Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 7

Day 7: The Treasure Chest




"If our thoughts are dark and our view of life is bleak, our lives will be starved of richness and only the dark and the bleak will find us.  Make a point of focusing your mind on positive thoughts, and learn to trust and love all that you have and all that you are  In these ways the treasure chest of inner peace falls open and enlightenment comes without our grasp."  -pic and exercise from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.










Hope you have found these past seven days enlightening.  If you enjoyed these, I strongly suggest you get your hands on "The Relax Deck."  There are 50 cards in all.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 6

Day 6: The Stillness in the Flame





"In the eye of a storm there is stillness.  No matter what happens at any moment of each day, however hectic or troublesome things appear, or how many tasks we seem to be trying to do at once, we only need to turn inward to find a haven of peace.  To access your haven, close your eyes and visualize a candle flame, letting its stillness fill your mind." -pic and exercise from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.

Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 5

Day 5: The Wishing Well





"In a world where we need to use our aggressive, masculine traits to survive, it is important to keep in touch with our feminine side.  Imagine yourself drinking water from a well - a traditionally female symbol.  The sweet, clear water - the essence of life - refreshes and relaxes you.  Now make a wish.  In your mind's eye, toss the wish into the well, and at the same time give thanks to Mother Earth for her bounty." -pic and exercise from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.

Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 4

Day 4: Pine Branches





"The pine is a Japanese symbol of longevity, fortitude and silence.  Just as you cannot see the tops of the trees in a pine grove because they grow too high, in the same way we can never predict the course that our lives will take.  But if we ensure that, like the trunks of the pine trees, our inner selves are strong and secure, they will support us no matter how far from our roots we grow." - pic and exercise from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.

Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 3

Day 3: The Forest





"The forest is a place of mystery, but if you show no fear it can also be a place of peace.  Imagine you are in a forest just before dawn.  As the sun rises, it penetrates the trees and you see your surroundings in more detail.  You hear the sounds of the forest waking up - insects, birds, the rustling of leaves.  The forest is alive inside your head.  You feel relaxed and in tune with nature." - pic and exercise from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.

Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 2

Day 2: The Fruits of Awareness






"Sensation is too often experienced as a kaleidoscope: ever-chaning, each impression flashes elusively and is rarely fully absorbed.  Retrain your mind to heighten its sensual awareness: spend today focusing on sight; tomorrow, taste; the next day, smell; and so on.  In this way, begin to separate your sensual experiences and give each sense the appreciation it deserves." - from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.

Seven Days of a Calm Christmas Season: Day 1

We have all heard the song "The 12 Days of Christmas."  My personal favorite rendition is the 1979 John Denver and The Muppets version.  I remember listening to it on my 8 track stereo and then having to go through all 4 tracks before you could listen to it again.  Ah memories!

With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I thought it would be nice to find a few minutes each day leading up to Christmas to learn how to relax.  For each of the next 7 days, I will be providing you with an image and a meditative exercise.  These exercises and images come from "The Relax Deck" by Chronicle Books.  I picked the 7 exercises that I thought would be most appropriate to this time of year as we celebrate Christmas; saying good-bye to an old year, and welcoming a new year full of possibilities.

Enjoy!

Day 1: The Window to the Future

"We often dwell on the past because we are fearful of the future, but in order to progress we have to move on.  Imagine yourself looking out through the window of the present at a peaceful stretch of beautiful countryside.  This is the land of the future.  In your mind's eye, open the window and let in the gentle winds of change.  There is nothing to fear; you can embrace the future with confidence."

Where Did It All Begin?

Yesterday I visited the Home Depot to pick up some tile for our kitchen and the young man who helped us was morbidly obese. My first thought was, "Dude! What has happened in your life to get you in the body that you have today?" Each one of us has a story to tell. Where did it all begin?

Reflecting back, I believe my weight problem began when I became married. Suddenly we were living on our own and starting the next phase of our lives. I quite my high paced retail job I had held for 8 years and got a job standing in front of people and talking all day. Around this same time, my wife and I decided to go back to school to get our Master's degree. Work all day, school at night. Who has time to eat and cook healthy? We lived very close to a Chinese buffet. Endless supplies of General Tso's chicken, fried rice, and Crab Rangoons. Heavenly! Well heaven had a price. The stationary job, stress of getting a degree, and the buffet started packing on the pounds. I finally earned that Master's degree. My time then was spent warming up the couch cushions and watching 6 hours of television each day after work. Over a course of 10 years, I put on well over 40 pounds.

Over those years, I tried every diet imaginable: the ABS diet (still waiting for the abs to appear), the Slim Fast diet, Weight Watchers online (had some success with this) but nothing really helped me get rid of the weight.

It wasn't until I got on the scale and saw 190 pounds that it started to set in. I remember saying to myself, "S**t, I am 10 pounds from being 200 pounds! 10 pounds!!!" Being only 5'6" and pushing 200 pounds was not good for me. I joined Weight Watchers and got it in my head that I was going to get healthy.

Look back on your life. Where did the weight become an issue? For me, it was that my lifestyle was changing from a hectic life to a more sedentary one. I knew I had to eat healthy. That was the easy part. It was getting myself on that darn treadmill everyday that was the challenge.

