This week I've had a mix of success and failure. I've realized that I most certainly fall into the abstinence violation effect where I get really down on myself for not being able to stick to my regimen. I think that while I recognize my negative self talk, instead of actually stopping it, I really just make excuses, or write off the self talk as no big deal which at the time makes things better, but in reality doesn't actually help me. My juggling practice is going well though, and I enjoy it as a bit of a calming exercise. I think my goal over the vacation will be to think about my negative self talk, and then allow myself to truly be okay with my actions. Then I will move forward from there. Also, I plan to practice a ton of juggling and hopefully impress some of my family. :D
I managed to follow through with the goals I set for myself last week. Specifically, I discovered the root of my problem and worry to be the advancement of the material. Once this matter had been settled, I took the need time to work out a different schedule that would help me keep focused on my desired outcome. From now on, I will attempt to divide my time between rewriting a set of notes, which I deem necessary in light of the new material taught, and the text exercises. So far this week, this approach has managed to get me a good score on one of the administered quizzes. I am hopeful my methods will payoff in the end on the upcoming exam. I will decidedly continue this methodology in the week(s) to come
This week has been extremely difficult for my stress levels. I was rear ended Sunday night which has brought a ton of unwanted problems to add to my “to do” list. First of all, I had to seek medical attention due to the accident; the doctor determined that I have musculoskeletal/cervical spine strain. I have been in a ton of pain and of course this has caused anxiety because I am not physical able to do certain things and I’ve had to rely on other people. On top of that, the idiot who hit me had no license, and no insurance! This has caused a ton of stress because now I have to take legal action to get the damages paid.
I am very frustrated because I felt I was doing so well with my TMJ improvement. I do think my jaw popping has still improved; however, since the accident, I have been prescribed anti inflammatory medication and muscle relaxers. It is very hard to tell if these medications have also helped my TMJ situation. I know I need to remain focused on trying to reduce my stress; unfortunately I am struggling to do this given the circumstances. Hopefully I will start to feel better so I can re focus and get back on track!
I have found that the time and effort that has been placed into improving my eye hand coordination has been effective and quite helpful. Now that I can doge and catch the majority of objects that my girlfriend throws at me she has decreased her tendency to throw them. Other improvements are my ability to catch objects that are falling which has helped significantly. Often objects used to slip from my grasp but now I'm able to catch the majority of these items. Do to the nature of my mastery choice, I have noticed how it has helped my ability to perform within the group as well. I will be continuing my practice of spinning but will increase the amount of time devoted to juggling as the presentation of the group project looms nearer.
Over the past week I've been setting small, manageable goals for every day. I've tried to keep them realistic, such as "try not to get upset by customers at work," because ultimately those things don't matter. Other days it's been just to catch myself from spiraling into my thoughts by saying stop. I've been fairly successful. Sometimes I slip up, but just putting forth the effort to make these goals greatly reduces my undesirable behaviors. I think as long as I keep putting forth the effort, even though I won't be perfect every day, I will keep improving. Honestly, I think if I want to change this behavior and learn to let things go more and loosen up more, it's going to take MUCH longer than just one semester. It's not something I intend on giving up on either once the project is over. I think I can get even better!
I feel like I have come to a pretty satisfactory place in my writing. I don't have as much fatigue writing the "proper way" anymore and the act of doing it has become much more natural for me. I am happy that I was able to accomplish this goal because it has been something that I always wanted to change about myself, and now I have finally done it. Having accomplished this goal is not going to change my life in any dramatic way, but the I feel like the process has shown me that I can accomplish things that I set my mind to. I have learned principles and strategies for developing new and positive habits and I can use these strategies toward accomplishing bigger goals for myself in the future. I feel that this process has helped me with my juggling as well; I am not terrible at it (which is something I never thought I could say). I guess what I am really trying to say is that as long as I set my mind to something, and take small actions every day toward accomplishing that which I have set my mind to, I can do most anything (within reason of course;).
I really liked the last chapter of Orlick's book titled Resilience because he emphasized the importance of living in the present moment and the fact that we can choose how we will experience our lives. We can choose to see difficulties as catastrophes, or opportunities for growth; we can choose to get up and look toward the day with dread, or we can be grateful for all the blessings we have in our lives and decide to have a great day. We have the choice.
I've had a fairly iffy week... As far as keeping my diet balanced, my boyfriend and I went on a huge grocery shopping spree and we made sure to focus on healthier items, like fresh vegetables, frozen berries, whole wheat breads and cereals, and some weird pasta made with mostly vegetables... It's a far cry from the quick and cheap meals that we usually grab. I'm pretty confident that it's been a decently successful week as far is my diet is concerned... relatively.
