Here is this week’s vlog. It’s on prioritization in your life. Putting the important things first. And the most important point is that you’re important too. So it’s ok to prioritize yourself. I’d say it’s actually necessary and helpful. You need to be strong to help lift others up. Leave a Like if you enjoy the video. If you have a question, counterpoint, or suggestion, leave a comment here or there. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video to YouTube. Have a great week. Feel free to put in some quality “me time” for yourself. See you soon. Peace.
This week’s weigh in is up on YouTube. Great gains (or losses I guess) made this week. Last week my weight had gone up quite a bit, and I did manage to lose most of it again this week. Made some gains in happiness, too. Figured some issues out I was having with exercise. All around a pretty good week. Let me know what you think of it with a comment here or there. If you enjoyed the video please leave a Like. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video to YouTube. Thanks for all the support. I hope you’re having a great week. Peace.
Still adjusting to the new schedule so I allowed the vlog posting to get delayed. Things I’m working on this week, prioritizing! So here is last Wednesday’s vlog because I do want to have a vlog up for every week, even if it’s posted a little late. It’s on word choice and how words matter. The words you choose to describe a situation can change the meaning to your mind significantly. Specifically it can change something from a moment in time to an immutable character trait. So it’s important to watch your word choice because words matter. Leave a Like if you enjoy the video. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video to YouTube. If you have suggestions, criticisms, ways I can improve, please leave a comment down below or on my YouTube page. Hope you’re having a great day. I know I am. Peace.
Tax day if you live in the United States of America. I, thankfully, got mine done a while ago so I wasn’t rushing at the last minute to get it in. And you don’t want to miss the deadline, at least not without getting an extension. Miss the deadline and not only do you get to pay the taxes you get to pay a fine as well.
And nobody really wants to pay the fine. It’s probably safe to say that nobody really wants to pay the taxes. It’s just an accepted part of living in America. But if America could run tax-free, I’m guessing that nobody would be taking a portion of their paycheck and sending it to Uncle Sam just because they can.
Even though nobody would pay a tax to the government that they didn’t have to, so many people on a regular basis willingly pay a “tax” they could avoid without so much as a complaint. What tax is this?
It’s the tax we put on our bodies by the actions we take each day. Whether it be the foods we eat, the mindset we keep, or what we regularly do to our bodies.
When you eat foods that are bad for you it makes your body run inefficiently. Processed foods that are devoid of any real nutrition just don’t burn cleanly in the body and cause free radical damage. Think of it like bad gasoline. It makes the motor run horribly and can clog up the fuel lines. We’d never willingly do that to our car but we do it all the time to our bodies when we don’t eat clean.
How about that mindset? When we fill our minds with negative thoughts that creates stress. When we believe that our life is terrible that creates depression. When we don’t see a bright future we create apathy. All of these emotions are negative. And negative emotions, especially over the long haul, have a detrimental effect on the body.
And what about our bodies? If you had a great car but left it in the garage all the time, parked in one place never to be moved, that great car will go bad over time. Just like a car needs to be driven, so does your body. Sitting around watching tv or being on the internet is sedentary and will create issues with your body over time. Or what about all the chemicals we take in using the products we choose to? Some people even go the extra tax mile by smoking and doing drugs. Alcohol, other than in moderate amounts, isn’t doing you any favors either.
Eating poorly, thinking poorly, and exercising poorly are all bad for the body. They, in effect, tax your body. The difference between that tax and the one you, hopefully, paid by today is that you don’t have to pay the tax on your body. In fact, unlike the tax you owe the treasury, you don’t get punished for failure to pay. You instead receive a benefit.
So think about the actions you take each day. Are they a tax on your body? If so, just choose not to pay the tax. Are they a savings? Then build up the health account for your body so that when you’re older you’ll be able to live a healthy and active life. The choice is yours. Have a great day. Peace.
You’ve been on the keto diet for several months. You enjoy posting pics of your favorite keto meals on Instagram. Last night’s dinner was especially photogenic so you posted a couple of pics, one for each course. You’re happy as a clam when you see that your pics have netted you some comments. “That looks yummy.” “Bet that hit the spot.” “Wish I was eating that good.” And you read down a little farther and come across the comment you hate to see. “That’s not keto.”
Those three words strike at your soul. You’ve just received the word on high from the self-appointed keto police. This is no good. You just can’t let this one go. But take a minute and think before you reply.
