“Habit”

Practical Psychology

I think I’ve finally done it. Oddly enough, I’m convinced I’ve done it because I HAVEN’T been able to exercise lately and I am thinking about it and MISSING it. YES! You read that right. I AM!

In my former life, The fact that I’ve not been able to continue my ‘however-many-days-in-a-row’ streak and continue putting starts on my calendar would have caused me to give it up. My current feelings are more mature (yeah, I know – hard to believe), but I’m simply looking forward to feeling good enough to be able to do a session of yoga. Each day I’ve been closer, and this afternoon might be the time I can do it again. And also, hopefully, when I’m able to do that, I’d like to start with my alternating warm-up and weights videos one day and elliptical trainer the next again.

I’m writing this day down on my calendar because it’s hard to believe that I’m not having an out-of-body experience or something. It doesn’t MATTER that I haven’t been able to keep up my ‘streak.’ I won’t even keep track of it anymore. The IMPORTANT thing is that I’m doing ONE DAY AT A TIME.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE – I just received a text from Patty, Linda’s daughter. She said that Kay had called her and said she was sick and wouldn’t be at Lunch Bunch today. Patty is out of town and said that Linda wouldn’t be there, either. I told my husband that Lunch Bunch was called off for the week. He said, “We could still go to the Waffle House.” I thanked him for the offer, but told him (again) that I was really trying to eat right and that when we had a chance to do that, we should, and that I would rather just stay home today and eat our normal lunch. I managed to NOT eat anything in-between meals yesterday, had bought some dried fruit to eat if I DID eat between meals, and that I was trying to take one day at a time, eating right and doing my exercises.

It’s funny. I’m older than dirt, but am just NOW starting to act a bit more like an adult. :0) The question of how long does it take to build a habit varies a lot from person to person. The answer for ME is around 172 days – at least on exercising. The ‘habit’ of eating right is just in its infancy for me, but I won’t count.

Kris Carr On Twitter

Ducks

Source Unknown

Open Up!

SayingImages.com

Winning One Fight of Two

India Today

My husband and I are having our separate, but equal, frustrations today.

FIGHT ONE –

My husband finally won HIS fight – we got new windshield wipers for the truck. He tried, but had trouble with getting the old ones off last night. This should be a simple thing to do. You push one button and the thing comes off. No dice. He gave up, tackling it again this morning. He came into the office a few minutes ago, saying he had to DESTROY the old ones to get them off. He put the new ones on and we’re in good shape now, but he got thoroughly frustrated in trying to get the old ones off, plus got chilled working for so long in the cold garage.

FIGHT TWO –

MY fight is trying to file a claim on a package that wasn’t delivered. I ordered two things from Amazon. I hadn’t received them, so I got online to see if I could track the order. It was marked that it had been delivered last Wednesday. The proof of delivery said the UPS driver left it “at the mailbox.” We didn’t get an email notifying us of the delivery and we check the robot and the mailbox each time we drive down. I contacted Amazon, who told me to talk to UPS. I got online. The site wouldn’t accept our password. I tried to change the password and got a screen saying that the app for that wasn’t working now. I called and talked to a robot, who told me that claims couldn’t be taken on the phone, directing me back to the website. I’ll keep trying, but it looks like I’m screwed. :0(

Heart-Warming Stories 4

Children’s Dentistry – Fort Valley, GA

____________________

Whenever I’m disappointed with my spot
in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott.

Jamie was trying out for a part in the
school play. His mother told me that he’d set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen..

On the day the parts were awarded, I went
with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement..

‘Guess what, Mom,’ he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me…’I’ve been chosen to clap and cheer.’

__________________

(Sent to me by my friend, Marsha.)

I love this story. It reminds me of a teacher who was on America’s Got Talent with a huge group of kids. He described the voices of his kids (paraphrasing) “Some are great singers, some are good, and some sing with great enthusiasm.” :0)

Heart-Warming Stories 3

Institute for Family Studies.

________________

On my way home one day, I stopped to
watch a Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was ‘We’re behind 14 to nothing,’ he answered with a smile.

‘Really,’ I said. ‘I have to say you
don’t look very discouraged.’

‘Discouraged?’, the boy asked with a
Puzzled look on his face…

‘Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t
Been up to bat yet.’

_____________

Thanks to my friend Marsha for these stories

Can You See?

Floral Neverland

Waking Up

Unknown

Sunshine

It’s easy these days to be down. Things become more and more challenging, frustrating and downright scary in our world. It’s hard to listen to or read the news because of all the bad stuff.

