April 28, 2010

Staying in Tune

photo by Hamed Saber
We are very happy to have Dana back with us sharing her wisdom on staying in touch with yourself and knowing when you need to slow down. Enjoy!
I run to stay balanced. It helps me manage my stress, stay healthy, and get some all-too-precious “me time.” I was recently reminded, however, that it is possible to get too much of a good thing.

I recently trained for and completed my first half marathon. I have been a recreational runner since grad school, and I started running again about a year ago after a few years’ hiatus. Because I am goal-oriented by nature, my slow twenty minute jogs gradually turned into speedy hour-long excursions, and then on a whim I decided to sign up for this race. Unfortunately, about two weeks before the big day I caught a bug that I couldn’t seem to kick. I finished the race, but my performance wasn’t what I had hoped, and the incessant rattle in my chest made it hard to breathe – which can make a thirteen-mile run seem interminable! It took me two weeks of complete rest to beat it. This experience got me thinking about how we know when we are out of balance.

I am very rarely ever sick, and when I do get sick, it is usually a briefer and less severe version of what is going around, so for me to be ill so long was a clear message to me from my body that I had gone astray. In my quest to meet my goal, I had bulldozed my way through rather than heeding my body’s requests for me to slow down. Paradoxically, being so focused on my goal that I ignored the signs of imbalance deprived me of the ability to achieve my goal.

I imagine that the average reader of this blog is seeking life balance strategies because they have a tendency to do too much versus too little. I envision people who are possibly over-achievers or Type-A personalities (in other words, people like me). The external world rewards us for achievement, so it is easy to lose sight of the need to slow down from time to time to tune in, take stock, and adjust where necessary.

Unfortunately, I think we can easily become like the proverbial frog in a pot of boiling water – we don’t realize how off-kilter we have become until things reach a boiling-over point. Any time we take on too many responsibilities or activities we risk spreading our energy too thinly, which has the potential to lead to physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral consequences. Getting sick, feeling run down, and experiencing recurring muscular tightness or headaches are often your body’s way of trying to get your attention. Mental signs of imbalance may include being forgetful, or having a hard time disengaging from certain thought patterns (e.g., worrying, list-making). Emotional signs might include feeling irritable, anxious, or blue. Or maybe you find yourself wanting to retreat from family and friends, or being uncharacteristically being snappish, argumentative, or grumpy. Other people find that they eat or drink too much and stop carving out time for healthy activities like exercise or meditation. Self-awareness allows us to appreciate the subtle signs that we need to adjust before getting “out of whack.”

Once I tuned in (ok, so I had to be hit over the head with it), I realized I would need to focus on self-care for a while to set things to right – to let the pendulum swing far in the opposite direction in order to get back to a healthy state of equilibrium. I got a massage and spent my time going on slow walks with my family instead of waking up before dawn to run. I talked about my experience with friends. In the end, I was grateful for the experience, because it reminded me how wise my body is – how powerful it can be when I listen to it and treat it kindly. I was also reminded that although it is satisfying to set and achieve a goal, sometimes life intervenes to foil the best laid plans (or training schedules), and it isn’t the end of the world. The most important part of the race was seeing my family there to meet me at the finish line.

April 23, 2010

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Photo by kangotraveler

What can be better than a healthy version of a delicious berry cobbler? Here is a great recipe. Try it and enjoy with a scoop of frozen yogurt or organic vanilla icecream.


Ingredients:

6 cups of frozen or fresh mixed berries (e.g., blackberries and strawberries)

4 cups of oats

1/2 cup or less of soften butter or coconut oil

1,5 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of toasted silvered almonds

3 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water to form slurry.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

  • Place the berries and sugar in a medium size pot on the stove over medium low heat. Cook the berries and 1 cup of sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the berries have started to get soft.

  • Add 2 cups of oats and continue to cook the berries.

  • Once the oats are soft, add the cornstarch slurry and stir until incorporated.

  • Remove from the heat and pour into a 9x13 glass casserole sprayed with pan spray.

  • In a separate bowl mix together the remaining 2 cups of oats, 1 cup of almonds, 1/2 of a cup of brown sugar and the butter or coconut oil- this should form a crumbly crust

  • Sprinkle the crust over the berries evenly.

