500 miles on a  bike. bicycle. (When I say bike, people think I mean motorcycle.)

My husband (Kevin) and I are preparing for our 7th annual, 500 mile bicycle trip. We start at our home and loop through the Midwest, arriving back home one week later.

To answer the most frequently asked questions: We stay in motels. Kevin pulls a small trailer. We average 500 miles per trip and 70 miles per day. (Although I have traveled 116 miles on one glorious wind blown day!) Primarily we ride on highways, looking for wide shoulders and low traffic.

Is it hard? Well, ummm, yeah.

Then why?

Being an almost decision-free vacation means it is very stress-free. We simply decide in the morning which direction we will go, then we get on our bikes and ride – trying our best to coordinate our exhaustion/collapse with the availability of a motel room.

As I get out of decision-making mode and into a place of simple observation and reflection, I tune in to the hundreds of variations of green. I notice every smell. The clouds are all unique. The houses and their yard trash become anthropological wonders.

The biggest hurdle is the start to the day.

I groan myself awake at 6:30am, take some Advil and check the wind direction. I eat some fruit or nuts and force myself onto the bike. I feel sorry for myself, especially the part that meets the seat. I tell Kevin, that today I probably won’t be able to go as far. (He hears this nearly every morning of the trip.)

As the miles loom before me, I assess and reassess the six outside factors that influence the day’s ride: wind, temperature, surface, shoulder, traffic and hills. Somewhere around Mile 8 I’m able to see that all factors aren’t really against me. (And if they truly are all against me, I should change routes or just shut it down and get a hotel room. No one is making me do this, right?)

I stop worrying about how hard it “might” be or how difficult it “will” be. This allows me to start adjusting to what actually is.

When I make it to Mile 10, I realize I’ve already ridden half the distance I wanted to accomplish before my morning breakfast break. Just another 10 miles and I can guiltlessly stop for what ever presents itself. That might be a cup of coffee and pancakes, or it might be a granola bar, juice and a donut while I read the newspaper under a shade tree.

I start appreciating the blue of the cornflowers, and I spend a minute fondling a youthful memory of gathering tiger lilies for my mother. My thoughts drift to her current health and appreciating her in my life before I notice a wheat field, and wonder why there are so many less than there used to be.

As I follow my thoughts, I’ve now passed a barrier. My breathing evens, and I appreciatively observe the sun on my face.

One morning, as I was overcoming that 10-mile attitude barrier, I suddenly realized I was actually enjoying the rain that had almost stopped me from leaving the hotel room that morning. All the other factors were in my favor: it was warm, and I was riding on a quiet, flat, wide-shouldered highway with the wind at my back. I thought about how few times in my adult life I actually have been out in the rain. I noticed the rain felt good on my skin.

I was grateful that it was gentle and that my visor was keeping my glasses clear. Life was good.

Are you on a challenging journey?

Maybe you are on a challenging journey. Perhaps you are figuratively groaning yourself awake as you assess how hard it is to change your habits.

You need to honestly assess all the factors and realize that everything is not against you. You need to push through Mile 8 and adjust the biggest factor of all – your attitude.

By Mile 9, you’ll be approaching the zone. You’ll have established habits and be ticking off the miles/the pounds/the debt.

As you push through Mile 10 and move into acceptance, you’ll find pleasure in the things you “can” enjoy and find you can let go of the obsession about what you “can’t” have.

You may even recognize a “halfway-to-breakfast” landmark approaching. You’ll find that despite the fact you occasionally have to turn down a piece of cake or stop eating fast food, there are still plenty of positive things on which to focus.

Life is good.

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I heard that every single state, yes, all 50 states, had snow on the ground this weekend.  That is crazy. I hope you are getting plenty of sunshine, but apparently odds are stacked against most of us. I’m sure that many of you are starting to slip into a natural winter depression.

Please make a plan to deal with it. I know it’s not easy to pull yourself out of a funk. But you can’t let it permeate right now. You need to keep making inroads into health and happiness. It is up to you to circumvent letting the depression take any further hold on you.

