Organizing Time / My Planner

I have been reading a fairly helpful book, Organizing Your Day by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims.

I'm also working, for the umpteenth time, on creating a system that works for me.  I'm actually great at creating systems - horrible at sustaining them. I feel like I'm getting a bit closer.  The key is keeping it simple. Very, very simple.

I need to remember my planner history - over and over I tried ready-made planners or elaborate systems utilizing ready-made pages, pages I created myself, 3-ring notebooks, small 6-ring notebooks, filing cards in boxes, filing cards in photo books.

I was never able to create a planner that worked for me, that didn't become a huge chore in itself. Then, I guess the Universe took pity on me. I found a small Day-Runner cover, a 4" X 7",  which used spiral-bound components - it had a monthly calendar insert, a phone/address booklet. I added  a weekly calendar that had space for writing to-dos.  I have used this for more than 10 years now and it totally works to keep me aware of appointments and events and deadlines and birthdays and important anniversaries.

Over the years, I've had to replace the cover - I now have one from Day-Timer that's even better, with slots for cards & a photo holder on the inside cover, and I have had to use components from other systems as well because sometimes I can't find the Day-Runner ones. Sometimes I use the free calendar from my credit union.

Right now I've got an At-A-Glance Executive Weekly Planner, which has the calendar (tabbed monthly which is great) and the weekly pages right after each monthly calendar pages.   I love this format.

 

  

 

It's helpful in using such a small planner that I can, and like to, write tiny. My favorite pens are the Pilot G-2 micro with 0.38 point.

The address book is the same one I started 10 years ago - it's rather falling apart and filled with information that's no longer useful.  I did buy a new book, and began the tedious process of transferring addresses and numbers over.  However.... I ... can't... find... it... now. (Typical lament of the disorganized clutterbug...)

This planner and Post-It notes are probably the reason I SEEM to be amazingly organized to many people. 

And its simplicity and longevity in my life are  the reasons I must have "Remember The Planner!" as my battle cry as I work to create a system for organizing my time and projects and papers.

The Chair's Seasonal Portrait - Winter 2010

The Chair, Winter 2010

Every once in awhile, I like to take a picture of The Chair.  The Chair, after all, is sort of the raison d'etre of this blog, a symbol, a symptom.  And, after all these years, it's kind of a beloved bit of cluttery chaos to me.  The Chair has appeared on a couple of other, more well-read blogs, and once, was asked to be part of a professor's class presentation in the UK...something on symbolism and photographic images, if I remember correctly.


For last year's picture and some from previous years, you can scroll through the entries here.

I would like to point out the improvement in the number of shoes underneath the chair.  And the lack of books stacked on the seat, although a few may be hidden under all the winter clothes.

Am I tidying up The Chair anytime soon?  Probably not until Spring.

What I am working on in the decluttering/organizing realm is time and paper management and my tendency to over-commit.   I'll write more about that in my next post.

Fitness 2010

At the time I last wrote here, I think I was at a point of low energy in my fitness journey.  It seemed time to just breathe and be, a time to rest in my new body, and focus on creating a calm sort of holiday time. So I took a long break from recording and reporting, though I continued to monitor my weight. 

I ate pretty much everything I wanted to eat and my weight hovered over a 2 pound range.  What I found most gratifying is that what I wanted to eat was not so much.  At the RiverWools party, I had a little of every delectable sweet offered.  And I didn't feel guilty and I didn't feel deprived.

However, by December 22, my weight was at the top of that 2 pound range, was about what it had been in mid-November (141.6), and I decided it was time to focus again on quality and quantity.  As of today, Jan. 2, I weighed in at 137.4, my very lowest weight since beginning this journey back in May 2009.  I've lost 39 pounds since then!

I'm spending today reveling in my success over the last 33 weeks.  And rededicating myself to Fitness Project 2010. 

Some changes:
I've decided that a good goal weight is 125-128 pounds.
I'm upping my calorie allowance to 1400-1450
(1200 calories was fine for that first phase, but it was not enough to allow for some healthy things I need to have in my diet: almonds, avocado - good fat things)
Exercise.

That last is my biggest problem, the element of healthy living that I have the most difficulty with.

Since the weather got chillier and I couldn't do Tai Chi outside, even my Tai Chi practice has fallen off.    Tai Chi is foundational for me. So my first goal is to get my regular practice back. And to learn 24!!

