Sliding Backwards - weight gain and forgetting the 'no excuses' concept

I've gone from a record low weight to an incredibly high weight, coming almost full circle in the 11 months between Springsteen tours.

This led me to google 'backsliding' - which I never knew was mostly used in relation to Christianity and religion!  However some careful google tweaking and I discovered this wonderful insightful article about weight loss.

The Fat Lady Ain't Sung Yet in which Whitney points out the following truism:

"Baby steps.

Forever and ever and ever… baby steps."

I love the insight in this. When things are going well, it is easy to kid yourself that the journey to no-excuses better health will be a one-way trip to forever losing weight until the magical moment that it is 'perfect'. Reality is that there are always things to learn, and if you don't learn them, then the process might be a bit more topsy-turvy. In fact even if you're a fast learner, circumstances can squish in and sideline you with no warning.  So baby steps.

I know that for me, since the second Springsteen tour, I have been focussing on big life changes, the ones that I didn't tackle last year, because last year I was focussing solely on weight loss, exercise and fitness.  It is so much easier to increase exercise, and much harder to permanently change eating habits for an entire family (or even one person within the family). Last year's efforts were child's play. This year asks so much more of me in terms of organisation, willpower and action.  Going for a walk or exercising is as easy as walking out the front door.  Food on the other hand doesn't just appear in the fridge!

The other thing that happened is that I lost my 'network' of fitness friends, and therefore no-one noticed when I stopped exercising, or talking about the healthy food choices I was making. So I've re-established a connection to the four main exercising / food friends I have and we are keeping an eye on each other. I'm posting updates in my "Get Fit for Bruce" Facebook group.  Keeping that social aspect alive will help safeguard me from future weight gains.

And finally, my habits that create a healthy, organised me.  Blogging, gratitude and keep records through RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal.  Of these, only gratitude survived the great weight gain. If I had to keep only one I'm glad it was gratitude, however now is the time to reinstate my previous habits and keep connected with the world in a reflective way, so I remind myself to always be mindful.  No-one else is ever going to be as mindful of my body and my health as I am.

Such an important lesson in taking good care of ones-self.

Resources for when everything is falling apart, handy links only.

Thats right, just the links I've found useful tonight. I'm a human being blogging, my life has stuff going on that I process away from blogging. And tonight it involved getting myself informed about pulling myself out of an emotional black spot.

I only like step 1 of this one, very important. The other steps resonate better elsewhere. (wikihow)

This one really resonated with me. I immediately went and joined some groups on facebook that related to issues in my life - one of them was an elder care page that I liked, with plenty of links and useful information. This will be so important to ease the feeling of doing it alone. Thank you to the freedom experiment.  This cluey write also suggests tackling the problem that will take 20% of energy to fix, but are causing 80% of the worry. I don't know which one that is right now, too many options!

"Don’t run away from your fear, Pema says. Lean into it." it isn't the simple answer but there is a truth in feeling the fear, and then moving along (with it if necessary).

These others are the ones that I just can't digest right now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terri-cole/dealing-with-crisis_b_2777284.html

http://www.feelgooder.com/how-to-be-positive-when-everything-seems-like-it%E2%80%99s-falling-apart/

http://www.marieforleo.com/2013/05/feeling-lost/

http://goinswriter.com/falling-apart/

The common theme seems to be gratitude. I'm going to find my 3 things to be grateful for today.

1. I'm grateful for my house. It may be slowly becoming more run down, but it is mine.

2. I'm grateful for my friends and family who I've chatted to today

3. I'm grateful for my mother in law who knows all things cooking and is just a phone call away with the answers :)

Bless!

Indecision - a real threat to happiness

So here I sit, as I attempt to come to terms with the past few months lack of decisiveness on the issue of a European Bruce holiday, and wracked with agony over the correct date to hold my daughter's 2nd birthday party, and where.

And then I realise. I've been hit with the indecisiveness bug. That one that bites you on the derriere as soon as you let it creep back into your life.  And so began my Internet search for answers to party problem (the Bruce Springsteen problem now rests entirely on the outcome of a competition for tickets to Cardiff on 23rd July).

