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By tmoody, May 27, 2011 1:02 pm

Water, the Champagne of Life

As I am packing for retreat, a mental and physical detox at Sanoviv, I am setting the stage for gentle re-entry to this busy world in which I usually reside. Yesterday, my outdoor thermometer read 104º, so it’s time to say grace over the fact that today at the farm we have water despite these drought conditions. While away without distractions of regular life, it’s easy to drink plenty of water, but when I return and get back into the groove and this heat, I dry out fast….

We all know drinking at least 64 oz of water everyday provides the most fundamentally necessary element of life– but sometimes water is hard to choose (especially when Diet Coke or Juice is convenient and tempting.)

Here’s a tasty trick:

Make your water TASTE GREAT, with fluoride, chlorine and ??? in treated municipal water supplies, an unwelcome taste frequently accompanies water.  Pure water has no taste.  When you want some flavor with your water, consider…..Cranberry Water! A cooling, slightly sweet/tart, thirst quenching drink, Cranberry Water has high levels of antioxidants and numerous health benefits. Cranberry Water is also very low calorie and low-glycemic as the Cranberry juice you will be using is unsweetened, Stevia will sweeten it nicely.

Cranberries are considered a “functional food”, meaning they provide natural health benefits far beyond basic nutrition.

What are Cranberries good for?
• Detoxifier – helps keep the liver’s detoxification pathways open
• Digestive Aid and helps remove fat deposits remaining in your lymphatic system. MAY even help Cellulite ☺ Reason enough to drink 64 oz per day!
• Cholesterol Zapper – Cranberries contain flavonoids and polyphenolic compounds – which help prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol – the “BAD” cholesterol.
• Natural defense against atherosclerosis and heart disease
• Help prevent bladder infections by stopping the bacteria, E. Coli from sticking to the lining of the bladder.
• Minimize bad breath by preventing bacteria from gathering on the surface of your teeth

What do you need to make Cranberry Water?
• Water Bottle. I like the Camelbak’s Better Bottles because they are BPA-free and I don’t have to unscrew a lid for each sip. Stainless steel is also a BPA-free option. Avoid aluminum as they are often lined with BPA and pose the same risks as polycarbonate bottles. If your water bottle has a “7” inside the recycling symbol, it’s likely made with BPA polycarbonate. While I could do a whole post on BPA, suffice it to say it is a potent endocrine disruptor that is known to mimic estrogen, and it has been shown to increase insulin resistance, chronic inflammation, and heart disease.
• Filtered Water – filter your own, buy spring water or try to use brands that use reverse osmosis and carbon filtration and are packaged in non-BPA materials. Camelbak’s new bottle The Groove has it’s own filtration system.
• Pure, UNSWEETENED Cranberry Juice. (I.e. Mountain Sun or Knudsen’s Concentrate from Whole Foods, Central Market, Sunflower or other organically minded food outlets)
• Liquid Stevia (i.e. Sweet Leaf). Stevia is a natural sweetener made from the herb Stevia rebaudiana and contains no calories or carbs. Liquid Stevia has no bitter after taste in cool drinks. Also, NuStevia by NuNaturals has a Packet version that is non-bitter as well.
How do you make Cranberry Water? (32 oz)
• Fill your Water Bottle with 28 oz of filtered, cold water

• Add 2-4 oz of Unsweetened Cranberry Juice, depending on your taste preference.
And voila! You have a GREAT drink that tastes like a treat ☺ Drink up to 64 ounces per • .day (8 oz of unsweetened Cranberry Juice).

Add 4-10 drops of Stevia, depending how sweet or tart you like your drink and how much cranberry juice you use

Options: Add 2 oz freshly squeezed lemon or lime-juice instead of Cranberry Juice, add your stevia to taste, and you have another flavorful version of water.   They too have additional Health Benefits, are low calorie, low-glycemic and taste great!

Now off to print that boarding pass.  Baja, here I come.  Can hardly wait to hear those lovely crashing waves of water outside my room.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

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By tmoody, May 10, 2011 4:22 pm

I LOVE it when Dr. Deb Kern leads a sugar buster bootcamp! This gal has the complete low-down on our bodies, stress & sugar, and the pleasure-full path out of the doldrums.

The 5 DAY SUGAR BUSTER BOOT CAMP includes a 5 Day sugar cleanse kit and phone coaching with the health scientist who dares us to listen to the wisdom of our bodies. It all kicks off Monday May 23 thru Friday May 27 (but register no later than May 13).

