I'm Sorry

I hate to do this, but I'm going on hiatus again. Real life is interfering, and right now I don't feel I'm in any sort of position to be giving any kind of advice on anything. I do hope to be back soon, but I can't make any guarantees on when that might be. Again, I apologize.

Take care.
- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

Happy Friday! May I recommend some cleaning?

Seriously! Give your place a good deep-cleaning if you haven't done so lately. We've already established that it'll make you and your home happy and if the weather where you are has started in on the late-fall grossness then it might be rather nice to just stay in and make things shiny. Get yourself a nice hot beverage to sip while you work. Put some booze in it if that's your thing! Spend part of a day this weekend making everything look awesome and then spend the rest of your weekend enjoying the awesomeness. We can compare notes on Monday!

I'll see you then.
-Sarah

Keep Some Heat On It

It has gotten a bit cold where I live, which I love/hate. Love because I'm a big fan of sweaters and scarves and big stompy boots, hate because I'm really cold-sensitive and live in a drafty apartment (there are always tradeoffs in old buildings with big windows). But as anyone who has ever taken a yoga class can tell you, there's a really easy to retain a fair amount of heat!

Hold your hand up in front of your open mouth and exhale. Feel the warmth that comes with your breath? Every time you mouth-breathe, in addition to being rather aesthetically displeasing you're also releasing some body heat and all you have to do to keep it in is just close your mouth. In through your nose, out through your nose. You don't even have to get fancy with the oceanic yoga breathing, although of course you can if you want to (I'll never discourage anyone from getting fancy). If you're feeling a chill, just spend some time intentionally breathing just through your nose and see how you feel.

The one wrinkle is, this is also a time of year when many of us have trouble using our noses for much of anything beyond goo-production and unfortunately I don't have anything new to offer by way of helpful suggestions. But definitely try a humidifier, or anything with eucalyptus in it, or spending some time with your face over a bowl of steaming-hot water (which feels awesome in and of itself, really. Put a towel over your head to really trap the steam. Maybe throw some eucalyptus in there!). I know a few people who swear by their neti pots, but I've never used one myself so I feel unqualified to comment there. Based on what I know about them, though, they're probably not a bad bet as long as you make sure you keep them clean. And of course a good decongestant can be worth its weight in gold, although in my experience it can be a bit of a project finding one that works for you.

So go forth and breathe freely! And warmly! Tomorrow is Feel-Good Friday, which I kind of can't believe - it's been another crazy-fast week, no?

Have a wonderful day!
- Sarah

Meat! (or not!)

So let's talk protein again, shall we?

How we process protein is a pretty individual experience and there's a whole spectrum of options, from vegan to full-on bloody steak carnivore. Where you land on that spectrum is something I'd recommend trying to let your body determine for itself.

"What in the heck do you mean by that, Sarah?" Good question! First of all, where on the spectrum do you feel drawn? Does the phrase "full-on bloody steak carnivore" make you feel barfy or does it just sound like a normal Monday night? Your own personal inclinations toward food are important and shouldn't be discounted, as they're often our own bodies steering us in the necessary directions. Children will often develop seemingly random aversions to foods that they're later determined to be allergic or sensitive to, for instance. And if you're one of the lucky ones who feel called to vegetarianism or veganism and attribute a whole host of fabulous improvements in your health and well-being to that diet change then that's awesome and you should absolutely keep on going with that.

However! It's also important to be mindful of how your body reacts to certain proteins, as well as how it acts in their absence. Personal example: I love the idea of being pescetarian. If it were up to just my taste buds and my brain I could happily spend the rest of my life getting all my protein from fish and quinoa and legumes and eggs. But even when I'm taking hardcore iron supplements I still pretty much require a good solid portion of red meat every two weeks or so - without it I get crabby and fatigued and I've gotten to the point where I can tell that that's what's going on, it's such a specific kind of fatigue and crabbiness.

Now, it's kind of my job to know myself and my body really really well, but I think you're totally up to this kind of self-study too! It just takes a little paying attention: does even free-range organic chicken make you feel a little weird and you've never been able to explain why? Do you go vegetarian every few months and spend the entire time inexplicably hungry even though you're eating everything in sight? Just a little careful attention paid to how you react to what's on your plate can open up a whole new world of information for you, so clue in, focus a little, and see what you can figure out!

I have absolutely no idea what's on tap for tomorrow. But maybe that's what makes it exciting? Anyway, I'll see you then. :)

- Sarah

Eyes On Your Own Work

I have a private client who is constantly comparing herself to other people. Often it's me, celebrities, or herself 30 years ago, but the main thing she says - and she says this at least once every session - is "do you think other people go through this?" By which she means a dizzy spell, or a moment of forgetfulness, or her latest health concern.

Now, this woman has a lot of physical issues (and, well, other issues too) and on the face of it I think that question is an attempt to find some inclusiveness and affirmation - she's trying to feel less alone, basically, in a body she feels continually lets her down. I absolutely understand that. It's an entirely natural impulse and should certainly not be condemned. But when combined with comparing oneself to others ... here's the thing: you have no idea what's going on inside someone. Many health problems do not manifest outwardly, and certainly mental or emotional problems tend to be invisible as well. You never know what kind of pain an outwardly "perfect" person might be hiding, and you also never know what they might be envying about you. My client can afford multiple personal training sessions every week and I don't think she's ever had a day job - I know a lot of people who would give up pretty much every enviable thing about themselves in exchange for that kind of security.

So rather than feeling bad about yourself because [insert your reason here], why not celebrate yourself for what is good? Whether it's your multiple college degrees, your children, or your absurdly delicious banana bread just find the good in yourself. Be proud of it, nurture it, and it will expand and grow and create more good things. Focus on your own good, and other people's good will stop feeling like a punch in the face.

The problem with comparisons is that they are almost never neutral - to compare yourself to someone is to initiate a competition in which no one ever wins, because either you decide that the other person is better than you and then you feel bad or you decide that you yourself are better and then what? What have you really achieved from that?

Some people derive their motivation from comparing themselves to others, and to those people I say: go on ahead with yourselves. Just be careful. Keep it healthy. Let yourself aspire but don't beat yourself up if you don't quite get there, and know when you've taken yourself as far as you realistically need to go.

And to those of you who find yourselves lacking next to seemingly everyone else: you are good. You are enough. You have beauty, and you have something to offer. I promise.

Tomorrow is Foodie Wednesday! I will see you then.

- Sarah

Welp.

So, I was in a pretty intense yoga teacher training all weekend and consequently I'm experiencing what can only be described as technical difficulties inside my own head. Therefore, this is another cop-out post, but I promise I'll be back with some real content tomorrow. In the meantime, here's some food for thought:

"You will lose everything. Your money, your power, your fame, your success, perhaps even your memories. Your looks will go. Loved ones will die. Your body will fall apart. Everything that seems permanent is impermanent and will be smashed. Experience will gradually, or not so gradually, strip away everything that it can strip away. Waking up means facing this reality with open eyes and no longer turning away. But right now, we stand on sacred and holy ground, for that which will be lost has not yet been lost, and realising this is the key to unspeakable joy. Whoever or whatever is in your life right now has not yet been taken away from you. This may sound trivial, obvious, like nothing, but really it is the key to everything, the why and how and wherefore of existence. Impermanence has already rendered everything and everyone around you so deeply holy and significant and worthy of your heartbreaking gratitude. Loss has already transfigured your life into an altar." - Jeff Foster

I will see you tomorrow. Have a lovely day today.
- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

I don't know what it's like where you are, but where I live it's a gorgeous fall morning, all golden and crisp. So this weekend, regardless of what fall is like in your neck of the woods I want you to get out there and enjoy it. Put on your favorite sweater and kick some leaves or drink hot chocolate or go to your nearest high school football game. Whatever fall looks like to you, that's what you're doing for the next three days.