As I do that, I am going to plan and visualize other exercise in my life.  For me, setting intention and visualizing manifestation of intention is crucial.  I absolutely believe that has been a key element in my success so far.  Before I began, I spent the month or so before in such planning and visualizing.  And I had an mental image of myself in almost the very body I have now.  That image was the prize I kept my eyes on.  And it wasn't just physical either.

So, my goals for the next few days: eat wisely, do Tai Chi, visualize.

2010 will be the best year yet!!!
Namaste.

Fitness Tuesday Update - So close...

My Facebook status this morning:

Tuesday Fitness Project Update: Trying to get back to making this project my priority, get my schedule back (early bed, early wake-up) and get more exercise. Lost 1.6 lbs this week (whew!) for a grand total at the end of Week 26: 36.2 lbs. (5.2 lbs to go to my Primary Goal Weight!!!)


So. I didn't post here last week, partly because I was super-busy with the annual workshop on loss and art, and partly because there was nothing to post except that I didn't lose any weight, but rather had gone up nearly a pound.  I've lost that and then some this week, so feel like I'm getting back on track.

I finally started feeling Well about a week and a half ago-had been feeling so Unwell for long enough that feeling Well felt...well, quite odd!  It took me a moment that morning to figure out what was different.  And when I did, I felt a rush of intense gratitude. I try to hold that gratitude every day. I don't want to take feeling healthy and whole for granted - it's a major blessing.

People ask for pictures...here's one taken not so long ago, with me doing the "Look, I have a waist smaller than my bust!" pose of weight loss commercials.

...and wearing my luscious Round Trip Jacket.  I'm more than happy with the way my handknits fit the smaller me.  And am looking forward to knitting, oh, say a Medium or Large instead of an XXL-less knitting time, less yarn to buy. And yes, that was definitely on my list of motivating thoughts for staying with the Fitness Project!

Tuesday Fitness Update

Tuesday Fitness Project Update: Such low energy still - whatever is going around is tenacious. And yet...I've stayed focused on the goal and lost 1.2 lbs this week for a grand total at the end of Week 24 of 35.4 lbs lost.

I missed posting last week (.6 lbs lost ) due to inertia, I think.  I've been sick for weeks now- actively ill with some bug, probably not The Flu, for nearly two, and dragging ever since, then getting more actively sick again for a few days, now back to the low energy, low level of congestion. 

Beginning to wonder if allergies are part of the mix - I know I definitely feel....allergy/antsy when I have to crunch through the leaves piled near my car.  Also wondering if I'm not being as vigilant about my nutrition since I got so busy with fall commitments mid-September.  I know I'm not cooking as creatively or eating as many veggies as I was eating before that.

Stress level is high right now, too. Very high.  In less than two weeks, we'll be holding the workshop "Creating a Path Through Loss / The Arts as Healing Tools."  I'm chairing the planning committee this year and I just haven't been on top of it due to this draggy illness.

On the brighter side, I'm really pleased with how I look and how I move these days. I love how some of my favorite jackets & shirts drape and flow around less me.  And every time I bend, stoop, lean, reach...I am conscious of such a difference. There is ease, maybe even elegance...the movement drapes and flows, I flow in the movement.

I am beginning to have a different body sense...it has something to do with compactness, of a feeling of being more substantial.  It's as though I am more solidly connected to, radiating from, my center. When I weighed too much and when I weighed too little, that sense of being substantial and centered was absent. This is both a physical and a...spiritual sensation.

This is very interesting to me, that I can sense this clearly: I am coming to a place of balance with my physical body, my center.  It isn't about that number goal.  It's about that balance.

Fitness Tuesday Update: Low 140s

Today's Facebook status:

FitnessProject Tuesday Update: been ill for awhile, hopefully am edging toward wellness...still managed to do a little Tai Chi here & there, have lost another 1.2 pounds this week, for a grand total loss at the end of Week 22: 33.6 lbs.

Despite feeling crummy still after two weeks dealing with a respiratory Thing, I'm truly thrilled with how I'm slowly & steadily I'm moving towards that image I hold of a fit, limber me creating art, drinking tea, doing Tai Chi & finding ways to give to the community.

