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.

Lessons from a fictional town in Texas

On Sunday I bought the first season of Friday Night Lights at amazon.com and I spent most of the day watching the first 18 episodes. It's more than a football show or a teen soap opera. It's compelling, textured storytelling, inspiring and original, about a town, about families, hopes and dreams. It's alive with tension and real conflict. It makes me want to read good stories and write them.

No one called today. No one emailed. The only time I got out was for a trip to Winco for groceries. I drank a couple of glasses of wine, ate well, did my golf exercises, watched my show. It was a good, peaceful day and a restful weekend.

A big part of me is waiting for the money. If it comes, I can buy a car and the golf membership, pursue a golf that's a discipline of the mind and body. I'll get a good tan and have a focus for my energy. Since ending the football blog I've been a little bit adrift, but I'm not convinced I should go back to that. It wasn't enough. It was something I gave a lot of energy to that made me significant in a very narrow circle. Being one of the best Duck analysts out there is a meager accomplishment, although achieving an audience of 29,000 in a month meant a lot to me at the time. It's time to move on. It's scary, but I should. There's a stack of Time magazines and a closet full of books I haven't read. I could take a class. I could embark on a love affair or simply devote myself to winning the club championship.

My true path is out there. Everything I've experienced to this point is a part of it, but something more vibrant and more urgent calls out to me. I have to be honest in the next few weeks and chose wisely. I can't allow precious time to drift away. I want to tell stories, and I want to live one worth telling.