Are you ready to kick those crazy carbohydrate cravings and get your body ready for bathing suit, graduation and wedding season? Join this program to help you get off the stress-sugar-weight gain roller coaster once and for all.

What the Sugar Buster Boot Camp is:
• A five day high-fiber sugar cleanse in which you supplement your diet of fresh veggies with delicious protein smoothies, bars and nutritional supplements
• 3 coaching support calls with Dr. Deb Kern
• A guidebook to help you be successful on the cleanse and also help you begin living a low-glycemic lifestyle
How to join:
• Email me at tmoody@lifepractice.net
• Write “Sugar Buster Boot Camp” in the subject line
• I will then contact you for payment & shipping info to order your sugar cleanse kit ($111.05 plus shipping and tax)
Benefits:

* Reduce sugar cravings so you crave healthy food
* Release excess weight (fat and water)
* Increase your energy level
* Learn how to time low glycemic meals and snacks to prevent hunger and cravings
* Receive phone coaching from Dr. Deb
* Receive one-on-one support from me
* Average weight loss in the 5 days is 4- 5 pounds
* Sleep like a baby while your body detoxes
* You may choose to continue with the Releasing Fat Program, phase 1 or 2, depending on your health goals

How it works:

- You email me that you are interested in participating. Please give me your phone number and a good time to reach you. I will then order your 5 DAY SUGAR RESET KIT and send all your handouts and materials so you are ready to begin. The RESET KIT has all your meals, snacks and supplements – except for the veggies you’ll be enjoying – for the 5 days.
- You will receive the call-in number and password for the 3 support coaching calls (which will be recorded in case you cannot attend live.)
The cost is the cost of the 5 DAY RESET KIT at $111.05 plus shipping and tax. Phone, email coaching and handouts are at no extra charge.

** Your order needs to be received no later than Friday, May 13th in order for the kit to arrive in time for you to participate.

All you have to lose are sugar cravings and excess weight!

Here are two happy Sugar Busters:

“I did the RESET in August and have lost 50+ lbs, blood sugar and A-1C are normal, cholesterol is normal, MD is cutting back my meds and I feel great. Still on Phase I and losing!”
– Michigan

“The RESET program was the perfect jump start I needed to develop a new discipline in my life. I was always on top of healthy eating and exercising. But my weakness and coping mechanism was drinking wine on a regular basis. We’ve all been told and read the health benefits of drinking wine so I told myself it was okay. I like to eat out with friends as well as entertain at home and wine was always included at dinner. Even though I was eating good and didn’t eat sweets the belly fat was accumulating and the pounds were adding up. I always had a high metabolism but at 46 years old I was for the first time faced with going on a diet. I had nice clothes that didn’t fit. The choice was to lose the weight or buy a new wardrobe.
I heard about the RESET cleanse and decided to go for it. What I couldn’t get over was how it reallydid take the cravings away for sugar. What I realized afterwards was that I was craving sugar and getting my fix from drinking wine. I never thought of wine as sugar going into my body. In the first month after the cleanse I lost 5 pounds and still losing. I decided it was okay to drink wine on occasion when out but don’t keep it in my home so the temptation isn’t there.
I travel on a regular basis and use the shakes and bars as a healthy meal replacement versus succumbing to airport/airplane food. It’s like keeping a security blanket in my travel bag.
I credit the RESET cleanse in giving me the boost I needed to get going in the right direction.”
 – Houston, TX

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By tmoody, March 28, 2011 8:50 pm

Did you know that every day, millions of kids eat highly processed foods for breakfast and lunch at school, when the best source of the nutrition they need is fresh, whole foods?

New legislation for school food that passed last fall means we have a huge opportunity to get better, healthier meals at school. But some powerful interests believe that the current meals are good enough and don’t want the system to change. There is a risk that the improved school meal standards which the USDA has drafted will get watered down unless they hear from the public.

I just took action and submitted a comment to the USDA in support of more real, fresh food in schools – will you join me in doing the same?

www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com/usda

The USDA is asking the public to weigh in on their proposal to put more real, fresh food in schools and limit some of the junk, but not everyone thinks that we can afford to improve school meals this way. We need a strong show of support to make sure these changes are the start to a Food Revolution in America’s school cafeterias. You can take action here and the Food Revolution will deliver your comments – it only takes a moment!

www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com/usda

Let’s feed our kids well!