And I was first struck by this quote “Indecision is often worse than wrong action.” – Henry Ford

That's the crux of it isn't it? There is no point wavering from here till eternity wondering, or being in fear of being wrong.  It was a matter of just doing it.  Which solved my problem with the birthday party at least.  I made decisions. Plenty of them. First I would let / encourage the active participation of my elder children who want to be the ones throwing their sister a party. Going along with that theme, to keep their enthusiasm, I chose  the nearer party date, and for our home to be the location, despite my fears, because it would be easier for them.  Decision made, I figure in terms of parties it couldn't possibly go as wrong as my elder daughter's 3rd birthday party that had to be cancelled on the day (as some guests arrived) because her baby brother was born that morning at home!

As the day wore on, the links between this birthday party, my decreased happiness and my total lack of commitment to my 'dream' of seeing Bruce and the ESB in Europe became more obvious.  I see now that my uncertainty and tentativeness meant that I was never going to be going to Europe, I simply did not show the commitment and determination necessary.

I had walked straight into the problem identified by this website

However, the problem with being indecisive about the bigger things is that often, the window of opportunity to make a decision is limited and so if someone can’t make a decision for themselves, other people or changing circumstances make the decision for them.

That was me. Circumstances of less than a fortnight left of the European tour (and possibly the whole Wrecking Ball Tour) make it logistically almost impossible now to get the family to Europe.

So I reason with myself a little. I console myself that I've lost 13kgs, and that is a good thing. I argue that my house cleaning is still not completed, but that signs are promising as I'm making terrific progress. Most of all I apply the most basic reason - that it is really scary the idea of taking the family to Europe and that I've spent the money on children's school fees and sports tuition.

But I'm not at all impressed with my weeks of agony over the birthday party; and I'm certainly not looking forward to the next two weeks of hearing of the last tour gigs.  I don't like to think that had I been decisive, the stresses of the past weeks might've been the stresses of getting three children through an international airport to connecting flights, or of finding our accommodation in a strange country. But no.

So my Internet search led me to this page, where the following quote gives me pause for thought:

“A test of mental strength is the ability to take firm decisions. Indecision is always a sign of mental weakness. It shows there are unresolved conflicts within you. And conflicts undermine the integrity of the personality. If we remain in a state of indecision for a long time, instead of gaining strength we become weaker. To remain in a state of indecision and then to try to make your mind strong is stupid. We must be very decisive about small things. Then we find it easier to take decisions about bigger things. Even the smallest thing in life is to be done consciously, intelligently, decisively, coordinating all of the faculties – feeling, thinking, and willing. Cultivate good habits early in life. A well regulated life is of great help. If we follow a strict routine every day, many of the little problems in life will not create indecision and worries. Then we get more energy and time for bigger things. We must not lie in bed and go on thinking for half an hour, ‘Shall I get up or not?’ Either get up immediately or sleep for another half an hour, but do not remain in an indecisive state. Indecision is very harmful. Let not the little things of life nag you constantly and dissipate your energies.” Swami Avdheshanand.

So many factors there.  I recently searched on the emotional causes of rheumatoid arthritis, and funnily enough, it said unresolved conflicts!

Putting that little gem aside for a moment, the website suggests the following steps to improving that mental strength:

1. Spend a few days noticing when you are caught in the clutches of indecision – what types of things are bothering you? Are they small things or big things? How much time do you devote to make simple decisions?
2. Pick one thing to focus on, something that you constantly struggle with (it could be what time to get up in the morning, what to eat that day, what outfit to wear). Make sure it’s a small thing to start with so you don’t make it too difficult for yourself.
3. Next time you find yourself struggling to choose on your chosen subject, remind yourself mentally “I am a decisive person and I will not waste my time and energy with this.”
4. Now – simply pick one option. Make a decision quickly and commit to it. It doesn’t matter if it’s the right decision or not – just do it.
5. Let it go. Refrain from labouring about whether you made the right choice or not and move on. Do something immediately that really does matter to you – and if possible something that will make a positive difference to your life or to the lives of others.
- See more at: http://simplelifestrategies.com/5-steps-to-overcome-indecision/#sthash.5FZbFF6V.dpuf