One of my clients from hard-hit grey, snowy West Virginia is heading to Phoenix. That may seem extreme, but is it? Most of us are affected to some degree by Seasonable Affective Disorder (SAD). Where are you on the continuum? I notice, for myself, that it comes in waves. But those waves are real.

People affected by SAD may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy food as well as feel depressed.

Limited sun exposure can lead to a Vitamin D deficiency. Here is the Mayo clinic info about that: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d/NS_patient-vitamind

If you need professional help, please call your health care provider. Here are some ways I’ve addressed my own “winter blues.”

1) Grab any ray of sunshine. I look for any opportunities to bundle up and go out for a walk if I see the sun peeking through, even if it is for just 10 or 15 minutes.

2) Catch the rays through a window. Yesterday I took my laptop to a sunny spot at our library.

3) Move! I know it takes effort. Really I do, but if I can do it you can too! Start by lying on the floor on your back and put your arms as fully extended as you can above your head. Now arch your back and strrrrrrretttttch. Then get up on all fours and do a Halloween cat stretch and a sway-back cow stretch. Moooooo!

4) Move some more. I hate the gym and I was having trouble getting myself to yoga. I came up with a new idea: I rent a movie and for the first 30 minutes I do aerobics and stretching while watching the flick. I’ve actually gone the full 120 minutes a couple of times. I’ve revisited some classics (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) (Gandhi) and found some new favorites (Whip It). I suggest you avoid subtitles. What can you to do get your body moving? Just a little every day is a great, great gift to you.

5) Put on some uplifting music. Seriously. Shake your booty to the music that you love.

6) Have a good cry or a nap and then watch it pass. Notice that moods come and go. Sometimes I feel really low and have low energy in the morning and I expect I’m going to feel that way all day. If I’m looking for signs for it to pass, instead of focusing on the depression, I find that I can transition out of the valley easier.

7) Enjoy bright colored vegetables and fruit. I have no idea if this is sound medical advice, but how can you not feel better after eating this salad: fresh mango, pineapple, tangerine and grapes, with a light coating of honey and chopped pecans? How about a green salad with spinach, dried cherries, beets and salmon topped with a ginger dressing? I splurged on some grape tomatoes yesterday and had them in a broccoli and wheat berry salad. For a dinner party last week, I made a bright yellow soup from a butternut squash and pumpkin with ginger and coconut milk. Brighten up your diet. Brighten up your life.

And as I said, if you need professional help – get it. I lost a friend to suicide during a grey winter. Obviously she had other problems, but I’m convinced that her SAD which she treated with light therapy was part of the issue too. I would have gladly driven her to Phoenix and beyond.

Be your own good friend and treat yourself well.

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Yesterday while working at the mall I had my brand new iPhone stolen. I held it together while I was at the mall and I explored all of my options with the wireless provider and mall security.

When I got home, I turned on my oven to 450 degrees, got out my chopping board and proceed to prepare roasted veggies with tofu.

(While I was proofing this… I got a picture of me replacing the above line with …
“When I got home, I turned my on my oven, got out my chopping block and prepared to do myself in.”)

But no… nothing so drastic as that …

Kevin had purchased some exotic small purple potatoes. I added carrots, broccoli, red onions and a beautiful big yellow pepper. Next, garlic, cumin, dill, salt, ground pepper. I then crumbled a half block of tofu in and tossed it all in olive oil.

I know it’s a little silly, but beautiful roasted vegetables restore my soul. The colors and presentation are so beautiful; the taste so delectable; I feel so accomplished and it is such a healthful and calorie appropriate dinner.

Then Kevin called while I was basking in my own pride at how well I was handling everything, and the minute I started to tell him about it, I broke down sobbing.

Sweetheart that he is, he sympathized appropriately and urged me to replace it immediately.

Then he told me a reminder story of when he left his iPod in his backpack, unattended in his office and someone had stolen it. He too was angry and grieving, when he received a call from one of his friends. Their mutual friend Ron’s wife fell off of their back porch, hit her head and was dead from the brain injury minutes later.

Kevin told me that his perspective turned around in a heartbeat. He felt, not just relief, from his anger, but privilege to have, what we learned in AA to call, a “luxury problem.”

