Chain Tactic

I am not a huge fan of Jerry Seinfeld's.  His sitcom was a huge success and for some years I was forced to watch reruns over lunch at a former place of employment.  Everyone but me laughed through the entire show, so I know I'm the strange one.  But....


I just heard about Jerry Seinfeld's Chain Tactic. It's similar to an idea I've written about before, but it is a better visual reminder of success.


I've written before about keeping track of the days you walked by marking them on a calendar.  With the visual cue of a series of happy little X's all in a row will encourage you not to break the chain.  The only problem with this is that most calendars show only a timeline for from one week to one month.


Seinfeld's Chain Tactic is to hang a calendar showing the an entire year and using a bold marker to cross off each day that you walk (or achieve some other daily goal). 


I love this idea.  I found a free printable year long calendar that we can each print off for this purpose.  Markers aren't expensive.  Heck, you can use one of the kids' crayons if you need to.  Or, maybe a sticker.  Whatever looks good to you and is easy to obtain and have handy.


Another quick idea is to put your walking shoes someplace where you literally must trip over them on your morning route around the house.  Just another reminder to make the daily walk become a daily habit. 


Go print off a calendar for yourself and hang it where you'll see it over your morning coffee or while you're brushing your teeth.  Hang a marker next to it.  Put your walking shoes where you can't miss them.  Then, put them on, go for a walk, and mark a large happy X on today's calendar entry.


*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

A Serious Lack Of Grace or How To Fall Well

This morning, while walking into a friend's house, I took a seriously ungraceful fall.  I think I might have bounced.  Fortunately, I was not seriously injured - and even my dignity was spared since I was surrounded by a nice group of friends.  No one pointed or stared.  Turns out one of the other gals had taken a misstep at the same place a few minutes earlier.


Good for me, I had already planned to walk with a friend and the weather was so inviting there was no way I was NOT going to walk.  The sun was out, there was a nice breeze, and I was all set.  I put an ice pack on the worst of my several bruises (my right hand) for the next half hour or so then headed out with a friend to walk.


We buzzed back by my house, picked up my dog, and headed for what we thought was a walk by the Meramec River at Fenton Park.  Construction and bad directions ruined our original plan, so we drove around a bit trying to figure out the error of our ways.  Before long, we wound up at a new park, Unger Park, on a bend of the Meramec across from Emmenegger Park. 


After my tumble earlier in the day, I was not eager to take on a true hike, so the flat, paved 2 mile path at Unger Park seemed perfect.  And, it was!  We arrived there about 12:30, so no gnats or mosquitoes despite the fact that we were in the lowlands, recently flooded, where the Meramec takes a 90 degree turn, resulting in both the river and a 'lake'.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves.


The two miles was plenty for me today.  I was pretty tired when we got back to the car.  Zipped home, gave the dog a big, cold drink and sat down with an ice pack on my aching knee.  I was a bit concerned about the knee since bending it produced a sharp pain and the joint is one of those bionic numbers they give you in the operating room.  However, I had had no difficulty bearing weight on it so I didn't panic.  Just me and the ice pack and the TV for a while.


Before long, my husband (the doctor) arrived home from work, pronounced me seriously lacking in grace (not news!) but sure that I would live with only colorful bruises and some aches to show for my day's endeavors.


Hot Diggitty!  I'm already planning my walk for tomorrow as the weather is predicted to be a repeat of today's.  I just won't bend that knee.....


*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

More 'Who Would You Walk With?'

I've written before about who I might want to walk with, alive or dead.  I've been thinking more about that lately.

I'd walk ONCE with my biological father to ask why he left us.  I would probably not like the answer as I don't think he'd have a reason good enough to counteract what his actions did to his two kids.  But, I'd take the opportunity. Once.

I'd love to walk with my sixth grade teacher, Mildred Lindholm.  She is the reason I became a teacher.  I had great difficulties in grade school and she put everything in proper perspective for me.  I bet I still have a lot to learn from her.

I'd love to walk with Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Oliver Sachs, Dick Clark, Yehudi Menuhin, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Baker Eddy, Lois W., and anyone who could explain algebra and geometry to me.

I'd ask Michelle Obama what she does to keep those buff arms of hers.  I'd ask Benjamin Franklin where he got all his great ideas and thank him for creating the first lending library.  I'd love to talk to Watson and Crick about DNA and genetics, Carl Sagan about the cosmos, St Francis of Assisi about his love of animals and giving away all of his money.

I'd walk with Muhammad and ask him if he thought modern Islam was what he had in mind.  I'd ask Jesus if  modern Christianity was what he had in mind.  I'd ask Moses if modern Judaism was what he had in mind.

I'd ask Billy why he committed suicide when so many of us loved him.  I'd walk with Mother Teresa and quiz her about her selflessness and if it was worth it.  I'd stroll with Picasso to discover why it was he saw the world in the geometric motifs he painted called Cubism.  I'd ask Mendel to explain his law so I could 'get' it.  I'd ask Dr. Seuss where he got his ideas for books. 

