights such as sunrises, sunsets, greenery and whoknowswhat. Give yourself that chance! You can warm up your muscles to prepare them for intense exercise with simple shrugs and stretches while you're siting, or preferably standing. Grab a pair of canned food containers of equal weight and swing them methodically at your sides. Raise your arms and bring the cans together, apart, together apart, for ten repetitions or so. Increase the number of repetitions daily, and the weight of the canned food items over time. March while you move those arms, and burn more calories in the same amount of time. Learn how to do aerobics, isometrics and other movements for increased muscle tone and calorie-burning time. Bustle around, looking for things you can clean, move or rearrange. Housework at home or in the office burns calories! Take breaks from routines. Wriggle your feet and move your legs up-down-up-down while you're at your desk or sitting around reading. Keep your shoes on as you do leg-lifts while lying on the floor (use a thick towel or mat to prevent cold contact). Use the stairs instead of elevators or escalators. WALK your errands instead of driving all the time. Spend the money saved on gas and car maintenance bills on some wrist and ankle weights you can wrap around your joints with already attached velcro (sporting shops sell such items). Weight-bearing movement burns more calories as you achieve other goals. Bed-bound? Amputations? Ask your medical professionals for muscle-strengthening and calorie-burning guidance. Find solutions. Most of all, stop being still too long. Suck in your tummy and hold the pose several seconds to tone the muscles there. Repeat that effort several times daily. Making a phone call? Stand up while you speak. Bounce on, then rise up/down with your heels and toes. And replace the hi-cal food with lo-cal stuff you'd like to eat: a few handfuls of non-buttered popcorn, veggie platters without dressings, fruit, nuts, seeds, and so on. Prepare those things in advance, before you're bored or in the the mood to snack. Leave the stuffings, meats and toppings off your menu. Those are for treats, not daily fare. Reward yourself for sticking to your New Year's resolutions for getting into better shape. Make it something other than food (music, theater, art, hobbies, time with people important to you, etc.). Brace for impact: DO NOT overindulge at any more parties. Smile when anyone tries to force feed you too much food, and visualize the slimmer you. Buy the E-book or print edition of EMPOWER Yourself to Cope with a Medical Challenge. Face Your Medical Problems with Dignity. Face Your Future with Optimism. Fight weight gain with movement.
