"Everybody's Got Something" -- Part II -- Learning As We Go

Learning Life's Lessons---

I so fondly remember my grandmother's words, "You have to live once to know how to live". As time goes on I appreciate how wise those words were. My own words added are, "Learning is a lifelong process, Living is a learning process". Putting all philosophical quotes aside, we definitely do learn as we go. The real learning begins when we have challenges to meet. Our true character is put to the test and we discover what it takes to move forward. What do we learn when life is easy? 

Yes, in our day-to-day life we all experience ups and downs. It can often seem like we are riding a roller coaster through life. Some of us are actually anxious when things are going smoothly, waiting for the other shoe to drop and expecting something horrible to happen around the corner.

Others may expect life to always be a breeze. There's nothing wrong with that. But when life hands them lemons they don't really know how to make lemonade--their whole world falls apart. They begin to have a "Why me?" attitude.

 Its interesting how differently people can perceive things. I remember the days when I was a fitness instructor and members taking my classes where shocked to learn that yes, there had been a period that I was overweight. I remember too, years later, a teaching colleague who implied that I must have had an easy life because I was always happy and smiling.

My story is not different from many others. I have had my share of life's challenges and have found that the tough times provide many valuable lessons, and I have learned to really appreciate the rest. 

Every struggle provides a valuable lesson

Let's Be HEALTHY!

MMM....Yum...Eat Your Veggies

Of course there are many things we LOVE to eat.

Yes, often what we love is not the best for us. 

Just like mom tried to teach you many moons ago, you can never go wrong eating your veggies.

Eating has become an important social activity in our lives (as well as a comfort for many). 

If you were taught to clean your plate it can be difficult to stop with food still in front of you. If you fill half your plate with veggies of all colors-- "eat the rainbow"--not a plate filled with mashed potatoes or french fries, you are heading in the right direction.

There is nothing wrong with bacon or chocolate once in a while in small doses (dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants) as long as they are not what becomes your backup at every meal.

Let's eat to be HEALTHY and HAPPY!

Just a Reminder About HAPPINESS...

Sometimes we spend so much time looking for the key to happiness we don't realize that we don't need one. We hold in our hand (really in our heart) all we need to achieve happiness. Realizing and focusing on what we already have with gratitude is the place to begin. Happiness is in our journey, not our destination.

Yoga Can Be Very Underrated

There are many benefits to Yoga

Yoga is an ancient practice but has gained much popularity in recent times. There are many reasons why.

If you asked me twenty or thirty years ago if I liked yoga, or was even interested in trying a class, I probably would have turned you down. For years I put yoga in the same category as golf. I thought it was meant for someone older, for someone who couldn't run or do aerobic exercise. I thought for any exercise to be truly beneficial you had to push your cardiovascular system to a maximum range and/or sweat like crazy.

Well I am proving myself wrong. As it turns out, there are many benefits from practicing yoga and you don't have to wait until you are old at all. As I have also said with golf, I wish I had started many years earlier. I tried yoga at home with a simple CD years ago but still didn't take it seriously. I realized the calming effecting but didn't really commit to it to notice any other benefits.

A Lesson From Ruby, The Dog --- Part II - ATTITUDE

Animals can teach us a lot about attitude!

I remember years ago a sort of (probably unscientific) personality test was popular. Of course I took it. You would answer a field of questions about such things as lifestyle, feelings, and reactions to situations. When tallying your score at the end you would find out which animal symbolized your personality. There were fun-loving dolphins, wise old owls, and more I can’t remember. What I do remember was my result categorized me as a loyal, eager-to-please Golden Retriever. I owned two wonderful Golden Retrievers at the time.

Ruby knows how to share. Here she so lovingly shares her bed 
with a new puppy that joined our family.

We can learn a lot from our animals. There are adorable pictures all over the internet of animals hugging and caring for each other, even befriending and nurturing different species. They don't judge. They live simply. They don't try to impress or compete. They live for the basic needs of food and shelter. Yet they give without question. When they connect with humans they depend on us to provide their basic needs but they don't put expectations or conditions on our relationship. 

Why PALEO? ... Because I Want To Be Like Ruby...

Ruby is loving life

In a recent post "A Lesson From Ruby, the Dog--Part 1--Nutrition"
I described how changing Ruby's diet really changed her life. By eliminating processed dog food and making all of her food with whole food ingredients that we control, everything has improved. Frankly, I was surprised at how many people asked me for more information on what we feed Ruby.

(See the post below for more details)

http://healthyhappybychoice.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-lesson-from-ruby-dog.html

My point was how much we, including myself, could improve our own quality of life, if we ate more like Ruby. I'm concerned that many people care more about what they feed their dog than what goes into their own body or what they feed their children.

I want to be like Ruby. So in my never-ending quest for better health I found and researched PALEO. I intentionally do not use the word DIET because it has connotations of being something trendy or temporary, used only for the purpose of losing weight. PALEO may seem like a buzz word or trend but it is not. I first heard the term from a cohort in fitness about nine years ago. I didn't give it a thought then. Actually the Paleo way of eating has been around since, well you know---

When Is It Time ?...

When is it really time to do something about your health (or your weight?)

You may be at a point in your life when you say to yourself, 

"This is as good as it gets". If you are--

            🎉🎉CONGRATULATIONS!🎉🎉

I like your attitude. You know how to appreciate what you have. You are rare. I have been known to say this, and have been taught by my hubby (a very smart man) that it is even better to say, "This is the best its ever been". Saying that means you appreciate everything the way it is but you are not closing the door to even better.

On the other hand you may be spending time wishing things were better and not understanding why you feel that way or how to make it happen. We know as adults, wishing doesn't make things happen. Change requires action.

