Make Up Your Mind

A few days ago I saw a few glimpses of spring when I decided to do a bit of raking and yard clean up. I packed up 6 bags of yard debris and stuck them in the garage. I saw the day lilies sporting some greenery and the crocuses popping out of the ground. I heard the cardinals, robins and blue jays singing away.

This morning though, I peered out my window  and saw evidence that winter has not released its grip on Central New York. I saw a light coating of snow everywhere and my outdoor work was cancelled due to the cold. The temperature currently reads 40 degrees but the wind chill says otherwise. So I put those 6 bags filled with leaves, sticks and dead stalks out to the curb while the wind whipped and the snow fell.  Mother Nature needs to make up her mind!

Snowy April morning

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Staying On The Path

Back in February in a post titled “Don’t Just Go Through the Motions”, I shared my goals for 2018.   My goals are recorded on 3 notes on my Google Keep Page under the titles Health Goals, Wealth Goals and Happiness Goals. My Google Keep Page come up automatically every time I turn on my computer. This way, my goals are always accessible for me to review. My Google Keep Page contains 2 other notes related to my goals. One is where I record the next steps I need to take to reach my goals and the other contains reminders to prioritize my goals.

One note is titled “Sculpt My Life – Next Steps”.  This is where I write down the next steps I need to take toward reaching my goals. Periodically, I review my goals and figure out the next step for each and jot that down on this list. The second note is titled “My Strategic Life Reminders”. This is where I jot down helpful advice I have read about or heard about that I think will help me in my pursuit of health, wealth and happiness goals. They are reminders to prioritize what I say is important to me.  Currently, this list contains the following 3 bullet points:

  • What 1 thing do I want to get better at today? What opportunities will I have to practice it? Do it every day…
  • You are never going to feel like it
  • Act on ideas within 5 seconds or you will pull the emergency brake
Which direction will you follow?

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Home Sweet Home

By nature, I am a homebody. I prefer to sleep in my bed, eat my own cooking and putter in my garden. During the month of March, I was traveling away from home for 17 days. I spent time in Florida, Massachusetts and New York City. In Florida, I caught up with Mother Fran, Child #7, and Child # 5 and his honey. Mother Fran had plenty of “jobs” for me including digging out roots from old bushes, planting new grasses and driving her to appointments.  I enjoyed wearing shorts and flip-flops, kayaking and hanging at the pond.

I spent 5 nights in Massachusetts in 4 different towns catching up with old friends. I visited one of the nursing homes I used to work at and said hello to a few old patients and co-workers. I attended an Occupational Therapy Conference and earned 5 continuing education credits while catching up with even more friends.  I got to meet a friends 6 month old baby and had a little snuggle time which is good for the soul. 

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A Scary Place!

I have spent some time and energy over the last few days aimlessly tidying up. Looking through my belongings and boxing up things to donate. Scouring through my closet and drawers to see what is taking up space without ever being used. I have a bag of clothes, a pile of books and a box of stuff ready to get rid of on my back porch. I have vacuumed and swept and dusted various surfaces in my house and car.

Another box of stuff to donate

While cleaning out stuff today, I came upon my notes from reading The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. Here are two quotes that I wrote down.

“Every single problem that you have in your life is the seed of an opportunity for some greater benefit.

When your preparedness meets opportunity, the solution will spontaneously appear.”

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Planning For WHAT IF

The other morning,  I was heading out to walk the dog and stopped to check out the handy, dandy weather app on my iPhone. It had one of those red banners across the top warning me of icy conditions. Score 1 for being prepared. Instead of my hiking boots, I pulled on my winter boots for improved traction, leashed up the pup and headed out the front door. I stepped off the porch, onto the first step and proceeded to slide, feet first down the 4 steps onto the cement landing.

I laid on the ground for a minute cursing and trying to move all of my limbs to see what was hurt. My left wrist and shoulder seemed to haven taken the brunt of the fall and both felt sore. Other than that and my tuckus being wet from laying on the ground I seemed to be fine. My honey heard the fall and opened the door to check on me (I figured she really heard me cursing)! I got up and proceeded to take the poor dog for her walk. Everything was slippery and it was one of those really short walks where my sole focus was not to fall again.

I looked kind of like this…

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Do You Love the Water?

I have been hanging out in Florida this week with Mother Fran and Child #7. The weather has been ok but regardless, it has been nice to get away from the cold and the snow. They live in what feels like a pretty congested area with busy roads full of traffic and every store you can think of within a 10 minute drive. Usually I would hate this type of area but they have something I crave with every ounce of my being. They live on the water. Don’t get too excited, it isn’t the ocean or even a lake; they live on a small pond. They share the pond with a bunch of other houses, each one faces the pond with their back porch.

Mom’s  back porch is screened in and the entire thing overlooks the pond. It has a table and chairs, small couch and comfy chair. You can also walk out the porch door and set up a lounge chair on the grass when the need overtakes you.  You can’t swim in this pond or even toss in your kayak (apparently that is frowned upon) but people do fish and enjoy the view.

The pond looks like this!

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A Match Made in Heaven

I grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s when processed food, T.V. dinners and fast food were the norm.

Nobody told Mother Fran though! She was ahead of her time when it came to ensuring her family ate healthy meals.

Not in Mother Fran’s House!

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My Salad is Prettier Than Your’s

If I ask you to close your eyes and picture a salad – what do you see?

Some of you are picturing a simple wedge of iceberg lettuce with dressing poured over it. Some of you are picturing lettuce topped with a few vegetables like tomatoes and carrots. In my house growing up, salad was some type of green leafy vegetable topped with tomato, carrot, cucumbers and onion. Everybody knows salad is healthy and good for you. But it doesn’t have to be boring.

Salad doesn’t have to be boring

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No Jumping Required

When stuck in a rut, we go through the motions of living but we don’t feel engaged or truly alive. We get up, go to work, and take care of the things that need taking care of but we are drained and exhausted all of the time. Life feels monotonous and each day feels pretty much like another. Does this sound familiar?

Do you remember the feeling when you step outside of your comfort zone? The little bit of anxiety that feels like full-blown fear? Your palms get a little sweaty, your heart beats a little fast and your mind is either completed cluttered or eerily vacant. Often times we get cold feet at this point and run back to the security of the rut. But other times, we push through this feeling, and our mind becomes engaged, our body feels lighter and we begin to feel very much alive. Don’t run back to the rut – It is time to kick fear out of the way!

Sometimes things seem scarier than they really are!

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5 Steps to Take Your Goals to a New Level

As a nation, we spend over $3 Trillion (Trillion with a capital T) annually on healthcare. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75% of this goes toward the treatment of chronic disease. Medicare spends 93 cents of every dollar and Medicaid 83 cents of every dollar to treat chronic disease. Chronic disease is responsible for 7/10 deaths in this country.  Sobering right?

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