Systems and maintenance

My dad used to say that maintenance was key to any system. He worked with spreadsheets and numbers at work and he created a magic budget on a spreadsheet for his finances that I used for years before my finances became so simple that I don't even need a budget anymore.

You need to spend time creating the system and then you need to spend time maintaining it. Both parts are important. Many people spend a lot of time creating the system and then neglect the maintenance. So they end up making a big mess, cleaning up that big mess or re-creating and repeating that cycle.

When you maintain. You spend smaller amounts of time more often and more regularly, and it seems so much easier and you never make a big mess. Every once in awhile, you might do a spring cleaning or a revision or a deep cleaning, and spend a little extra time, but you never have a big mess. You're not stressed out all the time.

I remember when I was a teacher. Every summer I tried to organize and clean my classroom so that I could keep things orderly during the year. And every year, things would look great and work great until about October. Then things would start to get messy and I'd have to do big clean ups. It just didn't work. I'd just organized things and made the mess pretty. I hadn't created systems.

One year, during the year I wrote down ideas and tried to really come up with systems that made sense for the way things worked in my room.  Finally, the following year, I had systems that did, indeed, work.

I made routines for the class and created systems and spaces for them. I put things where they made sense. I created systems for every routine that we had as a class.

I spread them out in the room. I didn't try to condense them to take up less room. I spread them out. I made them easy for me and for my students to keep them organized. They knew where everything was that was theirs and I knew where things went that were mine.

That year when I left for home every afternoon, my desk was completely clear and everything was put back in its place. October came and went and things were still organized. December came and went. March came and went.

The end of the year arrived and the systems were still working. Of course, I did do a little maintenance each day and a little extra every once in a while. But it never got out of control.

Many people think that being organized and having systems and routine seems boring. Like there's too much control and no freedom. But there was so much freedom in having those systems and having things organized. So much freedom.

My students used to tell me how nice it was to be in a neat and organized room. I was free to stand in the hallway and greet my students during the passing period because I had a place for them to pick up their warm-up work and they knew where it was. They knew where anything and everything went. They knew where to find supplies.

I had a routine for the lessons and the students knew it. I taught them the routine. They knew we started with a warm-up, then a song, then a lesson and some activities, then some written practice. They knew what to expect.

But the freedom and fun and exciting part came with what the activities were. What games we would play. What lessons we would learn. That routine gave me freedom and control of my lesson planning.

I even had skeleton lesson plans as far as weekly topics for the entire year that I gave to my students. That didn't box me in, it allowed me to relax. I knew where things were going and I knew what was happening next. Of course, when things came up, I changed and adapted, but I had a plan and I was never caught completely off guard at the end of the year trying to fit things in. Students hate when you try to cram in material in the last few days that is going to be on the final exam.

My eating and training was a good routine. I had training, class or yoga on certain days. I know I have certain foods available to me at home that are appropriate for me so I don't have to wonder what I might eat. There is a freedom in that.

With my skin cancer procedures and things changing at the gym, my routine has changed. It seems like there would be more freedom in not having a routine. Like you'd want to do other things. But it doesn't work that way for me. I need my routine first. Once I get my routine, then I can relax and add the other things.

So I'm creating a new routine even if it will only last a month or so until the KBuddah Gym opens. Once I make my temporary routine, then I think I will feel free to add other things like going to the pool or going for a walk.

So I've found yoga days and some new classes and made a little schedule for myself. I'm looking forward to gaining back my stamina and strength. Khris trained me a little today and I remember how fantastic training is. A trainer makes such a difference in the way you challenge yourself and feel challenged when working out. There's a reason teams have coaches!

I am looking forward to the KBuddah system!

When In Doubt, Clean!

Last night I read a little book I had on my Kindle. I've accumulated lots of little free books on my Kindle. I have been a little funky the last few weeks without exercising and I was looking for a little something to give me a boost.

This book was called Powerful Minimalist Mindset. It wasn't fantastic, but it gave me a little mantra to help me. When in doubt, clean!

It was about 5 steps to clearing the clutter in your mind. It started with clearing physical clutter. It's interesting how many places I've encountered the clearing of physical clutter in books that are not about that.

I've read books about saving money that begin with cleaning your house. I've read books about success that begin with cleaning your house. I started my own New Year New Me road in 2017 with the idea of focusing on living in the present and that started with cleaning my house, decluttering and organizing.

It is interesting to look at decluttering as a way of grounding yourself. A way of keeping yourself in the present moment. A form of meditation. Just reading about it and thinking about it made me feel lighter and less funky.

I went to yoga today and got my stitches out. Just being out and doing yoga and thinking about doing a little maintenance clearing and cleaning of my house and my closet was enough to change my mood considerably. It was pretty remarkable. The power of now.

