Tips For A Better Life

A colleague at work sent me this via email and I wanted to share it and post it here as a reminder. How often do we forget about the simple things in life that can really make a difference.

1. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day.. And while you walk, smile.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Sleep for 7 hours.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did last year.
7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink plenty of water.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
14. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
15. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
16. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
17. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
18. Smile and laugh more.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don't compare your partner with others.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25. Forgive everyone for everything.
26. What other people think of you is none of your business.
27. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
28. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
29. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
30. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
31. The best is yet to come.
32. No matter how you feel - get up, dress up and show up.
33. Do the right thing!
34. Call your family often.
35. Your inner most is always happy... So be happy.
36. Each day give something good to others.
37. Don't over do. Keep your limits.

Image: lululemon.com

Food For Thought

Heart Rate & Exercise

Good point about heart rate M, in relation to my post about skipping.

The way we test our heart rate in Booty Camp is to run really really fast on the spot (knees high) for 10 secs and count our heartbeat immediately after (more accurate reading at neck). 30 is a good average. Then times your count by 6 to get your beats per minute. The recommended maximum (and efficient) heart rate while exercising is about 220 minus your age.  

A general guide I always liked was from the American Heart Association:

"If you can talk and walk at the same time, you aren't working too hard. If you can sing and maintain your level of effort, you're probably not working hard enough. If you get out of breath quickly, you're probably working too hard — especially if you have to stop and catch your breath."

To burn kilojoules we do need to lift our heart rate but if it's too high, bring down the intensity of the activity.

EDIT

Lucinda, thanks for reminding me - people, get a medical check before you start any serious exercise! We should all be getting yearly checks anyway, I reckon. Like taking your car in for service.

Easy Cheap Exercise - Skipping

When going to the gym is unrealistic, even walking is hard to do if you've got young children, what else can you do? Skipping! You can skip while the kids are sleeping, skip before breaksfast, skip when you get home from work and never have to leave your house to exercise and show off your wobbly bits. It's cheap, it's easy, it's all-round cardiovascular fitness and it burns loads of kilojoules equivalent to running. Great. Start at 5 mins a day and try and build on that or add other exercises like - 20 skips, 20 push-ups and 20 sit-ups to start. An Everlast adjustable skipping rope only costs $9.95 AUD from Rebel Sport and when I was a kid, we used a power cord - ha!

* Booty Camp re-introduced me to skipping.

2009, Happy New Year!

Another year and I'm feeling good, and relieved. 2008 was huge both in good ways and bad so looking forward to seeing what 2009 throws at me. Became a sloth for the month of December and haven't felt so disgusting in a long time with all the bad food and lack of exercise, so back to it. I rather be able to do all the things I love and have the energy to keep on doing, especially with the mental sharpness a good diet and exercise will help promote. Plus, I need to keep up with all my nieces, nephew and friend's kids now....with more on the way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And so the January exercise plan begins:

Thu 1 - 30 min yoga, 20 min hoop
Fri 2 - 45 min yoga, 20 min hoop
Sat 3 - rest day
Sun 4 - 40 min weights/resistance, 30 min walk, 20 min hoop
Mon 5 - 45 min yoga, 30 min walk, 20 min hoop
Tue 6 - 60 min booty camp, 30 min walk
Wed 7 - 45 min yoga, 30 min walk
Thu 8 - 60 min booty camp, 30 min walk
Fri 9 - rest day
Sat 10 - 75 min samadhi yoga
Sun 11 - 75 min jivamukti yoga
Mon 12 - 60 min walk, 20 min hoop
Tue 13 - 60 min booty camp, 30 min walk
Wed 14 - 60 min walk
Thu 15 - 60 min booty camp, 30 min walk
Fri 16 - 75 min samadhi yoga
Sat 17 - rest day
Sun 18 - 75 min jivamukti yoga
Mon 19 - 45 min yoga shakti
Tue 20 - 60 min booty camp, 30 min walk
Wed 21 - 30 min walk
Thu 22 - 60 min booty camp, 30 min walk
Fri 23 - rest day
Sat 24 - rest day
Sun 25 - rest day
Mon 26 - Australia Day
Tue 27 - 60 min booty camp
Wed 28 - 45 min shakti yoga
Thu 29 - 60 min booty camp
Fri 30 -rest day
Sat 31 - 2 hr bike ride