Tag Archives: jason burden

• 4 Comments

•

Beginning a Journey to Fitness and Health

Kristi: I'm hurting.  My shoulders, my glutes (can't be how you spell it) and my legs are begging me to take a stationary vacation in our big brown chair.  Jason had the brilliant idea of checking out Exygon last night.  We're at the point where we can no longer ignore the fluffy factor.

photo

Jason: I remembered yesterday that I am allergic to physical activity.  I got on a stationary bike , and immediately I began to perspire.  This cannot be natural.  After a vigorous 5 or 6 minute stint my legs were aching and my pulse was elevated.  The part about my legs aching can be invalidated on the basis that pain is subjective, but the heart rate was being measured. The screen on the bike actually gave me a warning that my heart rate was too high.  I agreed.

I walked into the gym with lots of resolve and enthusiasm about getting healthy, and looking good, and living longer, but as I laboriously burned the calories on the bike I started to wonder why I had come into this tortuous place.

K: And the mirrors.  Would somebody explain to me how the wall to wall twelve foot mirrors are supposed to be a draw?  There's only one thing worse than staring at an underperforming, dripping wet with perspiration- while wearing ill-fitting work-out clothes, version of myself.   -That would be that same image displayed in every cardinal direction.

J: I think that's just the problem.  We've been looking at our selves too long and saying, "We have to do something about this!"  It's easy to say, but hard to do.

I think there has been a motivation deficit.  I find myself on a motivational high in the evenings.  I've always been an evening person when it comes to creative thoughts, making plans and resolving to do great things. The problem is, I can't find the same resolve when my alarm clock goes off in the morning.

The activity I'm best at early in the morning is hitting the snooze button on the alarm without opening my eyes.  I don't think there is an Olympic event for that yet, but when there is, I'll represent our country with pride.

So here's what I'm working on:  How do you transfer the resolve and enthusiasm for the good you want to do, into the time that you have for doing it?

K: ..............Four minutes have passed.........six minutes...........I'm not sure where to go with this. My bigger question is what do you do when your enthusiasm lies in a good book or in a cone with Dutch chocolate ice cream on top; NOT in exercise? Do I want to exercise, or are my pants telling me I need to?

Mornings are my productive time.  I get more done from 7:00 -10:00 AM than I do the rest of the day combined, but saying I do it enthusiastically would be a lie.  I robotically pick up the strewn couch pillows from the floor as do I make my way to the garage to let Griffin out.  I return to the kitchen at approximately the same time every morning to clear the counter of any remnants from last night's kitchen visitors. I unload the dishwasher and take out the trash.  These things are more completed by habit than by passion or energy.  Are my automated steps determined by a deep desire to clean the kitchen or to see it clean? Do I like picking up pillows (for the umpteenth time by Tuesday morning) or do I like walking through a room with things in their place? In my house cleaning, I've got habit and a desired outcome, and it works.

The greatest success, I'm thinking, comes from having at least two of three of the following

*Passion/Enthusiasm

*Repeated effort/try-try again/habit

*A goal or desired outcome in mind, or a point of reference to move away from (like love-handles)

I've got one of three ingredients for physical transformation. I'm thinking I found a goal yesterday.  I'd like to look a little better in at least one of the mirrors at Exygon.

photo (3)J: I think I'm on board with that.  We'll see where this takes us.  Two are better than one.  Maybe I can stick with a good routine for more than 2 weeks if I have someone in the routine with me.  Maybe, I too, will like what I see in the mirror better.  A shared passion and a common goal might be just the key I've been looking for to get into those good habits we've been talking about.

An Exercise Prayer:

Hear {our} prayer for mercy as {we} call to you for help, as {we} lift up our hands toward your Most Holy Place. Psalm 28:2

 

• 5 Comments

•

 

It just so happens that I had seventeen beautiful sunflowers waiting for me when I got home this morning. 

 It wasn't the first time my guy has given me sunflowers and I hope it won't be the last.  We are celebrating our seventeenth anniversary, but he's been giving them to me for longer. I once got sunflowers from him while he was away in Africa. I remember summers in High School and when we were first married.  He would pull off the highway, jump out of the truck and grab a handful of giant sunflowers from the side of the highway (or someone's pasture).

They always brightened my day, even if the ants had decided to come along too.

 

I have always found it delightful that sunflowers, as well as other flower types follow the sun.  This is called heliotropism in case anybody wants to know.  Some heliotropic flowers are known to be fourteen degrees warmer than the air around them.  This warmth of course attracts insects which generate no heat on their own. -Never thought about it before, but I read that if you see a bee in the morning it will appear to be slothful as it has a dependence on heat from another source. Naturally bees and other insects find their way to an inviting stay in the warmth of the sunflower.

My point?   What smart flowers.  They spend their days bowing then reaching to the heavens taking in the sun.  Their warmth is attractive to those with none. The sun is so central to who they are, they even look and move like the sun.

Bring me the plant that points to those bright Lucidites swirling up from the earth.  And life itself exhaling that central breath!

Bring me the sunflower crazed with the love of light!

-Eugenio Montale

Crazed with the love of light.....If I could be any flower I think I'd want to be a sunflower.

 

• 4 Comments

•

I started out trying to locate all of our pictures from the past seventeen years. That's how long we've been married as of tomorrow. Wow.  So many pictures to go through.  Our first pictures together predate the digital days. After going through our computer and saving many pictures from the past seven or so years, the computer misbehaved and those pictures scattered back into the electronic black hole. So instead I picked up my phone and found pictures just from the past twelve months.

Just want the world to know-

It's been a good year.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

Many of those times were shared together this year-

A time to plant

 In June we said goodbye to friends in Trinity and were welcomed to Nederland.

A time to love

This is a picture of a great weekend at Marti's wedding and Great Wolf Lodge with the kids.

A time to embrace

I cherish the time we are able to spend together on my birthday.  This December we watched a play in Ft Worth.

A time to search

There were extra busy months.  Here we were able to steal away on Parent's Night Out if just for an hour or two.

A time to be silent

Quick date for dessert at Spoon It- No time for talk

A time to keep

Pictured is a more recent tresured day at Shangri La.

Naturally, not all pictures were captured. Beautiful, happy days with our children were spent.  This year, like every year, held times of busy schedules, growing pains, viruses, days with unmade beds and no milk in the fridge.  But today and every day

I'm thankful for all of our times.

June 3, 2012

Happy 17th Anniversary.

-Had to throw this one in