One way to walk with the people is to listen to recorded books while I walk.  Not everyone has a book to answer the questions I've posed.  But, there are enough available to keep me busy, thinking, and walking for many miles.  Right now, I'm listening to an Oliver Sachs book so engaging that I forget how far I've walked. 

Walking and talking.  Walking and listening.  Walking and singing.  Walking and observing.  Walking and hearing the sounds of nature and/or the city.

Oh, the places you'll go!



*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Is Gwyneth Paltrow In Touch With Reality?

My daughter recently mentioned actress Gwyneth Paltrow to me.  Daughter is not a fan.  Why I asked?  Gwyneth is an attractive woman who had done a great job in her recurring role on Glee.  I know she's done other things, but I can't name them other than the amazing photos I've seen of her on the Red Carpet during award ceremonies.  She is certainly a thin woman with fine taste in evening wear.

My daughter elaborated.  Gwyneth is out of touch.  She says that EVERY WOMAN can make time to exercise EVERY DAY.  My daughter is an attorney and educational advocate for a local NGO related to the welfare of adopted and foster children. She spends a lot of time every day speaking with foster and adopted parents who are struggling with the needs of the children in their care.

The notion that these women have all the time and resources that Gwyneth is lucky to enjoy is laughable.  Gwyneth surely doesn't have to clean her own house.  She doesn't have to do 10 loads of laundry a week, pay the bills, or get oil changes for her car(s).  I'm being presumptuous here.  But, surely she has far more creature comforts and discretionary income and time than the rest of us.  So a statement from her regarding EVERY WOMAN or EVERY DAY might be difficult to take without a pound or two of salt.

My daughter is right, of course.  But, so is Gwyneth despite all the amenities she may enjoy that the rest of us do not. 

Gwyneth is a mom of two, and until recently was the wife of a huge rock star.  She comes from a family of wealth and privilege with mom, Boston Main Line actress Blythe Danner, and father, the late writer Bruce Paltrow.  Certainly Gwyneth has never known a moment of true need or financial insecurity.

Most of us have way to much to do every day.  We have jobs outside the home and even more jobs in and around the home.  Every day, every woman I know must juggle the duties at work and home.  Most also have additional balls to juggle - kids, husbands, elderly parents, a month that's longer than the paycheck, and all kinds of extracurricular and community activities that require attention.

Still, if Gwyneth can do it, the rest of us can too.  No, we don't have a yoga studio in our back yard like Gwyneth has.  No, we have no one to do the laundry, balance the checkbook, select and pay for our designer wardrobe, or shuttle the kids hither and yon - not to mention paying attention to the husband and picking up mother in law's prescriptions. 

Gwyneth might be a good role model for us.  It seems that no matter what other irons she has in the fire, she exercises EVERY DAY.  She said it herself.  What I'm sure she meant is that she, herself, is important enough to make time for EVERY DAY.  Aren't the rest of us?

So, it might not be as easy as the private personal trainer in the yoga studio in the back yard on the private estate in England, (see the photo above for verification) but it can be done.

Take comfort in knowing that you won't have to show off your prominent pelvic bones on the Red Carpet.  Take comfort in knowing that the whole world isn't watching you sweat.  (Do you think she sweats?  She doesn't look like she sweats.)  Take comfort in knowing that you haven't been replaced as the main squeeze of the rock star.

Just put one foot in front of another and go for a walk, secure in the knowledge that Gwyneth would approve.  After all, aren't you as important to your family as a movie star is to hers?  Actually I think I'm more important than that to my family.  They like me even thought I can't fit into a size 00 slinky evening gown.  That's gotta be worth something - even to Gwyneth.

PS - Please save your hate mail.  I don't hate Gwyneth.  But, I don't envy her either.



*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Walking With Joy

The fair days in these parts have been few and far between.  We've had rain, snow, hail, tornadoes, flash flooding, just after the alerts for the risk of forest fires after such a dry period.  Not great walking weather.

Still, there are tiny bits of joy I see every day, often in my own back yard.  For the past week or so, there has been a pair of cardinals back there.  The male is such a bright red that he stands out prominently.  His mate, being drabber in appearance, is harder to see.

The red tail hawks persist.  One has gotten rabbits in my back yard, leaving the skull for us to discover.  Yuck!  Still, a bird of prey on the wing is a glorious site.  Best to not think of what they're scouting for.

In the woods, trees are just beginning to bud.  Tiny specks of green amidst the drab browns and grays of winter.  Occasional tulips peak up in the yards of neighbors - those who actually tend to their lawns rather than the benign neglect with which my lawn is treated.

Thank heaven for daylight savings time!  With a longer window of opportunity to walk after 5 PM definitely improves my mood.  I'm not a morning person!  I'll walk in late morning, but most of my walking buddies are not available til after 5.  All winter, that confines us to the gym or malls most days.  Now, we are more likely to be able to walk outdoors even if the weather is less than perfect.

So, positivity prevails.  Spring is coming.  I'm sure.  It's delayed this year, but it will come.  Right now, the rivers and creeks have risen and all the spring flowers have had their showers.  Now, it's time for nature to take pity on us walkers and clear away the late winter drabs.  Time to feel the promise of spring - the lush green fields and the pungent smell of mulch and fertilizer.  Bring it on!



*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.