I'll see you back here on Monday!
- Sarah

No, Darn It, I Am Not Going To Call This Post "Let There Be Light"

All righty, y'all, let's talk about light quality.

You'll get this advice in pretty much every decorating and feng shui guide you can find so I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but light is important in your living space. If you're doing a crossword puzzle or cross-stitching a pillow you want to be able to really see what you're doing, but if you're having a cocktail party a bunch of blazing lights aren't going to do much to promote the right mood. I didn't have to tell you that, right? But something I think people tend not to consider is how the light around them influences their daily lives.

For a while, I had a day job in which my office was lit by what felt like about fifty overhead florescent tubes. It was obnoxiously bright and the light had that horrible yellowish cast which already makes me grumpy but when combined with eight hours of staring at a computer screen also gave me terrible headaches. That office also had no windows, so when I decided to never again turn on the overhead lights and just instead bring in my own individual lamps it took two 60-watt desk lamps and one 100-watt floor lamp to make things mildly visible, but it became a much more pleasant place to work (at least in that respect) and I became a much more pleasant person for it.

So think about how you respond to light levels, certainly, but also think about how you respond to the color of light, or if in fact that's even a factor for you. I'm pretty color-sensitive, so buying light bulbs is a fiddly little trial-and-error process of discovering which ones keep everything more or less the color I feel it's supposed to be and which ones suffuse my space with sickly yellow or green tints. Maybe you don't think of yourself as being particularly color-sensitive, but maybe I also just helped you understand why you respond to certain places in certain ways, eh? If you just feel weird about a particular room in your house and you simply can't figure out why, try messing around with the light bulbs - most bulbs these days will tell you if they give warm or cool light, and once you figure out your preference life gets a little easier.

(Sidebar: I understand why incandescent lights are being phased out and I pretty much agree with it, but god it's making light bulb shopping even more of a process than it already was. But then again I'm rather compulsive about these things)

With regard to light levels, by the way, another thing to consider is where you need your light to be. One fixture over your bathroom mirror is going to make shaving or eyebrow-plucking tricky in terms of visibility, whereas a relatively balanced light source on either side of the mirror will ensure that you can see everything you need to. Your living room, on the other hand, probably doesn't need to be flooded with light and might feel more comfortable with a few carefully-placed lamps. And again, this is not new information, but it really does have an effect on your overall sense of self. Any time we can spare ourselves some small irritation, for instance the irritation that comes from wanting to do nothing more than sit in a comfy chair and read a good book but you can't quite see well enough to do so, we create in ourselves just a little bit of general goodwill toward the world. And that adds up.

Feel-Good Friday tomorrow! Already! Good grief this week's gone quickly. But it is very nice to be back.

- Sarah

Gotta Break A Few Eggs

Eggs are highly underrated, in my opinion. Why do we relegate them to breakfast if they're not deviled or made into salad? Which is nothing against deviled eggs or egg salad, by the way, I love both those things pretty deeply, but a good omelet makes a pretty fabulous meal any time of the day.

And by the way, let's just stop worrying about eggs and their relationship to our cholesterol unless our doctors specifically tell us to, okay? Egg yolks contain a lot of really excellent nutrients and egg white omelets are just sad. Anyway.

So yeah. Omelets! Here's how I make mine:

• turn your burner to somewhere between medium and medium-high, if that makes sense. Let your non-stick pan heat up a little and then melt some butter in there. You can probably skip the butter, actually, since you're using a non-stick pan but that's between you and your god. I will pretty much never skip butter for anything.
• while that's happening, or maybe before, crack two eggs into some kind of vessel - I like to use a measuring cup for easy pouring, but a bowl is fine - and beat the crap out of them with a fork or a whisk if you're feeling fancy. Get the whites and yolks as commingled as possible and make sure you've got a lot of little air bubbles in there. If you want herbs (dill and chives are always nice) or veggies in your omelet you can add them here.
• when your butter starts to brown (I have no idea when you should do this if you're not using butter. I guess when you feel like the pan is hot enough?) pour the eggs in and let them sit there until the edges start to firm up. At this point, use the corner of your spatula to drag the edges in toward the center, letting the uncooked egg spill over and fill in the gaps. I do this at three or four different places along the edge - I suppose you could probably just let the eggs just sit there in the pan until they're ready to flip, but the dragging is kind of fun and helps the eggs cook more efficiently.
• when the surface is mostly firm but still shiny, flip it! And then take it off the burner pretty much immediately, there'll still be enough heat in the pan to finish cooking the eggs.

What happens next is entirely dependent on what you're doing with your omelet: you can top half of it with cheese or sauteed mushrooms or some other kind of filling and then slide it onto a plate, letting the plain side fold over top of the filling, you can leave it plain and just roll it onto your plate as-is, or you can cut it into quarters and put it on buttered bread for a darn tasty sandwich. Totally up to you! Be adventurous, you could probably eat a different style of omelet every day this week, and I didn't even get into all the boiling or poaching options - throw that into the works and you could eat a different style of eggs every meal this week (neither I nor any sane doctor would really recommend that, though).

Tomorrow? There shall be light. Probably.

Have a wonderful day!
- Sarah

Off The Map

So here's the thing: it's all well and good to have a plan. In fact, it's generally a pretty good idea to have a plan - I know a few people who basically live only about a half-hour in advance and it seems to work okay for them but I think most of us need at least a little bit of a road map.

However! Don't get married to that map, you know? It's so easy to decide you're going in a particular direction and then just keep plugging in that direction regardless of whatever more interesting opportunities present themselves, but then who know what you might miss?

It's like hiking, if you're into that kind of thing. Yes, you want to have an idea of where you're going, lest your loved ones end up having to send a search party after you. But you have some options while you're on that trail - you can keep moving forward, paying attention only to the path in front of you, focused on getting where you're going as fast as you can, or you can slow down a little bit and take in the world around you. For one thing, there might be a bear nearby! But there's also flowers and interesting leaves and rocks and maybe other hikers around.

This applies on the small scale as well as the large scale, by the way. Definitely give yourself some flexibility in your overall life plan - I've known more than one person who almost missed out on really beautiful love because that person didn't fit into what they'd planned for themselves - but also let your daily plans change if an opportunity arises. I know I'm not the only person who has considered turning down social invitations because my apartment's a mess. And yeah, it's important to keep a tidy living space, and sometimes the invitations are to things that just sound like the very last thing you want to do and a messy home is an okay way out but it's all too easy to get into the habit of keeping to yourself and staying rigid in your schedule and subsequently never experiencing anything new. Sure, that new experience might turn out to be terrible but at least it's new! And chances are good that it'll actually be a good thing, but you truly never know until you're there.