My mind had been getting cluttered while I couldn't exercise. The mind and the body are connected.

Next time I feel like I am getting cobwebs in my brain or I'm overthinking or overfeeling, and can't get in a workout, I have another alternative that will ground me into the present moment that I need to remember. When in doubt, clean!

My Come Back

Thank goodness I get my stitches out tomorrow afternoon. I am ready for my come back! My back is killing me after not being allowed to work out much during these 2 skin cancer surgery things.

I got a few massages. I hung out with Jack and swam a little. I went kayaking one day and I went for a walk yesterday. It felt really good to get outside and move and sweat but my hip hurt a little and my elbow. I'm not complaining; I'm just remembering.

I still am not feeling the type of muscle pain in my legs or arms or ribcage or neck that I used to feel, but just the beginning of some pain and fatigue and emotional instability returning makes me appreciate how far I have come and how much I like the changes I've made and how much I want to keep going.

My eating has stayed pretty clean during this rest time, but I have to go back into things knowing that I'm going to be starting over in many ways. I have to keep myself in check about any frustrations. I'm going to be tired. I'm going to be sore. I might be weaker. But that will all sort itself out and I will get better and better again.

Tomorrow is the start of my come back! I have sessions left at the yoga studio that I need to use this week because classes at the gym have changed and the classes I used to go to aren't offered anymore. There's still yoga on the weekends for me at the gym.

It will be so great when the KBuddah gym opens, but I don't want to wish away the summer. I need to get into a good routine before my new fall routine starts. I can walk, too. That can be a good summer activity to integrate with yoga and training.

Okay, where's the Rocky theme music?

Dolce Far Niente

Dolce Far Niente: The sweetness of doing nothing. I first heard this Italian phrase in an episode of the old The Dick Van Dyke Show. I heard it again in Eat, Pray, Love. Americans have a guilt about doing nothing. We don't know how to enjoy it. I've never had that problem.

My yoga teacher is getting used to us now and has started telling little stories before class. My old yoga teacher, Jenny, used to do that. Today, Shiree talked about the beauty of restorative yoga and how it was a more advanced practice than we realize and how it was great that we were making time for it.

She talked about a book she was reading called In Praise of Wasting Time by Alan Lightman. She talked about how older generations used to sit on porches and things like that.

When I was a kid, we used to play games outside or ride our bikes all the time in the summer. Or we used to sit outside and talk. I remember learning my states and capitals because my dad made up a game and he would just quiz us on our states and capitals when we would sit outside in on the patio in the summertime.

My yoga teacher told us about how a student did research recently on how the most 311 calls about non-emergencies come from Harlem. How with all the new restoration and expensive homes there now people complain about noise and people sitting on their stoops hanging out talking and listening to music, like they always did before the internet culture and fast-paced business and organized activity world.

I remember when I was a kid and I would daydream or think about things, my mom would tell me to wake up because I wouldn't be able to sleep later. I would tell her I wasn't sleeping; I was thinking!

When I was a teacher and we would have meetings, I was always annoyed when they pushed us to come up with ideas for things immediately at the meeting. I can't come up with an idea that fast. I need time to think. I need to do nothing for a bit and have it roll around in my head. I need to drive or take a shower or close my eyes and think.

I remember somewhere reading that creativity is on the other side of boredom. That when we don't let ourselves or our children be bored for even one second, we are depriving ourselves of our most creative ideas. I know that if I am going to do a big project like organizing a closet or creating a lesson for school or designing my classroom, I take my time and let it roll around my head for a long time.

I think about it. I imagine it. I change my mind. I look around stores at things that have nothing to do with what I'm thinking about because there might be something there that will spark an idea that I never considered. I look up ideas on the internet. I get ideas from things that are the opposite of what I'm thinking about. I'm always glad I didn't just jump into it. And a lot happens when it appears I'm just looking around doing nothing.

Another interesting thing I remember learning about yoga a long time ago from Rodney Yee at a yoga conference is that yoga is really about opening your body and preparing it for meditation. Preparing it to get comfortable enough to sit still for a long time. Flexibility is not about stretching for movement. It's about stretching to stay still.

Something that just occurred to me this very second is the idea of stillness and flexibility in life and even dealing with anger is all about just that. I can stretch and be aware of my anger or irritation and be flexible enough to just stay still. I don't need to react. I can be strong and irritated and in pain and yet be still and comfortable. Just as in a strong yoga pose. My muscles may be tense and working, or I may even just have an itch on my nose, but to look at me, I am strong, calm and relaxed.

See, ideas and lessons come to you when you allow time to do nothing. Dolce far niete.