Or, to follow the suggestion a friend made a few weeks ago about the housework. Decide to do SOME (e.g. start with just one thing like emptying the dishwasher) or decide not to. Don't agonise over everything, because that is a total waste of time. At least if I decide not to do housework, I'll be free to ENJOY whatever else I do instead, making it at least a fun use of my time :)

I've been totally missing this obvious common sense over Bruce Springsteen's Tour, and again about the birthday party ideas. Now I just need to make the most of where I am now.   I know I feel better for having made the decisions about the party, and with a light heart, rather than a doubting one. So far all the rest of the decisions about my little girl's party have come easier and easier because I'm committed to it.

I'll spend some time thinking about those 5 steps and about conflict!

Was flat, now a new week of challenges!

I'm a bit frightened. I have psoriasis coming back. New outbreaks on my legs, and my arm scar tissue is doing the opposite of fading.

There are so many things that I can attribute it to, but my gut says it all boils down to that extra special spark of happiness post-Springsteen and the E-Street Band concerts. 

I know I've eaten badly, for enough weeks that it is affecting me, so perhaps it is that. I know my exercise has dropped off with the cold wet weather, illnesses and extra child at home.

I know that my stress levels have skyrocketed with various unavoidable dramatic personalities, including my son's exhausted end-of-term teacher-inspired nervousness at everything. 

What I don't know is how to make it better. I have written so many words in my searching for various motivations and direction, yet still manage to come to this place where things go horribly wrong despite my best intentions.

I feel like I need a plan, or a mantra and a plan. Goals. I find it difficult to cope with when my goals aren't met on time. I was pretty heartbroken when I didn't reach my goal weight at the end of April. Since then I've tried to be more flexible, but then, without a solid goal, it is easy to slowly seep into excuse making by default. That place where you don't actually make excuses, but you excuse yourself from having to be responsible. 

I did this for a whole week recently over my son's school troubles. In some ways the week of 'not dealing with it' gave me some breathing space, but on the other hand, what kind of emotional state was I already in that I needed to re-create an emotional buffer that took a week in the making?

Part of the problem might have been that I've let the blog get out of control, so instead of having a daily reflection on how I'm doing, its barely a weekly review.

I'm sure I did  this list only a few weeks ago - exercise, blog, Bruce, gratefulness, Tai Chi, friendship.  I think its time for another 'challenge' where I focus on these elements as well as the special school holiday additions of children-time and cleanout-time. Challenge week time it is. First challenge will be getting to the blog daily!

I also left out diet! After naming it as the second most likely cause of disease disaster, I need  to remember at least the basics of no bread, 3 bottles of water and some Kale every day.

Exercise and tai chi are self-explanatory - daily!

Bruce - get some of that him daily too!

Gratefulness - a daily record of what I'm grateful for, at LEAST.

Friendship - connect with my exercise mates, or phone a friend

Children and cleanup time is part of my school holiday plan to begin with.

Wow, that is a very structured, full kind of challenge.  Perhaps it is about time.  I do wonder where in there I'm going to fit other things, like the evil budget word, or following up to fix my Dad's hearing aids.  So so many things. 

First a little bit of Tai Chi and a little bit of gratitude followed by the necessary fixing clothes for work tomorrow.

I hope you've made it this far through this very inwards and reflective journal for today!

If so, how wonderful is this? This is Evan's man-hug, from his sign request for the same.  It might seem crazily out of context, but its here because Evan's story makes me smile, and reminds me of how amazing it feels to be so close to someone who has such incredible energy and zest and shares that on such a magnificent scale.

Today I'm grateful that Evan shared his moment with so many Brucebuds.  I'm especially grateful to get home at night with two happy children (as compared to the screaming to get out of the car variety). I'm also grateful that my cat did ok by himself for the day. 