I'm not advocating flittering around trying to experience absolutely everything, by the way. That's exhausting and ends up being kind of counterproductive because you're on sensory overload most of the time so your brain kind of stops processing any kind of information at all and you end up really not experiencing anything. But do leave yourself open to some options, I just don't want you to miss out on anything.

Foodie Wednesday tomorrow! It'll be yummy.

- Sarah

Ooh Ahh. Fascia!

Hello! As promised, I am back, and feeling (more or less) refreshed. The time change certainly helps one's outlook this time of year, no?

So, jumping right into it - there's a set of questions that I get a lot:

• "Why does my joint keep popping?" (usually asked about shoulders or hips)
• "Why am I more flexible in the evening than in the morning?"
• "Why can't I seem to correct this postural issue?"

And the answer to all these questions is ... fascia!

You know how when you cook a chicken, there's that membrane between the skin and the meat? That's fascia, and people have it too. And in people it can harden, depending on the person's level of activity and general postural tendencies, which is why we're all kind of stiff when we wake up - we've had at least a few hours of stillness, during which time our fascia starts to lock itself into place, but since that's only a few hours' worth of hardening it's easily corrected just by our regular daily movement. 

But that's also why it's so difficult to correct lifetime postural issues, because your fascia has had however many years you've been standing or sitting like that to make itself into that shape. The fascia becomes accustomed to the shape your body assumes and almost forms a shell around your muscles, holding you into that shape however healthy or unhealthy it may be for you.

And that is where the popping or sometimes crackling comes from (usually. Sometimes joint popping has other origins, but if it doesn't hurt then fascia is generally at least a contributing factor)! All those weird internal sounds are the sound of fascia loosening and rearranging itself, and you hear them less the more you stretch or move around because you're giving your fascia less opportunity to harden back up.

This is one of the reasons why regular massages are recommended, by the way. Not just to keep massage therapists in business, although we do want to keep the good ones around, and not just because it's a nice thing to do for yourself, although it is, but because (among other health benefits that I'm not qualified to intelligently discuss) massage is the best way to keep your fascia flexible and consequently help stave off the bad-posture-associated health issues I talked about way back when.

This is also why pilates and yoga are so great for one's posture, by the way, especially pilates - because the exercises are specifically designed to help retrain the fascia as well as strengthen the body's supporting muscles, which essentially builds us into a better literal shape than we had when we started.

So there you go! I bet you didn't think you'd be reading about membranes today, did you? But sometimes life takes us in unexpected directions. Which we'll talk a little more about tomorrow.

It's good to be back.
- Sarah

Everyone Needs A Break

So, remember when I gave you permission to take a break now and then? Well, I'm taking my own advice this week. Trust me, it's in everyone's best interests.

I will miss you, but I'll be back on November 4th! That's hardly any time at all. Spend some time in the archives, if you want to - a little refresher is never a bad thing.

See you in a week!
- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

Happy Friday! Let's have a dance party!

(once again, I'm going to let you provide the music. It is not mine to dictate what y'all are dancing to)

And then let's go into the weekend with the intention of resting, relaxing, and recharging. Make yourself a couple of really good meals, get as much sleep as you want or need, and we'll all feel like new when we meet back up here on Monday. Or at least, new-ish.

Have a lovely weekend!
- Sarah

Quick Bite Thursday

I have decided that I have nothing to offer today that can't be summed up in this quote:

"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?" - Gabrielle Roth

And now I'm off to do some dancing, singing, silence-enjoying, and hopefully find a story or to to be enchanted by. You should too. I'll see you tomorrow.

- Sarah

Love On A Plate

So we've all heard the phrase "food is not love." Which is generally true, but also ... not true. As with so many things, it all depends on how you look at it.

No meal is ever going to give you the kind of emotional fulfillment that reciprocated love will, although I've certainly had a few meals that came damn close. On the other hand, eating well is a very good way to take care of yourself and, by extension, show yourself love. I can't deny that a balanced, reasonably-portioned diet doesn't feel nearly as good as a hug does but I can say that over time a balanced, reasonably-portioned diet is going to make you feel pretty great about yourself, which will lead to more people wanting to hug you, so there's that.

Key phrase here: "reasonably-portioned." It's often so tempting to show ourselves love by giving ourselves as much of what we want as possible at any given time. It's an understandable impulse, but think about it for a minute - remember the last time you had a meal that was so good you didn't want to stop eating? So you didn't? How did you feel when you finally stopped? I'm guessing you felt at least a little bit gross, even though everything started wonderfully. I'm all about "everything in moderation, including moderation," believe me, but excess is almost always going to find a way to backfire on you. So learn to recognize when you're full, and give yourself permission to stop when you get there. If it's something you really like you can box up the leftovers and enjoy it all over again tomorrow, and if you really didn't like it all that much you can give it to your dog or your compost pile or your dining companion who did enjoy it. Never feel like you have to be a member of the Clean Plate Club just on sheer principle.

On the other side of it, some of us withhold pleasurable things from ourselves when we feel we don't "deserve" them, or because for whatever reason we're not that interested in taking care of ourselves. I am really not qualified to delve too far into this angle of the issue, but I will say this, and I'm speaking from personal experience: you deserve to be well-fed, you deserve to be cared for, and once you start the self-care ball rolling it gets easier and easier. And if you just can't seem to get the ball rolling even a little bit please seek out someone who can help you with it. You are worth it.

Whichever end of the spectrum you're on, here's your assignment for today: think about what you most want to eat today, and then go make it for yourself. Set a nice table, even if it's just you and your goldfish, and enjoy exactly as much of your meal as your body tells you you need. Then see how you feel for the rest of your day, and even tomorrow. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Once again, I have no idea what's on tap for tomorrow, but whatever it is it's going to be great. I'll see you then!

- Sarah

Just Stuff

Have you ever seen those photographs of people around the world with all of their possessions laid out in front of them? It is damn amazing how much more stuff Americans have than just about anyone else, and we all (or, well, most of us) know full well that we don't need most of it.

No, we really don't. Be honest, think about the last thing you decided to keep "because I might need it." How long ago did you make that decision? Have you needed it yet? If it's been six months, and I'm being generous with that, you don't need it.

Another thing to consider: have you ever found yourself needing something, and realized that you used to have just that thing but got rid of it somewhere along the way? How long did you kick yourself for that? Not very long, I'm guessing. Most likely what happened is that you went "oh man, I used to have one of those. Oh well." And then you went out and procured another one and that was that.

I think a lot of people feel defined by their "things," and certainly we all have things that are important to us and could be considered definitive, but be honest with yourself - how much of your stuff can really rightfully assume such an elevated position? If it's been sitting in a box in your garage for the last two years it's not definitive, at least not in the way you think it is.

And then there's the sentimental angle, but just as with the clothing thing, just because someone you love gave it to you that's not a good enough reason to keep something, and allowing something to gather dust on the back of a shelf where no one can even see it is probably not how you want to honor someone.