I managed about 115 minutes of exercise this week, which falls short of actually being an effective week, but it could have been worse. I have been really busy with life, and I'm still fighting to looming video-game relapse. (I'm getting pretty excellent at Borderlands 2, if that means anything). I think this week I'm going to try some sort of bartering system, which tends to be successful when it comes to getting my housework done. Usually it works to tell myself that I can't do X activity until X amount of another activity is completed. So, mayhaps I won't allow myself to play video games, or read my current novel of choice, until I do at least one round of Wii Zumba.
Also, I need to remember to do a semblance of a stretching routine before I do anything too extensive. I was pretty sore earlier this week, and that lead me to be quite discouraged with my body, which was unnecessary.
I know this is getting fairly long, unfortunately I'm a generally a long winded person, but I feel the need to mull over a moment this past week when I exemplified the absolute epitome of non-excellence. Many of you were actually there to witness it.
I had a "performance" in class, a presentation, the content of which I am quite well versed. I am the only group member to have read all of the material, and so it was my job to present the really complicated and important part of the project.
I thought about Orlick's lessons while I was preparing for the presentation, and while my group member was freaking out and stressed, I assured her that it was going to be fine. I knew things were going to work out, we had it all set... I was attacking by relaxing, for sure.
When the time came to present, I CHOKED. I choked so badly... I hadn't slept much, the only thing I'd eating all day was carrot sticks and celery sticks, and I completely lost control of my anxiety. I felt like dying, and said so in front of the entire class when I should have been talking about Milgram and the Cold War. It was bad.
I bring this up here because of the rumination that came from this--I had the complete inability to control the physiological and mental ramifications of my failure. I found myself making a ton of excuses, and blaming myself and everyone else for why I screwed up as badly as I did...
I guess it's going in my box of experiences that I would love to repress, but I'm hoping it will positively inform my performances in the future. I need to get a better hold on things, because I allowed my negative thoughts and feelings to overcome me. Not optimal.
I'm sending this in late as I completely forgot to sit down and write yesterday. Glad it's still open.
This week has been mt first full week back to running since the marathon. I have decided that in order for me to continue running I really need goals. So I have sat down with my calendar and mapped out a number of races for the next year. Every month is not full yet but a good chunk of them are set, with races from 5K to 1/2 ironman triathlon in August of 2013.
Im also working on the science behind physical performance. So that entails lots of reading. Weight loss verses optimal physical output. I am no where near either of those two but having an understanding of how they work together or rather work against one another.
For many of us, in our younger years, competing or working out came very easy, very few pains in the joints and recovery from hard workouts was quick. You could eat just about anything and perform with no difficulties. Not the case as of right now. So babystep successes have to be embraced. Not an easy thing to do. I think that is why I need the races on a calendar to help with the progression. I need to see visible results.
I liked the chapter in Orlick's book where he talks about our own olympics. As most of us will never be an elite athlete, the effort that we put into our own life performances, is all that matters. Its our best SELF that matters at the end of the day.
As we get closer to the group presentations, I'm able to put Orlick's chapters into perspective. How the chapters become relevant to all of life's performances. I have always enjoyed the connection between sport's lessons(the game within the game)and everyday life. Where everyday life is not black and white and can be quite messy or complex, sports has always given me a tangible picture of how IT should be. When I can relate a lesson from a workout into my everyday life, I'm able to put my best foot forward in that sticky area of my life. Things are simplified; which in most of lives or at least in mine, is a nice welcome.
I'll hop off of my soapbox now and see you all in class!
This week was pretty good for me again. Wednesday I had some really good opportunities to work on my standing posture because I was performing all day with the USM Chamber Singers. When we sing, we are standing up, and in order to sing well and get proper breath support, I need to be standing tall with good posture. So, since I was standing for most of the day I was standing with good posture fir a majority of the time. That was really good for my progression toward my goal of being able to maintain my posture while I am standing. The rest of the week was good, too. I've been keeping up my posture about as much as I had in previous weeks and I will continue to work on my standing/walking posture, but after Wednesday that has definitely progressed a lot.
This week had its ups and downs. I have been trying a new technique to help release muscle tension, progressive relaxation therapy. I've found different versions on youtube videos and have been practicing this technique before meditating. Progressive relaxation therapy (PRT) requires the individual to tense up all the muscles in a muscle group as hard as possible and to hold it for short while, and then release the muscles to relax them. This technique helps to further reduce built up muscle tension in the body. Tension in the body can interfere with reaching a deeply meditative state. I can tell that it this new technique is helping a bit to relax my body, but I am still searching for new techniques to help quiet my mind.