What are you grateful for today?

EDIT: note to self for this week - turn out the light!

Taking care of yourself - an epiphany.

I've had an epiphany. Not a very pleasant one, but an incredibly poignant light bulb moment. I'm sitting in my broken down car, on the side of the highway, waiting now for over half an hour for a row truck to collect myself and my disabled car in the pouring rain.

I have been watching European concerts for Bruce Springsteen with increasing agitation and envy  (check this link for why); what if this is his last tour? What if he stops touring and goes home to New Jersey for the next 2 years? These thoughts are what fuels my desperation to see him one more time, while I can.

And then there it was. My 'oh hell' moment, when I realised that had I argued more, or better, 10 years ago to have my frequent flyer points reinstated after they expired when my credit card company stopped automatic affiliation with the frequent flyer points, then I would have enough for my family to travel to Europe. (This happened in the traumatic year my mother got ill and died, so I was not paying attention to such things until it was too late).

What this is teaching me is that to not take care of something might seem to only have 'imaginary' consequences, the reality is that I am now sitting in THAT moment, where my much saved, loved points would have transported me from my suburban existence and taken my whole family on an amazing overseas holiday. My consequence for not sticking up for myself 10 years ago is right now, this very minute, realising that yes, that vague time in the future does come around! It's like when you are young the idea that smoking will ruin your health is a vague notion at best - some imaginary calamitous future disease - it does come to pass!

Here's my tow truck - the consequence of not paying attention to my car - now it's broken :(

Lesson for me? Take care of things, all the things. Just like my health, the whole of my life is my responsibility and there are consequences to doing a half hearted job.  I knew that eventually this new sense of self-actualisation regarding my health must begin to permeate the other facets of my life; however I'd always imagined that the transition would be more instantaneous, in the way that seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert instantly transformed my perspective on my responsibility for my own health well-being occurred overnight.  I had imagined that overnight I would have the exact same goal oriented, no-setback accepted, driven and calm resolve about decluttering my house.  This somewhat obscure little 'light bulb moment' that annoyingly seems to require me to find every distasteful incomplete or neglected task in my life and place it as a matter of priority is not what I imagined as the next logical progression of realising my life is wholly my responsibility to live in a happy way.  It may take some getting used it, despite the way I already see parallels between the concept of 'jobs left undone' and the state of clutter in my house. I see many instances of too lazy to find a home for items, or too lazy to return items to their proper place; of jobs half done rather than completed.

Perhaps the link isn't so obscure after all, and this will have a significant affect on my life's clutter!

Regaining Happiness, starting good habits over again - Gratitude

It has been a challenge fitting in the new routine again since the great week of illness and gastro. Most of the family have come down with a bad cold that is lingering this week also. Money is not where we were expecting it to be and we've been looking with alarm at our budget for next year.  This past week I would have to say I've reverted almost wholly to the way I was before Bruce Springsteen. Which, by comparison to the interim period, isn't a great place, and certainly not where I want to be.

A chat this week with my concert going friend revealed that she was also losing the effect of the excitement, she's been sick too, so who knows whether it's a post-concert high wearing off or it's just about how unwell we're feeling. Regardless, between us we came up with the solution.

Get back to the basics. What made me so happy in the first place?  What was I doing when I was happy? How was I thinking about things, and what things was I thinking about?

The strategy I've used for the past couple of days has four elements. Bruce, Blogging, Gratitude and Exercise.  Between those three things at the forefront, other factors such as being solutions focused, improving my eating habits and sleeping seem to be falling into place as a natural consequence.

Gratitude and Exercise are known to improve life expectancy and quality.  I'd love to see links you come up with about this research, but in the meantime, here is my perspective.

Gratitude

"Being grateful is also associated with improved immune system function, fewer aches and pains, and lower blood pressure"

Wise words to listen to for someone with an autoimmune disease, arthritis and high blood pressure!!!!

