On Your Feet? Ready, Dance!

Yesterday, I admitted Brad and Matt's opening spiel might be a little intense for some viewers, but the Gratitude Dance is appropriate anytime!
Especially today. I'm in the 160's!!

More and more, people are asking, "What sort of diet are you on?" I'm learning most people ask that sort of question
for a variety of reasons:
1) They genuinely want to know, perhaps for themselves or someone they love.
2) They really don't know what else to say.
3) They're actually a little uncomfortable with your success, and are hoping you're so miserable you can't possibly stick with the program.

Generally, I've found it's best to keep the answer short and sweet. Mine goes something like this:

"I've changed my lifestyle to incorporate five basic changes:

1) I make exercise a daily priority.
2) I eat a nutritious breakfast every morning.
3) I eat moderate portions to satisfy hunger.
4) I stop eating by 7 p.m. when I'm at home, or at least two hours before bedtime when I'm traveling.
5) I drink at least eight glasses of water every day."

So far, my HYC blogger friends, this plan has resulted in the loss of two more pounds this week (even though my aerobic exercise was limited to pushing the baby stroller two miles a day!) for a total of
42 pounds and 37 inches since January 15.

Today, I'm DOIN' THE DANCE!

Inspiration: A Taste of Spring

Azaleas are decked out like flocks of pink flamingos outside my office window. Tulips, irises, dogwoods and wisteria accent the canopy of delicate greens at Garvan Woodland Gardens, where I have spent most of the weekend officiating wedding ceremonies.

Martin Luther once said, "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”

This morning, I put together a "gratitude video" to help me remember the beautiful flowers I have seen during the past year.
In fact, I think I'll take a long walk outside this afternoon, just to enjoy the beauty and fragrance of the season.

Music on the video is "Credo III" from the Solitudes collection,
"Illumination:Peaceful Gregorian Chants." Enjoy!

(To view Full Screen - which is really prettier - click here . After the video opens, click on the icon in the bottom right corner of the viewing screen.)

To Love, Honor, Cherish...Yourself!

Yesterday, we explored our struggle to quiet the negative, accusing voices that keep us bound in the past, anxious of the future - forever tossed like debris in the wind of a busy mind.

Today, I picked up a book given to me by a friend in 1995, when I was newly divorced. Sarah Ban Breathnach's words from the
March 13 entry of Simple Abundance had new meaning today.

"Today, we make peace with the past: with the bodies and faces we were born with and those that have evolved. Today, we embrace the lines that stare back at us, the parts that sag in the middle or stick out where they shouldn't, the hair that never keeps a curl or never loses it. We begin when we invoke the Tibetan prayer and Teacher Saraha's song of praise. 'Here in this body are the sacred rivers; here are the sun and moon as well as all the pilgrimage places...I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.'

"It will take a bit of doing, learning to love all our personal pilgrimage places. However, before genuine love can flourish, we must finally accept ourselves exactly as we are today. Not tomorrow or next week or when we lose 25 pounds. Remember, acceptance is acknowledging the reality of a situation: that we're heavier than we'd like to be, for example, or that our complexion is ruddy or sallow, or that we've got gray streaks, or that leggings just don't work for us. Most of us think of other women as beauties, never ourselves. But every woman was created by Spirit to be a genuine beauty. We learn how to reveal to the world our unique radiance only after we acknowledge it ourselves. Today, take as your personal mantra:
I am what I am and what I am is wonderful."

Quotes from Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

"...a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

There's a Revolution Going On!

The other day, we discussed the benefits of massage. Today, I realized there's more to it than that.

For instance, whenever I used to get a massage, the first thing I did was to ask for an extra towel, sheet, cover-up, robe...whatever, because usually the ency-weensy one they put out wouldn't cover my butt and thighs. Today, the "usual" one fit, although it was still a bit snug when I sat down.

Before today, I used to always make excuses why my shoulders and back were all tight with marble-sized stress knots, telling the therapist: "I'm a journalist, blah, blah, blah." (Translation: "I sit on my tush at my computer all day long, but am not disciplined enough to prioritize exercise.")

BUT TODAY...!!! When that precious woman started working her magic on my shoulders, back and even my arms, I felt something like speed bumps. Back (blip) and forth (blip). Back (blip) and forth (blip). Every time, the same. IT WAS MUSCLES! REAL MUSCLES!!
I almost cried.

The knots-and-gravel that used to plague my shoulders weren't even there when Yolanda started today's massage. And the work she did perform helped to ease the muscle soreness from yesterday's follow-up visit with my trainer.

Underneath this melting layer of flab, there's a muscular revolution going on. One day, it will be obvious to more than just the massage therapist.

6th Wedding Anniversary Dinner

Yesterday we talked about how developing an attitude of gratitude is the first step to expressing thanks.

Last night, DH and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary at home with romantic music and dinner by candlelight. Our healthy meal consisted of a baby spinach salad with fresh strawberries and slivered almonds, then drizzled with light Asian sesame dressing, followed by a six-ounce beef tenderloin filet accompanied with baby lima beans, julienned sweet potatoes sauteed in a balsamic reduction sauce, and iced tea. (As part of the centerpiece, I used the figurines from our wedding cake. Notice the golf club at the feet of the groom in the picture above.)

Want to share the moment? Here's a short video of me reading the card from DH, followed by a video of DH reading the card from me. (Nope, he is not lying down at the table. I had the camera turned the wrong way!)

Talk about grateful! I do love my DH and am SO proud of his losing 22 pounds since January 15. Please remember us this afternoon when we visit a surgeon to discuss options to having DH's gall bladder removed.

Inspiration: Love Not Expressed is Love Not Received

Does your gratitude level need a boost?

Watch this short video about the power of saying thank you.

A written note can be enduring, poignant, personal and timeless. Too often today, it's easy to forget the value of a heartfelt, handwritten note or card. Several times on this blog, I've mentioned how prolifically my mother writes thank-you notes.

Years ago, when I was a stay-at-home mom, I had a travel-agent friend who sent me postcards from exotic destinations. Terry Seale's cards postmarked my dreams. Now, I pay her gesture forward by sending nearly 80 post cards from each place I visit. It’s a great tradition, and in many ways, a lost art.

HBO and the U.S. Postal Service have joined forces for a retail and online campaign to encourage consumers to send a handwritten card to someone they care about.

The Power of the Letter campaign promotes HBO's epic miniseries John Adams, which explores American history through one of its greatest founding fathers, a fiercely independent spirit whose unwavering vision steered America through a tumultuous period. Adams was a prolific letter-writer: He and his wife Abigail exchanged over 1,100 letters over the course of their courtship and marriage.

Starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, and produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, the John Adams film premieres on HBO
March 16.

I'm especially grateful to my new HYC friends who have so faithfully encouraged me to live a healthy life.

Who deserves your gratitude today?

"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write." (John Adams)