So what I am getting out of this is Hobbits had it right all along . . .

I have decided to adjust my eating habits.  The emphasis here is not to eat less or eat healthier options (although that is likely to happen at times), but rather to change how often I eat.  My bootcamp instructor led me to this epiphany a few weeks ago by comparing eating to fires. My ears perked up! A sure fire (pardon the pun) way to get the males in my family to pay attention to what you are saying is to start talking about fire.

The comparison makes since, I had just never thought of it that way.  But a calorie is just a way to measure how much energy it takes to burn something; we all learned that in high school science.  So the analogy of your body’s metabolism to a campfire is very fitting.  If you do not put wood onto a fire regularly and often the fire will die out, likewise, if you don’t eat often enough your metabolism will start to slow down.

Most people who camp in maintained camp grounds at one time or another have arrived at their campsite to see a large, half-burned log in the fire pit.  The people that camped there before them decided to put a large log on the fire and there was not enough energy in the fire to burn the entire log so it sat there smoldering and smoking.  The large log actually attributed to extinguishing the fire, rather than the intended function of getting the fire to burn longer.

In a sense, that is what happens when you eat three larger meals as apposed to five or six smaller meals.  You wait so long to add fuel to the fire, that when you do eat, it is too large and there is not enough energy in the fire to burn the meal completely and it just sits there, smoldering in your gut (so to speak).  So in order to create a healthier fire (increase metabolism) in me, I need to add kindling to the fire before it starts dying, rather than throwing on a big log on it when I start noticing the fire is dying down.

Now you ask, but wait?  Your instructor gave you this metaphor a few weeks ago, why did you wait until now to implement it?  Well, the idea of changing my eating habits seems a bit daunting. I mean it wouldn’t be called a habit if it were easy to change it.  I have found that I need to set a date in the future to start the changes in order to mentally prepare for the new goal.  I liken it to the start of a race.  If the gun fired to signal the start of the race without any warning you would lose some time because you wouldn’t be prepared for the gun to go off.  I need the ‘on your marks’ and ‘set’ to give myself the best chance of achieving the time I am looking for.

So let the experiment begin!

Until next we meet.

My First Ben's Bell . . . Sort Of.

Someone gave me my first Ben’s Bell today . . .

Okay, technically it is a Ben’s Bell Coin, but still I am incredibly humbled by the gesture.  For those who are unfamiliar with the organization, it celebrates kindness for the sake of kindness.  When the founders of Ben’s Bells son died suddenly and tragically, they took note of the random acts of kindness that were occurring around them and inspired by those acts.  They were making wind chimes as a therapeutic release for the loss they were experiencing and decided that on the anniversary of their son’s death they would go around Tucson and hang the chimes that they had made in random places to honor their son.  Each ‘bell’ had a note on it that only asked the finder to take it home with them as a reminder to spread kindness.

You cannot purchase a Ben’s Bell.  The only way to get one is to find one, or to be given one.

Well apparently along the way they have started to make smaller versions called Ben’s Bell Coins.  The premise of these ‘coins’ is to be on the look out for a person who shares some form of kindness with another person and give them one of the coins to acknowledge their kindness.  Then, when you receive the coin, you are supposed to pay it forward by acknowledging someone else's kindness and present them with the coin.

I came to work this morning with this coin sitting on my keyboard.  While I have a few ideas of who could have put it there, I do not know for sure who it was nor do I know what act of kindness I may have done to deserve it.  But that is the point – to celebrate the kind things that people do, not because someone was looking, but because it is the right thing to do.

Words cannot express how humbled I am that someone deemed something I did yesterday worthy of receiving this coin. But it also made me feel very happy and blessed. 

What a great idea – to reward kindness with another act of kindness.  I cannot wait to pay this forward!

Until next we meet.

This is an OUTRAGE . . . But I'm alright with that.

I promise that I do not like talk about politics, and the fact that this is the second post in my blog of such a nature is just a fluke.  I will blame it on the election year . . . and the fact that stupid laws are being proposed.