The keto police’s comment may have been unsolicited, but it was well-intentioned. They’re just trying to help. So there are many better ways to respond than “you’re not the boss of me!”
You could thank them for their input. After all they were trying to improve your keto game. Leave it at a simple thank you and move on. No argument required, even if you’re sure they’re wrong.
If you believe they are the one in error, start a polite discussion. Who knows, they might actually be right and now you know more. They could be wrong and by discussing it amicably now they know more. Either way the situation is substantially better for both you. Certainly much better than if you had replied “shut your mouth, keto cop.”
Finally, you could just ignore it. That’s right you can just not respond. Not every comment needs to be replied to, so take the opportunity here to run silent. Just let it go.
While I agree that the keto police can be challenging on the patience it’s helpful to remember that while they may not employ the best methods, their hearts are in the right place. So be kind and respond in kind. Have a great day. Peace.
Here is this week’s weigh in. Numbers are a bit up. I did decide to go off keto for the tail end of the class and that did result in a bit of weight gain. And I’m ok with that. I made a decision and I’m willing to live with the consequences. There were some lessons learned as well. Leave a Like if you enjoy the video. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video to YouTube. Leave a comment here or there letting me know what you think about this week’s weigh in. Hope you’re having a great week. Peace.
Sorry for the delay getting this week’s vlog up. Between being at class and getting laryngitis I wasn’t able to do the video Wednesday and Thursday I was in class and travelling back home. I apologize if I’m a little scratchy in the vlog. I’ve got my voice mostly back but not totally. This week’s vlog is about starting over. Let me know what you think. Leave a Like on YouTube if you enjoy the video. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video to my YouTube channel. Peace.
I’m 48 years old. In less than half a year I turn 49. By conventional wisdom I’m supposed to be too old for a lot of things. Statistically speaking the better part of my life, time wise, is over. I’m heading into the period of winding down and accepting what life has given me.
At the beginning of last year, when I was 47, I started my ketogenic journey. Now I haven’t been able to weigh myself in the last two Mondays because I’m away on training. But as of my last weigh in two weeks ago I was just shy of 100 pounds lighter than when I started. But I’m supposed to be too old to lose weight. It’s just too hard at my age.
Up until last year I spoke only one language. Ok, technically speaking that’s still true. I’m only fluent in English. But I’m working on learning Portuguese, German, and Spanish. Saturday morning I took an Uber ride with a woman who is a native Spanish speaker and she complimented me on my pronunciation skills. I’m not fluent by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I’d say I have a long ways to go to get that level in any of the three languages. But I’m clearly able to take in a new language and do it correctly. But I’m not supposed to because I’m too old to learn new things. In fact it’s at this point that they say I should expect my faculties to start declining.
And job wise I just started a new career. I’m here doing my training as we speak. At a time when I’m supposed to be on the glide slope toward retirement at a career, I’m just taking off. But I’m supposed to be too old to be considering starting over in a job. I don’t have the years left in me to have a full career if I start over today.
But I’m choosing to get into shape. I’m choosing to learn new tricks. I’m choosing to start over. Why? I don’t know how much longer I have on this planet. None of us does. I could be half my age right now and still could be gone tomorrow. So I choose not to plan based off of a predetermined schedule that’s been arbitrarily foisted on me. I don’t worry if I have enough time to complete the tasks. I just worry about today.
And today I’ve decided I’d like to go to bed tonight a little bit better a person than I started this morning. Today I’ve decided that I don’t want to waste any of the time I have left on silly things that don’t make me better. After all I don’t know how much more of that time I have. Today I’ve decided I’ll start walking down paths that make me happier, including career paths. I don’t know how far I’ll get down the path before my time comes up, but who cares. I’d rather spend however much time I do have left on a happy path than I would being given twice as much time to walk down a miserable path.
Wake up each day with one mission. Be happy today. It doesn’t matter where you are in life. The beginning, the middle, or supposedly near the end. Take whatever time you have left, long or short, and just use it to be happy. Even if you’re supposed to be too old to start over, do it anyway if you aren’t happy with the way things are. Better to go out smiling not reaching your new goal than to go out sad living up to the expectations of acting your age.
Here’s to a new and brighter future at any age. Have a great day. Peace.
