Two vital words for 2010

Thankful Thursday 16 Responses »
Jan 132010



Clarity


Simplicity

When considered the coming year, these two words came to me. Then I thought about what they mean to me and how I may shift to accommodate them. I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions. What really set me to look at this was my recent back injury, not the just the change in calendars.

Clarity – It’s about knowing what is important. Injuring my back has really made me look at my health and lifestyle. I had settled into patterns that, while not horrible, were not the most healthy for me. Things like staying up late surfing the net. Watching too much TV on hulu.com, eating late in the day, not exercising; that sort of stuff. I am much more clear now about where I need to make changes and am starting to do that. Now that I am nearing fifty, staying fit has to be more of priority.

Simplicity – This is about getting back to my core beliefs. What are my motivations for the doing the things I do? What is important to me, not just day to day, but for my lifetime?

Every few years, I make The List. I put it in Excel with columns for what, why, benefits to me, my family and others, do I do it out of obligation, duty, or pleasure, and how much time it takes. I put down everything I spend time doing, from the basics like eating and sleeping to things like work, volunteer activities, etc. Then I can look at where things are out of balance. Does something need to be culled? Or do I need to do more of this or that? It helps me see clearly why I am involved with what I do. I can explore my motivations, both good, bad and in between. I can better explain to my family and friends, when that needs to be done. And I can make intelligent choices based on sound reasoning.

Going through this exercise doesn’t mean that I don’t keep some things just because they are fun! That reason goes in the Why column and is vitally important!

What came up to change now…

  • Nutritional supplements – This would be mostly for helping to heal my back, in addition to a few for general health, aging, etc. My shelves are filled with herbs and vitamins that would be good for me, but that I don’t take. It’s a matter of picking a few and figuring out how to work them into my daily routine.
  • Exercise – Yes, outside of riding, since I can’t do that now. Riding alone wasn’t enough anyway. I don’t like gyms much, so this is a challenging one. And I am not yet supposed to twist or bend over, so a lot of yoga is out right now.
  • Sleep – Some nights I get seven hours, sometimes three. Some days I take long naps. There’s quite a lack of consistency here.
  • Eat better – This one isn’t really about what I eat, but mostly when and somewhat how much. I have gotten into a pattern of not eating breakfast until 10 or 11 am, a bowl of cereal at work. Then I eat later into the night.

    • Doesn’t that list look awfully familiar? Isn’t most people’s list around the New Year very much the same? I guess it just shows that most of us humans have similar challenges.

    A few solutions I’m trying…

  • Today, I tried something new. I had breakfast, instead of catching up on emails. I mixed up some juice with my supplements. I don’t like taking a lot of pills, so powdered herbs in juice works much better for me. As long as the taste isn’t horrible, I much prefer it this way. Today’s mix was a bit of Acai juice, grape juice, blueberry and pomegranate juices, with triphala and shatavari powders, plus a dash of MSM. I enjoyed it all morning at my desk, instead of that strong cup of coffee that I usually have.
  • I am taking Arianna Huffington’s Sleep Challenge to get eight hours sleep a night. That means I need to shift my sleep pattern earlier. Last night, my head was on the pillow by 10:30 pm! Tonight, I’m shooting for the same.
  • My husband talked me into joining his gym for three months. I might not enjoy it, but it will be good for me. I’ve done weight training in the past. I know what needs strengthening. And I could use some cardio. And they have pilates classes. Those are great for riding. I’ll have to ease into it, as my back allows.


    Now the real trick will be to keep up with these efforts to shift these patterns into something that sticks. It takes forty days to create a habit, so stay tuned. And if you want to make your own version of The List, I would love to hear about it.

    Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.

    Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

    How:

  • Sit back and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.
    • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs
  • The Pony Expression
  • From the Horse’s Back
    • If you are on Twitter and you found value in this post, please retweet. Thanks!
    Posted by Simrat at 10:25 pm Tagged with: ,

    Ah, Back Revisited

    Sprit, Thankful Thursday No Responses »
    Dec 242009

    Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.

    Silkscreen Print © 2009 Simrat Khalsa

    Silkscreen Print © 2009 Simrat Khalsa

    I am very thankful to be pretty much pain free today! I was walking around, even bending over. I have to remember how I felt a couple of weeks ago. I was barely able to hobble around the house, unless taking prescription painkillers after spending the first week of December mostly off work, in bed with back pain. I need to follow through putting a plan together to improve the health of my back. This episode started with moving hay and became critical the day I went to the Oregon Horse Center to practice on the trail course.


    I’ve been researching all this week, educating myself about spinal anatomy. This involved looking at MRI images (mine and other’s), reading blogs and websites and googling terms that are in my MRI report. Things like Degenerative Disk Disease, hypertrophic endplate changes, annular tear, bilateral foraminal regions. And I’ll say that I now understand much more about this very important part of my body.

    Our disks are made up of the nucleus pulposus, the shock absorbing “jelly-like” center of the disk, contained by the annulas, a fibrous outer layer (much thicker than I imagined). These structures must stay hydrated through movement. Without maintaining this hydration, they slowly become thinner, eventually loosing their shock absorbing, elastic qualities. As they thin, the openings in the spinal column for the nerves becomes narrower. Without the ability to absorb shock, arthritic changes may develop in the spine as well. Tears and bulges in the annulus also occur as elasticity is lost. While drinking adequate water is vital to maintain these “small hydraulic shock absorbers”, movement is vital to get that fluid to where it is needed. Another vital thing that I learned, is that the vertebral disks rehydrate at night during your sleep! Another reason to get a full night’s rest.

    Basically, I have a few disks at the base of my spine that are drying up. The lowest one is already degenerated. The one above is bulging and the one above that has a tear in the annulus. It all makes quite a bit of sense to me now. All the years that I have been sitting at a desk at work must have contributed to this, along with my slacking on my sadhana and yoga practice. Well, it’s time for me to get back in gear. Pun intended!

    All during my reading, I kept remembering the many hours of lectures and yoga classes I sat though with the Siri Singh Sahib (aka Yogi Bhajan). He talked about how a practicing Kundalini Yoga would create a healthy, flexible spine and how important that was; that it would keep us young. I wish that my twenty something self had listened a little better! I was thinking about it more on the level of raising my consciousness, not merely keeping my body healthy. I suppose that’s one of the follies of youth; thinking that you are indestructible. It’s not too late for me now, twenty years later. I know that I can heal myself. Time will tell if I follow through and do the day to day work. I fully intend to, but I now that follow through is not always my strong suit. It may be challenging for me.

    Please join me over this next year to see how I manage. I’ll be starting in on some basic spinal exercises and will post what I’m working on as I go, along with my results. I welcome your support. Feel free to keep my on track! Maybe I’ll actually start to teach. I did get certified as a Kundalini Yoga instructor many years ago. It’s one of the many hidden talents I haven’t really used yet…

    Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

    How:

  • Sit back and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.
    • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs
  • The Pony Expression
  • From the Horse’s Back
    • Posted by Simrat at 10:29 pm Tagged with: , ,
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