So here's your assignment today (yes, it's an assignment day!): go through your house and find ten things you really don't need and then get them the heck out of your house. Whether you throw them away or donate them or give them to someone else, it doesn't matter, just don't let them keep sharing your physical or mental space for one more minute. They don't have to be big things - I'm going to tackle my stash of rubber bands right after I get done writing this (yes, I do these assignments too!) - and you certainly don't have to stop at ten, but ten should be your baseline. But I'm betting that once you start you're going to want to keep going for a bit. It's amazing how much clearer you feel when you get rid of even a portion of the extraneous stuff.

Foodie Wednesday tomorrow! It's going to be delicious.

- Sarah

Getting Professional Help

So, what if you've identified what kind of exercise works for you, and you've experimented with mixing things up a little and you're pretty sure you're getting enough protein and whatnot and you're still feeling stalled on your fitness goals? It might be time to call in an expert.

I hear a lot of reasons why people are resistant to work with a personal trainer, so I thought today would be a good day to try to put some of the fears to rest.

• Reason #1: "I'm so out of shape, I'd never be able to do what they ask of me." This is actually the best possible reason to start working with a trainer! A responsible trainer is never going to take you someplace that isn't at least a little bit available to you. Yes, you will get pushed to your limits and yes, it will be difficult, but that's how you improve. One of the things that people who do work with trainers really like is the fact that there's someone holding them accountable and encouraging them to work just a little harder.
• Reason #2: "All trainers are perky gym people, and that irritates me." It is true that a lot of trainers are in fact dudebros and barbie dolls, but certainly not all of us. If you're really concerned about personality conflicts, consider inquiring about personal training at a nearby yoga or pilates studio - much less potential for getting paired with a stereotypical "gym-type" trainer, although there is a stronger possibility of getting paired with a New Age hippie, but that might work for you! It is also worth considering that regardless of personality type and outward appearance, 99.7% (at least) of personal trainers went into that field out of a genuine desire to help people get healthier and more fit. A good trainer only has your best interests at heart, truly, and we do not judge. I promise.
• Reason #3: "It's so expensive." This is a tough one to refute; it is indeed a bit of an investment to work with a trainer. But first of all, and most importantly, you and your health are worth it. Secondly, there is almost always a discount offered for buying a package of sessions rather than just one at a time - not a huge discount, granted, but every little bit helps. Thirdly, there are always options to consider: working with a trainer once a month rather than once (or more) a week, asking for training gift certificates for gift-giving holidays, and if you happen to be friends or acquaintance with a trainer you can offer a trade! I've trained people in exchange for baked goods and massages and it's worked out rather nicely for everyone involved.

So there you go! No excuses, now. Give it a try, even if it's just one session. You never know when fabulous things might happen.

Tomorrow we're going all minimalist! Indeed.

Have a lovely day.

- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

Once again, my friends, it is Feel-Good Friday! And your directive for this weekend is to try something new. You know that thing you keep saying you want to do but you never do it? This is the weekend that you do it. And it might be disappointing or it might be better than you ever thought possible, but there's only one way to find out. So go do it! And either way, enjoy the heck out of it!

I'll see you back here on Monday.

- Sarah

Do You Smell That?

Smell is a pretty underrated sense, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, it's directly connected to both taste and memory! That's pretty damn cool. Smell is also, unfortunately, the source of a lot of unavoidable unhappiness, as anyone who has ever lived in an apartment building with weird air circulation, visited New York City in the summertime, or stood near a 12-year-old boy knows all too well. But that's not why we're here today! We're here to discuss using scent to make the world a better place, albeit in sort of a microcosmic fashion. 

First off, if you wear perfume or cologne go easy on it for the love of little green apples. Perfume is an up-close thing, it should not make you easily recognizable from twenty feet away. Really think about it for a second - the idea is that someone who's been very close to you will be reminded of you when they catch a whiff of the same thing elsewhere, right? So you want people who are special to you to think of you in relation to certain scents. So you see how it sort of loses its punch when every single person you've interacted with on a given day knows what you smell like without even having to get within handshake distance?

Anyway, that's quite enough preachiness from me. That's your scent profile - for lack of a better term - as it relates to other people, let's move on to how it relates to you.

And once again we're back on the "how do you feel when you walk into your house" tip, only this time, obviously, it's scent-related. I can't be the only person who is pretty strongly affected by what my place smells like when I walk in the front door, can I? Because those days when the cat is having digestive issues or the neighbors are preparing one of their wall-to-wall garlic and onion smorgasbords (seriously, what are they cooking in there?!) ... well, those days seem to take a little extra work just to keep them on an even keel. On the other hand, the days when I walk in the door and smell fresh flowers or whatever's in the crock-pot or the essential oil diffuser I forgot to turn off before I left don't always turn out to be the best days ever but they are certainly helped along by that little olfactory gesture.

So, there's your assignment for today - make your place smell nice, if it doesn't already! Go to Target, be the weirdo smelling everything in the candle aisle (don't worry, there are at least three weirdos of the same stripe who are already there). Or go to the hardware store and track down a good air neutralizer if you'd prefer your place smell like nothing at all, there's nothing wrong with that.

A word, though - I highly recommend naturally-based scents. Read the label, look for the words "essential oils" or "all-natural," you know, hippie stuff like that. First of all, it's so much better for you and whatever creatures you voluntarily share your home with. Secondly, visitors who are sensitive to chemical scents (and many, many people fall into that category these days) will not enjoy spending time in your home in the slightest, and I'm guessing that's the opposite of how you'd like them to feel, yes? So yeah, natural candles, or heck, get an essential oil diffuser and oils to go with it (count on an essential oils post sometime in the near future, by the way - I just realized I have WAY more to say about that topic). And have fun with it! Change it up according to the weather or the time of day or whatever you happen to be listening to on the stereo. Make the scent/mood connection work for you and as with everything else, enjoy it as thoroughly as possible.

Feel-Good Friday tomorrow! See you then.

- Sarah

When's Dinner?

So just as yesterday I expanded on the whole sleep thing, today I'm building off of something I said way back here: how often do you need to eat?

And here's the thing - just as with pretty much everything I talk about here, it's a really personal thing. There are, of course, some general guidelines; if you're athletic and/or have a naturally high metabolism you'll probably do well eating five or six equally-sized but small meals a day spaced at two- to three-hour intervals, whereas if you're more sedentary you might find that you're perfectly fine with just the regular three meals at the generally-accepted times.

The important thing is recognizing what is and isn't working (there's that whole mindfulness business again!), but I will admit it can be difficult sometimes to recognize how your eating habits are serving you. Obviously, too many calories = weight gain and too few calories leads to weight loss and also crabbiness and fatigue if you're already at the low end of the weight spectrum, but what about timing? I've spoken to so many people who sleep horribly for no reason that they can see, and then it turns out that they eat dinner at like 9:30 at night. You have to give yourself time to digest! Calories are energy after all, actual energy, and that energy has to go somewhere. The calories from dinner eaten at a normal time (say, 6:00-8:00 or thereabouts) will go toward your evening activities and be sufficiently expended by the time you get to bed, but if you go to bed immediately after you eat then those calories have nowhere to go but your brain, which will (if your brain is anything like mine) keep you up for hours talking complete nonsense at you. Or those calories will demand that you get out of bed and do something, darn it, and sure you'll have gained a few extra hours of productivity that you might not have had otherwise but you'll feel like a zombie the next day.

