Tag: weight

Thoughts for Thursday

+ Yesterday, in our bitter cold weather (for Florida), I saw one of my arbiters of “all is okay in the world”, walking at a clip, in short shorts. I have written about Dave W. on the blog before. He is an elderly neighbor (currently he is at least 85). Dave W. is tall, friendly, smart, athletic, always smiling and still sharp in his mind. When I stopped to say hi (me, in my heavy sweater, staying firmly put, inside my warm, cozy car), Dave W. told me that he probably should have not worn short shorts. “This is the first time in a long time, I can say that my legs are actually cold,” he said to me with a good-natured laugh. I always feel reassured when I see Dave W. out walking. Truthfully, I looked for him out on our sidewalks, all throughout the pandemic. I get a little nervous when I don’t see him out walking for a while, and so when I saw Dave W. walking yesterday, it was like a little ray of sunshine in my heart. A Dave W. sighting is one of my “touch grass” reassurances that life can be simple, kind, steady and good, no matter what is going on for me personally, or out in the world.

Do you have anything or anybody in your own life that is a touchpoint reminder of the solid good that is all around us if we allow ourselves to stop being distracted by all of the noise? I watched Lady Gaga singing a rendition of Mister Rogers’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” this morning. (Tell the truth, you are now currently humming that song to yourself.) Lady Gaga said that it was important for her to keep the purity and the beauty of the song, in her rendition that she created for the Super Bowl. Purity. Beauty. These things are still all around us. Look for the signs. They can be surprising and in disguise. In fact, purity and beauty may just be reliably walking down the sidewalk, in old, but sturdy, steady legs, in short shorts.

+ “Discipline is just remembering what you want.” – Kate O’Donnell I would add “the most” to the end of this quote. “Discipline is just remembering what you want . . . the most.” Do I want to be able to zip up the zippers of my mother-of-the-groom dresses? Then, despite currently wanting to eat that Oreo, I actually want to fit into the dresses, the most. Discipline. Sigh. (putting the Oreo in the garbage)

+ “Intention” seems to be the buzzword these days. Over the past weekend, we were discussing with our long time friends, each of our plans to be intentional with our relationships with our adult children going forward. We want to have happy, healthy, authentic relationships with our kids and their significant others and we talked about how we were all going about that intention which we share. The dictionary says that being intentional means being deliberate and having a plan. It says that an “intention” is an aim or a goal. Interestingly, the dictionary also says that from a medical standpoint, an intention is the “healing process of a wound.” I don’t believe that you can heal anything, without the intention to do so. Being intentional in life, seems to take “being present” to the next step of action. You become present with “what is”. You face any wounds and you acknowledge them, and then you make intentions for what to do to heal and to thrive.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Wednesday’s Whimsies

+ I had a bit of “sticker shock” when I was on the scale at my doctor’s office the other day. I simply couldn’t believe the number. Blaming the extra pounds on a semi-heavy sweater and my bra, I had to come home and verify my own assurance that the doctor’s office scale just had to be broken. It wasn’t. The holiday treats have all landed in the garbage can.

+ My one son is the king of purchasing really good, thoughtful, practical gifts. (there are times I’ve had to remind him that his fiancee would probably like impractical gifts, too – wink, wink) Having witnessed me and his father struggle many times with our spoons, trying to get the powder lumps out of our daily green smoothie (and then, often not successful, thus choking, unattractively, for what feels like an eternity, on said lumps), he got me a wonderful Sur-la-table whisk/frother for Christmas. (which my husband promptly used before I even tried MY gift – the early bird catches the worm, it seems) Anyway, it is a wonderful gift and it has made a huge difference already, as long as I remember to put the whisk into the drink before turning it on. At least now though, I won’t die from choking on my health drink. (However, I should have gotten a big, fresh sponge for Christmas, too, to clean up my messes until I learn to get it right.)