Although it seems like such an insignificant thing, being grateful appears to have an uplifting and soothing affect. Simply finding one thing to be glad about this morning seemed to be the salve that calmed my entire day.  The more gratitude, the more excitingly happy I was.  I remember when I was at the dizzy peak of my happiness post-Springsteen and I found joy in every part of the day. I was positively buzzing with gratefulness. Being thankful seems to be the first step  to being very happy indeed.

Plus I think it turns around a bad attitude!  I found this link about how to develop an attitude of gratitude.

I know that today I've been calmer and less bad-tempered since being sent a text first thing this morning with my friend's list of gratefulness, and replying to her with mine. I only had one thing to begin with, I sent her this "I'm grateful that hubby has taken the time to get the boy off to school today"

The rest of my day was calm. 

Happiness leads to better health

Happiness increases well-being.  This is one of the most interesting things I have learnt during the past months of self-reflection.

I've had psoriatic arthritis for five years. I've seen different doctors and two rheumatologists in that time. None of these learned folk have indicated to me that increasing happiness would have the slightest affect on my pain and disease.  Yet not only does it make a difference, but a profound, life-changing difference.

I was very aware, through experience, that 'stress' contributes to illness and disease.  Our negatively skewed health system acknowledges the bad lifestyle choices and circumstances, but completely overlooks the health promotion factor of happiness!  It never occurred to me to view the positive promotion of happiness as a way of limiting my disease!

Here is the story of what has happened to me to bring me to the realisation that being happy will change my life.

While on bed rest two years ago, when I was pregnant with our third child, I learned a lesson about acceptance. I learned to accept what I couldn't change, to relax despite chaos around me, and to preserve a piece of self-soothing calm. These were significant lessons for me. My baby's birth was tinged with a great deal of sadness, my Dad was in hospital (a different hospital from us!) 5 minutes up the street from me when our youngest was born. Then my family were sick and between one thing and another, Dad didn't meet his youngest grandchild until she was 2 weeks old. My delight in her existence has often been marked by a huge burden of caring for my Dad, his continuing illnesses falling mostly on my shoulders to assist with, and no family support for moving him either in with us, or to our neighbourhood to ease the burden.  Throughout all this, I have maintained a degree of calm, through learning to let go more and more, but not without some cost in terms of missing moments of peaceful joyfulness and delight at our small baby.  There is a sense of loss of some of those moments that I will not be able to get back, but it is that kind of new baby happiness that makes all the difference!

And then Bruce Springsteen happened, and like a bolt of lightning, my happiness levels skyrocketed. One of the most significant parts of this was the evaporation of my mid-life crisis. I'd been experiencing a degree of bleak thinking, as I have high blood pressure, and I'm caring for my Dad, whose high blood pressure is at the end stage of its affect on him, giving him vascular dementia, chronic renal failure and chronic heart failure.  It is a shocking thing to see him so frail, he was until the last couple of years incredibly robust and independent.  I am very conscious of my 'middle-age' and young family, and the combination of these factors often had me questioning my mortality, the inevitability of death for all of us, and the fact I felt that my time with my children was oh so limited (as my time with my father, and his fully faculties, had already almost run out). These are all valid concerns, but it took the song "We Are Alive" for me to face my biggest fear and realise that despite our brief time here, we are all part of a bigger humanity, and to draw comfort from that. I'm the kind of person who 'bucks up' when I realise that yes, the physicality of death is gruesome, but it is only partially the ending of my story. My story will pass in fragments on to others, and join the collective story that surpasses the individual.  I find great comfort in that.

Furthermore, as I've previously mentioned, Bruce Springsteen as a live performer is incredibly uplifting and inspiring. Not only for the boundless energy he exhibits, but for the infectious delight and enjoyment he so clearly wants to spread throughout the audience.  I am particularly amenable to charismatic influence, so not only did I take the enjoyment away, but I consciously went out of my way in the following days and weeks to build on the happiness I found in my first Springsteen concert.  This industriousness was just the beginning of the overflowing happiness to follow.