Along the lines of what is and isn't working, there's the food sensitivity issue, which probably needs its own post but which I'm really probably not equipped to deal with here to be honest. All I will say is that there are a lot of reasons why eating something might make you feel crappy and if you legitimately feel better by cutting something out of your diet than go on with your bad self, just make sure that you're still getting all of the nutrients you need. But it takes an actual allergist to diagnose an allergy, and if you cut something out of your diet because you feel like you should for whatever reason and it either doesn't make you feel better or it actually makes you feel worse then for god's sake start eating that stuff again, whatever it was. Common sense, y'all. Also mindfulness. Listen to what your body tells you, it will almost never steer you wrong. And when it does, as is so often the case this time of year where Halloween candy is concerned (damn you, weird little candy corn pumpkins!), your common sense will rein it in.

Tomorrow we're getting smelly. But probably not in the way you're thinking. But I could be wrong! Either way, see you then.

- Sarah

Come On, Like I Wasn't Going To Call This Post "In Bed"

I touched on this super-briefly a few weeks ago, but it seemed like something that should be gotten into a little more in-depth. Because it's all well and good to resolve to get more sleep, but if something's off with your bed it's not going to be that easy.

I've known people who could sleep pretty much anywhere. It was as if they said "okay, I'm going to sleep now" and then they chose a spot, laid down, closed their eyes, and bam. Sleep. If you are one of those people my hat is off to you and I probably have nothing to offer you today, but in the strong likelihood that you're not, well, let's start with the foundation.

I am of the opinion that one's bed should be as welcoming as possible, given the fact that one spends approximately a third of one's life in there. I also know that everyone has a different definition of "welcoming." So ... there's your starting point. Do you look at your bed and think "yes, that is an excellent place to be." If not, then why not? Most bed-related stuff is easy and pretty cheap to adjust; get a topper or a featherbed if your mattress is too firm, add or subtract pillows depending on your preference and maybe consider shopping around for a pillow type that suits you better if you think you might need more or less head support than you're getting right now, if your sheets feel like sandpaper you can find an all-cotton set with a thread count of at least 300 for really pretty cheap if you know where to look (and if any of those places want to pay me to recommend them I am all for that, but until then you're an intelligent and reasonable person and I'm sure you know the places I'm talking about). And by the way, yes, all-cotton is important. Or at the very least, all-natural fibers - sheets with polyester in them make you sweaty and they pill like crazy, neither of which are terribly welcoming. Except maybe that is your definition of "welcoming," but that's between you and your god and I am way off track here.

Just start with the mattress and work your way up, considering every element on your way there: mattress, pillows, sheets, blankets (both primary and, if necessary, supplementary). Don't even worry about being practical right now, just figure out what everything would ideally be like if it were up to you. Write it down, even! And then look at the list and figure out how you're going to make it, or a close-enough version of it, happen.

Now, yes, you might share your bed with someone who has vastly different ideas of what constitutes "welcoming," but trust me, there is always a work-around. If you're close enough to someone to be regularly sharing a bed with them you should be capable of communicating your needs and finding a solution that works for everyone. And if you're not, well, I am not equipped to help you with that here but I would strongly recommend that you find someone who is. Anyway.

This is one of those things that people tend to put aside, I think, like it gets bumped way down on the priority list for whatever reason and I guess I sort of understand that but I also don't. Like I said, you spend about a third of your life in there! It's worth prioritizing a third of your life! So what if no one sees it but you? You are the most important thing in your entire life! Or at least you should be. I'm a huge believer in crafting your life to be as you-friendly as possible, and I firmly believe that that starts with your bed. So get in there, get things as cozy as you can, and then enjoy all the fabulousness that results from that.

And I totally recommend making your bed every morning, but that might be another post altogether.

Foodie Wednesday tomorrow! I know, I'm excited too.

Have a beautiful day!
- Sarah

You Gotta Mix It Up!

So, I'm about to seemingly directly contradict myself here, but remember when I talked about how you have to do something you like in order to maintain a fitness regimen? Well, you also have to mix it up a bit.

Which is not to say you should intersperse doing what you enjoy with forcing yourself through something that makes you miserable (save that for, I dunno, your desk job or whatever), just that it's helpful to not just do one thing all the time. It's like ... say you love gelato. In particular, you love lemon gelato. So you have lemon gelato every single day. But what happens? Right, you get dead sick of lemon gelato and really just gelato in general and you'd prefer just about anything else, or even nothing at all. And then one day the gelato person gives you espresso gelato instead and you're all "this is great! I love gelato again!" And the next day you might go back to lemon but it seems to taste a little better than it did before.

If you will forgive my tortured metaphor (or would it be simile, since I did use "it's like"? ANYWAY), a similar thing happens with your muscles. If you make them do basically the same thing over and over again they get bored and complacent and they stop processing information effectively, kind of like almost anyone who's ever taken a junior-high math class. But if you mix it up now and then, throw yourself a curve ball on a regular basis, your muscles go, "WHOA! What the heck is this?! This is new and exciting and we have to figure it out!" and they kick back into high-functioning mode and then you feel awesome, if perhaps a bit sore.

It doesn't even have to be all that different, really, and it doesn't have to be all the time. When I feel like my pilates practice is getting stale all I have to do is take a simple yoga class to get myself feeling like I'm working again. If you're already a yogi it might be as simple as trying an Ashtanga class rather than your regular Hatha practice. Maybe getting out for a hike now and then complements your cycling, or a little golf helps your rowing. It's a question only you can answer, and it's as simple as "what's another thing you like to do?" Answer that, and you're on your way!

Tomorrow I'm going to talk about your bed. Oh yes. See you then!

- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

I have no directive for you today. Sometime feeling good involves embracing laziness, and given the current weather here (rainy, chilly) laziness is almost required. I will be in yoga teacher training for the next three days, so I'll be the opposite of lazy, but you can take my portion of laziness if you'd like. Or you can be Super Productive Person! Whatever makes you happy, really, that's the whole point of Feel-Good Friday.

Actually, you know what? You should probably have a dance party somewhere in there. Just because the world needs more dance parties.

So have a lovely weekend. On Monday, fitness!

- Sarah

Nothing Wrong With A Solid B

Everything is not going to be perfectly-done all the time. This post, for example - I just spent a rather embarrassingly long time trying to figure out how to start it before I threw up my hands, said "to heck with it" (maybe I used different words there ...), and allowed it to start right here. And you know what? That's okay. We're here now, anyway.

It's something I've always struggled with - if I'm going to do something, I want to be a complete rockstar at it, and often I am! But sometimes I'm just not. Gift-wrapping, for instance - mine will always be at least a little bit off, with a wonky bow. Also, cooking rice - even in a rice cooker I end up with as much sticky mess as usable rice. I could seriously go on and on here, but that would be a little silly. The point is, it is also silly to expect oneself to be good at absolutely everything.

