Working on Health

      I've been recuperating and have been absent from my blog. I have continued to write everyday, though, and made some decisions. About life, you know. I had been looking at a couple of writer's conferences to go to and had gotten really excited about the Woodstock Writer's Festival in April and the Taos Summer Writing Conference in July. I finally decided that I was putting the cart before the horse and had some other priorities to attend to first. I did discover two writing teachers and consultants that I plan to contact and try to work with them in the future, though.

     What I chose to focus on was my health. I want to improve it in any way that I can. It takes more than diet. Even my thoughts need inspection. I listened to a few minutes of Wayne Dyer on TV last night and he suggested a practice for the period of time between drowsiness and falling asleep at night. His advice included things like saying, "I am well, I am prosperous, I am happy." Whoa, that threw me. I realized how often I have a pre-sleep litany sounding more like this:  "I'm sick, I'm poor, I struggle to be happy." Oh brother, now I was wide awake.

      I went to bed anyway. After reading for awhile and getting drowsy, I tried out Dyer's suggested phrases. I woke up around 2:30 a.m. and thought it was time to get up. What happened, though, was that in the middle of the night, I was happy. That's usually the time I wake up from some new worry I had forgotten about during the day. This time, no worries. I was happy when I got up at 7 a.m., too. And life just felt better. I'm trying it again tonight.

      One aspect of my health I am working on for this year is my energy level. I want more energy. Much more! This means more exercise, starting with a lot more walking. Daily. I walked today for 20 minutes! It's not much but it's a start. Even if I only work up to 30 minutes every day, the regularity of it will help my energy level. I just know it will. I'm not interested in being an athlete, just in reversing some of the fatigue I feel.

     I need more energy to write. Writing does give me energy, so it remains part of my plan for health. But I need all the boosts I can get. So I'm using my mind to boost me out the door every day and walk now, and see what happens. I'm hoping! And I will keep you posted on my progress.