By chance, having stumbled across extra concert tickets for Melbourne, I saw him again, this time with a friend, in the GA, or standing 'pit' area.  I intended to enjoy myself and dance! 

Between Springsteen and my inspirationally fit friend, I realised that I was soley responsible for my life's current situation, I was at the helm, in charge and commander of my own self. This shift in perception away from being a 'victim' of various circumstances / disease / other people made a huge difference to my outlook. Suddenly I was extremely happy and light. I didn't hold onto grievances or sorrow, but between the eventual three concerts I attended, I simply became determined to continue to enjoy, to be the best me I could be!

My happiness overflowed. I smiled, I didn't shout or swear, I was calmer, because I was enjoying myself!  Arriving home I went out of my way to continue to be happy, to find the absurd and amusing and hold onto the post-concern silly grin whenever I could.  On days when things appeared to be going wrong, I looked on the bright side, I looked towards  solutions and never at the problems. Overall my satisfaction with my life would have gone from a  3/10 to an 8/10.

I was also walking between 15 and 30 minutes every day, going out with my favourite Springsteen music and putting a smile on my face while letting the exercise pump out the endorphins.

The most incredible thing happened!  My auto-immune disease began disappearing into the background of my life, pain levels plummetting and the visible psoriasis on my arms fading to scars.  Its not a pretty picture, but it illustrates the point :)
 

The past couple of week have been more difficult, this week since Mothers Day I've had a particularly nasty virus, so finishing off this blog post has been quite a reminder for me to take some time to find a happy place, for the sake of my health.

Setting Achievable Goals - Life lesson Day 3

I've been very pleased with myself since the great Thursday of happiness (aka motivational Thursday) Since then, less than a month ago, I have managed to transform the look of 2 rooms that we use every day, the entry and E's space.

This week I've started on a third project, the 'Front Room'. This room used to be the living room. At one stage, when our roof was leaking and yet to be repaired, it was our bedroom and living room, many years ago. Now it has given itself over the main residence of the decrepit cat of all blindness. He hangs on in this little spot, we've kicked the children out of the room, so the TV went back upstairs and its no longer the living room. In a stroke of opportunistic genius, I've decided to transform it into my husband's 'cave', alongside the cat :)

However before I can get carried away with the idea of a home to put the thousand screwdrivers, nuts, bolts and other man-stuff that hubby leaves lying around all over the house; the whole room needs a thorough cleanup. A daunting task, as its been allowed to turn into a bit of a cesspit in recent months.

I spent a few days pottering, using the simple principle of leaving the room better than I found it, and not achieving a great deal. I really had no idea where to start. The solution came to me more as a desperate idea than a full-blown certainty. In order to give myself somewhere to simply BEGIN, I decided to break the cleaning down into sections. Normally I'd clean the floors first, but in this situation that seemed pointless as the floors were basically acquiring flotsam from the junk falling off the piled up surfaces. So I took my phone and photographed every surface area that was junked up. Sadly on its last legs (like the cat), my phone managed to make every photo a hazy milky tone. Here's an example:

It does a wonderful job of highlighting the junk, even with the surreal effect.

Surprisingly, as soon as I'd taken the photos, I was resolved to tackle all the surfaces first, and to finish as many as possible today. I remarked that it would be a miracle if I got through them all.

I should have had more faith because as I write this, all 5 areas of the room that were the same and worse than this have been totally cleaned off. The Wrecking Ball soundtrack helped, and it took the entire album to get through it all. I have one tiny nemesis of paperwork and fiddly rubbish in the bottom of the green 'Trofast' drawer in this picture. After finishing this blog, I'll be working on that till bedtime!

I've exceeded my expectations for the day, all by simply breaking down the job into smaller pieces that were not so daunting. There were still hurdles along the way, and plenty of interruptions and breaks. Having the photographs helped to keep me focussed on how I'd progressed, and finishing off one discreet area at a time was terrific motivation to move on to the next area and the next. I even did a lot of bargaining with myself, deciding I was going to stop when I finished the top of the bookcase, and was so inspired by finishing that I kept going and started on the couch, then moved on to everywhere else!

