Merry Christmas! and 2010 Goals

At church yesterday, the celebrant mentioned a 'Christmas' button that many people have been wearing. His sermon started off by saying how angry this made him, but I think that was more to get our attention than anything else.




What's wrong with saying "Merry Christmas?" I guess I've never thought of it that way. To a non-Christian, I typically say Happy Holidays, out of respect for their beliefs. At the same time, I do see how Christians shouldn't shy away from celebrating Christmas, the birth of Christ.

We spent the Christmas holidays together as an extended family, and had a big feast, a family gathering, a nice prayer beforehand, where our whole family holds hands in a big circle around the kitchen island. I wasn't thinking of exercise or diet or health or happiness, per se, but more about family and what that's meant to me. And also, the decade that was, how much of a blur it really was, and everything that happened in the last ten years.

I've been taking it very easy the past few days, resting, gearing up for 2010, reflecting, trying to improve, trying to clean house. It's always good to have extended rest periods, to calm everything down, to renew, to rest, to clean up. I have my personal goals for 2010, and they are not trivial. They go from least important to most important.

1.) Get down to my ideal weight, once and for all :)
2.) Cross train, do yoga, core, abs, cardio, and strength train regularly
3.) Begin 2010 with 30 days of very healthy and disciplined eating
4.) Train for and complete the 2010 San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon
5.) Train for and complete the 2010 San Francisco Marathon
6.) Become 100% better professionally, as an engineer
7.) Become 100% better personally, as a father and a husband

Wish me luck, it won't be easy, but I plan on getting all of them accomplished, and accomplished with grace, style, and panache. :) Try writing a few goals for 2010 for yourself, write them down, post them so you can see them everyday, and take action daily to get them done.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Moderation

Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. Ask 100 people what gluttony means, and likely most of them will talk about food, and it's over consumption and indulgence. Eat, overeat, become consumed with food, often unhealthy and addictive. Use food to make you feel better, temporarily, to satisfy a need, a craving, or to help deal with sadness or stress.

For me, there's a couple of other aspects I think about. Surely, one is food and nutrition. And the other is what I like to call 'stuff'.

Regarding food, I think we all have our gluttonous moments. We all have our favorite foods, things that bring us back to our childhood, things that make us happy, things that satisfy us like no other. I understand that, I really do. I used to polish off a large pepperoni pizza when I was in my 20s, just to get over a loss or failure. I didn't care how many calories, how bad it was for my body, or anything long term. I just cared about smashing that pizza, and drowning my sorrows into it. And hey, it worked for me, so I continued to do so for many years. It wasn't until much later, when the pounds started to accumulate, that I thought I'd find a better alternative.

Even today, even as a Vegan, I still have my moments. I'll fill up my plate with a grip of salad, fresh veggies, and a couple of pieces of fruit. Eat til I can't eat any more, then just sit back and try to catch my breath. The difference is that I'm full very quickly, because of all of the fiber and nutrition. Now, I'll be honest, I do the same thing with pasta, cooked veggies, breads, grains, etc. and I probably can get 4x the calories and not feel as full, but the gluttony is definitely still there. I have a voracious appetite after working out, so sometimes, I just need to get my calories, and I'm not as conscious as I should be. But unlike days past, my body recovers very well from eating a Vegan meal, much faster and cleaner than before. I'm not diverting energy to digesting meats and dairy products, like I used to.

Okay, so enough with food. What about 'stuff?' What is 'stuff?' Stuff is what we collect, what we buy, what we surround ourselves with. Could be computers, tv, clothes, cars, toys...whatever we're into. And we accumulate 'stuff' about as voraciously we do a pepperoni pizza. We shop like mad, we shop online, we buy new stuff every day, search for new stuff, tell our friends about new stuff, spend time researching new stuff, throw away our perfectly good old stuff, and replace it with new stuff. Man, talk about gluttony. I have so many clothes that I literally go through my closet once every six months and chop it in half, and send my old stuff to charity or otherwise. I don't even miss anything I donate. And yet, in six months, more stuff. I'm a gadget and technology enthusiast like a lot of people, and I'll tell you, I have generations of stuff lying everywhere. Probably half of my garage is filled with remnants of Black Friday's past, perfectly fine, but not as up-to-date as I need. I think we're all guilty, in some way, of being gluttonous with our things, our personal belongings. We spend so much time and money on needless things, instead of savoring and being happy with what we have.

