Whittling Away - Body, Mind and Soul

It's not every day you lose 30 pounds.

Actually... it's taken me many days. I started changing my diet in April, and I started exercising after my trip to India in May.

It started first with long walks - a two mile jaunt home after a long work day, sometimes a seven miler along the Ohio River.

And then I bought the running skirt.

I hit the pavement in June and watched the numbers drop. Five pounds down. 12 pounds down. 18 pounds down. 22 pounds down.

With each new, impressive number, I recommitted to the mission of this effort, which is just one facet of a personal revolution:

• Commit to genuine relationships that involve pure intentions and honest emotion. 
• Treat my body as a gift, invest in it, and take advantage of the opportunities God has given me. 
• Allow my heart, mind and soul to digest only "quality content."

You already know a lot of what's happening to my body. I'm running at least three times a week as part of the Hal Higdon half marathon training program. I've joined a gym. I'm investing time in my future by making healthy choices - I'm preparing a lot of healthy food, watching my alcohol intake, and drinking water like I'm a fish.

The water. The exercise. The fewer cocktails and fatty foods. These are the essential points to weight loss.

There is no easy way to do it.

But this reinvention has led to a variety of other changes in my life. I stopped watching television at the end of August. I found that television was a vapid time suck for me, and I wasn't spending time putting smart content in my head.

These days, my brain is full of NPR, the pages of Vanity Fair and a variety of other smart sources I read day and night.

I watch a few quality TV programs and select movies thanks to Netflix.

Media is like food. You can put sweet junk like Snooki and the Desperate Housewives in your head, and that's what your brain is going to think about.

Or, you can let your neurons nosh on thoughtful content, and I tend to think it will turn you into a more thoughtful person.

Maybe.

As for relationships, I've come to the conclusion that I have a finite amount of free time in my life, and I only want to spend that time on people and experiences that will be enriching for all parties.

I'll take a deep conversation and a cup of coffee any day over shallow quips traded during happy hour.

My social interactions are intentional.

Many of my actions are intentional, and that's a far cry better than where I was a year ago.

I'll take it.


Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.