Even the deep freezer had a mountain of stuff piled on it.

Now I'm feeling invincible and ready to have the whole room spick and span tomorrow, ready for its new life as the 'cave'!

 

We put up these little storage racks in a random spot temporarily as having them in use somewhere was better than all the component parts lying around :) Plus they are now filled with things, mostly all the tiny bits of Lego lying around.

And the most wonderful bonus of the exercise was that I found the first ring hubby ever bought me, it is more sentimental than my wedding and engagement rings and had been missing for over a year!

I haven't set the goals for tomorrow's instalment yet, but I'm sure that making the job smaller with manageable sections will be the backbone of how I get through it!

The Clean Floor Game

One of the jobs for the weekend was to do a cleanup of the floors all around  the house. On a whim this morning, I decided to turn that into a game, to keep things interesting. I'm a big fan of UFYH (Unfuck Your Habitat) and enjoy their phone ap - I find the randomness of the suggestions really suits me.

So I found a container to use as a 'jar' and wrote the names of all the rooms /areas of my house on scraps of paper and tossed them in.  The idea being that I would draw out a room, clean the floor in that room, and then take a break doing some jigsaw puzzle in between rooms.  I get tired quickly from bending over jigsaws, so the break would be self-limiting automatically.  This is the jigsaw:

It worked beautifully. The first room I drew was the kitchen, so the whole floor had toys and random stuff picked up and was swept.  Then my break was a little bit of jigsaw and some X-box games with my son. My daughter got caught up in the enthusiasm, and did her own little bit of cleaning of a junk room upstairs (she lucked out and drew a hard spot to clean).  Here's the extremely simple 'pot luck' container:

Many interuptions later, the front verandah got thoroughly cleaned up, cat litter changed and swept. Then the stairs which in my house tend to collect things at the bottom that need to go up, plus other random flotsam were cleared off all the clutter.

Sadly my cleaning spree was not to be however, and I spent most of the day visiting and caring for my Dad.  I finished this special something for a friend while with him.

In the end, I am tempted to keep up this game as a way of getting through the tidying up more often.  I can see me using it on floors, but it might work for other things, like '27 fling boogie'. In such a big, cluttered house with a husband who tends to leave things on the floor, I find it difficult to be in 10 places at once to pick up after him and the children. This little game will make it easier, particularly if I'm lucky enough to have a day at home when we are both able to play it, in 2 different rooms at once.

I hope that your weekend has been as productive as mine. (and that you are more prepared for Monday than me - thats my job before bedtime - getting lunchboxes ready and uniforms ironed)!

Motivation to Clean - its out there!

The list is here! My top 7 motivators to get up and get cleaning! For me personally the overall motivation is to live in a clean, tidy environment. However finding the daily motivation to make sure that happens is another matter entirely.

Here are some of the best tips I've found so far:

1. Invite someone over! Now I've spent some time adjusting my attitude that I want my house clean for ME, not for visitors. That still doesn't stop me from cleaning more when I know someone is coming. And while that in grained habit exists, keeping a regular stream of visitors through your house can be a terrific motivator.

2. I also found this article about dust mites disturbing enough to prompt the motivation up a gear.

3. Visit someone with a clean house! I will admit that jealousy of someone else's clean domain really gets me going in terms of motivation to do the best with what I have!

4. Get some alone time with your mess. I find that one of the biggest motivators for me is having the time when I'm not going to be interrupted by a toddler to really get into the swing of cleaning up.

5. Finish something. Anything. It could be the washing up, or it could be something like posting a letter that you just haven't gotten around to doing. Whatever it is doesn't matter, as long as you finish one thing. It is inspiration to keep going.

6. Set a timer and just start with a de-junking / rubbish collection / 27-fling Boogie and throw out as much rubbish and recycling as you can. If that doesn't motivate you to keep going, well at least you've done 15 minutes of cleaning already! Fill up your bin!