Freedom, Gratitude, Rebellion, and Yoga

This week in yoga our teacher has been playing Imagine by the Beatles at the beginning of class and talking about freedom and gratitude for the freedoms we have and connecting it to the freedom of movement in our bodies and freedom to choose different options in poses and listening to our bodies as we do yoga. She is doing this in conjunction with the 4th of July, obviously, and has told some interesting stories about other countries.

It connected with me from something that happened on the 4th of July with someone on Khris's Facebook who always challenges him on any posts he shares about racial injustice. I don't think the guy necessarily has ill intentions, but he told Khris he should put away racism for one day and be grateful for the freedoms that he does have.

When I heard my yoga teacher talking about gratitude for the freedoms we have today in class, it struck me funny for a second, but it was different coming from her.

It was different in a few ways. First of all, she was including herself. She wasn't telling us to be grateful as if she was more important than us and as if we should just shut up and not bother her.

She was kind. She was helping us to be kind to ourselves. She wasn't telling us to suck it up; she was telling us to be compassionate and she was compassionate.

And the thing that struck me the hardest was when she said this: what will be your freedom today? How will you express your freedom? How will you be grateful for your freedom? What will be your rebellion?

She included rebellion as freedom! We are free to rebel.

Today I am grateful for my body and the freedom I have to move it. How moving helps me rebel against my pain. I rebel against the slide toward negativity and misunderstanding. Toward living in the past or the future. I am grateful for the now. I am grateful for the lessons the universe presents to me if I pay attention.

P.S. I came across this article on a yoga/buddhist Twitter page this evening that goes well with this post. It talks about freedom and the song Imagine.

The Fibromyalgia Whisperer

I've called Khris my Fibromyalgia Whisperer. I was telling my nephew about my training today. He lives in Denver now after graduating from college. He's working out there now. He has started to do some weight training. He knew I had lost weight and was exercising, but he didn't know what I was doing exactly and didn't know about my pain going away.

I gave him my blog link so hopefully he checks it out! It's funny, he's been meditating for the past few years after reading The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle.  He asked me about audiobooks, which Khis and I have been talking about and he asked me if I had ever been in a floating tank and Khris had just been talking about those, too. Billy said it was like meditation on steroids. And he asked me about yoga and he wants to try to do some yoga, too. Khris is not namaste on the yoga, but that's okay, he weaves it into training! (hahaha)

Anyway, I have had to take an unexpected rest from working out for a week because of my skin cancer surgery on my neck and I've noticed a few things. Fortunately, I had Jack visiting me so I didn't miss working out as much as I would have because I got to go swimming a little and play catch with a tennis ball in the water with him. I couldn't go under the water, but I got to go in.

The first 2 days after my surgery I couldn't have worked out even if I wanted to because I was just exhausted from the surgery itself and my stitches were pulling and sore. I did a lot of napping and resting.

I went to yoga on the 3rd day and just did what I could. It was a flow class and it was too much for me at one point just from an exhaustion standpoint. I stayed in child's pose with tears coming for about 15 minutes and then rejoined the class. The post-surgery exhaustion reminded me of the crushing fatigue that I used to have all the time.

I don't have the same type of pain again that I used to in my thighs and arms and everywhere, but I've started to have back pain and just some stiffness when I stand up or when I move in different ways that reminds me how things used to be. It's not even close to the pain I had. It's just a stiffness when I stand and move after sitting for awhile that is not the ease I am used to with training. My back and butt have a gripping and pain when I'm sitting that I haven't had in a long time.

It reinforces what I already knew to be true about my experience with weight loss and exercise and training. It's the training that is the Fibro magic. I love that I've lost weight. I love yoga. Yoga has a magic all its own. It is a mind/body workout. But training is even magicker. Yoga has books written about how it is an arthritis cure. Khris is a Fibro cure.

Cardio is useless. The cardio that is mixed with training is fantastic. The cardio that I get with burpees or the sled or walkouts or push-ups that makes me sweat and gives me curly hair is what I need.  The cardio that the doctors recommend for Fibro patients because they think that's all we can handle without overdoing it, is not the answer.

My doctor said she wants me to write a book. I think I've said that before. Well, I will continue to write about the magic of training. Again, I am fortunate to be retired so I can rest and train. I don't know how I would do if I was working and trying to train hard and rest and work, but I can't go back now, I can only go forward. I do know I did better some years at work when I was doing step aerobics at night and yoga in the morning before work. I didn't lose weight then because I didn't have a handle on the food part. But again. I can't go back. I can only go forward.

I know I can't wait to get back to training. My incision/stitches are healing nicely and I'm allowed to start exercising without restriction now. My instructions were to gradually resume lifting and conditioning type exercises after a week.  I went to the gym with Billy tonight and did a workout on my own, but it wasn't fun like my training! I am grateful for my Fibro Whisperer!