Category Archives: Health

Health, Pets, Randomness

Hiatus Over

Well, I hadn’t originally planned on taking a short hiatus, but it appears that’s what happened. It was a matter that I got so busy the last few days, that I just didn’t take the time or find the energy to write an entry. Oh well, I think I needed the break, anyway.

I needed a break from life in general, I think. This afternoon, I took a two and a half hour nap and did hardly anything today. In fact, the only thing I did was go down to the park and go for my walk. I haven’t been doing that for over a month now. Well, not regularly, at least. I’ve been walking here and there at different times, but I need to work on my consistency again.

My sister and her kids are away for a couple of days. They decided to drive down to New Jersey today and spend a couple nights with a friend my sister made while she and her husband were stationed down there. That means that I got a relatively quiet house all day. So I don’t have to stay up until almost midnight to get two solid hours of peace and quiet before bedtime.

I’m finding I need that peace and quiet before I go to bed. It helps me to relax more, so I’m more ready to drift off to sleep. And anything that will help me drift off more easily is definitely a welcome change. I think that’s part of why I’m still cutting back on my television watching so much. Not having my brain inundated by television is more mentally calming too. Though I watched more television this week than the previous week. That’s partly because I decided to watch a couple of movies on DVD. I was in the mood to watch Blade Friday night (I didn’t get home in time to watch it on TNT from the beginning). But I couldn’t find my DVD. So I ended up watching The Matrix instead. Though now I’m going a little crazy wondering where that DVD got off to.

On Friday, I had to take my mother’s miniature schnauzer to the groomer. We got his shaved down. He looks funny, but I’m getting used to the look. Instead of looking like a giant dust mop with legs, he now looks like a real dog. He still needs to be trimmed up around the chin a bit, but the groomer said she was having problems with him because the sound of the clippers bothered him. But she’s sure that he’ll get used to it after a couple of groomings. The next one will be in six to eight months. Hopefully, getting it done will convince Mom that regular grooming will help the poor guy with his skin problems.

On Saturday, I went to see my friends Mike and Amber. I finally got to meet their little bundle of legs, fur, and teeth, Shamrock. He’s a twelve week old Italian Greyhound. And he’s absolutely adorable, but he’s a handful. He’s about the only dog I’ve met that is more hyper than my mother’s dog or my sister’s black lab mix. And unlike either of those dogs, Shamrock is flexible enough to still chew on you if you try to hold him with your hand on the underside of his neck. But I didn’t get any visible scratches, so it’s all good.

Health

Getting Healthier

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Tonight, I went for my walk. I’m actually doing really well at this again. I’m finding that four or five days a week seems makes for the perfect regimen. It’s comfortable. That was the problem I had with walking every day back in November. As time went on, I started feeling like I had to “force” my exercise. I think I overdid it and burned out. Whereas with this new pattern, I get two or three days off each week, which keeps me feeling good. I get both the exercise and the breaks I need.

I’m also thinking about modifying my schedule. I was originally planning on walking Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But the more I think about it, that really doesn’t make sense. It means that I’m walking four days in a row, taking a break, walking one day, and then taking another break. And let me tell you, those Friday through Monday benders are getting to me a bit, I think. I think it makes sense for me to take my break on Monday and then walk Tuesday and Wednesday. That way, I’m walking a maximum of three days in between breaks. I think I’ll find it more comfortable.

Now I just have to work out a more doable meditation schedule…

Health, Personal Development

Another good day

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Well, this was another day of doing little, but getting things done that will benefit me overall. For starters, I managed to do yet another fifteen minute meditation. I could grow to enjoy that. I may have to try and figure out a way to continue it while at work. I could take fifteen minutes out of my lunch break, but I need to work out the circumstances. I don’t think I’d manage to do it at the office. People don’t respect a person’s lunch break if they’re still in the building. So I’d end up getting interrupted. So I might see about trying it in my car. I could just sit in the driver’s seat. If I leaned back a bit, most people might even assume that I was taking a nap and leave me alone. I might have to try that.

I have found that having some sort of timer is an absolute benefit when meditating. It creates a situation where you can relax and really get into the process of calming and focusing your mind. Before I got this little programmable digital timer I now use, I’d find myself having to worry about what time it was or how long it’s taken. But now that I can just set the timer, close my eyes, and remain confident that my little “buddy” will let me know when it’s time to stop, I found I can focus much more on what I’m attempting.

If I remember right, I got the fifteen minute time limit from the ADF Dedicant’s program. It’s the nominal time for daily meditations that they recommend (though they actually require much less to complete the program — or least used to). I’m beginning to understand why. There seems to be something about that time frame. Today, as I was doing my meditation, I found a certain pattern forming. And I’m pretty sure that yesterday worked the same way. It seems as though the first few minutes of that time span is spent trying to relax and actually get into the right state of mind. Then the majority of the time is spent in a good meditative state — I completely zoned today, I think. But by the end of the fifteen minutes, I’ve been finding that my mind starts “resurfacing” on its own. My state of meditation tends to get much lighter. And this usually happens — at my best guess, since I don’t actually look — about two to three minutes before the timer goes off.

I also went for my mile walk today, again. This time, I made the circuit in sixteen to seventeen minutes. I think that’s a minute faster than yesterday. I”m really quite surprised that I’m able to walk it that quickly. Maybe it means that I’m not in quite as bad shape as I thought I was. Sure I still have to lose about 100 pounds, but I’m not just doing this to lose weight. I’m also doing this for my stanima and other health concerns. The weight loss — which I do hope comes eventually — is just one more benefit . And a healthy one at that. Of coruse, I also need to cut back on the sweets again and generally watch my eating habbits. But that’s next on my list. I honestly think that my biggest concern is my lack of physical activity. So hopefully, we’ll be fixing that soon enough.

Tomorrow, I’m walking at the mall. I don’t want to go down to the park because they’re having a tractor pull there. From what I understand, that will be right next to the walking path — if not straddling it! So I figure it’ll be just as safe to go someplace else. And with any luck, the mall will be empty. But I know it’s open, because Raechel says Friendly’s will be open.