He had no iPod, but he still had me.

Last night, when Kevin walked in the back door and we sat down to a beautiful plate of roasted veggies and tofu, we gave thanks.

My gift to you today is a pdf of my Roasted Veggies 101 tutorial. I hope you give yourself the gift having good healthful meals that will soothe your soul, even in the midst of what ever kind of deal December is throwing your way.

Peace to you and yours,

Sandra

p.s.
whaaaaaaaaa boooo hoooooo

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As you might know, in addition to being a diet and wellness coach I am also a life coach. What is a life coach? One who guides other to live the life of their dreams; to have balance while determining and achieving their life goals.

As I departed for my recent Bonaire vacation it was clear that my own life was out of balance. Yes, I was making progress toward my goals, but at what cost? I was at a crossroads. I didn’t want to be coaching others in how to live an intentional balanced life and just talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

I gave myself permission to, upon my return, totally redesign my life, if that’s what it took… but I decided while on vacation not to give one thought about the impending decisions that awaited me. When worry rose its craggy head to the surface I buried myself in another novel or got myself to the ocean and snorkeled my cares away.

Being worry free for those two weeks was the real vacation. Settling back in at home, I was determined some how, some way, to retain being worry free.
I had set aside a couple of days to go through a series of “intentional living” exercises – the same ones I walk my clients through. I also spent time journaling, practicing yoga and focusing on my Inner Knowing.

I was reading some “personal development” blogs for inspiration. Specifically, one written by Erin Pavlina about how to increase your intuition gave me a tip that just set me on fire. She suggested that one go on a 30-day intuition binge; that is, make all your decision from gut-instinct instead of logic.

In her blog, she described the results of her own thirty-day intuition binge by listing a series of specifics, such as having an urge to take a certain route, stop and get money from the ATM and other little things that resulted in quick extra-convenience immediate payoffs. Mine was a little different.

I did have one big hit of intuition and that was to partner with my son and his girlfriend to open a Hawaiian Ice concession stand. Like water over a fall the plan seemed to glide into place. I had the thought on June 20 and by July 1st we were easily (I won’t say effortlessly) open for business. We got a great deal on the trailer, got the exact perfect location to set up and it looks like we’ll have the loan repaid before the 0% financing runs out on it. That was great, but there was something even deeper that went on.

When I decided to go on the intuition binge, I didn’t really associate it with being worry free. I still thought I might have to do some drastic redesign of my life in order to be worry free.

But the intuition binge was the answer. The furrow lines of worry on my forehead completely disappeared. In giving myself permission to be led by my intuition I was actually giving myself permission not to worry. I no longer had to use logic and reason and thinking and scheming to find the exact right next best step to take. Nope, when faced with a decision, I just closed my eyes, asked for Guidance and made the decision.

In actuality I probably didn’t spend much less time thinking logically before making a decision, it just felt different not to have to second guess myself. Not to have to look for the exact right answer. Instead, I weighed the options and made a decision. Then it seems that I was free to trust that down the road I would be able to handle whatever results the decision brought to me, whether it was convenience and prosperity or a “life lesson.”

The intuition binge helped me relearned a lesson that I was taught very early in my quest for personal growth. I was attending 12-step meetings then and the second step, “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.” was freaking me out. Given how badly I had screwed up my life at that point, I felt so much pressure to make right decisions. I felt that I had to figure out what God’s will was for me about every issue. Whether to shop at Walmart , which meetings to go to, who to ask to be my mentor, God’s will started feeling elusive the more I tried to know it.

Someone pointed out to me that the step started with the words made a decision. They said that I didn’t actually have to figure out what God’s will was, I simply had to have the intention to do God’s will.

That was a whole different ballgame. I changed my tactic. I prayed for God’s will, made my decision and then expected God could probably meet me where I was at. That, in essence, was the same lesson learned from the intuition binge. There is no one right answer for anything. As long as I’m not operating totally on ego and stay centered in having a desire for the most peaceful beneficial solution, no decision that I make could really be so disastrous that I have to spend my precious time or energy worrying after I’ve already made it. God will meet me where I’m at. I will meet me where I’m at.

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