The Past

Devotion

The way you get meaning into your life
is to devote yourself to loving others,
devote yourself to your community around you,
and devote yourself to creating something
that gives you purpose and meaning.

Mitch Albom

Grief

Grief is part of the human experience, and sharing our vulnerability is what creates truly close bonds in our relationships. Opening ourselves up in this way gets to the core of our being, past all of our defenses and prejudices. When life seems to crack the outer shell of our world, we are both raw and fresh at the same time. It is then that we discover who is truly willing to walk with us through life. We also see that some of those sent to us may not be the ones we expected to see. Regardless, we learn to trust in others, and in our own strength and resilience.

Protein

A small study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that low-protein diets can cause people to lose muscle mass and increase the percentage of body fat they’re carrying.
Instead, choose a diet that provides adequate protein, is low in saturated fats, and is rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains — a healthy option, no matter what your weight goals are. At least 15 percent of your calories should come from protein.

Motivated By LOVE

Appreciation

"Appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy, however stale these experiences may have become to others."

Abraham Maslow

Stagnation

Stagnation is often a sign that great changes are on the horizon. Courting the change you wish to see in yourself and in the world around you is a matter of acknowledging that only change begets change.
The results you so ardently want to realize are well within the realm of possibility, and you need only step away from the well-worn circular path to explore the untried paths that lie beyond it.

Fitness Levels

New research in the journal Circulation suggests that one’s fitness level may be more important than their body weight when it comes to overall health and longevity.

The study found that getting or staying fit can help you live longer, regardless of whether your body weight has stayed the same or even gone up. On the other hand, those whose fitness levels declined had a greater risk of dying.

It’s probably no surprise that what determined a person’s fitness level was how much they exercised. Don’t think of sweat sessions only as a weight-loss tool. Get moving every day for a longer, healthier life.

Greatness

Burning

"Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."

Joseph Campbell

The NEXT Thought

Retaining our power isn’t about eliminating self-doubting, defeatist thoughts; it’s about learning to dispute them so that we can let them go and move on, feeling self-approved whether other people validate us or not.
We may never feel permanently confident. But we can learn what that place looks and feels like so we come back a little more quickly with every challenge we face.

Immune System

Regular physical activity helps boost the immune system and keeps your defenses strong, so your body can fight off those nasty, illness-causing germs. But don’t go to the opposite extreme by putting your couch potato body through the rigors of a daily boot-camp workout. Working out too strenuously can actually wear you down so you’re more susceptible to colds.
Elite athletes and marathoners know too well just how easy it is to get sick when you’re overtraining. Instead, aim for a happy medium, like walking briskly 30 minutes a day. Not only is it sustainable and enjoyable, it will help keep your immune system primed to fight against invaders, so you can hopefully get through the winter cough- and sniffle-free.

All There

Disposition

"Our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions
and not on our circumstances. "

Martha Washington

Trapped

"Don't be trapped by dogma -
which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. "

Steve Jobs

The Dreaded Scale

What is with this obsession we have with the scale? For most people, the scale can be an adversary or an ally, depending on the day. We often hate what it says or argue with it, but we still feel the desire to use it.

When used properly and taken for what it is, it can actually be a very useful tool for weight management. But for many, the scale does more than measure the total weight of all your various parts. It somehow defines who you are as a person. And sadly, many people allow it to determine your own self-worth. We read way too much into this single-purposed tool.

Image

Automatons Indeed

When we blindly adopt a religion,
a political system, a literary dogma,
we become automatons.
We cease to grow.

Anais Nin

End Stages

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end.
If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.
None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

Cardiac Rehab

Even minor improvements in physical fitness are linked to a lower risk of death. And people who are not in good shape have the most to gain.
Cardiac rehabilitation is a program of exercise, education and counseling designed to help patients recover from a heart attack, heart condition or heart surgery. If you are a heart patient, talk to your cardiologist about your options.

The Work Is The Same

"The trick is in what one emphasizes.
We either make ourselves miserable,
or we make ourselves happy.
The amount of work is the same."

Carlos Castaneda

Loving Yourself

Learn to love yourself enough so that when someone enters your life that treats you negatively, you can stand up for yourself and have the strength to let them go.
You can learn that it is okay to say no to anyone who is not willing to treat you with the love and respect you not only want, but also deserve.
Have the courage to walk away from anything or anyone that does not serve you well.

A Question.

Spiritual Beings

Motivation

"People often say that motivation doesn't last.
Well, neither does bathing - that's why I recommend it daily."

Zig Ziglar

Comparing

Avoid comparing yourself to others.
Remember that it's who we are,
not what we do, that's important.

BMI

The more excess body fat you have, the greater your risk of heart disease and heart attack—even if you have no other risk factors. Being overweight increases your blood LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels, lowers HDL (good) cholesterol, and exacerbates other heart disease risks like diabetes and high blood pressure. Plus, carrying excess weight simply puts additional strain on the heart, forcing it to work harder.

Calculating your body mass index (BMI) is one way to determine if you are overweight; losing just 10% of your body weight (if you are overweight) can improve your heart health.

