Ten Minutes a Day: Focus on Health

Unrelated to this article but cute hedgehog in Kyiv, Ukraine

At this point in the new year, I am guessing you have been bombarded with articles and emails about how to set goals and keep resolutions. Planning for an entire year, or even making a dent in an apparent laundry list of things to change, improve, create, or do can overwhelm even the most Type-A personality. For most people, this Sisyphean project causes the brain and the body to seek the level ground of the status quo.
 
What if it were simple? By simple, I mean moving incrementally forward for a long-term cumulative sense of balance and well being. The first focus should be health. Without good health, any other aspect of our lives loses luster.  Admittedly, some aspects of our health and aging bodies we cannot change, but no matter what the current state of our health is, we can always make changes to significantly improve the quality of our life. Good health encompasses emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual balance.

To continue the theme from the last blog, I feel it is important to concentrate first on the vision, and then let that vision unfold into an action plan. Close your eyes and envision a balanced life of abundant energy and health--what would that feel and look like? What could you then feel inspired to participate in? How would your life feel different than it does currently?
 
From this vision, you can start to piece together action steps.  If you have time, draft a written step-by-step plan with deadlines and objective benchmarks. If you do not have time for that, you can still commit now to a simple daily action: ten minutes a day for the rest of the month. Each day, allot yourself ten minutes to first revisit this image of health and well being, and then, in the time remaining, take some action. This action could include making a doctor’s appointment, searching online for information, eating an apple, drinking water instead of soda, or just taking a quick walk, stretching, or meditating. Just ten minutes. That is it. Then, give yourself a gold star and permission to do anything else in excess of that if you want. At least you know you have kept a commitment to ten minutes for your health today. By the end of the month, I bet you have made even more progress than that.
 
You are worth it.

Focus on the Dreams

The approaching winter solstice signals the shift into the final quarter of the yearly cycle. This is the ‘hunkering down’ phase where we can assess the year that has passed and plan for the year to come. As much as I dislike the cold of winter, I do appreciate that each day brings a little more light and some time for contemplation.

Sometimes people attempt New Year’s resolutions with hopes of forcing new or improved habits. This annual ritual can be daunting on many levels, especially if we try to change too many behaviors or are unsure what initial steps to take. Also, if it may take a while to see results from the change, our interest can quickly wane. Lack of information, support, and motivation are all huge impediments to taking even a baby step in the desired direction. Another common problem is that people spend way more time thinking about what they think needs to change rather than just taking some incremental step towards making a change.

I am going to share my few humble thoughts on this.  First, talking or thinking about change is not making a change. You have to commit to it through word, thought, and action. Consider, for example, your interactions with people who love to tell you all the things they are going to do, but when you see them later, you learn they never followed through.  How much credibility do you give their word in other interactions?  If we apply this same standard to our self commitments, we trust ourselves more, especially in the face of bigger shifts.  Remember, too, that consciously choosing to change our mind about a course of action is not the same as passively avoiding a commitment.    

Second, your heart has to be committed. This requires an internal connection to what intuitively feels right. We are bombarded constantly with media ideas about how our lives should play out and rarely do we stop to consider what our self really wants. Along this vein, I am reminded of some lyrics from the Dan Fogelberg song, Part of the Plan:

         There is no Eden or heavenly gates
         That you're gonna make it to one day
         But all of the answers you seek can be found
         In the dreams that you dream on the way.

These lyrics remind me to make dreams, not goals. Follow what calls to you, and as the rest of the song expresses, it all unfolds the way it is supposed to. Nature gives us evidence of this truth in all of its beauty. Why should we humans have any less of an experience? If we follow our dreams, we follow our heart and have an experience all our own:
        Love when you can
        Cry when you have to
        Be who you must that's a part of the plan...

Finally, when following dreams, we may need a little nudge of encouragement. Although hiring a personal coach for accountability could help, the following activity may motivate you toward taking a tiny step in the direction of your dreams in the coming year:

         
1. Rank the following ten areas in ascending order of importance to you at this time:




Health
Career
Family
Relationship (Friends & Significant Other)
Community/Social
Fitness
Spirituality
Creativity/Play
Self-Improvement [or any area of your choice]
Home


2. On blank paper [you can use poster board or large paper] create ten columns with ample space to write.

3. For each column heading, write the name of the months, starting with January and ending with October.

4. Under each month, write the corresponding area of importance you ranked above. For example, if you ranked Health number 1 and Home number 10, then write Health under January’s heading, and Home under October’s.

5. At the end of each month, you are going to plan for the following month and focus only on that particular area. First, identify your ideal or dream regarding that area. Then, pick three specific activities or focus points that could help you move toward it. It could be as simple as doing research online, putting a picture of the dream on your  refrigerator, or making a phone call.

Evaluate any shifts regarding that area each month. Then, plan the next month’s focus. You can start this at any point, but if you start in January, use November for assessing your previous ten-months' progress; use December to plan for the following year.  My wish for you is that this time next year you can reflect and proclaim you had an amazing year following your dreams, not just thinking about them.

Mushrooms on the Greenbelt

Just before moving from Long Island, I was invited on a little day hike along part of the Greenbelt Trail. This system of nearly 200 miles of trails through many of the parks and recreation areas throughout the island is a well kept secret of many hiking enthusiasts. Although I had hiked on some of the trails before, I had no idea that an entrance to a trail leading to one of the parks was practically a stone’s throw from my apartment. If we are open to it, even a familiar place has a few surprise adventures awaiting.

On this particularly hot, humid day, the trail offered a people-free respite from the heat with beautiful lakes, woods, and streams. Nature cooperated, too, with a National Geographic moment: a swan family was having a little afternoon time by the lake. On a smaller scale, the high humidity created the perfect conditions for a few mushrooms. One of them appeared smack dab on the sandy trail on the return trip home. Because this was the exact same trail we had taken on the way in, I wondered whether I had missed it or the little fungus had just sprouted within a matter of hours....

Mushrooms, like most living things, are born with reproduction in mind, and the mushroom parts we see are actually the fungi’s fruiting bodies that release spores. They are not plants; mushrooms contain no chlorophyll, so they break down nonliving organic matter for nutrition.  Before we even see the little hats or umbrella tops, the fungus has been preparing itself behind the scenes. In contrast to plants and animals, which develop through cell division, mushrooms increase in size by expanding the cells it already has. When the right conditions are present--i.e., humidity, or moisture--the mushroom has all it needs to sprout; this is why it appears to grow instantaneously.

Our physical bodies are pretty autonomous, repairing, building, and maintaining its cells on autopilot. Our mental, spiritual, and emotional selves, though, can take a lesson from the mushroom kingdom. We have all we need to grow and expand; the outside conditions are already present.  The only internal ingredients we need to add are our desire, intention, and faith, as we define them.