I know I'm not alone in this, either. I'm not going to get into the psychology of it, I think that's a little unnecessarily deep for our purposes, and anyway I don't know if it even matters how we all got here. The most important thing, as far as I'm concerned, is that we give ourselves permission to not be completely amazing at everything all the time. Maintaining that level of expectation for yourself is exhausting, no? Relax a little. Your world will not fall apart because you're getting B-level results on something.

Because here's the thing: no one notices except you. Really. No one can tell that your eyeliner is a little asymmetrical. No one realized that you put a little too much mustard in the deviled eggs. Remember that day you didn't catch that you were wearing mismatched socks until you took them off that night and then you wondered why the hell nobody told you? That's because nobody noticed! And do you know why? Because they were all too busy worrying about what everyone else was thinking about whatever they thought they'd done a crappy job at just then. That might be one of the worst sentences I've ever written, but in the spirit of this piece I'm leaving it in! I'm learning right along with y'all!

It should also be stated that anyone who would genuinely judge you for not being perfect is frickin' toxic and not someone you want in your life. For real. But you knew that, right?

So, yeah. Get a little messy! Let yourself fail a little bit. At the very least you'll have had a learning experience, whether it's that you've learned what not to do next time or you've learned that you don't actually care all that much. Either way, you know a little more than you did before.

Feel-Good Friday tomorrow! Already! Has this week been crazy-fast for anyone else, or is it just me?

- Sarah

It's Soup-er! (god, I'm so sorry for that. Not sorry enough to come up with a different title, though)

You know what's great about this time of year? Lots of things, but specifically for today? It's cool enough that eating soup feels like something a sane person would do. Yes. And you know what's great about soup? It's just about the easiest thing in the entire world.

Seriously, here's all you need to assemble a decent soup: stock (homemade if you're feeling fancy, but I just use the stuff in the carton), vegetables (mirepoix [carrots, onion, and celery] or the Cajun holy trinity [bell peppers, onion, and celery] are a good jumping-off point), something starchy like potatoes or beans, and some kind of protein (if you're vegetarian or vegan the beans and the protein can be one and the same). Maybe some herbs. That's all! Chop everything up into bite-sized pieces, saute the veggies, add the stock and let that all get to know each other for a few minutes, then add your starchiness and your protein and just leave it alone until you're ready for it. Maybe stir it now and then. Heck, throw it together in a Crock-Pot and you can forget about it for several hours. And then you have dinner! Throw in a green salad on the side and maybe some nice crusty bread and it's a darn well-balanced dinner at that.

If you want chili, it's the same basic process: saute your veggies and your spices (and your meat, if you include that), add water and beans (if you're a chili-with-beans person, I understand some people consider beans in chili to be a sacrilege) and bring that to a boil, add all the tomato-y stuff and then just let it go to town. Stir and taste occasionally. Make some cornbread while you're waiting. Easy-peasy.

But it doesn't stop there! If you're a small household and/or if you make enough soup or chili you've got another several days' worth of meals, either for near-future consumption or to freeze for later. I can only speak from the perspective of my one-person household, but it's weirdly comforting on cold days when I just don't feel like cooking to know that there's a serving of a lovely white bean and sage soup I could thaw out.

So yeah. Soup! Comforting, good for what ails you, and did I mention cheap? Well it is! Soup might be a perfect food, come to think of it. So give it a whirl! You'll probably never eat that canned crap again.

As for tomorrow ... well, tomorrow is a mystery. But whatever it is, it's going to be exciting. Probably. We'll find out together!

See you then. 
- Sarah

Get Your House In Order

So, I kind of alluded to this way back when but (as with so many other things I write about) I decided it needed its own post. 

You know how your living space just feels so much better after a good cleaning? Kind of similar to how you feel after a good long shower on a hot day? And how you, in turn, feel so much better inside that clean living space?

Nearly every major religion follows some form of ritual purification, in which a place or person is cleansed in order to prepare it/them for a special activity. Hey kids, I think we all just figured out where the phrase "cleanliness is next to godliness" came from! But anyway, yeah, just as you wouldn't put on an evening gown immediately after going for a five-mile run it doesn't make sense to hold a special event in a messy room. Most conventional wisdom holds that cleansing the space contributes to the power of the ritual by clearing out stale or harmful energy and preparing the space for what's to come.

And here's the thing - why not try to think of every day as a special occasion? Because it really kind of is, I mean, the fact that you managed to be born at all is a pretty amazing coincidence and every day that you're still standing is cause to celebrate, even a little tiny bit, even those days when everything is just flat-out wrong and you'd be perfectly fine curling up on the couch with a blanket over your head and waiting for it to be tomorrow. But I digress.

My point - and I swear to whatever you want me to swear to, I really do have one - is that if you're going to practice mindfulness and broaden your scope (and I'm hoping that if you're reading this blog on the regular that is a part of your general plan) why not start with your living space? Clear out all the spiritual and physical gunk and let your home as well as yourself start each day with (more or less) clean and sparkling energy. It's like a hot shower for your home!

Now, I'm not advocating neat-freak-ness. That would make me a hypocrite, as anyone who has ever seen the inside of my car can attest (and yes, I am very aware that I should keep my car more clean. Here we have a sterling example of me needing to take my own advice). Just, y'know, a little straightening up at the end of the day. Push the vacuum around before the dust bunnies start to take over, even if it's right before the encroachment starts. Dust your flat surfaces if they're looking a little dull. Go to bed with a more or less tidy home and you'll wake up to inspiration and hopefulness. I know it sounds like hippie-dippy nonsense, but I'm dead serious.

Tomorrow's Foodie Wednesday, wherein I will be much less ... oh dear, I almost said "fruity." Oh look, I just did. It's very hard for me to resist a terrible pun. Anyway, I'll see you then!

- Sarah

Just Checking In

Happy Monday! I hope you had a gorgeous weekend.

Today is Assessment Day! Which kind of sounds like employee review day and I guess in a way it kind of is, but it shouldn't be nearly as intimidating. I don't think. Anyway.

We've spent a little over a month talking about little and not-so-little ways to be happier and healthier, so I think this is a good time to take a look back and check in with yourself and see how you're doing. How's your breath? Are you hydrated and well-fed? How are you feeling about your exercise routine? Basically, I'd like you to take a look at your general situation and think honestly about how you feel about it and what adjustments - if any - you'd like to make. We all need a little self-assessment from time to time! So take a swing through the previous posts if you'd like a little inspiration, and feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email if you're not seeing the kind of suggestions you know you need.

And really, add a little self-assessment to your personal schedule; every month or so, just take a look at how things are going with you and decide if you need to make any changes. And then make them! 

Here's the thing about changes, though - it's easy to decide to make big, sweeping ones that are going to make everything awesome forever and ever amen. And sometimes those kinds of changes are necessary and executable in an all-at-once kind of format and you come out the other side maybe a little shaken or fatigued but ultimately feeling exactly like you knew you would. But sometimes those changes are maybe a little too big to take on all at once, in which case it can be easy to get discouraged and scrap the whole thing, so I think most of the time it's useful to work in a framework of small steps. Which doesn't mean that you can't decide on the big sweeping change! Far from it, actually - you can identify the big change and then break it down into its baby steps and go from there. So if you need to eat more healthily, you can decide that the first step is to introduce more vegetables and maybe the first step of that is to find one opportunity every day to either add a vegetable to something you're already eating or to replace something you'd planned on eating with a vegetable alternative. I always say in my pilates classes, but I think it applies to life in general, that once you perfect a small shape (or in this case, small step) you can start to grow it into a bigger shape/step. By the way, if you're a list-maker it is tremendously satisfying to plot out the baby steps and then cross them off as you take them.