Absolutely Free

Reciprocity

"We all have difficulties, challenges, problems to bear. We can't ask someone else to take them from us, for they already have their own. But we can ask them to help us - to share our burdens and trials. And we, in turn, can do the same for them."

BJ Gallagher

Passionate Friends

"Marriage, ultimately, is the practice of becoming passionate friends."

Harville Hendrix

Stress Reactions and Self-Talk

While some situations are more demanding than others, how stressful they feel is determined by your reaction to them. Getting caught in a traffic jam when late for work, for instance, will make some people fly off the handle, while others are able to accept the circumstances and stay calm. Once you’re caught in a stress reaction, it can be hard to talk yourself down. Identifying the types of situations that trigger you, and knowing your initial warning signs, can help you avoid a meltdown.
Think about the self-talk you engage in when you’re stressed out, and try to re-evaluate your thinking. For instance, is your boss really going to kill you, or are you going to lose your job for being a few minutes late? Is there anything you can do in the future to prevent this kind of situation, like leaving your house earlier? Will ranting and getting worked up change your circumstances?
Take a few deep breaths, tell yourself you can handle what’s happening, and remember that tomorrow this moment will be insignificant to you. Seeing your current difficulties in the context of the bigger picture can help defuse the stress of the situation.

I Choose

No One

Those who allow themselves to be controlled, willingly give up their power to others.

No one can take your power unless you give it.

No one on earth can control you once you’ve empowered yourself with courage, discipline, responsibility, and self -respect.

Tolerance and Respect

"I never considered a difference of opinion
in politics, in religion, in philosophy,
as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

Thomas Jefferson

Second Guessing

Psychology researchers have found that second-guessing one’s decisions can lead to unhappiness. Some people, called maximizers in the psychology world, obsess over decisions big and small, and then fret about their choices later.
A better strategy for happiness: Make your choice and be done with it. Being able to make a decision and then live with it allows us to let go of a lot of worry and grief. When you find yourself second-guessing a recent decision, remember that there are pluses and minuses to every option, and the downsides you might be experiencing now are likely no harder to cope with than the ones you’d be dealing with had you made a different decision.

Teaching

Choosing

We spend so much of our lives rushing past each other, dreaming or stressing about where we’re going, and dwelling on where we’ve come from.
Maybe happiness is really being where we are, and choosing to be kind with the people around us.

Happiness

“There is no way to happiness,

happiness is the way.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Red Meat

Just as some carbohydrates are better for you than others, there are good proteins and bad proteins too. While a diet that’s rich in protein can help preserve muscle mass, you want to be careful about the types of meat you eat.
Research shows that frequent red meat eaters were more likely to suffer a stroke than those who more often chose other forms of dietary protein. Specifically, men who ate more than two four- to six-ounce servings of red meat each day (roughly half a pound of beef or more) had a 28 percent increased risk of stroke compared with men who averaged about a third of a serving of red meat (under two ounces) each day. They also found that swapping in one serving a day of poultry lowered stroke risk by 27 percent, and a serving of nuts or fish caused a 17 percent drop in risk.
Make red meat, such as beef, lamb and pork, an occasional part of your diet — if you are like me, not eat it at all. And steer clear of the processed stuff, like deli meats, bacon and hot dogs, which can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The Best Things In Life

HAPPY
VALENTINE'S DAY!

When To Quit

Most of us view quitting as a negative thing to do, but it's not. "Winners never quit," we're told.
In reality, winners quit all the time by choosing to stop doing things that aren't creating the results they desire.

Calm

CALM IN CHAOS

In the midst of the flurry - clarity.
In the midst of the storm - calm.
In the midst of divided interests - certainty.
In the many roads - a certain choice.

Mary Anne Radmacher

Memory Foods

The foods you choose on a daily basis impact whether your brain will stay sharp as you age. New research in the journal Neurology shows that nutrition may be just as important as other health factors in protecting your brain from Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers found that seniors whose blood had high levels of nutrients found in fish, fruits, nuts and leafy greens were less likely to suffer from memory problems and brain shrinkage — an early indicator of Alzheimer’s — than those who had low levels of the nutrients.
Making the right choices every day may help whittle down your chances of brain disease as you get older. Steer clear of processed foods that contain trans fat, and fill up on fish that’s full of heart-healthy omega-3s.

Free

Terrorizing

Stop terrorizing yourself with your thoughts.
Be gentle and kind and patient with yourself.

Monday Morning Mantra

Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.

Walking Speed

New research in the British Medical Journal found that people over the age of 70 who maintain walking speeds over two miles per hour have the best chance of eluding death. By comparison, those who can walk only two miles an hour or less had the greatest risk of mortality.
This is not the first study to link gait speed to longevity — how quickly seniors can walk is a great predictor of physical health and ability. However, researchers wanted to find out exactly how fast one needed to move to keep their chances of death at bay. No participants who walked three miles per hour or faster died during the course of the study. The researchers concluded that the Grim Reaper could not keep up with these seniors.
Your best bet for staying healthy and strong is to lace up those sneakers and get out for a walk every day.

Simple

Mindfulness Practice

Becoming

“Life is a process of becoming;

A combination of states we have to go through.

Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it.

This is a form of death.”

Anais Nin