This morning I wanted to try a place for breakfast that would have taken almost an hour to walk to. And then of course almost another hour walking back. So instead I decided I’d just take an Uber. When my driver arrived I hopped into the front seat and off we went.
She asked me how my day was going and I told her it was going great. We then spent the 10 minute drive having a wonderful conversation. I got out of the car and wished her a good day, with her stating she hoped I had one as well. I then went in and had a great breakfast. Of course on the way back I got another Uber, but this time it was a different driver.
He smiled politely as I entered the car but didn’t talk. I asked him how his day was and he replied “Good, you?” I said “good” and left it at that. He gave the appearance of someone not wanting to talk a lot. We drove quietly for the 10 minute ride back to the hotel. As I got out he wished me a nice day, and I wished him one in return.
The first one was very nice and sociable. Outgoing and chatty. The second one was also nice, just not chatty. And there’s nothing wrong with that. He wasn’t rude because he didn’t talk or entertain me. That isn’t his job. His job is to get me from one location to the next.
It’s easy to view one as positive and one as negative because as humans we love to rate things. But there’s another way to handle it, and that’s to accept each person as they are. No need to judge them at all, good or bad.
If someone is nice to you, be nice back. If they want to chat, enjoy the conversation. On the other hand if they don’t want to chat, just respect that enjoy the quiet.
But here’s the tough one. What if they’re mean or rude? Leave it at they’re behaving in a way you don’t want to interact with. You don’t have to rate their behavior as bad. You don’t have to rate them as bad. You just have to decide what you want to do. Which in that case may be to stop interacting with that person.
Why do it this way? Because it reminds you that you’re in charge. When you assign the label of bad to them you’re reacting to their behavior. Because they were bad you don’t wish to associate with them. Their action determined your behavior. They were in charge. When you decide to not associate with them without labeling them the decision is based off of you and your desires. You’re in control of your life as you should be.
Let me know what you think. Agree or disagree? I hope you enjoyed this quick thought. See you again soon. Peace.
So I’ve been in Orlando (well technically Lake Buena Vista) for just under a week now. I’ve spent most of the time here at the Sheraton Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort as this is both where I’m staying and where the training is being held.
There are a lot of options for feeding myself around here and I’ve gotten to them just by walking there. The weather has been most agreeable to walking from place to place. I’ve also walked down to the local Winn Dixie to obtain stuff I’ve needed.
Now I’m still relatively new here so I’m still occasionally getting mixed up about what direction I’m headed. This morning after trying a different place to eat (the Black Angus Steakhouse nearby had a wonderful breakfast buffet I wanted to try) I needed to go to the Winn Dixie to get some heavy cream for my coffee. So I started walking and when I got to Palm Parkway I turned left and headed toward the Winn Dixie.
I was walking down the road when I realized it didn’t feel right. I stopped, looked around, and realized I had gone the wrong way. Realizing my mistake I kept going down the wrong path, farther and farther away from the my destination.
Of course that’s not really what I did. Upon realizing my mistake I turned back around and when I got back to the intersection I went the correct way. It’s only common sense. And yet when it comes to our life’s direction we seem oddly content to do what I had suggested I did.
We are creatures of habit and even when we know that the direction we are metaphorically headed is moving us away from the place we want to be in life, for some reason we just keep walking down the same path. How do we do that? We associate with the same people who led us to where we are in life. We engage in the same activities that have not gotten us the results we want. We think the same thoughts about ourselves that have led to the devaluation of worth we feel towards ourselves.
So think about this. If you’d feel silly continuing to walk down a physical path that you know doesn’t lead to the physical location you want to be, why are you content to stay on a life path taking you from the life you want?
Look at the life path you are on. Do your friends help you get to the life you want? If you answered no, maybe they aren’t the friends you need. Do you engage in activities which move you closer to the life you want? If you don’t, figure out the activities that do. You only have 24 hours a day. Fill those hours with activities that create the life you should know you deserve.
Do your thoughts move you forward on your life path? They should. If they don’t start paying attention to your self talk. When thoughts creep in that have you taking the wrong turn at an intersection, get your bearing and replace them with the thoughts that have you moving down the correct path.
Don’t settle for less in walking your life path than you would walking a physical path. Being on the wrong physical path just wastes your time. Being on the wrong life path wastes something a lot more valuable. Hope you have a great week walking the path taking you to the life of your dreams. Peace.
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