Needs

Went back to the yoga studio that I used to go to on s regular basis -- hadn't been in almost three months and, of course, I chose Halloween to go so there ended up being two of us in class but it ended up being quite lovely.

The teacher dressed up as a cat and had a playlist that included Jackson's Thriller, Nina Simone's I Put A Spell on You and Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang which kept me thinking of Kill Bill which was, I guess, appropriate for Halloween.

Yoga was brought to my workplace today -- a restorative class. A few of us having been talking about a relaxation group and we've been talking about possibly chipping in to have a yoga teacher come on-site.

Walked into the conference room and heard the soft music and it was instantly relaxing and the class was super sweet.

Went to Zumba tonight and, at one point, left out of the room because the music was way too loud. The teacher doesn't normally play the music at that level. Apparently, my exit was dramatic because my former coworker, Katie, asked me if I was okay as did another woman that I'm familiar with.

As we exited the locker room, I told Katie that I was probably overly sensitive right now. Seriously, I just need to hibernate.

Throw It All Out

Back in 2008, I thought my books had finally toppled from their precarious perch on my dresser but it was an earthquake and, while I would like to say that the earthquake was a wakeup call, I can't say that...

I came across Gail Blanke’s Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life and to say that I adored Blanke's book is an understatement; it rocked.


About kitchen drawers, in general, Gail Blanke talks about the multiple bottles of dried up Krazy Glue et al.:

There are keys in there that haven’t opened up anything in decades. But you think it’s not nice to throw away keys. They’re heavy and make a clanking noise when they hit the bottom of the wastebasket. Never mind. Throw them out. Throw it all out. (xviii-xix)

This passage hit home because I have three bottles of Elmer's Glue at various levels of fullness. See, I'm a glue bottle half full kinda girl.

There is always one Suze Orman statement that I remember and I'm paraphrasing here:

You lose money by not being organized and by being unaware of what you already have because you end up buying multiples or you literally misplace checks and money.

Blanke’s book is divided into four parts:

Part One: Getting Rid of the Physical Stuff

Part Two: Your Office: Paring Down the Professional Clutter

Part Three: Attacking the Mental Mess

Part Four: Stepping into the Clearing

In chapter one, Blanke talks about bedroom clutter and, like a mystic, she knows what’s in there; she also coaches you about throwing away stuff and sets down the rules of disengagement:

If it – the article of clothing, the shoes, the lamp, whatever – weighs you down or makes you feel bad about yourself, or if it just sits there taking up room and contributing nothing positive, it goes out. (3)

Blanke notes the disengagement of several of her clients including Tara who threw out all of her clothes. Blanke acknowledges that most people are not in a position to start anew with a wardrobe. In addition to ridding herself of the contents of her closet, Tara ends up changing her hair color and she starts to work out as well. Blanke describes her metamorphosis as a toned up persona.

I love the concept of having a toned up persona and I do feel like that’s what happened to me after stepping on this health journey.

I appreciated it when the author talks about going through her own bathroom and cleans out old medicine:

Suffice it to say, surrounding ourselves with a lot of old medicines is negative, robs energy, and may even warm the way for those old ailments to remake their homes in our bodies. (16)

One of things that I absolutely valued about Blanke’s book is her Green Tips. She even talks about how the old method of discarding medicine is not acceptable anymore.

The perfectionist in me salutes Blanke’s steps for letting go of disappointment etc.:

2. Perfect just isn’t in the cards. A few pitchers have pitched perfect games; no one’s pitched a perfect season. Throw out perfect. (146)

Other wonderful steps:

Steps for letting go of needing to be right about how wrong it is…(157)

Steps for letting go of needing everyone to like you…(167)

Blanke on courage:

Here’s the thing about courage. It isn’t given. Which is good because it can’t be taken away. (185)

Chapter 18 was possibly my favorite one because of this sentence:

When you think about it, we weren’t meant to live tidy, predictable lives with everything neatly laid out in front of us, like all of our clothes for the next week. (191-192)

Sometimes I need to hear the obvious. I remember reading M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled and the first sentence is: life is difficult. I was so relieved after reading that line which is obviously not profound or original but I felt like Peck acknowledged the elephant in the room.

Taking Energy From Your Defining Moments (Chapter 22) and Find Your Song and Sing It! (Chapter 24) were also memorable.

My song? It was hard to pick just one but I’ve always been moved by Nina Simone’s Ain’t Got No…I Got Life.



What’s your song? You know – that one that makes you pull through the workout, face the day or emerge from a blue funk...

I'll document what I threw away in an upcoming post.

I'm My Own Heroine

I was reading the blog Overdose of Satisfaction. I have to first say that I really dig the title which comes from this quote by Salvador Dali:

There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.

Kourt wrote a post on March 31st called Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy. In the post, Kourt decides to address her low self-esteem issues and wrote 50 things that she likes about herself. I was intrigued and wrote in the comments that I didn't know if I had the (introspective) stamina to write 50 things that I liked about myself but I was still intrigued...

I googled the exercise and came up with some guidelines from eHow which include:

1). Start by listing 5-10 things you really love about yourself. Think of all the things you have done so far in this lifetime that made you smile and to be proud of yourself.

3). Do this exercise over a couple of days...

I think the couple days is crucial because characteristics occurred to me over a span of time especially while walking. Without further ado, here's the list:

Well, here's some ado. My title is inspired by MizFit who has a shirt (along with her daughter) that says I Am My Own Superhero.