Ah, moderation. I love that word. It's a virtue, isn't it? Be moderate in what you eat and what you have. Be mindful about being as efficient as possible, and not wasting anything. Take an inventory of what you eat, and what you have, and your habits dealing with both. See if you can make improvements, optimize, and clean up. See if you can use those resources on other, more productive endeavors. Hopefully, you'll find benefit in more meaningful ways, and be healthier and happier in the process.

Healing and Wellness

Man, so many people are getting sick these days. Seems like every day, somebody is worried about their health, dealing with serious illness, or trying to figure out what's wrong. My sister has a lot friends that have heard her story, my mother's story, my story, and are trying to cope with health issues a plenty.

So, in each case, the symptoms are different, the problems have different names, the doctors give different advice, prescribe different medication, and the only constant is that nothing is ever cured. But, that is the world we live in, and the people that we've become. We don't worry about our short-term choices, and how they may effect our long term health. We don't worry about our health, unless it's compromised at this very moment. We are very reactionary, and hence we want instant cures, a magic pill, or a simple and easy cure. We care more about our symptoms that fixing the root cause, and industry has followed suit.

I overheard a commercial for flu medication, and couldn't help but carefully listen to the words. "Treat your flu symptoms with ..." "Feel better by dealing with your symptoms with ..." It's all about the symptoms, isn't it? And not the root cause.

So, what is the root cause? I don't pretend to know. But, I can put my opinion out there for you to consider. I think it's fairly simple.

1.) Stress
2.) Poor Diet
3.) Lack of Exercise

If you are stressed out, have a bad diet, and don't exercise, then you're more apt to be ill, have problems, take medicine or drugs to try and deal with the symptoms of your problems. You may not have problems with all three, just one or two, and that may be enough to cause major problems.

Think about it. Stress affects your immune system, and takes away so much attention and time from taking care of yourself. We deal with stress by eating poorly, not exercising, and becoming more stressed. So many disease and health problems (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, etc.) are diet related. You eat poorly, and your health metrics suffer, it's that simple. And lack of exercise weakens you, closes your body, tightens your joints, makes you lethargic, and doesn't enable you to take care of your stress and poor diet. Aren't they all inter-related somehow?

So what should I do? Well, quite simply, deal with the issues as best you can, and be conscious about them, and your choices in your life to improve them. You're not going to be perfect, nobody is, but you can heal yourself dramatically if you try. And stick to it, don't try for a week, then give up. Try it for 6 weeks, see what happens, and if you see improvement, do it for another 6 weeks. Be as discipline or as flexible as you wish, there's no absolute method or recipe, do what you want, but be conscious, and keep trying.

Here's what I do:

For stress, I do yoga and meditate. I love yoga. It's the greatest gift you can give to yourself, to practice yoga regularly. The stretching and exercise is just a small aspect, but the peace and calm it gives you, by learning how your breath works, gives you a method to find relaxation, and reduce stress. Try it, take a class, don't worry about the weirdness, just see what it does for you. And again, do it for 6 weeks with a few teachers, and then decide, not just 1 time with 1 teacher. Or just rent a yoga DVD and try it yourself. I hope you'll find that yoga, as simple as it is, to simply breathe and relax, is a cheap and simple method to reduce stress, much better than a magic pill.

For diet, I'm a vegan, so it's pretty much already done there. Becoming a vegan is the greatest decision I've ever made for my health. I love being a vegan. For you, that might be extreme, and I totally understand that. If anything, research and find out what type of diet do professionals and medical folks recommend to cure your illness. What types of food should you avoid? I think it'll be a common theme, eat more fruits and vegetables, whole foods, unprocessed, plant-based, and less dairy and animal products. It seems universal, but you can do research and make that decision on your own.

For exercise, I go to gym 3-5 times a week, and train for marathons and half-marathons once a year (usually training lasts for 3-4 months, then I take a lot of time off away from running). I love to do gentle cardio, light weight lifting, lots of core work, and lots of stretching. I don't like to do high-impact, plyometric, or heavy lifting type of work, not at my age. My body does much better with easier stuff, I feel fresher, more open and more flexible. But, again, listen to your body, and make your conscious choices here as well.

Now, I know what you're going to say. You're extreme, how do find the time? I know, I get that a lot. I'm not extreme, I'm a regular guy, a family man, and I have a lot of responsibilities with work and my family. You can make the time, you don't need to make any excuses. And in the end, it's totally worth it. Spend some time now, while the time is 'cheap' so you can live a healthy and full life, and not worry about being sick, being ill, being less than optimal later on. You don't have to be like most older people, who walk with pain, and carry a bag full of medicine. You have a conscious choice to take care of yourself just by dealing with stress, diet, and exercise.