My question is why do we love the sedentary Giant Pandas so much when we make fun of our own couch potatoes?
The above pictures of Pandas do touch my heart and sooth my spirits, but so does thinking of my low-energy uncle. He didn’t eat junk food like the fellow in the cartoon, but he did love to cook and enjoyed eating. He also puttered in his garden and watched TV a lot. We would visit him every year when we went back to California to see my mother. Invariably he would be sitting watching some historical documentary, but he was always happy to stop watching and chat with us for a while. I looked forward to those visits and thinking of them are just as therapeutic as looking at the Pandas above. Who’s to say the Pandas and my uncle don’t/didn’t live as meaningful a life as the more ambitious achievers in the world?
I’m still thinking of why people belittle New Year’s resolutions when I used to love them. It’s probably that I’ve been fascinated by behavior modification since I was a teen, so taking time out for reflection and setting a new course was an adventure to me. It wasn’t a matter of success or failure.
I do think Mike had a good point in a comment he made on the subject,
I figure, what makes New Year’s so special for making resolutions anyhow? If the thing(s) that one is making resolutions about are that important, any time of the year would be just as appropriate.
In fact I don’t think of New Year’s Day as the beginning of the year. Because of all that time in school the year really starts in the fall for me. That’s when I tend to be most energized. In contrast the short cold days of winter are a time of reflection, a time to stand back and tune into what I care most about in life. In the past that involved making some action plans, but now it’s more a matter of checking to see if I’m honoring long term commitments.
Whistle while you work. Whatever work you end up having to do, try to make it enjoyable, as best as you can.
Lead the field. If you end up in a job that you can make a career out of, work at being the best at that job. Read, learn, study and work at being the very best that you can be, even if it means doing things outside of work and on your own dime.
Take charge of your attitude. You can choose what your attitude is. A positive attitude is a lot more enjoyable than always being a grouch and a grump. It may not be easy at first — and you may have to work at it — but it can be done.
These things work, but they are easy to let slip when the going gets tough or over the long haul of years on the job.
I agree with all the points Mike makes, but it’s the last line that resonates most. It’s easy to let things slip if we don’t stand back once in a while and reassess how we’re doing. It doesn’t have to be connected to the calendar or involve making new resolutions. Just reaffirming our long term commitments is more than sufficient.
If you’re reading this sitting down, you might consider standing up.
That’s the first line of a Wall Street Journal article about a study on the health hazards of sitting and watching TV. We all know that being a complete couch potato isn’t good for our health, but the interesting thing about this study is the participants got between 30 and 45 minutes of exercise every day. That wasn’t enough to mitigate the effect of long periods of sitting.
Just another reminder to get up and move every so often, even if it’s just shaking and wiggling our bodies. I use this as a motivational video:
Andy Borowitz thinks the new developments in air travel security can help the health care effort.:
Full Body Scans to Double as Annual Checkups
In what some in the White House are calling a
“win/win” solution to the nation’s airport security and health care reform problems, starting next month U.S. airports will begin conducting full body scans that will double as annual physical checkups.
President Obama announced the breakthrough solution, telling reporters, “With this all-purpose exam, we will be able to find everything from a hidden weapon to a spot on your lung.” After scanning a passenger, Mr. Obama said, “We will either give you a clean bill of health or wrestle you to the ground.”
The President added that instituting the body scan/checkup could ward off some terrorists right from the start, “because a lot of them will balk at the $25
co-pay.” But according to Davis Logsdon, who studies terrorism and health care reform at the University of Minnesota, the body scans may attract more terrorists than they deter: “If there’s one complaint that terrorists have about al-Qaeda it’s that they have lousy benefits.”
What do you think? Do you travel by air? My husband resolved never to do it years ago because of the way passengers are treated. And that was long before the ban on liquids, having to take off one’s shoes, etc. We count ourselves fortunate that we have a choice. How would you feel about undergoing a full body scan in order to fly?
An optimist waits up until midnight New Year’s Eve so he can welcome the new year in. A pessimist waits up so he can make sure the old one leaves.
The trouble with that joke is it assumes the new year will be better than the old one. A true pessimist is more apt to go to bed and pull the covers over his head. He’s more like an office mate I had once. His favorite motto was
Cheer up. Things are bound to get worse.
What about you? Do you think this coming year will be better or worse than 2009? Or do you think it will be about the same?
Do you ever make New Year’s resolutions? Behavior modification is my hobby and I used to love the end of the year even more than Christmas. I not only made resolutions, for the most part I actually kept them. The secret was to make them so easy that I couldn’t help but succeed.
I haven’t made any in the past few years, though. I love my life right now and any changes I make are little ones, fine tuning. It’s like tending a garden…pulling the weeds and nurturing the flowers.
If I thought things would continue the same I no doubt would pick some big project to work on to add more excitement to my life. But with the current state of the world and with my husband and me getting older, there’s no guarantee that things won’t be turned completely upside down in the next few years. I’ll have plenty of challenges when the time comes. So right now I’m focusing on appreciating what I have while it’s still here.
I hope that doesn’t sound morbid… it doesn’t feel that way. I’ve often seen the idea that people in nursing homes don’t regret the things they’ve done, they regret the things they didn’t do. The conclusion most of the authors come to is that we should we should set challenging goals, ask for more out of life and go for it before it’s too late. I don’t see it that way. I’ve been there and done that. Now it’s time to appreciate.
What about you? Have you set any New’s Year’s resolutions?
This picture was taken last year on our annual trip to cut down our Christmas tree. We have low-key Christmases. We do our shopping, wrapping and shipping early (by early December) and forget about Christmas until a few days before…then we go up to our land and cut down a tree. Christmas Eve we drive around town to look at the lights and up to a lookout point in the mountains to look at the stars. Christmas morning we play carols and open our presents.
Our traditions have changed a bit with time, of course. When Kaitlin was little we used to play Christmas carols and decorate wrapping paper in late October/early November…that stopped when she got older and left home. We also used to play carols when we took our Christmas Eve drive. Now we play livelier and more secular tunes. Our favorite is Percy the Puny Poinsettia:
It’s completely silly and it tickles my funny bone. I find myself dancing around the house singing lines like
If they had just kept him wetta,
He’d be a houseplant today.
Who said Christmas was just for kids?
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions, Christmas or otherwise?
Do you believe some challenges are worth avoiding? I do. On the other hand I was lucky enough to experience depression when I was a kid. I learned first hand that Francis’ approach doesn’t work for me. As a result I’m a strong believer in optimizing stress and the need for challenges in life:
That said, I do try to pick challenges that excite me and avoid the ones that aren’t a good match for my interests and talents…for instance owning a house or working towards a high-status career.
What about you? Do you think we have much choice in our challenges? If so, which ones have you chosen to tackle and which ones have you chosen to avoid?
Unlike Momma in the cartoon I didn’t marry my husband because he makes me laugh, but I wouldn’t have married him if he hadn’t had a sense of humor. I wanted someone who would wear well, which means not taking himself and life too seriously. That doesn’t mean not being responsible, it just means not being grim about it. I need to laugh from time to time and can’t imaging living with someone who couldn’t share those laughs.
How important is laughter to you? Do you have people to laugh with?
Which is more exhausting for you, talking or listening? My gut reaction is “listening” because if someone wants to talk I usually “overoblige”. I’m apt to let them dominate the conversation and indulge in a monologue. This cartoon points out I need to be less passive and take more responsibility for creating a meaningful dialogue.
On the other hand, I too have been guilty of monologues. They’re a lot more fun for me but I need to work on that for the sake of my poor listeners. Communication isn’t always easy.