It’s important to stay informed, but I’m determined to focus on the beauty around me – not to be a Pollyanna or put my head in the sand like an ostrich, but not to let it all stomp me into the dirt psychologically.

Every day I look at what talented people have created. I search for it because I find people creating music, books, paintings, photographs and sculpture so beautiful it makes me forget for a bit what a mess we are making of things. It doesn’t matter what the medium is. Someone can look at it and see it in a different way, seeing its potential and bringing forth beauty that makes you cry. What a gift!

People focus on making plants grow or practicing a skill until it’s an art form. Teachers light a spark that causes a fire in a child’s heart that cannot be extinguished. Someone’s speech makes you want to help or turn your life in a different direction.

The fact that we live on the same planet as these talented people is almost unbelievable, and yet it’s true if we only look for it.

We can realize that not everyone is rushing headlong into the scary. We can keep our eyes open, protect ourselves and our loved ones as much as possible, try to help in any way we can, and keep the faith.

As Anthony J. Dangelo said, “Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”

Too Much to Ask

Freepik

A Good Goal

inspirationwordslove.tumblr.com

Shot in the Dark?

Tim Calkins

Well –

I reached the wonderful guy who said he would fix our driveway. It’s been several months now and I hadn’t heard from him, so I called to find out if he 1) had been sucked into the void, 2) was still alive, 3) remembered us.

The good news is that he HADN’T been sucked into the void, IS still alive, and remembers us.

The bad news is that the second man, who was actually going to do the work with his equipment which was more suited to the job, has a problem. His rig burned up! Completely. It’s dead and gone.

So –

Our guy needs to find someone else who has a rig suitable for our job. I asked if he would call me when he finds someone. He said he would.

So –

I’m not really sure where we are now. We’re still waiting for the driveway to be healed. I WAS able to reach our guy, but I have no clue why he hadn’t bothered to call and let us know what had happened and that we were still on the list. I guess I’m a dinosaur, expecting common courtesy. I expect people to act as “I” would act, and I guess that shows how old I’ve gotten. People don’t seem to come, call, write, send carrier pigeons or smoke signals anymore. People say things just for form’s sake, not really feeling obligated to follow up.

When I sold a pair of earrings on my Etsy site recently, I messaged my customer, acknowledging the order and thanking her, telling her I planned to mail her earrings the next day and that I would let her know the tracking number when I had it. I messaged the next day giving her the tracking number and the expected delivery date. I got on the USPS site, entered the tracking number and entered the information needed so they would let me know when it was delivered. When I got the notice, I messaged my customer, asking if the earrings had arrived safely and if she was pleased with them. When she answered, telling me she was delighted with them, I wrote back, thanking her again for the order inviting her to return in the future. That’s just common courtesy.

So –

I guess one of my pet peeves is people making me feel hostile and unimportant when they don’t do what they say they will do. My list is growing.

Poor Robert

Dominykas Niaura – BoredPanda.com

Just in Case You Need a Hand Today

Containment?

CFQ.com

Freeze Frustration

Integrated Children’s Therapy

You would THINK that, with as old as I am, and as many years as I have lived in Arkansas, that I would handle the sudden, one-time freeze event that happens every year with more grace.

It’s happening tonight. If it happens as predicted, the one-time event will kill everything still alive in our planters. THEN, instead of staying cold, it will warm up again for up to THREE MONTHS before freezing again.

I’ll show you ONE reason I get so hostile about this –

My elephant ears are happy and thriving, even though I do need to clean them up a bit. These will be devastated by a truly hard freeze.

I hope the weather forecasters are wrong…

Feeling Lazy Saturday

jamesrubyworks.com

My to-do list is intimidating me today. I went from feeling organized to have it all written down to feeling totally overwhelmed.

Brian Tracy wrote, “When you feel overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time, remind yourself that all you can do is all you can do.”

For the time being, I’m ignoring the list and doing what I want to do (writing blog posts) while I enjoy a cup of coffee. Then I’ll choose the most important thing and do that. Hopefully, these will give me the impetus and motivation to continue…

Be Careful

Trying

boredpanda.com

I’m disgusted, but determined.

My scales are still impossibly snide, sneering at my efforts to lose the lard.

Most of the time I’m ‘good,’ only eating what I should. Other times – like in the middle of the night – I could eat the wall and not be satisfied. I’m frustrated and stressed, as we ALL are from time to time for various reasons. I’m trying to deal with that WITHOUT resorting to stuffing my face.