7. Get dressed up - Right now, when you're attempting to get motivated, start out by getting dressed up - whatever that means to you, whether it is Flylady's lace up shoes or your own personal 'ready' look. Mine is hair and teeth, I discovered here.

And if you are so stuck, that you can't face any of these tips, feeling overwhelmed, then try my magic 4 - have a glass of water, do some exercise, take a long view (how much does it matter right now?) and get started, anywhere. Do not panic.

Unfinished business ....

Todays thoughts are about never finishing anything or being prepared in advance with something so that I can get it completed properly. This is an increasing problem for me, 2 years ago when I started homeschooling my eldest I found it easier to work through things, now it seems impossible even getting simple tasks done. And this needs to change, it's been 2 weeks and my daughters 2nd school shoe is still missing. I am beginning to think I threw it out! But it's a sign of my scattered mind that until now I haven't cared! Yet it affects how she does at school (well it doesn't but soon I'll get a 'please explain' from the principal). I think to boost my spirits I need to plan and execute something simple but big enough to give me a sense of accomplishment. To get me over that line no matter what!

Incredible achievement of Steve Bradbury, to be the one who finished! Back to my more mundane unfinished business, I originally wanted to decorate one room as undersea theme. At the moment that seems daunting. I think instead I'll make an autumn theme and re-new our autumn wall - actually I'll do all 4 seasons and put them on a new wall in the house - with the craft all prepared before I start so kids get 4 days craft out of it with confidence that it will be completed not just a half arsed job. My TO DO list for this project looks roughly like this: Words - print out words and take to be laminated Craft - collect season craft ingredients in one box Location - find a location and make sure there is sufficient space - consider all seasons on one wall for practicality such as behind TV? Share - send to friends with children a care package ready to go; sell premade packages online Project complete! Autumn leaves, still have plus Pinterest Winter - Snowflakes doilies Spring - flowers Summer - sun craft, check Pinterest and pool theme or beach theme? I'll update with progress on the seasonal crafts later, but in the meantime, an update after today. I am shocked at how effective just thinking about things in a new light can be. Today, looking for an opportunity to finish a project, I came home from settling my father back at his nursing home, grabbed the pre-cooked potatoes from the fridge and set out making 'Tuna Beach Balls' from the recipe my daughter picked for her school lunches 2 weeks ago. Fiddly and annoying cooking, but a real hit with her, she wants 4 for morning tea! I am so glad I took the opportunity and time to make them, instead of catching up with washing up tonight. And I'm painfully aware my work isn't done as it is still laundry week and I'm heading back in there to see what I can get done tonight before bed! Please share any of your 'unfinished business'; I'd love to hear what you get stuck on.

Day 2 - Unravelling!

Something I'm learning about this blog thing already is that I need to strike while the words are there. So many little thoughts since yesterdays blog and not one of them to be found now! This morning was one of those mornings where it all goes wrong. So its 11:30am and I'm feeling like I've nothing to add to the world about energy organising, as mine isn't! But I suppose I do have some thoughts about what I do even when its all going wrong, and what I'd like to remember to do. Firstly, drink water. I haven't had any today,so I'm going to get myself a glass right now. It'll improve my mood, my health, my skin and hair. Can't go wrong with extra water.

Then there is taking a long view. In the big scheme of things, is the current crisis actually ginormous? Usually not. Taking the long view helps me chill out and relax about whatever seems to be wrong. Refusing to stay at school? Big deal, it'll work out. It just takes a bit of thinking and time and calm. Also I do Tai Chi. When it all seems too much, I rely on my 'walking meditation' to restore a sense of balance. Whatever style of meditation, or just a short walk (even around the outside of the house) can bring on some soothing feelings and a nice rush of oxytocin. And lastly, do something about it. Thats the last thought for today. Bad morning? well when it stops being a crisis and you've calmed down with a drink of water and a few laps in the pool (whatever exercise or meditation you prefer) then pick up and keep going. Thats what I'm doing right now, tackling the dishes. Start the morning at 11:45, but at least it'll be started :)