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By tmoody, March 6, 2011 12:02 pm

It’s that “squeaky wheel” thing. When those who have made a connection between particular dietary practices and health speak up with questions about what’s for dinner at a meeting or gathering. The many voices become a cacophony. Organizers cringe. As was true for Andrea Mitchell, in her planning of The International Food Blogger Conference last year where food trends were a hot topic. Gluten-free was on the nomination ballot. On the one hand, I’m disappointed that gluten-free was dubbed trendy with the nuance of flash-in-the-pan presence. On the other hand, I’m glad it’s getting press since it turns out, there really weren’t that many. Out of 300 participants, 17 requested gluten-free meals.

More people are gluten sensitive than is apparent by these numbers. According to Entero Labs, an intestinal health laboratory, 30-35% of Americans have gluten sensitivity or Celiac genes even if there are no current medical indications. That’s a bunch of people not knowing the risk they are taking with food choices. The long-term health consequences are serious. Spending our precious energy generating autoimmune dysfunction, the eventual result of consuming gluten by those who carry the genes in question, seems like a real waste of our personal resources. Literally! Like anything else, we start breaking down faster if we don’t take proper care of the equipment.

I once borrowed the car of a dear friend and with gratitude and appreciation in my heart I went to fill it up before returning it to her. Going through the familiar routine at the gas pump, I caught myself a little late recalling her car required diesel fuel. Big Oops! How embarrassed I was to call her. Yes, it was only about a half-gallon of the “wrong” thing, but still, it cost a lot of time, money and worry to correct the problem to everyone’s satisfaction.

You may be putting the wrong kind of fuel in your tank. Anybody with auto-immune disease, depression, digestive difficulties, any of the inflammatory diseases and the list goes on, would be well advised to explore the possibility that gluten sensitivity may be a contributing factor. The body’s reaction to unwelcome gluten visitors is kind of like having a swarm of termites in your log cabin. So much of the damage is done when we’re not aware of what’s happening inside our human walls. By the time there is evidence of invasion repair is costly if at all possible. Prevention is by far the least complicated route.

So, keep those phones ringing, emails soaring and tweets singing to find out what’s for dinner and whether or not it’s in your best interest to eat it. Get curious about whether gluten may be an unrecognized factor in your life. If those statistics on gluten-sensitive Americans matched up with real people we could go from trend to movement to effervescent health.

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By tmoody, February 7, 2011 8:32 pm

Sound familiar?  You’re invited to experience…

Overcoming Inconvenience

Let’s make it easy and fun with many hands and great laughs, to nourish our families with smiles and whole, real food.  Putting together several meals at a time is a great convenience during the week. 

Learn how to cut up a chicken, stage the preparation and easily convert one protein to many flavors.  Bring your favorite 9×13 baking dish, (or equivalent).  I’ll shop for groceries and supply the other take-away containers.   An ice chest to take home the bounty is handy, too.  Here are the gluten-free, casein-free, low-glycemic menu items we’ll cook together this week:

Fragrant Asian Fried Rice-  Served with Thai Broth with Vegetables

Stacked Chicken Salads

Adorned with Deluscious Blueberries and Toasty Pecans

Savory Chicken Pot Pie

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Don’t eat chicken?  No Worries.  Easy substitutions with vegetarian proteins and/or seafood substitutions. 

Friday, Februay 18

11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m

Southwest Austin

Take all four meals home to your family for $145.00

Spectators:  $49.95

Mail a check to Tina Moody at

 28465 RR 12; Dripping Springs, TX

or register at www.kitchentherapy.eventbrite.com

(you will receive an email with directions upon registration)

 Feel free to contact me by email if you have questions: 

tmoody@lifepractice.net

presented by Kitchen Therapy

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By tmoody, January 16, 2011 9:40 am

Polite, indignant outrage invades her tone as she speaks to the U. S. State Department phone rep. “But, what I want to know is why my brother got his passport and we have the very same parents and were born in the very same place and applied at the very same time and I have to send in this ‘long-form’ thingy.” (She will have to figure out what that long-form thingy is and how to acquire one.) In her unprotected encounters with the greater world as her teacher, my dear young adult is dealing with her passport snag and trying to negotiate with federal government employees for clear, reasonable information. Once again in my exercise of release, I adjust into my discomfort of witnessing my offspring come up against an incredible obstacle and be miserable.