Either way--things CAN be better, beginning with your health:

How to Enjoy a Mediterranean Cruise Without Gaining Weight

If I can do it you can too!

I just got back from a wonderful Mediterranean cruise and was surprised by good news when I got home. The trip included an extended stay in Europe on both ends. Of course my curiosity killed me and the very first thing I did my first morning I woke up at home was step on the scale (expecting the worst). I was shocked to find I did not gain weight, in fact after all the wonderful eating (including tasty desserts) I lost a pound! 

                            How could that be? 

(Don't all cruise lines tempt you with extravagant food?) ...

What Really Matters?

I was recently back from a wonderful trip and in the middle of publishing a new post about the cruise (and how not to gain weight on a cruise) when it hit--Father's Day.

It used to be that we were only bombarded with ads leading up to the big day and Hallmark hints showing up everywhere. But Social Media has changed all that too, in a big way.

I probably should have just stayed away from social media but I didn't. There are well wishes and "Happy Father's Day" comments all over to wonderful dads and husbands. There are even posts to dads in Heaven, always adding how they are missed, usually adding how long they've been gone. Father's Day has been difficult for me for a long time (as well as father-daughter wedding dances and other celebrations with fathers). I find it difficult to comment and usually don't get involved. However so many mentions caused me to think. It is approaching fifty years since my own father has been gone, and losing my children's father too makes it more painful to read other's celebrations.

I need to mention here, that I am very blessed to have remarried a wonderful family man who is a great father and the best I could ask for as a stepdad for my adult children. He takes great pleasure in fathering/spoiling our Yellow Lab, Ruby, who is the closest we will ever come to raising a child together.

Fatherhood is definitely to be honored. Just like any other position in life it takes a good man to be a good father. A father's actions every day toward his wife and children have a stronger influence and longer-lasting impact than he could ever imagine. So my social media contribution is--

DADS--WHAT YOU DO EVERY DAY MATTERS MORE THAN WHAT YOU DO ONCE IN A WHILE

Traditionally as women, we run the household and do everything we can to keep the ship afloat, from being the glue that holds the family together, to striving to keep things as "normal" as we can for our children when any disaster strikes. I am not discrediting what the men in our lives do. Typically the men are taking care of business. As in my case, this has been especially true when disaster strikes. Firefighters are busy helping everyone else, whether on or off duty.

When I look back now at my mother as a young widow (and having been a widow myself) I realize more the effect of my mother being the only parent left.  I admire her strength, and gained my own from this, when going forward is the only choice you have. You just have to make the most of it. We most often are guilty of putting everyone else's needs before our own.

*** ATTITUDE MATTERS! ***

As parents we are responsible for how our children view themselves and how they treat others. We constantly role model our attitude toward health, people, and life in general. As a wife and mother, so much of my focus has been on keeping my husband and children healthy. I am reminded again how important it is to also make ourselves part of that equation. The goal is not to sacrifice our own health for the sake of the rest. We may not be here, or be healthy enough to take care of others who depend on us, to contribute to their lives and enjoy ours,  if we don't take the time (or the attitude) to invest in our own health.

*** HEALTH MATTERS! ***

So much of our happiness depends on being with the people we love, our attitude toward life, the choices we make about our health, and what we do everyday to enrich our lives and the lives of others.

*** WHAT WE (ALL) DO EVERY DAY MATTERS MORE THAN WHAT WE DO
 ONCE-IN-A-WHILE ***

(CHOOSE HEALTH AND HAPPINESS!)

RECOMMENDED READING
The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews
New York Times Bestseller
Demonstrates how everything you do matters

#attitude#inspiration#healthmatters

A Lesson From Ruby, The Dog --Part I - NUTRITION

Diet is important for all of us...

When I remarried at 60 my sweet Yellow Lab, Ruby, had been with me for eight years so she was part of the package deal. My children were both adults, making their life outside my home. But wherever I was, whatever my living situation, Ruby would be with me. So when I made the move to my new husband's home, so did Ruby. Jim had always had dogs. It was true love---I have been known to tease that he married me for my dog. I could not have married someone who wasn't a dog lover anyway.

Ruby was a typical Labrador Retriever in many ways. She was loyal as can be and loved to eat, play, run, and nap. Although I didn't realize it at the time, she was also slightly pleasantly plump. Another way she was not uncommon was she was plagued with ear infections.

Our Curves .... and The Men Who Love Them

 "Cultivate your curves, they may be dangerous but they won’t be avoided”—Mae West

Racquel Welch, Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, Kim Kardashian. Over the recent decades, these women and many more, have been represented in the media for the curves (or lack-of, in Twiggy’s case) dictated as sexy in the fashion of the day.

Marilyn Monroe

Ladies are we always concerned about our curves? Do we obsess over whether or not we have “too much”, or in some cases “not enough”? Who really dictates the standards by which you measure yourself? Since the beginning of time, or at least since I can remember; through art, fashion, and media women have been left to feel like they are “less than” if they don’t have the right facial features, hair, or body type.

When I grew up in the sixties the ideal image moved from the curves of Marilyn Monroe and Racquel Welch to the waifish stick-figure model “Twiggy”. Suddenly girls who were maturing and developing a shape were made to feel out-of-style if they had curvy hips or any shape other than straight-up-and-down. And with this expectation girls posed on themselves came many extreme diets and eating disorders.

Work in Progress...What's next?

CONSTRUCTION ZONE!

Yes! They say the only thing that is constant is change. If you have been following me for a while you have seen changes in my life and in the title and format of my blog site.

It is still my intention to promote choices that lead to a healthy lifestyle and an attitude that also provides happiness.