Post Number: 32
Review of Yesterday's ProgressDaily Points Left: 34 of 71 (Goal: 15)
Weekly Points Left: 49 of 49 (Goal: 49)
Meetings Attended: Overeaters Anonymous
Exercise Completed: Missed Beginners Yoga, Claiming Extenuating Circumstances
So once again, my day is starting extra early thanks to the time change. My internal body clock went off when my bladder went off. And my internal body clock set off my brain. So with racing thoughts for all that lies before me today, I am blogging at 5 am. But just because my brain is racing away, doesn't mean it's doing well at its responsibilities. Just take a look at that less-than-pithy title.
I am "Claiming Extenuating Circumstances" for missing the yoga class yesterday. Those circumstances being my brother-in-law's family volunteering at the polls. He warned us quite some time ago that we would have my in-laws over for the day. They are in need of continual care because of their deteriorating health. MBWM came down with a nasty bug and was feeling too dizzy to use the stairs, let alone drive, which put the responsibility on me to get me in-laws to their appointments.
The delivery of my in-laws to their appointments was only one part of the juggling act that was pulled off by your truly. I managed to get everyone where they needed to be when they needed to be there. But since I didn't have anything portable with me, I missed opportunities to eat. And that's where the being busy comes in to the title as does the extravagance of remaining points. I don't think I was home for more than a few minutes between 10 am and 7 pm. MBWM did have a sandwich waiting for me at one point. But since she was down yesterday, I didn't register that I was doing no carbs. She retrieved a portable container for me. I dumped in some spinach and scooped the contents of the sandwich on it before running off to the next set of travels. It was a small, yummy salad, but impromptu meals, while appreciated, should be avoided by planning.
Now, granted, I did not go without food, but I was ravenous while accomplishing most of my day. All this while MBWM was being beaten by a nasty virus. She helped out quite a bit more than I liked. She needs her down time. Her recovery will hopefully be a little better today. I am hoping to talk her into letting me take her parents to the doctor's appointment again today. Don't mistake my intentions. Were it not for my wife's illness, I would be all over my all encompassing lifestyle change of diet, meetings, and exercise. Since I have the opening, we shall see how she's doing and what she thinks of the idea.
Now MBWM's nasty bug transferred itself to me, as happens all too often in the sharing that arises in marital interactions. She succumbed to a more intense and longer expression of the bug, which also happens all too often in our marriage. I had intestinal issues yesterday that had me fearful of being too far from a bathroom, but I do believe I am almost over it. Still getting rumbling in the tummy, but they are less nasty. And I never felt any of the other symptoms MBWM has to deal with like dizziness, soar throat, aches and pains, etc.
But she does have to deal with the outcome of my shopping at WinCo. That was a PHALE, although of minor proportions. I did purchase a fair quantity of salad veggies. That is good. And I purchased a wide variety of turkey products: turkey sausage, turkey franks, turkey bologna. Okay, maybe not all that wide of variety. The problem isn't so much what I purchased as the haphazard way I added items to the cart. I have to be careful with our budget and I was not careful.
I was a little more careful about another aspect of my juggling yesterday, transporting MBWM and I to be able to vote last night. Because of where we lived prior to the move, there was only the City Council elections on our ballet. That made for a quick vote. I am grateful to be a part of the process and the volunteers that make it possible.
And the volunteer process that is the Overeaters Anonymous meeting I attended yesterday needs some attention. I did attend the meeting. And I wanted to record some of what was said and my thoughts on them to give me a chance to mull them over. Now, I know that a tenet of the Twelve Step programs is, "What is said here, stays here." But there is strength in making an opportunity to review so that progress can be witnessed. Plus, I won't be identifying anyone.
The topic at the start of the meeting is that the past shaped us into who we are today. We don't have to be ashamed of it. And we can use what we learned and experienced to offer empathy to others because we have been through the experience as well. This eventually led to someone discussing the power that comes to the person that serves others. One of the benefits that arises is the opportunity to get out of thinking about yourself. Another person mentioned that you must serve, but don't lose yourself in service as a way of avoiding your responsibilities to yourself. Avoiding responsibilities led to someone saying that we don't inherently forgive others. I disagreed internally. While I find it difficult to forgive myself, my kids are very forgiving. That have allowed me to witness that time and time and time and time again. Maybe it's because of my kids' influence, but I believe that we are born with the ability to forgive but learn skills like holding grudges. Quail is at the end of the pecking order. He expressed his frustrations with his siblings quite frequently and very vocally. But you will still find him in the thick of things when they are playing together. He, like all the rest, are very forgiving. And thank goodness for that for my benefit.