  • Bake for 10-15 minutes until the curst is just a little crispy and the cobbler is warmed all the way through.

Enjoy your weekend!

April 18, 2010

Balance During Times of Illness

Photo by Josh T. Hudson
I have been absent from :simple:balance: for the past few weeks while I have dealt with some health issues. Luckily, the blog has gone on without me, thanks to Maggie and some wonderful guest writers, whom we can all count on for thought-provoking posts and ideas for finding balance in many arenas of our lives. I have been reading, myself, and trying to apply some of what I've learned.

I have also done a lot of thinking about how to find balance during times of illness - this concept has been on my mind in recent weeks as I've struggled myself to accomplish all I need to, but also take care of myself. And I've noticed folks around me with similar challenges during this time of allergies and other seasonal illnesses. I was reminded of this post, originally published on October, 22 2009, that highlights some of the most important things to take into account. I thought it was prudent to re-consider these ideas, and to open up discussion to you all again for further insights. Here's to good health!

In theory, if we follow healthy recommendations for hand-washing, good nutrition, and other ways of avoiding germs, we should be illness-free this season. But we all know that the inevitable happens, and the chances are that most of us will end up feeling under the weather (or being impacted by someone else who does) at some point this year.

Being sick puts a wrench in the juggle of life and work and really makes finding balance even more difficult. Not only do we feel badly, but we also can’t keep pace with our usual, finely tuned schedule. Responsibilities pile up, phone calls and emails remain unanswered, and the stock of canned soup in the pantry disappears. Or perhaps we aren’t the ones who are sick, but rather someone close to us (e.g., child, partner, friend) or someone we are dependent on (e.g., child caretaker, co-worker) is. Any of the above scenarios can wreak havoc on balance, so it is vital to have a game-plan with some ideas for how to handle an illness scenario. Here are some suggestions:

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Sure, we can never be completely ready for illness when it strikes, but if we do some preparation and thinking beforehand, we might feel more able to cope when it comes. (There will be things like chronic illness or catastrophic injuries that are life-changing and are impossible to predict, but here we are talking more about run-of-the-mill fevers and flus.) Think about and plan for the following:

:: If you have children, how will your childcare be impacted by illness in the family? If you are sick, how will they get to school? How will they be cared for while you are bed-ridden? If they are sick, who will stay home with them? How will they get to the doctor? If someone is contagious, how will you try to prevent the spread of germs at home? If your childcare provider is sick, do you have a back-up?

:: Do you have supplies on-hand for illness? Medications, food, drinks, and other supplies are very important during times of illness, and not having them readily available can be a problem. The last thing you want in the middle of the night is to realize your thermometer isn’t working while you have a feverish, crying baby! Take stock of what you have, throw out anything that is expired or not working properly, and re-stock. Keep some comfort items around, as well – special teas, heating pads, a good magazine, and the like can make a day in bed a bit less miserable.

:: How will you notify your job if you have to be out because of illness (your own or a loved one’s), and how will your duties be covered? It is always helpful to have a contingency plan for this sort of thing. Keep telephone numbers or email addresses with you that you can use to contact your boss or someone else at work. Have a general plan for how your duties will be covered, recognizing that every scenario won’t be predictable.

2. Organize yourself. As mentioned above, keeping supplies on-hand at home and contact information for anyone who would be impacted by illness is important. Have this information stored somewhere that is easily accessible (e.g., address book, cell phone), and notify another reliable adult in your life of where it is, in case they need to access it if you are not able to.

3. Know how your sick leave (or lack thereof) works at your job. While laying in bed with a fever and stomach ache is not the time to talk with your human resources department about your benefits. Understand what you need to do administratively if you have a sick family member that you are caring for. Know how you should request time off for unexpected illnesses. Similarly to preparing for responsibility coverage at your job, having an understanding of how your time off is managed is helpful to know ahead of time.

4. Stay home if you are sick! We have all heard this before, and most of us have probably shown up at the office anyway. I know I have. The truth is (I can now say retrospectively) that we are NOT productive when we are sick. Yes, we may be able to make a few phone calls or send some emails that will get things done… but in the process we are potentially making ourselves worse, and we are certainly spreading germs to others. Other people around you do NOT want you to be at work when you are sick. Sometimes , folks around us are more susceptible to illness or have conditions that they have not publicly shared. So while you think you are just carrying around a cold, realize that your illness could be life-threatening to someone else. Keep your germs to yourself and avoid spreading them!