This week I've had a mix of success and failure. I've realized that I most certainly fall into the abstinence violation effect where I get really down on myself for not being able to stick to my regimen. I think that while I recognize my negative self talk, instead of actually stopping it, I really just make excuses, or write off the self talk as no big deal which at the time makes things better, but in reality doesn't actually help me. My juggling practice is going well though, and I enjoy it as a bit of a calming exercise. I think my goal over the vacation will be to think about my negative self talk, and then allow myself to truly be okay with my actions. Then I will move forward from there. Also, I plan to practice a ton of juggling and hopefully impress some of my family. :D
ReplyDeleteI managed to follow through with the goals I set for myself last week. Specifically, I discovered the root of my problem and worry to be the advancement of the material. Once this matter had been settled, I took the need time to work out a different schedule that would help me keep focused on my desired outcome. From now on, I will attempt to divide my time between rewriting a set of notes, which I deem necessary in light of the new material taught, and the text exercises. So far this week, this approach has managed to get me a good score on one of the administered quizzes. I am hopeful my methods will payoff in the end on the upcoming exam. I will decidedly continue this methodology in the week(s) to come
ReplyDeleteThis week has been extremely difficult for my stress levels. I was rear ended Sunday night which has brought a ton of unwanted problems to add to my “to do” list. First of all, I had to seek medical attention due to the accident; the doctor determined that I have musculoskeletal/cervical spine strain. I have been in a ton of pain and of course this has caused anxiety because I am not physical able to do certain things and I’ve had to rely on other people. On top of that, the idiot who hit me had no license, and no insurance! This has caused a ton of stress because now I have to take legal action to get the damages paid.
ReplyDeleteI am very frustrated because I felt I was doing so well with my TMJ improvement. I do think my jaw popping has still improved; however, since the accident, I have been prescribed anti inflammatory medication and muscle relaxers. It is very hard to tell if these medications have also helped my TMJ situation. I know I need to remain focused on trying to reduce my stress; unfortunately I am struggling to do this given the circumstances. Hopefully I will start to feel better so I can re focus and get back on track!
I have found that the time and effort that has been placed into improving my eye hand coordination has been effective and quite helpful. Now that I can doge and catch the majority of objects that my girlfriend throws at me she has decreased her tendency to throw them. Other improvements are my ability to catch objects that are falling which has helped significantly. Often objects used to slip from my grasp but now I'm able to catch the majority of these items. Do to the nature of my mastery choice, I have noticed how it has helped my ability to perform within the group as well. I will be continuing my practice of spinning but will increase the amount of time devoted to juggling as the presentation of the group project looms nearer.
ReplyDeleteOver the past week I've been setting small, manageable goals for every day. I've tried to keep them realistic, such as "try not to get upset by customers at work," because ultimately those things don't matter. Other days it's been just to catch myself from spiraling into my thoughts by saying stop. I've been fairly successful. Sometimes I slip up, but just putting forth the effort to make these goals greatly reduces my undesirable behaviors. I think as long as I keep putting forth the effort, even though I won't be perfect every day, I will keep improving. Honestly, I think if I want to change this behavior and learn to let things go more and loosen up more, it's going to take MUCH longer than just one semester. It's not something I intend on giving up on either once the project is over. I think I can get even better!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have come to a pretty satisfactory place in my writing. I don't have as much fatigue writing the "proper way" anymore and the act of doing it has become much more natural for me. I am happy that I was able to accomplish this goal because it has been something that I always wanted to change about myself, and now I have finally done it. Having accomplished this goal is not going to change my life in any dramatic way, but the I feel like the process has shown me that I can accomplish things that I set my mind to. I have learned principles and strategies for developing new and positive habits and I can use these strategies toward accomplishing bigger goals for myself in the future. I feel that this process has helped me with my juggling as well; I am not terrible at it (which is something I never thought I could say). I guess what I am really trying to say is that as long as I set my mind to something, and take small actions every day toward accomplishing that which I have set my mind to, I can do most anything (within reason of course;).
ReplyDeleteI really liked the last chapter of Orlick's book titled Resilience because he emphasized the importance of living in the present moment and the fact that we can choose how we will experience our lives. We can choose to see difficulties as catastrophes, or opportunities for growth; we can choose to get up and look toward the day with dread, or we can be grateful for all the blessings we have in our lives and decide to have a great day. We have the choice.
I've had a fairly iffy week... As far as keeping my diet balanced, my boyfriend and I went on a huge grocery shopping spree and we made sure to focus on healthier items, like fresh vegetables, frozen berries, whole wheat breads and cereals, and some weird pasta made with mostly vegetables... It's a far cry from the quick and cheap meals that we usually grab. I'm pretty confident that it's been a decently successful week as far is my diet is concerned... relatively.