No one can control your weight. My WW leader always said, "No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to eat. You have a choice." Take a look at your life and try to open your eye to what caused you to gain the weight. Once you figure that out, you are one step closer to a healthier you.

Gratitude is the Best Attitude!

Santa came a little early to our house this year.  There was a package waiting for me at the door.  Today I received a gratitude bracelet from my wife.  We got the bracelet from Energy Muse.  It is a great site to check out.  

The bracelet was co-designed by Jason Mraz.  He has a great song about gratitude. 

The following information is from the scroll that comes with the bracelet.  The bracelet contains beads of Bayong Wood, which represents the trees that provide us oxygen and stand strong and rooted to the Earth.  They are in settings of 5 which represents the number of transformation.  It helps us to remember that we are always growing and unfolding.  Our life is in constant transformation.

There are also settings of four different stones: Picture Jasper, Yellow Jasper, Tiger Eye, and Onyx.  These stones represent the people of the Earth and helps us honor the communities through which we wander each day and embrace the unity of the human species.

In order to wear the bracelet, you must wrap it around your wrist twice.  By doing this it helps us see "the harmony within duality."  It also allows us to honor the masculine and feminine energies in all creatures.  Lastly, it reminds us to be grateful for the generations that came before us and those that will follow us.  This will remind us that "I am grateful for my family."

The four colored stones are surrounded by Citrine which represents "holding the communities of the world's people together."  It will allow us to "shift our attention from what's distracting us ... back to love and gratitude for everything [we] see and everything [we] don't."

Lastly, the Turquoise and Malachite work together to create a healing energy.  "I am grateful for my health."

After reflecting on the meaning of the bracelet, it got me to think about how many of us focus on the negatives in our lives instead of showing gratitude towards what we DO have in our lives.  Thomas Secker, the Archbishop of Cantebury, (1693-1768) once said, "He enjoys much who is thankful for little; a grateful mind is both a great and a happy mind." 

How do you start showing gratitude in your life?  Start turning those negative statements into positive ones:

• "I hate my job" changed into I am grateful that I have a job that brings in money to pay the bills.
• "My car is a piece of junk." changed into I am grateful that this car brings me to the places I need to go.
• "I don't have enough money." changed into I am grateful for the amount of money I have that allows me to pay the bills I can.
• "My kids drive me crazy." changed into I am grateful for the blessing of children since there are people in this world that wish they had children but are not allowed to.

I could go on and on.  Tomorrow morning when you wake up and place that first foot on the floor, say to yourself, "I am grateful for this day!"  Try to go throughout the day and say to yourself for what you are grateful.  Once you start opening your eye to those things in your life that you are grateful for, you will start to see great things happening in your life.

I am grateful for sharing this with you.

Peace,

Mark

What I Would Tell My Fat Self

A popular blog that I subscribe to, Nerd Fitness, posted a new blog today.  I love this guy.  Steve brings humor and nerdiness to helping us nerds become our best.  If you were a fan of the original Atari 2600 (PacMac Man, Space Invaders, Pitfall) you'd love his blog.  When you are stuck in traffic, do you wish you could use the Force to move all those cars out of your way?  You'd love his blog.  Do you love Legos?  You'd love his graphics he uses in his postings.

I'm even one of his Rebels.  I'm the guy on top of Mount Washington.

Today's posting was about the 11 things he wish he knew before he started his journey to a healthier lifestyle.  He goes in detail about each of the 11 things.  I strongly suggest you go there and read it.  Here they are.  For those of us still on our journey, which ones hit a nerve with you?

1. Diet is the most important thing.
2. Be careful where you get your advice.
3. Machines are the devil.
4. More is not always better.
5. Warm up before, stretch after.
6. If it's not fun, don't do it.
7. Your plan doesn't need to be perfect, but you need one.
8. You don't need a gym to build muscle.
9. One day off doesn't kill you.
10. Be patient people.
AND...
11. Have a purpose and goals.

I wish I had this list when I commenced my journey to a healthier me.  I knew that my diet was horrible and exercise was nonexistent in my life.  Ask any of my friends or family members and they would tell you that exercising was just not part of life.    I was even in danger of failing gym in high school!

In the past I joined a gym, but it didn't do anything for me.  I was too distracted with all the people there. Just never got anything done when I went.  The gym scene just didn't work for me.  I had to find my own fitness niche.

From attending many Weight Watcher meetings, I think many people forget about #10.  People would get so upset that they only lost .5 or 1 pound that week.  It took us several years to get to our size so why wouldn't us take just as long to take it off?  When I was losing my weight, I was ecstatic if I lost a pound a week.  Most of the time I lost .2 to .5 pounds a week.  Be patient.  Just put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be on your way.

If I had to add to the list, I would say "Be sure to use a combination of cardio and muscle building activities during your journey".  During my journey, I lost all of my weight through walking and jogging both outside and on the treadmill.  I lost the weight, but I had no muscle definition.  You have to use a combination of the two in your exercise routine.

Did anything on Steve's list allow you to open your eyes a little wider to your journey?   If you are at the end of your journey, what could you add to the list?

Peace,
Mark