The main beneficial idea from most of the comments at yesterday's OA meeting was that we don't have to live in the past. Simplicity itself for me to agree with that. My problem is that I tend to live in the future. Also a bad choice for mental property. Even at the meeting, I was calculating the timing of the next several steps in my day. Or here while I'm blogging, I'm thinking about all of the things I need to get done today (exercise, meal planning, discussing with MBWM Asian Red Fox's request to join Kimkins with me, ...), the things I want to get done (convincing MBWM to let me take her parents to the doctors appointment, the time consuming drudgery of encapsulating my own supplements that do a world of good but I am currently out of, scouting the neighborhood for a walking route, reviewing C25K for Windows Phone, ...), and how I am going to accomplish all of these things. Yup, my brain is frequently going 90 miles an hour. I'd say 100, but I didn't get a full night's sleep last night.
I don't tend to live in the past. Probably because that's where my Mom lives, and it's not a pretty place from her vantage point. The friendly result for me concerning living in the future is that you are thinking through to the effort to overcome any consequences of the actions being contemplated. For example, I don't hold grudges. That takes too much energy. But I do believe that I will expend the energy to be at this particular OA group. I think this is my favorite group so far.
I am done in under an hour. That's good. I hope to be able to report not only success in work accomplished but also success in having a little down time as well.
Yours in the opportunity to lose yourself in the work of the day,
Eliot
P.S.: Do you think Yoda would be exceptional at Yoga?
The topic at the start of the meeting is that the past shaped us into who we are today. We don't have to be ashamed of it. And we can use what we learned and experienced to offer empathy to others because we have been through the experience as well. This eventually led to someone discussing the power that comes to the person that serves others. One of the benefits that arises is the opportunity to get out of thinking about yourself. Another person mentioned that you must serve, but don't lose yourself in service as a way of avoiding your responsibilities to yourself. Avoiding responsibilities led to someone saying that we don't inherently forgive others. I disagreed internally. While I find it difficult to forgive myself, my kids are very forgiving. That have allowed me to witness that time and time and time and time again. Maybe it's because of my kids' influence, but I believe that we are born with the ability to forgive but learn skills like holding grudges. Quail is at the end of the pecking order. He expressed his frustrations with his siblings quite frequently and very vocally. But you will still find him in the thick of things when they are playing together. He, like all the rest, are very forgiving. And thank goodness for that for my benefit.
The main beneficial idea from most of the comments at yesterday's OA meeting was that we don't have to live in the past. Simplicity itself for me to agree with that. My problem is that I tend to live in the future. Also a bad choice for mental property. Even at the meeting, I was calculating the timing of the next several steps in my day. Or here while I'm blogging, I'm thinking about all of the things I need to get done today (exercise, meal planning, discussing with MBWM Asian Red Fox's request to join Kimkins with me, ...), the things I want to get done (convincing MBWM to let me take her parents to the doctors appointment, the time consuming drudgery of encapsulating my own supplements that do a world of good but I am currently out of, scouting the neighborhood for a walking route, reviewing C25K for Windows Phone, ...), and how I am going to accomplish all of these things. Yup, my brain is frequently going 90 miles an hour. I'd say 100, but I didn't get a full night's sleep last night.
I don't tend to live in the past. Probably because that's where my Mom lives, and it's not a pretty place from her vantage point. The friendly result for me concerning living in the future is that you are thinking through to the effort to overcome any consequences of the actions being contemplated. For example, I don't hold grudges. That takes too much energy. But I do believe that I will expend the energy to be at this particular OA group. I think this is my favorite group so far.
I am done in under an hour. That's good. I hope to be able to report not only success in work accomplished but also success in having a little down time as well.
Yours in the opportunity to lose yourself in the work of the day,
Eliot
P.S.: Do you think Yoda would be exceptional at Yoga?
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