Moving the Ol' Blog

In a couple of weeks, this blog will shut down. It has been moved to HERE and will be published there from now on. I hope to see all of you there!

New Book: Discipline

We forget sometimes that if we want to make changes, smaller baby steps are a much easier way to stick with your goals. At least, I do. I often try to make huge changes all at once--and not even one change, but many big changes. Guess how many of these stick? Not as many as I'd prefer. You know what does stick? The tiny goals. The ones that build on each other. You know that already though, right? What if your struggle is that you know you need to do baby steps, but you can't seem to even start? This book is for you. I'll be posting a preview in a couple of weeks, and the first copies will be available in about a month. Discipline is about how to develop self discipline (sticktoitiveness) so that you can stick with the habits, goals, tips and tricks that you are already aware of and trying to implement, but have struggled with starting or maintaining. I hope it helps many of you--writing it has certainly helped me. What problems do you have with discipline? What habits are you working on developing? LCT

I've written a new post on mindbodygreen.com about small steps you can take to increase flexibility. I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to share :) Let me know what you think in the comments--I'm also curious to know what you would be interested in reading more about.

Eat More, Drive Less

It's a radical concept, but if you want to eat waaaaay more food than usual, lose weight, and get more fit--drive less. Walk your happy hiney to the store, the post office, your friend's house, wherever. You will save lots of gas money, which means you're keeping gas out of the environment, and your butt will be look awesome.

I have a theory that walking is also good for meditation. When you walk, you aren't (hopefully) distracted by music or texting or what have you. You're in tune with the rhythm of your feet, and that pulls you in to the rhythm of your soul. It's good for you, keeps you from making yourself busy all the time in an effort to avoid whatever it is in your head that you may not want to contemplate.

And, walking could save the planet.

Debating

I've been thinking about the nature of the world today. It seems like I'm always running here, running there. I skipped two classes yesterday just because I needed some time at my apartment. You heard me--I didn't skip to party, or hang out with friends. I skipped to go to my apartment and sit on my couch (well, and to make some bread and a couch cover, but I digress). I needed some un-rushed time where no demands of my time were being made. I think it's healthy to relax and not fill every hour with activity. Unfortunately, that's often not the way the world works.

So, new efforts will be put towards a little yoga and tea every morning--to start my morning by relaxing. By being more efficient at work, I also won't have to do any work outside of that. Next semester, I'm also only taking one night class instead of two--that's going to make me feel much more free. I'm also about an hour away from resigning from the scheduled portion of an every other Saturday job, so I'll always have a two day weekend. I'm feeling fine, but I've definitely been getting warning signals that it's time to do some time management, or I'm going to start feeling very stressed and overextended.

So, how is this relevant for the reader? My suggestion is to stay really tuned in to yourself. Take note of how you're feeling on a day to day basis. Are you stressed or relaxed? Enjoying some free time for friends, family, and hobbies, or are you overdoing it as far as work, school, or other commitments? Do what you can to weed out excess time constraints early, rather than letting your physical or mental healthy suffer.

Now, go have some tea.

Plant Plans

My initial reaction to that idea of planting a garden is, "Oh, man! I can plant one of everything!" Unfortunately, that's entirely illogical given the space I have and the time I have. So, I went to the secondary list, which is what I eat almost daily, and seems most logical to try to grow myself.

March
Summer squash
Zucchini
Green Beans
Tomatoes

April
Cucumber
Okra
lettuce
onion

Though I typically prefer pole-type plants, this year I'm going with bush variety, just to try something new, as well as to ease the amount of supplies and labor that are required initially.

Above are my favorite veggies, the ones that make me wish every year for summer, and thus are the ones I am most pushed to plant. The March list I plan to put in next Thursday.

On a side note, there's a little tiny strip of green on the sidewalk by my apartment that I'm pretty sure is neglected by the world. I'm planning to get a couple of cheap packs of wildflower seeds and plant them there, to create a little unexpected beauty. What can you do this week to create some beauty for yourself, your surroundings, or someone who really needs it?

Bad hippie, bad

Well, maybe not BAD, but bad. Moving has put me in a rush lately (despite this, I am finally fully moved). Consequently, I've been eating whatever was available--which has often been fast food. No fruits, no veggies, in the scheme of things anyway. Maybe a salad here and there. :( My belly is not happy with me at all. As I wrote about a week or two ago, things move better when they're fed properly. So, take this as my vow to be better. No fast food, fewer carbs, since those have also been the bane of my existence for several days now, and lots of veggies and fruits. I've got to be hard core for at least a week to get this straightened out.

Argh. It's so much easier to be mostly good all the time, so that you don't have to be painfully perfect every now and then. Noted.