Guest guest Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Hi Helena - not to nit pick, but perhaps to wrap the physical health value in slightly different words. I like having values that can be acted upon under pretty much any conditions. Being healthy is tricky because sometimes it is not a choice. Or perhaps, we pay the price years after the choices were made. I paid a cancer debt and a hepatitis C debt years after I had let go of the choices that likely precipitated those health costs.Living healthy as a value is one that can be done even when you are ill. It is a choice.Living healthy is a value of mine that I neglected in some regards for a long time. As many on the list know, I have a really severe drug and alcohol history (well, and depression, and, er uh?). I let go of that bit of unhealthy living in 1985. I also smoked like a fiend--2 packs a day. I let go of that in 1987. For many years following, I ate OK and completely neglected physical exercise. Two years ago, I gave myself a present for my 55th birthday. I gave myself a yoga practice. I posted it on facebook and was teasing that it was secret for a couple months before my birthday. Here is my facebook note from 2009:http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=265816790789Appreciating a Little Home-Made Birthday Present from Me to Meby on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 8:32pmOK, so my secret was a birthday present I was making for myself. It is not really a big thing, not spectacular, a simple thing really. Like something a little kid makes...all glue and popsicle sticks and colored paper. Not really pretty, but made with heart. So my little gift I made for me is a little yoga practice. I have been working on it about 5 days a week for a couple months. I am not good at it, but I have persisted and it is in shape to be offered as a gift from me to me on the occasion of my 55th birthday. Yoga has been lovely really and I have often found myself smiling as I make this or that stretch. I like it in a different way than I have liked any sort of exercise I have ever done. It is good. I spend a lot of time working with words and having a place to let go of the world of words is good. I spend a lot of time teaching and having a place to let go of the role of teacher is good. I spend a lot of time "making progress" and it is good to have a place to let go of progress. In my 55 years I have spent a lot of long periods careless of my body (as if I and it are not in this together). Having a place to let go of careless and drop into care is good.It is good to take time to stretch and to breath and to take time to practice and to offer this small gift to myself. This day, this particular day, I do not feel deserving of it, and, I offered it to myself, this day, anyway because this one thing, this small gift, is not about deserving. And, having spent most of the day markedly unstill...I went tonight and stretched and breathed, and was thankful for my little gift...popsicle sticks, glue, colored paper and all.I have been doing this faithfully for the past two years and yesterday, on my birthday, after teaching in the morning, I went to yoga with a handful of my grad students. (This is a little gift I have shared with others over the past couple years.) It is an example of active self care. Another piece added to this has been a shift in diet. Over the past year, I have taken a very careful approach to my diet. (And, here, I mean careful as in "with care" not careful as in cautious.)So, the long way around to wrapping the value in slightly different language.I value healthy living, living with my body and soul in a caring way. "Being healthy" is not always something I can do. Living healthy is something I can do even when illness or infirmity strikes. And, it does and will, strike us all. There is a lady who goes to my yoga studio who I would guess is in her 80's. She wears a back brace and does only a few of the poses with a lot of modification. But she is there practicing healthy living. You can have cancer and practice healthy living. As far as i can see, there is no illness that can stop the value. The form might change. Adapting might be needed (like the lady at yoga), but healthy living as a practice.I also like it because there are many tiny acts that can constitute part of the pattern. Drinking enough water today. Eating a good meal, slowly. Getting up and stretching. Taking a walk. Getting enough sleep.Another cool thing about healthy living as a practice is that you never arrive. Like yoga, there is always room to grow and evolve.The zone of growth I have for myself right now has to do with my relationship with my work. I have gotten busier in recent years and I am not satisfied with the shape of my work life. It is a bit like a shirt that does not quite fit and it connects to this healthy living value--though I am a little unclear of the specifics. And, am actively looking at this area for ways to tailor it into something that has a better fit for the life I want. Part of it has to do with picking new pieces of work up without letting some go. Tricky because I like almost all the work I do. I love teaching and writing, but feel a change coming in what I want to write and what I want to teach. Anyhow, there is no finish line, more like an evolving pattern of living.I am exploring the question: what will this emerging pattern of healthy living look like?Of course, living healthy makes being healthy more likely, not always, but more likely. And, it makes being unhealthy, which happens, more survivable and often less persistent. I have been fortunate, so far. At 57, I am ridiculously healthy and strong. Although really, even if I were struck down, which is completely possible. I lived as a risk factor for many years. Still, every hour I have spent in the yoga studio was worth it in and of itself. Those moments laying there on the floor in this stretch or that, among others there caring for themselves, have been good and valuable moments.I have been on the list for a while and I have seen some really really cool growth. Including you, my friend, Helena. It is cool watching new patterns emerge and grow in myself and in those I travel with. Thanks for fellow traveling. That is why I go to the yoga studio. That is why I hang out here. I prefer traveling with company.with my warm regards, G. 205 Peabody BuildingPsychology DepartmentUniversity of MississippiOxford, MS 38677ph: fax: academic homepage:www.olemiss.edu/working/kwilson/kwilson.htmalso check outwww.onelifellc.comwww.mindfulnessfortwo.comwww.facebook.com/kellygwilsonwww.tastybehaviorism.comwww.abnormalwootwoot.com Also, I detected a mis-speak on my part. Instead of saying "I want to be physically healthy" as a value, which implies wanting something, it would have been better to say "I value being physically healthy." That expresses the value more correctly since anyone could say they want health without making it a value in their life. Subtle but important distinction. You can want and want and want, but until you take action becuase you have stated it as a value in your life, nothing will happen. I know this sounds like getting hung up on words, but sometimes the right words add clarity. Helena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Oh, very helpful. Thanks tons, . > > > > > Also, I detected a mis-speak on my part. Instead of saying " I want to be physically healthy " as a value, which implies wanting something, it would have been better to say " I value being physically healthy. " That expresses the value more correctly since anyone could say they want health without making it a value in their life. Subtle but important distinction. You can want and want and want, but until you take action becuase you have stated it as a value in your life, nothing will happen. I know this sounds like getting hung up on words, but sometimes the right words add clarity. > > > > > > Helena > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 23, 2011 Report Share Posted September 23, 2011 Oh, very helpful. Thanks tons, . > > > > > Also, I detected a mis-speak on my part. Instead of saying " I want to be physically healthy " as a value, which implies wanting something, it would have been better to say " I value being physically healthy. " That expresses the value more correctly since anyone could say they want health without making it a value in their life. Subtle but important distinction. You can want and want and want, but until you take action becuase you have stated it as a value in your life, nothing will happen. I know this sounds like getting hung up on words, but sometimes the right words add clarity. > > > > > > Helena > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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