Yet I'm a tad depressed though about asthma, weak lungs - and how every cold I've gotten for two years now has settled in my chest and become bronchitis or almost-bronchitis. I had hoped that my wonderful new habits in diet, exercise & sleep might change this pattern. Well, I still have hope that they will.

As I look at my life over the past few weeks I had a lot going on. Mostly wonderful goings-on, the 3-day Arts Fest, a daylong fiber event with me teaching a triloom weaving workshop, family visitors -- and days with Sophia who was ill with a bug of her own and couldn't go to day care, some other family & financial issues....

So...a whole lot of good & bad stress. As we all know, stress leaves one vulnerable to illness, never mind the cortisol/belly fat connection! I'm going to be more attentive to stress management, I think.

Fitness Tuesday Update on Wednesday - No Deprivation

Here's yesterday's Facebook status:

Tuesday Fitness Project Update: Despite enjoying Saturday's chicken cherry chili, the pumpkin whoopee pie, the fabulous Indian meal at Martha's (which ended with Lana's brownies AND chocolate ginger) I still lost .6 lbs for a grand total at the end of Week 21 of 32.4 lbs lost. BMI now out of the "overweight" and into the "normal" range.

Yes, still going without the safety net of the food journal AND eating socially at special occasions AND still losing a wee bit. This is good. This is practicing for maintaining my weight at whatever winds up being my final goal.

The special occasion was a daylong "Celebrate Fiber" event out at Sycamore Farm on the east side of Terre Haute. I taught an afternoon weaving workshop, but went out early to, well, celebrate fiber! That meant I was there for lunch.

In the evening, Martha, the owner of my local yarn shop, had a wonderful dinner at her home for the shop teachers - takeout from the local Indian restaurant (my favorite of world cuisines.) There were five different entrees, a mountain of rice, naan, and a variety of...condiments, I guess...a sort of relish, raita, etc.

So. I think I made some wise choices and decisions. At Sycamore Farm, I opted for the chili offering instead of the local beef hot dog with corn slaw...and did not eat quite all of the serving. At Martha's I had a little of everything and then just a little more, one tiny brownie and not two, and I did not eat all I wanted to eat. But I certainly ate well and ate enough.

After ending the meal with a cup of raspberry tea and enjoying the company and conversation, I felt nourished and comfortable and had not one pang of guilt.

Not even over that little pumpkin bread whoopee pie I had at the Farm. (I actually ate only half of it then, the other half as my late afternoon snack.)

Fitness Tuesday Update - Weight Loss Should Be Easy

Today's Facebook status:

Tuesday Fitness Project Update: Still struggling with exercise issue. Still grateful for Tai Chi. Still eating without a net (food log.) Still losing steadily. At the end of Week 20, another 1.4 lbs released, for a grand total loss of 31.4 lbs.

That really says it all. I've done nothing this week to up the exercise. Nothing. Just going up and down the stairs a lot as I'm working more in my basement office/studio. And using my next pound down number as a sort of mantra. I think the latter really helps to keep me focused, to keep my eyes on the prize, and the food portions appropriately sized.

From the beginning of this project, I've had a strong positive sense that I will definitely reach my goal: change poor lifestyle habits, lose weight, get stronger. As I have gone into the Last Ten Pounds(Maybe) phase of the journey, I'm getting a lot of negative suggestion from well-meaning people about how difficult that last ten pounds can be, about what a struggle I have ahead of me.

I reject that. I reject that any of this journey to care for my Self by caring for my body is a difficult struggle. It is a joyful challenge.

And from the beginning, I've also had this strange recurring thought:
Losing weight should be as easy as gaining it. I'm not saying it is, but I think it should be and I think it can be. And it begins in the head, with thoughts and conscious attention to them.

The idea of losing weight as easy is heresy in the current religion of weight loss. I've never watched a Biggest Loser episode - but I have seen bits and pieces of that and other televised weight loss/fitness shows. The overriding image is of sweat, tears, faces contorted in pain and misery...and buff people yelling "encouragement."

Is it required that we suffer in order to feel that we've accomplished something?

My life won't begin when I reach my goal. My life is now. My life is the journey. And I'm going to cultivate an attitude of joy and excitement for the duration. No suffering. It feels good to eat well, to sleep enough. It feels good to move...it feels even better to move with ease.

I should sweat a little more, get my heart pounding a bit faster on a regular basis. And I will. But I don't need anyone yelling at me. I'll do it and it will feel good.