+ I’m trying to start the year out right and get “seriously more serious” about decluttering. The problem for me is, that I actually like all of my stuff (and at age 55 and being an earnest and regular shopper, I’ve accumulated A LOT of stuff). The whole world-famous Marie Kondo question, “Does this (insert: 18 Vera Bradley tablets, citrine cluster, dog shaped candle, owl bell, gnome figurines, various jars of eye cream, 116 perfume bottles, 52 pairs of sunglasses, 5 pairs of Kelly green and orange shoes, one of thousands of pairs of earrings, 50 collected bird feathers, etc. etc.) spark joy?” Yes. Yes, they all do. They all spark joy. That’s why I bought them in the first place. So, I guess where to store all of my joy is the question. Or perhaps I need to start ranking things by different levels of joy and letting the lower levels of my joy go to Goodwill to spark joy in someone else. Joy is best when it is given away.

+ I was speaking to one of my future daughter-in-laws over the holidays, talking about my dress for her wedding. Her enthusiastic mother, already has purchased her dress and the wedding is in September. My future DIL mentioned that she wants the colors of her wedding to be muted (the bridesmaids are wearing a silvery-grey). She mentioned that her mother’s dress is navy blue. Now, I don’t have my dress for the wedding yet. (See the first point I made today, as to a main reason why I don’t have my dress) And I actually look much better in bright, vibrant colors. So, I was scanning my mind for what “muted color” I could wear and not copy her mother’s navy blue. “Oh, I could wear off-white!” I said with a big smile on my face. Ooops! What?!? Where did I come up with the idea that off-white would be a good color to wear to my son’s wedding? My future DIL’s face said it all. She was looking me like I had two heads. I realized my mistake immediately, laughed and now luckily, it’s just become one of our many family jokes to be repeated ad nauseum, for years and years to come. And of course, I will not be wearing off-white.

In case you haven’t noticed, I am trying to start this year with a good sense of humor. And this is a time in the world, when a good sense of humor is vital. When we can laugh at ourselves, we never cease laughing – there is plenty of material to play with when observing our own absurdities.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday – Funday

credit: @woofknight, Twitter

We have been hanging out with our two middle sons and their friends this past weekend. Our sons are 25 and 22. They eat a lot, and they have high, fast, young people metabolisms. I’ve been trying to keep up as best as I can. This lipstick will definitely come in handy for the rest of the week. I just couldn’t keep it secret from you until Favorite Things Friday. Ha!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday – Funday

A wise person once said to me, “You don’t go to the gym, see a totally fit, “stacked” person and say to yourself, Hmmm, I wonder why they are here? They are already totally fit.”

When you see the totally fit person at the gym, you inherently realize that they are there at the gym to maintain their body’s strength and flexibility. They got fit at the gym, and they stay fit by regularly going there to work out. Their body’s strength and flexibility and health are a priority to them, and this is shown by their actions.

My hairstylist is 60 and I have been going to get my hair done by her for almost a decade. Since I’ve known her she has always been thin and svelte. Even during the pandemic, she kept her weight steady. My hairstylist also has to stay on a gluten-free diet for her digestive health, and she told me once that it really bothers her that people assume that she is thin only because she is on the gluten-free diet. She works hard at maintaining her weight, and her health, and it “irks” her that people think that she just lucked into her long-lasting body type.

Whatever you admire about a person – their relationships, their career, their style, their health, their knowledge, etc., most likely did not come easy. Even if the natural, raw talents and abilities were there, it is difficult to grow, and to maintain these gifts. It’s an uncomfortable truth, but the facts are, people live their priorities. It’s insulting to someone to treat their best attributes, assets, and gifts as only lucky breaks, which just happened to easily and randomly fall upon them, out of the clouds, and then magically stay there, without any effort on the lucky person’s part. When you see the admirable “finished product” of success, health, happiness, you don’t see all of the “behind the scenes” of blood, sweat, and tears, research, desire, tough decisions, and prioritizing that it took to get there, and then also, to keep it.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.