My amazing mom, putting me first and of course, yoga

So, on Sunday I went to see my mom. She lives just a couple of miles from me, and we talk close to every day. She is one of the most amazing people that I have ever met, and I love her more than words can say. People that do not like spending time with their mom and say they always fight and their mom picks on them, or is always disappointed in them, it makes me sad to hear. My mom is none of those things and the most non judgemental, supportive people I know. Here's a good example: I always here about or see movies about moms that ask their daughters, "are you dating anyone?", "you need to get married", "I want grandchildren". Never once in my life has my mom uttered any of those phrases to me. When I tell my mom that have always appreciated that, her response is always something like, "well it's not my life, I wouldn't be married to the person you choose, I wouldn't have to raise the child/children". Of course this just makes me want to get married and have kids more so that I can share my amazing mom with more people. Now, about Sunday...My mom has had many heart health challenges, but is actually a very fit, healthy person in general. Moderation is her motto, something that I am still always trying to get better at! She has been mentioning that she has slowed down on her walking(she used to walk 10 minutes of every hour). The doctor reminded her to start slow so she doesn't overdue. So, when I saw her on Sunday we talked about it. It was around 5pm, I think, and we set a plan: 3 walks a day at 10 minutes each, I said she could probably do 4 walks..you know me, gotta push the challenge a little further. We set times that she would do 2 more walks that night. She called me after each one and reported in, it was so cool to hear the sense of accomplishment in her voice, I was so proud of her!! Then, yesterday, Monday, she called me in the evening and reported in about her 4 walks at 7 minutes each!! Again, so proud of her!!!

For many of us, lung capacity is a big thing, which is why starting out the running slowly with c25k program is a great idea I know that some of you are struggling with the challenges that I put out there just over a week ago. If you haven't read them, go back and check them out. Start slow, it's totally fine! Just change one thing today, just making one change and creating a habit out of it can make an amazing difference in your life!

Successful people embrace change because they know that improvement is impossible without it


Keep it up, mom, I am so proud of you! For all of you out there putting just one little thing into practice, keep moving forward every day, I can't wait to hear your story about all the wonderful changes in your life!

YOGA
I am soooo loving doing these short yoga "workouts" each morning! In the beginning of the AM yoga DVD, Rodney Yee says something like "before you start your morning and dive into that ominous list of things to do, get up just 30 minutes early to balance your body" the main thing that sticks in my head every morning is "ominous list of things to do." In reading more in the book, "complete idiot's guide to Yoga", it talks so much about the body mind connection and how that is even more important than just doing the excercise. In the morning when I started the yoga practice, I would do my best to stay focused and not let my mind wander, but last week, by about 10 minutes I was looking at the clock. Usually I had somewhere to go, so that was on my mind. Today I noticed that I was more focused on what I was doing, not focusing on that never ending to do list, and I didn't look at the clock until 19 minutes, on our last pose before relaxation pose! I also had limited time to get ready for work after that, and I wasn't frantic or stressing about it. I left later than normal and was only about 4 minutes late for work, and I wasn't freaking out about it in the car. It was really hard for me to get up this morning because I went to bed later than planned, but I got up anyway, and it has made my day much better so far!!

Yesterday, Yoga in the morning, just a 5 hour work day, then met my friend at her house. She had errands to run, and we both wanted to take a walk, so we combined the two! We walked to all of the errands, including the grocery store, and even though it wasn't a hard workout when going in, out, and between the stores, we walked 2.87 miles! On the way home we each had 2 cloth bags of groceries and it was great!! Oh, total walking time(not time in stores) was about 46 minutes according to imapmyrunapp. after that, I was on the phone with a friend for over 4 hours. That never happens, and I am so glad that I had the time to do it! During our talk, I kept thinking about how blessed I am to be going on this journey, and though these changes and challenges are often hard, I have the ability to choose how I handle these challenges. My blessings outweigh my challenges, easily, and even though I have so much going on in my life sometimes, I still have the ability to "put me first".

PUTTING ME FIRST
Seems like a selfish thing to say, huh? If you're thinking that, then I bet that you are someone who cares so much and puts other people first in your life, right? I think I have talked about this subject before in my blog, but the past 3 days, I learned something more about putting me first. When I choose to put me first, and something happens that makes me think, "oh no, if I wouldn't have put me first, I would have been there for my friend when she got that awful news", I can't take on guilt! This past weekend, I had not one obligation. I had a plan to walk with Beth, which due to weather, we didn't get a chance to do, but that wouldn't have been an obligation, that would have been great fun and exercise too! I had some business things that I really wanted to do, and I felt like I needed to be there, with my team. In addition, my closest friend since we were about 10 years old had a father that was very ill, and I wanted to be there for her. I had to make a few choices. My choice, as you can read in my blogs for Saturday and Sunday were to put me first. I felt started to feel guilt when my friend's dad passed away Saturday. I had planned on going to her son's baseball game, but chose me first, so I wasn't there when she got the news. I stopped myself within seconds, because she has other people, I am not the only person in her life. Her husband and kids were with her. There is no guilt to be places. On Sunday, she asked me to go help her for an hour, I did, and it turned into 4 hours. guess what, I didn't do it because I felt guilty, I did it because I wanted to and she needed help. I stayed more than one hour, because of the joy that the feeling of helping her and the task were giving me. I put me first and the rewards were priceless! I was even able to do my yoga first, burn calories while helping her, and then a workout in the evening! When I talked with my friend yesterday for 4+ hours, I didn't get my workout in. I chose to talk with my friend, which was putting me first by creating some balance in my life, by not just working out in every spare minute I have. By listening and learning about what is going on in her life, I was able to see my blessings that I have. I

I know that I talk about challenges, getting it done, pushing myself, change, but balance is important, and it is a hard one for most of us, right?

By putting myself first, for example: doing my workouts Saturday so I would be able to help my friend if she needed it this weekend, doing yoga before going to her house on Saturday to help her, and getting my walk in with her on Monday so I was free to talk with my other friend for 4 hours yesterday, I feel better about me and what I was able to do for myself and the people in my life! A year ago, I would have sat by the phone waiting for a call from my friend, or gone to every possible activity with kids that I know(baseball games, soccer games, etc.) been frazzled, and then stressed out because I didn't get things done that I wanted to get done. Today, I have a very long work day ahead of me, and it is my "no workout" day, and I have a big stack of things papers to go through and a list of things to do. Ya know what's cool, until I wrote those words down, I hadn't even thought about them.

my mom, putting me first and yoga sure are helping me a lot on this journey!

didn't sync bodybugg, so, stats tomorrow..got 7 hours of sleep

Learning and growing into a healthier me!
~Cindy Lou