So there's your assignment for today - good luck, have fun, and don't be afraid to ask for help! And I'll see you tomorrow, and we'll talk about your house some more. It's going to be great.

- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

Yay, it's Feel-Good Friday again!

This edition has an assignment - starting this morning, and over the course of the weekend, seek out at least five things/moments/people that genuinely make you smile. Essentially, I want you to spend the weekend making yourself as happy as possible. And then go into Monday saying, "I had a tremendously happy weekend and I'm going to carry that into this week!" rather than, "boo, it's Monday." Sound good? I will see you then.

- Sarah

How Big Is Your Picture?

In Tuesday's post I talked about slowing down and taking a break. Very important! But there's another component to slowing down, I think, and I almost talked about it on Tuesday but decided it needed its own post. And it turned out to be kind of a short post, but I still think it's important.

How often do you really look at the world around you? How readily do you notice little changes that have occurred, like the leaves changing color or the neighbors re-planting their window boxes or the city finally fixing that street sign that someone drove into three weeks ago? It's easy to get so wrapped up in our daily minutiae that we forget to participate in the bigger picture, but the bigger picture is so important! And it's beautiful and it's strange and you are really missing out if you're not an active participant. Which is why I think it's such an important part of slowing down and taking a break, because if you're not aware of the bigger picture then you're really just swapping out the kind of lack of awareness that happens when you're in Go Mode for the lack of awareness that occurs when your mind goes idle. And any kind of lack of awareness is to be avoided, as far as I'm concerned.

That sounds way more preachy than I'd like, but it's true. I could sit here and list all the miraculous little things I've experienced this week but that's just my bigger picture, yours might be completely different. Or it might be the same, with a lot of feathers and lucky coins in your footpath and changes in the trees and an amazing parade of humanity at the riverfront, but only you know for sure.

So that's your assignment for today (and every day, really) - engage in the bigger picture, if you're not already. Try to look at your everyday surroundings as if you've never seen them before. Find something beautiful in the mundane. I guarantee you will never regret it.

Tomorrow is Feel-Good Friday! Again! Already! (thank goodness, honestly, I'm pretty happy to see the back end of this week)

Have a beautiful day.
- Sarah

Treat Yo' Self!*

So I've talked about portions and protein and sensible snacks and all that but you know what? Sometimes you just have to eat some damn cake, or french fries, or whatever thing you think you're not "supposed" to have just because some jerk like me said it wasn't a great idea.

It's obviously not something you really want to make a regular habit of, but as long as you're not all, "every Tuesday is Pie For Breakfast Day!" what's the harm in being a little decadent now and then? Ultimately, we want food to not be our enemy - it's much too important to not have on our sides - and the best way to make it the enemy is to restrict yourself beyond all bounds of reason.

I remember a work Christmas party where a co-worker's wife, who was on some weight-loss program but I forget which one, had brought her own dinner. And that dinner was ... broccoli. Seriously. The dinner the rest of us were served was actually pretty terrible but I don't know if I'll ever forget how resentful she looked of whatever it was we were eating, like the fact that we were allowed to eat it and she wasn't was a deep personal insult. And in a way, it was. But it didn't have to be. I don't know if she'd been told by her program to just eat broccoli or if it was a decision she'd made for herself, but it seems to me that if you have the willpower to bring your own container of broccoli to a holiday party you also have the willpower to just eat a diet-sized portion of whatever everyone else is eating. But possibly I'm wrong on this, and I'm willing to accept that.

Ultimately, though, my feeling is that food is for enjoyment as much as it is for nourishment. Sure, it's important to find a balance between enjoyment and nourishment, and sometimes that balance is found in foods that are both healthy and tasty but sometimes the balance is found in the fact that you've eaten very healthily for the last couple of weeks and it's Sunday afternoon and dammit you want a milkshake. Nothing wrong with that at all! Enjoy the crap out of that milkshake and then go back to the excellent habits you've been cultivating, no harm no foul.

It all, all the time, always comes down to mindfulness and balance. Think about what you've done, what you're doing, and what you're going to do and you'll know what you can give yourself the green light on. Yes you will. You already know what to do.

Tomorrow ... well, tomorrow is a mystery. But whatever it is, it'll be very exciting. See you then!

- Sarah

*thanks and love to Parks & Recreation. If you're not watching it, you should be.

I'm Back! And Now It's Break Time.

Happy October! Sorry for the unintentional hiatus yesterday - my laptop went flooey, and the thing that I learned was that you (or at least I) can't write a blog post on your phone! At least not with Blogger! But the important thing is we're here now, right? Right.

So it feels kind of thematically appropriate to talk about just taking a dang break sometimes. Yes, it can be really hard to give yourself permission to do so. Yes, you might have a bunch of people who also don't want to give you permission to do so. Yes, modern life expects us to be multitasking pretty much every waking minute of our lives, but you know what? You don't actually have to. No, you don't. Not every single minute. 

By all means, do what you need to do to keep the lights on and food on your table. Take care of your kids and your pets and your other assorted loved ones, I would never tell you otherwise. But you don't have to be perfect about it and you don't have to do it to the detriment of your health and well-being, and I can just about guarantee that if you're giving all of your time and energy to other people and none to yourself your health and well-being are going to suffer.

So carve out some time for yourself, for pete's sake! Put it on your calendar if you have to. Even if it's just 15 minutes once or twice a week for now, designate that time and take it (just try to increase it eventually, if it's only 15 minutes once or twice a week. Promise me). Make a dent in that stack of magazines that's piled up on your coffee table or take a walk through your favorite part of your neighborhood or get a pedicure or just sit quietly and stare at the wall, whatever you need to do just let yourself do it. If you're having trouble giving yourself permission, remember that this self-refreshing time will make you a WAY better employee/spouse/parent/ferret-owner than always giving of yourself and never giving to yourself. Do we have a deal? I think we have a deal.

Foodie Wednesday tomorrow! It's going to be tasty.

- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

Happy Friday! We made it! Let's have a dance party! As dance music tastes are wildly subjective, I will not be providing music - just call up whatever you feel like dancing to right now and go to town.

All righty! The other portion of Feel-Good Friday today is this. Chances are good that you've already seen it but just in case you haven't ... this is one of those things that I'm a little bit crazy-jealous that I didn't write it myself but mostly I'm just so glad that it exists.

Have a fabulous weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday with some more fitness bidness (unless I change my mind). Now get back to your dance party!

- Sarah

Well, Duh.

Apparently my theme this week is promising one topic and then giving you another one instead. I'm keeping you on your toes! So here's what I was originally going to talk about on Tuesday but then didn't, because reasons.