ReplyDeleteI managed about 115 minutes of exercise this week, which falls short of actually being an effective week, but it could have been worse. I have been really busy with life, and I'm still fighting to looming video-game relapse. (I'm getting pretty excellent at Borderlands 2, if that means anything). I think this week I'm going to try some sort of bartering system, which tends to be successful when it comes to getting my housework done. Usually it works to tell myself that I can't do X activity until X amount of another activity is completed. So, mayhaps I won't allow myself to play video games, or read my current novel of choice, until I do at least one round of Wii Zumba.
Also, I need to remember to do a semblance of a stretching routine before I do anything too extensive. I was pretty sore earlier this week, and that lead me to be quite discouraged with my body, which was unnecessary.
I know this is getting fairly long, unfortunately I'm a generally a long winded person, but I feel the need to mull over a moment this past week when I exemplified the absolute epitome of non-excellence. Many of you were actually there to witness it.
I had a "performance" in class, a presentation, the content of which I am quite well versed. I am the only group member to have read all of the material, and so it was my job to present the really complicated and important part of the project.
I thought about Orlick's lessons while I was preparing for the presentation, and while my group member was freaking out and stressed, I assured her that it was going to be fine. I knew things were going to work out, we had it all set... I was attacking by relaxing, for sure.
When the time came to present, I CHOKED. I choked so badly... I hadn't slept much, the only thing I'd eating all day was carrot sticks and celery sticks, and I completely lost control of my anxiety. I felt like dying, and said so in front of the entire class when I should have been talking about Milgram and the Cold War. It was bad.
I bring this up here because of the rumination that came from this--I had the complete inability to control the physiological and mental ramifications of my failure. I found myself making a ton of excuses, and blaming myself and everyone else for why I screwed up as badly as I did...
I guess it's going in my box of experiences that I would love to repress, but I'm hoping it will positively inform my performances in the future. I need to get a better hold on things, because I allowed my negative thoughts and feelings to overcome me. Not optimal.
I'm sending this in late as I completely forgot to sit down and write yesterday. Glad it's still open.
ReplyDeleteThis week has been mt first full week back to running since the marathon. I have decided that in order for me to continue running I really need goals. So I have sat down with my calendar and mapped out a number of races for the next year. Every month is not full yet but a good chunk of them are set, with races from 5K to 1/2 ironman triathlon in August of 2013.
Im also working on the science behind physical performance. So that entails lots of reading. Weight loss verses optimal physical output. I am no where near either of those two but having an understanding of how they work together or rather work against one another.
For many of us, in our younger years, competing or working out came very easy, very few pains in the joints and recovery from hard workouts was quick. You could eat just about anything and perform with no difficulties. Not the case as of right now. So babystep successes have to be embraced. Not an easy thing to do. I think that is why I need the races on a calendar to help with the progression. I need to see visible results.
I liked the chapter in Orlick's book where he talks about our own olympics. As most of us will never be an elite athlete, the effort that we put into our own life performances, is all that matters. Its our best SELF that matters at the end of the day.
As we get closer to the group presentations, I'm able to put Orlick's chapters into perspective. How the chapters become relevant to all of life's performances. I have always enjoyed the connection between sport's lessons(the game within the game)and everyday life. Where everyday life is not black and white and can be quite messy or complex, sports has always given me a tangible picture of how IT should be. When I can relate a lesson from a workout into my everyday life, I'm able to put my best foot forward in that sticky area of my life. Things are simplified; which in most of lives or at least in mine, is a nice welcome.
I'll hop off of my soapbox now and see you all in class!
This week was pretty good for me again. Wednesday I had some really good opportunities to work on my standing posture because I was performing all day with the USM Chamber Singers. When we sing, we are standing up, and in order to sing well and get proper breath support, I need to be standing tall with good posture. So, since I was standing for most of the day I was standing with good posture fir a majority of the time. That was really good for my progression toward my goal of being able to maintain my posture while I am standing. The rest of the week was good, too. I've been keeping up my posture about as much as I had in previous weeks and I will continue to work on my standing/walking posture, but after Wednesday that has definitely progressed a lot.
ReplyDeleteThis week had its ups and downs. I have been trying a new technique to help release muscle tension, progressive relaxation therapy. I've found different versions on youtube videos and have been practicing this technique before meditating. Progressive relaxation therapy (PRT) requires the individual to tense up all the muscles in a muscle group as hard as possible and to hold it for short while, and then release the muscles to relax them. This technique helps to further reduce built up muscle tension in the body. Tension in the body can interfere with reaching a deeply meditative state. I can tell that it this new technique is helping a bit to relax my body, but I am still searching for new techniques to help quiet my mind.
ReplyDelete