Tag Archives: health

Blogging for good health!, Exercise, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Learning: A Treat, Not a Trick!

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While going through a weekly newsletter, I was asked a simple question about learning that really got me thinking.

Before we look at that question, I want to return to a definition of learning I have always used: Learning requires a change in behavior because of that learning. Otherwise, we are just collecting information.

The difference is easy to spot in others: “Well, he clearly did not learn his lesson.”

But it’s a definite “ouch” when I realize I have reverted to old behaviors instead of consistently applying the new, better way I had supposedly “learned.”

Even though we have traveled through six time zones to be with family, enjoying one another’s company and supporting their activities, there is still learning happening.

James Clear posed this question in his newsletter:

“You’re always learning, even when you’re not intending to learn. Based on how you are spending your time this week, what are you learning?”

I’ve learned to be more mindful of my physical surroundings. In fact, I had already figured out that morning at the playground, bright sunlight and shadows on the playground structures and steps can make it difficult to see changes in elevation accurately, especially when wearing sunglasses blunting the contrasts.

I thought I had absorbed this new information and would be more careful as I walked through and climbed around the changing elevations of the imaginative fort and castle-like structures with my three-and-a-half-year-old grandson.

Then came the opportunity to hear, “Let me chase you one more time, Grandma!”

I couldn’t resist, and off we went!

Doing my best fake-running Grandma shuffle, I went down a step here, through a walkway there, and up a step there as his feet pitter-pattered behind me.

Except.

In the sunlight and shadows striping my path, I failed to see the step up.

Down I went.

Fortunately, nothing was broken, and the bruises were small.

But I knew better! I had already been taking extra care, accounting for those tricky shadows.

Knowing something and consistently applying that new knowledge going forward, can be a flawed process for sure.

There are many takeaways from my learning this week I will be incorporating into my daily routine.

How are you spending your time, and what are you learning?

In health and still learning –

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Who’s invited?

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Having a special gathering at your house?

Ah, party planning! Love it!

So, who do you invite?

My favorite kind of meet-up is the impromptu kind. Sometimes, I’ll put out a text to a small group of friends saying, “Hey, y’all! I just put on a big pot of soup in the crock pot. There will be cornbread to go with it. Who can join us here at 5:30 tonight?”

How do you craft your guest list? Family? Immediate neighbors? Close by friends? Folks with children the same age as yours?

There are so many considerations.

Who are you going to allow into your space, to share time with, and to relax with?

What gets me is that so many people invite total strangers, people opposed to their values, along with problems, emergencies, and tragedies into the sweet innocence of their brand-new mornings each day.

Think of putting the most precious, delicate, newborn into a full volume movie theatre showing an action movie within minutes of the baby’s waking up from a night’s slumber. No time to blink, smile, stretch, or explore.

All of the lights, vibrating walls, and changing scenes demand a response.

This is what we do when we grab our phones to see what’s happening in the world – sometimes before our feet have even hit the floor – as we invite the entire world into our private space before we have even figured out what’s happening in our own.

Before we are fully awake and oriented to our own unique realm, our minds are occupied by others’ priorities, troubles, angst, opinions, and demands.

What’s wrong with this picture? It certainly has become routine with many, but that doesn’t mean it’s even remotely normal – or, better stated, healthy.

That precious time when we awaken and just start to emerge from rest is a unique window of time to settle into ourselves. That time of mental clarity before we get bogged down in the world’s distractions is best for concentrating on what is important to us.

Jumping into screentime demands reactions, responses, judgments, and too easily sets us on a path of being reactionary all day rather than being intentional.

We are left with less time working on our own priorities when our free time is spent on matters that have contributed nothing toward our life goals. Ultimately, our mental ‘juices’ have been spent on that which we have no control.

My concern is that when we endlessly scroll out of fear of missing out on the latest. What we are truly missing out on is our own lives.

I feel that pull … to check my phone. It’s real. It’s there.

I have overcome that temptation first thing in the morning, at least. It’s usually mid- to late morning before I ever look at that screen.

The rest of the day … it’s a struggle.

Every time I check my phone – right there, usually a distraction from what I was doing for my own life – the pause lengthens to something much longer.

Mostly, it’s a mildly entertaining distraction. Distraction from what?

My life.


Maybe we need to be a little more selective about who—and what—we invite into our day.


Pondering about life and health –

Deidre