5. Ditto #4 for your kids and other loved ones. Don’t let children go to school sick and encourage a spouse or friend to stay at home. Even if it means more stress for you temporarily.

6. Listen to your body and rest. I can’t tell you how often I have gotten sick after a particularly stressful time in my life; my body was definitely communicating with me in those situations. When our lives are out of balance, we suffer emotionally and physically, and our immune systems are compromised. We have talked before about ways to prevent that from happening, but when it does, take note and give your body what it needs: rest. You will heal faster and be able to get back to your juggle sooner and more effectively if you actually take the time to relax.

This list of suggestions is certainly not exhaustive. We are interested in hearing from you too. What helps you to maintain balance while coping with illness?

April 7, 2010

Photo by jeffreyw
Celebrate the temporary - don’t wait until tomorrow.
Live today. Don’t wait until all the problems are solved.
You will wait forever.
Eternity will come and go and you will still be waiting.
Stop grieving the past. There is joy and beauty in today.
It is temporary - here now and gone - so celebrate it while you can.
Celebrate the temporary.
~Clyde Reid

We are thrilled to have Sue Knight back with us. Enjoy the wisdom of the moment that she wrote about!

At lunch last week, my colleagues asked why I like volunteering for Hospice. They got me thinking about springtime, lifetime, and how “the temporary” keeps me in balance.
I cherish taking walks in the springtime. Spring changes more rapidly than winter. In winter, the tree branches stand stark against the sky; beautiful, yes, but pretty much the same from day to day. Spring is different – the first colors peek out early, and they don’t last. The flowering seems to go from nothing to spectacular to gone in the blink of an eye. The leaves aren’t there, and then they are, tiny and chartreuse; and then almost overnight they’re thick and dark green. It’s easier to pay attention in the spring; and not just because new delights are arriving daily. It’s also because they won’t last.

I cherish too volunteering for hospice, which involves spending time with families in the last six months of a member’s life. While supporting their quality of life is my priority, I always gain much more than I give. Those who know their time in life is short pay better attention. They have a razor-sharp sense of what matters, and what doesn’t. Sometimes patients want to talk about these things; other times the lessons come from sitting quietly with them, helping their caregivers, or playing a game of Backgammon and knowing it may be their last. Of course, there is sadness when someone I’ve come to know and care about is gone; but that only strengthens my gratitude for having had the opportunity to share such special moments with them. I’ve developed a ritual whenever I leave a patient’s home: Gazing toward the sky, I drink in everything in sight, and realize how awesome – and temporary – this lifetime is.

So, springtime walks and hospice volunteering remind me of the temporariness, and sweetness, of life. Here are some other ways. Focus on:

  • Your breath. Even a minute of focus can bring your attention to the air entering and leaving your body. Try this: Observe your breath without attempting to alter it while silently saying “in” with each in-breath, “out” with each out-breath. Notice the creative pause between in and out; it’s the continual ending and new beginning for all of us.
    This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

  • Making the most of your vacation from eternity. No matter what their specific beliefs, most people agree that the hereafter is probably very different from this human existence. So……why not consider life as a brief vacation from that bigger picture, and enjoy it to the fullest?
  • One sense at a time. This is the opposite of multi-tasking! As you go about your day, alternate awareness of sight, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting. For example, while changing the sheets, begin by focusing just on what you see – the bed, the room, the linens, your own arms in motion. Then, move your attention to touch - the sensation of the cloth between your fingers, your feet on the floor. Next, attend to what you hear – the rustle of the bedclothes, the birds outside, music, the fan. Focus completely on each temporary moment, one sense at a time.

  • Colors and dimensions (Be as one suddenly born into color. Do it now. ~Rumi) Pretend your world unexpectedly includes color or a third dimension. Watching a black-and-white movie or removing your glasses during a 3-D movie can help you experience the world in a new way when you come outside.

New ideas help us all keep celebrating the temporary, and that helps us keep a balanced life. What celebration strategies can you share?