Hollywood stars are not going to use this secret trick

Yesterday was my birthday. I realize this morning that 59 is old. When there's leftover pie, you might as well eat some for breakfast. You may not get another chance.

Not that I am going to go completely crazy, but this is a time to loosen the rules a little. It occurs to me I am never going to look like Hugh Jackman, and that's okay. While I'm sure Mr. Jackman is an affable and decent fellow, and very talented, a big part of his job is looking good for a living. Thus he sacrifices, and he has an army of people to advise him about what he eats, wears and how much and how often he exercises.

I woke up at five this morning to write. There's nothing particularly virtuous about it; it was just that I'd slept long enough and there was nothing I wanted to do more than get started in my study.

A more disciplined man would start the day with a 3-mile run or a grapefruit, both of which would improve my chances of getting into last year's pants. Though I'll take some time for physical activity later today, it isn't my first priority at this point in my life, and I'm not going to be slavish or self-sacrificial about it.

I asked for a birthday pie, and Vicki is so kind and sweet that she made one, marionberry, my favorite, and it might have been her first. The filling was soupy, but you could spoon it over the crust and it was delicious.

I'm having a wedge for breakfast, and if Hugh Jackman is in the neighborhood, he can run over and have some too.

A good death

My sister is dying of cancer. She has two tumors in her chest, inoperable, and it has spread to her lymph nodes. The doctor gave her two years, and four months of that is spent.

K_____ is 15 years younger than me, the youngest of seven. Though my parents are both passed, she's the first of my siblings to face death, and she's doing so with a courage, dignity and strength that I marvel at.

She has 3 daughters, ages 11, 16 and 22, two grandchildren and a loving husband. She's made it a priority to seize the time she has left, enjoying every walk and dinner and night on the town for ice cream.

Her funny, thoughtful Facebook messages have been an inspiration to family and friends. She's gathered a community of Love around her, truly living rather than waiting to die. Middle daughter Tia is six feet tall and graceful, growing to be a beautiful young lady. She's a sophomore, trying to make the varsity basketball team. My sister has one, maybe two more seasons to watch her, and plans to cheer on every dribble and swish.

Friends drop off meals for her family. Trips to town in the small community where she lives are a hug-a-thon. She remembers to thank her nurses.

My sister's hope and optimism rests not in elusive miracles but in the commonplace ones: she's focused on living and enjoying her family and saying a long good good-bye.

Though I don't want to lose her, I marvel at the light, energy and joy she is sending out to the world around her.

The perks of being human

"But even if we don't have the power to choose where we came from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can feel okay about them."

      --Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Daily affirmation, November 11, 2014

Today I resolve to live stronger and let go of fear.

Beginning in this moment I will choose action over anxiety and gratitude over frustration.

I am a thankful, abundant, joyous, energized person, and that is how I choose to live.

Today I resolve to find the opportunity in my obstacles, and the hope in my challenges.

I will move, live, breath, and exercise with appreciation and thankfulness.

I will dance and hear the music. I will hold my friends and family close.

This is my one life. I am so grateful that it begins again today.

Daily Thankfulness, November 11th, 2014

I am thankful for joy and abundance. I am thankful for hope.

I am thankful for the fall colors, the changes and rhythms of the seasons, how they invite us to be quiet and reflective, more accepting of the changes and transitions in our lives.

I am thankful for a nutritious, simple lunch.

I am thankful for health, energy and activity.

I am thankful for books and their ability to transport and inspire me. I am thankful for inspiration, creativity and the pursuit of understanding and clarity.

I am thankful for my family and friends.

I am thankful for the opportunity to write and the challenge to grow. I am thankful for new beginnings.

photo from my long-time friend Jodene Rudolf, from her Facebook page.

Lower blood pressure, reduce stress and fight stubborn belly fat, without exercise

First let me say I love exercise and heartily recommend it, provided a person has the blessing of their doctor.

But even before you start exercising, you can do something today that will help you get healthier and feel better and even lose weight.

A simple practice of meditation, as little as five to ten minutes a day, can have wonderful benefits to your overall health and well-being.

Meditation works, and it's not difficult to learn. Google "benefits of meditation" and the search will return glowing reviews of its value in lowering blood pressure, reducing stress, improving creativity, empathy, and concentration.

To make a real change in your health and fitness, start with a change of outlook

Any real fundamental change in our happiness and well-being starts with a change of attitude.

This simple exercise will boost your energy and your motivation, but it takes a 30-day commitment.

Buy an inexpensive notebook at The Dollar Store or Target, or reuse a half-filled one from the top shelf of a closet.

For the next 30 days, at bedtime or in the morning when you wake up, write two paragraphs, in long-hand, in your best handwriting, about what you are thankful for that day.

If you haven't got time for exercise and hate the gym, do this

First light a candle, because it initiates a feeling of ritual and it's an invitation to the sacred.

Turn on some of your favorite music, either Pandora, your I-pod, cassette tapes, the radio, whatever you have.

Then dance. Let go of the compulsion to "do it right" and simply get moving to the music.

If you allow yourself, in 30 minutes you will be exhilarated and drenched with sweat, opened up to your sensual side, freed in body and soul.

A prayer of a warrior of light

I am thankful for dilemmas, because they point the way to my true path. I am thankful for gnawing disappointment, because it is the music of the heart, refusing to be muffled out. I am thankful for frustration, boredom, and irritation, for they are the persistent voice of destiny and the pangs of spiritual hunger, an itch that can't be physically scratched, the unquenchable desire for illumination, wonder and transcendence.

I am thankful for the fierceness within that refuses to settle for the commonplace, that yearns for stillness, reflection and insight. I am thankful for a warrior's inborn passion for a just battle, the insatiable thirst for mission, quest and purpose.

Reduce stress and incorporate more movement into your day by thinking incrementally

  

A couple of ideas you may be able to use--(I apologize if you've heard these before)

A busy, stressed person who is juggling multiple overloading responsibilities has to be creative about getting more exercise and incorporating more movement into their day.

Something I've been doing is that I take a 20-minute walk at lunch (even 10 or 15 has a significant cumulative benefit. I'll walk with an apple or a handful of nuts). 

I usually call Vicki when I get off work, before I start the car, check in say hi, see what we're doing, if I can pick up a bottle of wine or a movie. Instead of making that call from the car, I walk around the building. We can have a nice decompressing conversation, and I'm in motion, getting 10-15 minutes more exercise. If there's nothing pressing I'll take one more circuit, and I've added a 25-minute walk in without any lost time for changing or going to the gym, and I've made a refreshing transition from work mode, collected myself for the rest of my evening.

I am waiting for Vizini

Indigo is on the ground at the front door of the hovel, slobbering drunk. When the job went wrong his only thought was to go back to the beginning. Well this is the beginning.

The Transformation Times was my first tentative writing project, five years ago when I was separated from Marie. I loved doing it, even though it had a regular audience of five, because it was personal and heart-felt and I had the freedom to write about whatever was on my mind. I could take it different directions, from the personal to the reflective to the whimsical, and it allowed me to develop a voice and work  out the issues of heartbreak and reconciliation.