I’m using MyFitnessPal.com to record what I’m eating – except when I binge and all common sense and responsibility goes out the window. I’m 98% ‘there’ on trying to develop good habits of eating, drinking lots of water (my eyeballs are floating), and today is DAY 62 of my daily yoga practice.

98% is pretty good, but it’s the 2% that is killing my efforts. My husband said last night that the pain in my legs and hips at night might be due to my carrying a bit of extra weight. The result of THAT comment is that I can now add a bit of depression to the mix. He followed that up today, on the way back from the phone place, in stopping at Sonic and wanting to get us shakes! I told him to go ahead and managed to NOT get a chocolate shake. I did NOT bite him in the leg. (It’s a good thing because I haven’t had my rabies shot.)

So I’m going to fix our lunch now, drinking a full glass of water with it. I’ll drink a bottle of water mid afternoon, hoping that will curb my voracious appetite, and I’ve planned our good dinner, with lots of veggies, a bit of meat, and some fruit.

One day at a time…

Deep Breath

A.D. Posey-Out of Stress

I Hope

Brooke Hampton-OurMindfulLife.com

Style

Lily Pulitzer – Country Living Magazine

Learning to be happy is a skill.

With all the awful things happening in our world today, our hearts are ripped out of our chests on a daily basis. Hate seems to reverberate from the walls, causing defensiveness, if not hostility, in return.

We can simply turn off and be numb to all going on around us, or we can LOOK for positive things that help us deal with the bad as well as possible. Being happy is a deep-down choice you make. It comes from within you, recognizing all the good you have around you and filling your heart with it.

When you decide to be happy, it flows outward, affecting those around you. All you have to do to test this is to smile at people you don’t know when you’re out in public. Most of the time, people may look surprised, but they smile back. Not a word has been said, but you’ve communicated and both of you feel better.

This blog is a place where I can share the good things I find with you. I hope that some of it lifts YOUR spirits, too. :0)

etsy

5 by 5 rule

Heidi Emmett-designsbyheidi.wordpress.com

Sunday Thoughts 8-28-2022

FirstCryParenting

August 2022 is almost a thing of the past. Time is whizzing past my head at an astonishing speed and the year will be gone if I blink. I spend too much time being upset at what is going on in the world around me, helpless to do much, if anything, to stop it. I find myself grateful for all the things I have to insulate me from too much grief.

GalaxyEyes-homedepot.com

poeticgarb.com

owlsmarix.com

Community Playthings

Good Housekeeping

Listening to music, playing in my art room, reading books, talking with friends, gardening and time to myself all help me deal with what is going on around me. If I can’t FIX what’s happening, at least I can make it so I’m not contributing to it. I have more than enough to handle in my OWN little world.

I hope that you, also, have things that help you cope.

Time

Pam Brown B-www.wisenona.com

Don’t

lifehack.org

Crayons

contentinacottage.blogspot.com

To me this means that we should strive to EXPAND our interests, our knowledge, our activities for as long as we are here. We need to actively try to leave our comfort zone, trying something new every once in awhile, meeting new people, finding new sources of information, and more.

I feel lucky that I can learn new things every day simple by being curious on my computer. I enjoy it SO much I have to be careful not to be sucked into a rabbit hole, reading one thing that leads me to another until a good amount of my day is gone.

I don’t want to color with fewer and fewer crayons, allowing my world to gradually implode around me.

No Time

Anthony Hopkins – inthevintagekitchen.com

Joy

Wayne Dyer – Eric Fleurbaay on Twitter

Spoiled, But Not Rotten

Alamy

Yesterday was a very nice day.

I had plenty of time to do my normal chores without rushing. I only had to warm up leftovers for dinner and cut up more ripe, home-grown tomatoes to go with lunch and dinner. I cut up fresh peaches to go with our no-sugar-added vanilla ice cream. I took time to read some of a new book. I listened to some of my favorite music while I ALMOST finished the painting on the Christmas presents I’m making for friends. I played with our dog and cat and laughed with my husband. I did a session of yoga that is starting to be a bit easier. I spent some time searching the net for things I wanted to share with you here.

I didn’t have to travel somewhere to work. I could choose to mainly stay inside in the air conditioning. I took a short nap when I needed to. I had a quiet, calm day.

I’m spoiled. The only saving grace is that I REALIZE it. I’m THANKFUL for it. So, not rotten yet. :0)

Be Careful

The Law of Attraction – Talisa Garcia on Twitter