Since she’s now a legal adult, she had to show up in person to apply for her passport renewal. Just so happens her underage brother re-applied at the same time and he, too had to present himself in person with parents in tow (new laws in the past 5 years). The clincher is that his passport has arrived. She, on the other hand, received a letter. Big disappointment! He’s not planning an international trip. She has hopes for Beijing in June.

No, I was not restrained enough to stay out of it altogether. I did remind, cajole, and explain the limitations of an 8-hour work-day in federal agencies with a federal holiday looming on Monday and school starting on Tuesday. Perhaps she would have initiated her response without my questionable help, we’ll never know. It took lots of self-discipline to contain my impulse to direct her action and timing. Releasing the problem to her, over and over again as I contemplated solving a problem that really isn’t mine anymore. After all, if she can’t figure out how to get a passport she’s got no business heading off to China.

Of course, she’ll solve this problem, exasperated tears and all, ‘cause I have yet to see her fail at getting want SHE really, really wants. I’ll take comfort in that, using it for my personal reassurance. Meanwhile, the bro comes home from school, walks into the house and is greeted with, “It’s arbitrary, it’s arbitrary! Depending on what office the application is sent to, some accept the standard birth-certificate and others don’t. There’s no reason why they do or don’t accept either form. So, I have to do all this stupid stuff and no one knows why.”

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By tmoody, January 1, 2011 7:03 pm

The New Year always promises to be a special time for me; I love beginnings.  Being a start-up kind of person, I’m charged by the creative process whirling around before the real work begins.   Clean slates and fresh starts offer time for dreaming, visioning and setting the course for navigating through our next segment of life.  I think of it as revisiting innocence, a window of time when pristine grace bathes us fresh and clean.

Last night the best of friends gathered to celebrate this new time, punctuating what is past and discussing what comes next as our shimmering relationships of many years, thread the times together beautifully.  Celebrating our moments with cooking, eating, playing and clapping together, we had a blast.  Each of us committed on paper that which we chose to leave behind with 2010 and sent spent traits and practices into the fire, transforming them into fuel for brightness and warmth in the days to come.

Life Practice has a new face in this New Year.  Crisp and raring to see my posts more often, thank you, Bill McCarley.  Soon Life Practice will include a new section, Kitchen Therapy.  It’s an educational endeavor including cooking classes that are gluten-free and low-glycemic with an emphasis on convenience to promote more in-home family eating by using weekly protein themes.  This is the year!!!   Since what happens in the kitchen has a far-reaching effects on life: health, mood, families, friends and finances, it seems a good fit.

A Handbook for Dealing with Everyday Narcissists WILL be completed this year.  As it gets its finishing touches more unexpected events are sure to follow.  Stay tuned, more to come on this short, but robust publication.

Acknowledging the gifts former years have bestowed, I am profoundly grateful for my health.  I find invaluable, the support I receive through Usana and Team Northrup, which also has a spanking, brand new website that is top-notch.  Thank you, Kate Northrup, your shining authenticity shows through.

And, to my clients, old and new, past and present, thank you for teaching me and allowing me to participate in your lives.  May the New Year hold you gentle.

Do you have a map for Year 2011?  How do you mark time from year to year?  I’m curious, post a note with what helps you get your year going your way…

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By tmoody, December 13, 2010 12:37 pm