1). I like my sticktoitiveness. I’m told that even when I was a little shorty and knew nothing about shoe tying, I persistently wanted to tie my own shoes without assistance. Also, I once stored food in mouth that the babysitter had given me until I was able to get to my grandmother who helped me to dispense with the distasteful matter.

2). I enjoy hanging out with other people but I also enjoy my own company.

3). Little things make me happy.

4). I only applied to one college.

5). I know how to change a tire.

6). I know how to check my oil.

7). I like my eyes.

8). Even though they don’t seem like they should be on my body, I like my massive calves.

9). I like my arms which are firm.

10). I like that I can make other people laugh.

11). I like my love/hate relationship with altruism.

12). Very few things frighten me.

13). I’m a stickler for details.

14). My family is important to me.

15). Hello! Hips unplugged.

16). I’m fond of the burgeoning definition in my abs.

17). I was able to lose 58 56? (fickle scale) pounds.

18). I stuck with rock climbing even though it gave me jitters at first.

19). I climbed a 5.9 (just yesterday).

20). I’ve read hundreds of books.

21). I participated in a sprint triathlon.

22). I learned to swim as an adult.

23). I like the introvert’s angle.

24). I smile from ear-to-ear when I get a sentimental message.

25). I’m willing to try new things.

26). I have eclectic taste.

27). I’m considerate.

28). I’m thorough.

29). I am responsible.

30). Whenever I see a Cardinal, it stops me in my tracks.

31). I enjoy photography.

32). My friends are important to me.

33). I like that I write sappy missives.

34). I enjoy singing while I walk or clean.

35). Lovin’ the new collarbone.

36). I’m a good listener.

37). The shape of my head is pretty cool.

38). Satisfied that I stopped using hair chemicals.

39). Glad that I’ve been working on being flexible (with other people and physically).

40). I like it that, at night, if I’m fretting about something I can usually put it aside and get a good night’s sleep.

41). I like casualness.

42). I more generous with myself.

43). I’m level-headed.

44). I’m patient.

45). I pick my battles.

46). I have an expansive spirit. (Friend verified)

47). I am sweet. (G’ma verified)

48). I am loyal.

49). I’m kinder to myself.

50). I am more vocal.

I'm also including the video that Kourt posted on her blog which is from The Conan O'Brien Show and it's called Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy. Kourt encouraged everyone to do a list and I hope this exercise spreads like wildfire. I also hope that you're having a satisfactory day that extends into many more days.

Everything's amazing, nobody's happy @ Yahoo!7 Video

Taskmaster Kate

I made it to class, as I usually do, with about two minutes to spare. Last week, there were only twelve of us in class and, this week, there were 20 plus which meant that the only space left in class was wayyyyyyyyy up front -- close to the mirror. This young woman and I looked at each other like, hell no, not so close.

And, so, it was destined to be and I had a front row seat viewing my animated self. In the end, it was kind of cool because I ended up doing synchronized squats et al. with the woman that was equally horrified to be exercising near the mirror. Really, we could have been Olympians with our synchronized squat routine, especially when there were just a few of us doing squats as a modification.

By the way, the woman next to me was agreeable, nay, amicable. Did I ever say how amicable folks move me in a Nina Simone kind of way? But I digressed...

Sometimes I succumb to my juvenile side and when things got rough, no, I didn't get going, I started making faces and I connected with this woman's eyes in the mirror and she was smiling and I was smiling and I got a, thank God, short case of the giggles which I'll just chalk up to butt-kicking delirium.

Kate is becoming more efficient at doling out pain. As a matter of fact, I'm going to start calling her the Warrior Pain Princess Hurricane Taskmaster Kate.

I looked at the clock at 5:12 and couldn't believe that only 12 minutes had elapsed. I think we did about 40 minutes of high impact cardio. For the record, I still hate imaginary tires and I'm not too fond of lunges.

Towards the end of class, Kate said that we still had six minutes for abs. Oh goody, I muttered. We tried to put our feet on the ceiling, turned our legs into scissors and slowly lowered one leg at a time. Ouch, that's all I'm saying.

As we exited the class, the condensation fresh on the windows, I noticed that my behind was already sore. No wonder all of my pants are sagging.

Prepared to Work Out

I said that once my contract was up with my current gym that I would check out other fitness clubs. My contract expired a month ago and I've been quite lackadaisical about it all.

I saw an advertisement for a fitness club downtown which promised 30 days free with no hassles. Promises, promises.

My cousin and I met up downtown this morning and we ended up taking a self-guided tour since there was only one person at the desk.

I was prepared to work out today because most fitness clubs start your free trial on the day you walk into their facility.

As I was at the front desk, I noticed an interesting machine. It was a treadmill but, wait, it wasn't. I instantly knew what I was going to tackle today.

Introducing the TreadClimber:



I guzzled two cups of water in record time. I did 45 minutes but, don't fret, I also did the five minute demo and because I like to do at least an hour of cardio, I hit a stationary bike afterwards where I watched a bit of Celebrity Fit Club 3 -- the one with Tempestt Bledsoe, Chastity Bono and Countess Vaughn.

As usual, because I don't frequent downtown, I enjoyed the scenery and architecture and resisted the urge to go to MacroSun.






I listened to Nina Simone while I did my little tour and it was a glorious concert. I decided to drive by the riverfront since I was in the vicinity.


It turned out to be a relaxing morning despite the fact that I have work on my mind. I actually entered my work address as the lock code at the fitness club and used the same address earlier when I was punching in directions.

Since I was taking the long way home, I stopped by a car wash to get some of the debris out of my car. I found 1/4 of a South Beach Diet bar that I had lost long time ago. I wish that I had looked harder the first time around.