Tag: Insight Timer

1000 Days and 300 Miles

It’s been a milestone week for me. Not any of the big life events but those simple tasks that add up to a “Wow I did that” sort of milestones.

 

Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project and author of many wonderfully insightful books wrote; “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” I believe this to be true, which is why I’m writing about these minor milestones. Let me begin by explaining that I recently discovered ironically from Gretchen Rubin’s latest book The Four Tendencies that I’m an upholder. Which according to Ms. Rubin means I meet both outer and inner expectations, so things like 1000 meditation days and 300 miles on a pair of running shoes are sort of built into my tendency.

I’m very regimented I love lists, and I love to do things that make me a better person, like meditating daily and running three times a week. You see what you do every day… Yes 1000 days or 2.79 years of daily meditation earned me a tiny gold star on my Insight App this morning. According to my activity app on my Apple Watch I’ve run 300 miles since the end of August or the equivalent of running to New York City and back. Little things add up!

It’s important to recognize our mini-milestones I believe these little everyday things are a  part of what I like to call the 1% better. Which is sort of a mantra of mine to be 1% better than I was yesterday – It’s something that I’ve shared with my staff and students. I believe we get too wrapped up in working on the big things which are often looked at as the BIG change that will make my life perfect, my dreams come true… (The perfect mate, home, career, family – life ) DON’T EXIST!

What does exist is the ability to be a better person; to be more centered, more compassionate, more engaged, more forgiving, more flexible, more healthy than we were yesterday and isn’t this what we should be teaching children? Just be better than yesterday is so much less stressful than being the best! In the long run the out comes are far healthier.

I do know I’m 15lbs lighter and far more centered, patient, healthier and disciplined than I was 1000 days and 300 miles ago!

Do your 1% best,

Ginnie

Aps That Make Me “h APPY”

Ah the wonders of the Ap store, a plethora of games and answers to life’s little conundrums.  Here are a few of these tech wonders that keep me on track: Yoga Studio, awesome for people like me who want to have a yoga practice but who’s life style doesn’t fit the typical yoga class schedule. This Ap has beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes that range from 15 minutes to an hour. I’ve made great strides in my flexibility and my over all technique. As a bonus I’ve “borrowed” a few of these moves for my martial art class plans. This Ap also got me interested in pursuing a retreat at Kripalu. Next Ap Runmeter, I used to log all my runs in a journal to mark progress with my training and to monitor shoe milage, this wonderful Ap does this and more! A wonderful side benefit is I can read it unlike the scribbles in my journals. The GPS is great for tracking milage for future runs, which beats the heck out of taking a car around to determine the miles! Third Ap Lose It, I love having to be accountable documenting my food choices makes me think twice about 9 hershey’s kisses vs a portion of a healthy egg bake! This also helps me portion out recipes and has restaurant calories as well as popular grocery items. I love earning my little incentive badges, as silly as it seems they are great motivators. My newest Ap is Insight Timer, this one is for meditation. I love that you can just use the timer, or you can choose one of the many guided meditations. This Ap also has groups of different users that you can join. It’s comforting to know that you’re meditating with 654 or 510 people from all over the world!

There you have it my “Aps of Life” they keep me connected, on track, motivated, organized and most of all “h Appy”.

Gin