Chances are really good that whatever you need to do, you already know what it is. Whether it's changing your eating habits or changing your sheets, you know what's just not working for you. Right? So fix it! Sure, Rome wasn't built in a day, but make a game plan, plot out the baby steps, follow through and you'll be great! Or decide that even though you know you need to change this you're just not invested enough to actually do it. There's really nothing wrong with that, I don't think - just be honest with yourself. I have way more respect for people who say, "I should probably lose weight, but I just love cake and cheeseburgers too much," than people who tell me that they don't understand why they're not losing weight and then later tell me about how excited they are that it's Halloween candy season and that they've eaten two whole bags of it in the last five days (seriously. I hear this kind of stuff all the time).

On the other hand, sometimes we don't know what's not working. As I've said before, it can be really hard to tell when you're dehydrated. On a personal note, when I started teaching pilates full-time it for some reason took me a shamefully long time to figure out that I'd need to majorly increase my calorie intake in order to keep up with the fact that I was now exercising a whole lot more than I had been and I was kind of a wreck for several months. When you don't know what's not working, never be afraid to ask for help. Ask your doctor, ask a health-minded friend, heck, ask me!

So there's today's super-simple assignment: identify what's not working, and fix it. Or don't! Just make a conscious decision either way.

Feel-Good Friday tomorrow! Frankly, I'd declare today Feel-Good Friday if I could but unfortunately I don't have that kind of authority. But we can make it until then. It's something to look forward to!

- Sarah

On Your Plate

It occurred to me that as far as Foodie Wednesdays go, there's not much point in talking about meals until we've established what comprises a meal, exactly. And according to whomever determines these things that seems to change on a fairly regular basis but the last time I checked a meal was supposed to be half vegetables, one-quarter protein, and one-quarter starch. I suspect that these proportions can be fiddled with a little, especially if you're vegetarian or vegan, but I think this is a good jumping-off point.

The end. See you tomorrow!

Just kidding.

My real point today is that yes, these are the proportions, but as for what actual food is filling those proportions? I encourage you to get creative with that. 

For example, "breakfast for dinner." Why is this such a big deal? Since when are scrambled eggs and pancakes only to be eaten before noon? Similarly, who says you can't eat a turkey sandwich for breakfast if that's what you feel is your best morning fuel? Find what works best for you and who cares if it's conventionally agreed upon!

Along the same lines, meal size. Not everybody does best with dinner being their largest meal of the day. I hear a lot that the optimal meal sizes are a medium breakfast, a large lunch, and a tiny dinner, but that has never worked for me at all - all a medium-to-large breakfast does for me is make me want to laze around the entire rest of the day. Really what I need is five or six equally-sized small meals taken in 2.5-3 hour intervals, but that's me. You're probably different, and that's okay!

So to heck with convention. Listen to your body and find what works best for you, even if it's not what everyone else thinks you should be doing (that applies to a lot more than meals when you get right down to it, no?). I know I've said it before, but it always bears repeating - when your body is properly fueled, many other things will start functioning more effectively for you too.

Tomorrow? Full disclosure. That's all I'm saying right now.

- Sarah

I Tried Really Hard Not To Call This Post "Go With the Flow," But I'm Afraid I Failed

So the topic that I alluded to yesterday? Yep, changed my mind - which we are all allowed to do from time to time. We'll get there at some point, but today is for talking about what makes you happy.

"Hobby" is such a trivial word, isn't it? I wish there were a different way to talk about the things we love to do in our spare time, because they really are hugely important. Some people are lucky enough to do what they love for a living, but even they cultivate other pastimes on the side and as for everyone else, well, I firmly believe that they (you?) need those side pastimes in order to truly live.

What I'm talking about here is not that sort of "whee, I'm having fun!" kind of happiness, by the way - I'm talking about flow. I'm talking about finding and engaging in activities that make you feel more alive and yourself and real than, say, washing the dishes or driving to work. Unless you can find a state of flow in washing the dishes or driving to work, in which case you should really be the one with the blog here, probably.

From the Wikipedia article I linked to above: "the hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task," and seriously, what is the point of being alive if you can't find joy in at least one moment every day? Okay, that might be a little dramatic and a bit of an overstatement - some days are just going to be straight-up free of happiness and all we can do is power through and come out the other side, that's just a damn fact - but I think an unfortunate number of people live their entire lives like that and it makes me incredibly sad.

So because the very last thing any of us want is for me to be sad, here's today's assignment: spend a little time this week in a state of flow. If you don't know how to get there, then your assignment is to figure it out. Surely you know what you like to do, right? Or you have an inkling? Go ahead and do it, and let yourself get immersed. Don't worry about what anyone else might think about it, this is your flow, not theirs. Then start carving out regular bits of time for yourself for this ... what shall we call it? "Flow-time" is not good at all, but I'm not coming up with anything better. Leave a suggestion in the comments if you have one! Anyway. Regular bits of time to let yourself flow. Your self will thank you, and the rest of the world will find ways to thank you too.

Foodie Wednesday tomorrow! How exciting is that? So exciting. See you then.

- Sarah

Catching Zzzs

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend was fabulous, and that you did fabulous things for yourself.

So remember when I said last week that a lot of things can contribute to your fitness regimen not achieving what you'd like? Well, here's another one and I can just about guarantee that you're not expecting it (much like the Spanish Inquisition. Sorry, that was terrible, but I couldn't resist. Anyway).

Sleep. For real.

Lack of sleep sends your metabolism into stress mode, wherein it assumes that something terrible is either happening or about to happen and so it not only conserves calories but also makes you crave more calories to ensure that you'll be adequately fueled during the ongoing/upcoming catastrophe. Additionally, if you're exhausted and therefore cranky you'll probably crave "comfort food" in an effort to stave off said crankiness.

So ... get more sleep! Yeah, I know, sometimes it's really not that easy but it's important to try. Noisy neighbors? White noise machine. Snoring bedmate? Earplugs, or possibly a visit to a sleep apnea specialist or an ear, nose, and throat doctor if the situation is really dire. Uncomfortable bed? Add a topper, or get new pillows. Also, many of my colleagues swear by essential oils and I've found that they really are onto something there - a little lavender or vetiver on the soles of your feet can do wonders when nothing else is working. 

On top of the metabolic benefits, more sleep is a good way to improve so many other things - your skin, your brain function, your general outlook. Much like drinking more water and breathing more deeply, getting more and better sleep is a relatively minor act that has such major results you'd be silly not to at least give it a try. Heck, take a nap right now! (don't tell your boss I told you that)

Tomorrow, we're getting obvious. Join me then to find out just what the heck I mean by that.

In the mean time, have a lovely day!
- Sarah

Feel-Good Friday!

We made it through another week! Huzzah! To celebrate, today's Feel-Good Friday is all about you. Yes, you.

What's going to make you feel good this weekend? Hot bath? Fabulous meal? Making some art? Two hours doing absolutely nothing, with the phone turned off? Set an intention for your weekend, find that one perfect activity or event or feeling that's going to send you into Monday morning full of as much joy and well-being as it's realistically possible to experience on a Monday morning, and then make that thing happen! Feel free to share it in the comments, if you'd like. And I'll see your happy selves back here on Monday to talk about more fitness stuff.

Have a gorgeous weekend!
- Sarah