1. Plan: During the dark, cold days of winter it’s easy to lose sight of our health goals. Keep your goals in mind with clear intention and effective strategies of staying on your personal health-building track to greet the New Year looking and feeling your best.
2. The Power of Positive Persistence: Many of us have spent years carving away undesirable patterns of living in pursuit of vibrant aliveness. The holidays offer many opportunities to revert to old, familiar ways as families re-convene and childhood memories of exceptional indulgence are activated. The stresses of travel, entertaining, schedule changes and the culmination of the year’s events add to the mix for a cocktail of dizzying proportions. Remember to keep the basic elements of healthy living working in your favor. Maintain your nutritional support. (For me that includes taking Usana myHealthPak and BiOmega (EFA), drinking my shake each day and having my Usana low-glycemic bars at hand for the extra something I need when out and about in unfamiliar routines, i.e., shopping.) Maintain your exercise regime or even extend it a bit. Invite your family and friends to join in on your healthy lifestyle; take your granddaughter for a walk, make a shake with your niece or get a game of soccer going for the whole troop. These small acts will keep you mindful of your objectives for vibrant living and time to connect with those you love.
3. Forgive Generously: If we overindulge, acknowledge it and forgive yourself. It’s not the end of a healthy lifestyle, unless the lapse becomes a relapse. Ways to avoid over-indulgence include eating a salad, apple or shake before the event. Hunger is the irresistible ingredient to any dish, take the edge off your hunger by preventive action. If you over do it, enjoy each bite and forgive the excess.
4. Offerings: Offer to bring a dish. Healthy appetizers and low-glycemic desserts are bountiful, take what you know are wise choices for you and share them with others. Wow them with your creativity, fresh selections and beautiful presentation.
5. More Water, Please: Water makes up 60-70% of your body and every system in your body depends on it. Add a spritzer with some citrus or a splash of fruit juice at your party or holiday gathering. Drink 8-12 glasses (8oz each) minimum each day and add one more glass for each caffeinated and alcoholic beverage you have. Water will help you feel full, have more energy and be better able to handle everything.
6. Lifestyle Choices: Realize how much sleep and exercise YOU need every day and make them a nonnegotiable gift to yourself. You may find yourself saying “no” so you can live a bigger “YES.” Self-responsible limits are a means of providing safety and stress reduction. Go ahead, make your holiday sing by choosing stress relievers that work for you, from hot baths, to good books, to yoga or strenuous workouts, give yourself a gift that works for you.
7. Overindulge? We all do sometimes. Drink tons of water before going to bed and take extra USANA Proflavanol C100 that night to reduce inflammation, build the immune system and detox the body. In the morning, drink a large glass of water, have a Nutrimeal shake with your Essentials/MyHealthPak and BiOmega/OptOmega to stabilize your blood sugar. Go for a workout or even a walk in the morning – the movement and endorphins will help you feel better and back on track. Most importantly, drink lots of water throughout the day, eat normally and don’t try to compensate by eating fewer calories, otherwise your metabolism will adjust and slow down.
8. Create Connection: Enjoy the Holiday Season for what it is about, family, friends, and connections – not eating. Being mindful of what you eat and attentive to the people you are with, it’s easier to fill up with heart-felt connections instead of foolish food choices. When you take the focus off of food many other things about the holidays shine through!

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By tmoody, November 4, 2010 3:08 pm

Halloween, that major marker of the year, which is quickly coming to a close, has left its candy wrappers, costumes and moldy jack-o-lanterns in its wake.  One slow blink and Thanksgiving will arrive with feasts to be followed by festivities of Light to brighten the darkest days of the Northern Hemisphere.  With all the opportunities for over-indulgence, will we ring in the New Year healthier or with a “weighty” hangover?  Now is a good time to design a strategy to jump-start a fabulous 2011.

There is something about endings, like saying goodbye to 2010, which stimulates the grasping reflex. Human beings as a species are not conventionally adept at letting go, that takes training and conscious attention.  Throwing away the leftover candy from the trick or treat bags, tossing Susie’s costume from last year or pitching the pumpkin Jack had such fun carving takes concerted effort.  Endings trigger fear; not enough time, not enough money, not enough personal resources to go around. As the clock starts ticking louder and the daylight shortens, and the deadlines loom, we reach for familiar comforts to assuage the anxieties our human limitations impose.  Food is handy and abundant. It’s an exalted tradition this time of year.  But, as distant notes of Old Lang Syne drift closer, we need not rush.  After the ball drops on Times Square there will be another meal.

Throughout the years, rumor is that five pounds is the average weight gain for the holiday season, beginning with Halloween.  However, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reports the average weight gain to be about one pound.  Good News!!!  However, they also found that weight gain was not reversed in subsequent months.  Ouch!!  How many winter holiday seasons have you lived?

Let’s look at the good news.  Just one pound, that’s all we need prevent.  As the clock speeds up rushing to year’s end, slowing down may be the ticket to averting the obstinate addition.

• Languidly savor those special foods that mark the traditions of your family.  Your brain will have a better chance of keeping up with its satiety meter when you eat slowly.
• Avoid skipping meals.  If your blood sugar gets too low, restraint is impossible.
• Drink a Nutrimeal Shake before the party, it’s fast and easy and takes your favorite Usana bar in your bag or briefcase when shopping or closing that last minute deal.
• Transform holiday favorites to lower glycemic options.  See my offering below.