I won’t go in to detail on my first point because I discussed it the last political post; except to say that a previous president nailed our current circumstances on the head with a quote I have previously noted.  And to say, when we start asking our government for free and discounted health care, do we really expect them not to tell us how and when we can use it?

I have gotten a lot of posts in my facebook feed from friends who are irritated with the slew of laws being considered at the state and federal level that are aimed at limiting when and how a woman can us birth control.  First off, let me start off by saying that I belief in the right for everyone to live their own life according to their own personal standards so long as how they choose to live their life does not intentionally impede on how another individual or group lives their live(s), or so long as it does not intentionally cause mental or physical harm to another individual or group.  My issue comes from the double standard that comes from both sides of the isle.

One side believes that everyone should have the right to take up arms, but has no problem saying that only heterosexual people can enjoy the rights of marriage under the law.  The other side says that a woman should be able to do with her body as she pleases, but has no problem telling successful people that they should have to pay a higher percentage of their income.

Equality under the law should be equality under the law. Period.

All I ask is next time you feel outrage over a law that is being considered because it impedes on the rights of a group or individual that you can relate to, ask yourself if you have voted for or supported a proposition or law that inhibited the rights of a group or individual that you do not relate to?  Have you ever told a smoker where they could or couldn’t smoke in public?  Have you ever told a business owner who they can cater to or how they should run their business?  Have you ever told a person that they could not practice their own religion in a public place?

Until next we meet.

Sometimes a Good Title is Hard to Come By

Early this week a video received an unprecedented amount of attention so since everyone seems to have an opinion about the video and the organization behind it, I thought I would share my opinion on the topic. On Wednesday I got on the computer to start my morning ritual of briefly checking on the facebook world before I head off to work.  The phrase ‘Kony 2012’ was plastered all over my newsfeed.  At first I thought we had a new candidate for president to consider.  I couldn’t believe how many people were talking about it.  Finally, after scrolling past the 20^th post on my feed I googled the phrase, clicked on an article and scanned it for pertinent information.

Turns out Kony would not be a good candidate for president . . .

Instead, everyone was talking about a video that called for a grass-roots campaign to bring to light the atrocities perpetrated by Joseph Kony in the hopes that the raised awareness would lead to his capture and the disbanding of his army.

I had to get to work though and didn’t have time to watch a 30 minute video.  I didn’t want to watch it either.  See, I have an aversion to hype.  The more people are talking about something, the less I want to be involved with whatever the topic is; especially if I didn’t know anything about the topic before the hype. It is why I have never set foot in an IKEA and why I can count on one hand the times I have gone to an In-N-Out Burger or Trader Joes.  I guess I don’t like being told what I should like or the newest thing that I just have to try.

I knew I would have to watch it though, given my position in a youth leadership development organization and the fact that it was primarily young people that were posting about the video.  Maybe it could be a good topic of discussion at a meeting or even an event they could participate in.  I just couldn’t watch it then.

I went to work and let the topic stew in the back of my head.  So when I had time to watch it later that afternoon I already had the preconception that I would not like the message (an additional 30 people posting about it on my newsfeed that afternoon didn’t help matters).  By then, the some of the backlash toward the video and the organization that made the video had already started to surface too—complaining that it was misleading or simplistic or calling to question where the organization was spending the donations they received.

So I watched the video.

First, let me say that I think the concept is great and it is great to see young people excited about making a positive change in the world.  And if you were moved by the video, then by all means go out there and raise awareness for that cause.  My only hope is that you think critically about what the video is asking you to do instead of going with a knee-jerk reaction to the video.  Don’t let anyone else tell you what to think or do—come to that conclusion on your own.

Personally, I could not get past the videographer’s blatant use of his young child to play on the emotions of the viewer.  I found it in poor taste.  Perhaps I am the only one who thought that, but that is how I feel.  Kids should be kids, not pawns manipulated by their parents to suite their personal agenda.

Until next we meet.