With a bit of attention, our traditions can honor our health as well as the rituals and feasts or the season. Reclaim the fundamentals for celebrations and Thanksgiving: family, friends and life, itself.

Abundant this time of year is the time-honored squash. Pumpkin, butternut, acorn, Hubbard, spaghetti are ripe for the picking. They are moderate choices on the glycemic index. In honor of the Harvest: Pumpkin Squares.

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By tmoody, October 14, 2010 12:13 pm

Time, once measured by shadow, now by milliseconds, divides winner from loser, timely from tardy and now from any other point on the clock. Yet we are all granted the same playing field, available equally, to each of us on a daily basis. So why is it that this time of year, every year, we run short?

Once upon a time humans woke with the rising sun and rested with a grand display of color on the western horizon. We spent our days mostly outside in concert with the shade of the day, hunting and gathering, farming and ranching and going only as far as feet, either ours or our four legged friends, could carry us. I refer to this as organic time; our bodies in harmony with creation. Organic time is the window wherein we notice our thirst or hunger, our energy or fatigue, our ease or pain. It is our personal, physical home singing in concert with a greater choir.

As time passes, life lands us with greater complexity, both convenient and aggravating. We’ve taken up the illusion that we are unbound by time, or space, for that matter. If you’ve ever watched television where one can move from Moscow to Spain to Bali and back home within the hour, the illusion of time promotes the notion we can do more in an hour than is humanly or technologically possible. While most are familiar with the reports that watching violence via video has a desensitizing effect on violence in real life, much less newsworthy is how the same occurs with our relationship to time. Even though we all know it’s just “Hollywood,” there is an unacknowledged expectation that we, too, are able to be as swift.

We expect to be “faster than a speeding bullet.” Remember, that quote was originally taken from a COMIC book. It is funny – after all, we know it takes an hour to get to Austin and back, much less around the world. Our image of time as a commodity, “time as money,” has come close to nudging out the organic time of stopping to take stock of what is truly necessary for our best lives to be lived well. Check those expectations. We don’t really have less time in the Fall, we simply have more opportunities.

School is in swing. The newly acquired rhythms of the week are punctuated by pick-up and drop-off for the kids, sports practice and music lessons, homework and community gatherings. The lazy days of summer are a vague memory and retail marketers rush us headlong into Christmas before Halloween has had its turn to adequately frighten us. All this, and we still have the necessary tasks of work, bills, laundry, car maintenance and more lawn mowing required by the wonderful rain of late.

So, how do we manage to fit all those tasks into our 24-hour window and still get adequate rest, healthful meals, movement and recreation, much less keep the commitments we have to others and self?

Develop Good Habits

One way is to develop habits that support you. When we repeat actions over and over again we develop patterns. String those patterns together and rhythms result. Rhythms allow our more primitive brain to take over tasks with which it is familiar. Ever been driving your regular route home or to work, spaced out with all those great ideas flowing through your mind and come back to attention knowing you’ve been gone and wondering who was driving during your absence? This is habit at work. Great, if you intend to go to that familiar place; a time sink if you mentally wander and miss the exit to that less practiced destination.

Good habits allow our minds a recess from the mundane. Re-work is minimized. But, bad habits create lots of extra work, so be careful what actions you choose to practice. For instance, the simple habit of brushing teeth before bed eliminates the need to decide each and every night whether or not we WILL brush our teeth. If we decide we will, when? What are the consequences if we opt not to brush tonight, and are we willing to pay them? The decision process alone is time consuming and a practice all its own. Vacillating on a task drains time and distracts from more gratifying endeavors. Simply deciding what is best for your health and well-being eliminates a great deal of repeat decision-making and allows for more efficient use of time.

Decide

We have more choices than we have time. Learning to say no is a great time-management tool. Young children learn to say no before they say yes.  Without “no,” yes means nothing more than a weighty obligation that slows us down and infects the vitality of the yeses. Choose wisely, but choose.  When at a fine dining establishment we peruse the menu and make our selections based on personal preference. What makes our mouth water with desire helps sort out what we order. No way does our decision indicate that the other menu items are unattractive. In fact, the choice may not be an easy one. But since there is only so much we can eat at a time, it’s necessary to pick.

The same is true of invitations. Saying yes too much leads to a swirling cesspool of distractions. Saying “no” casts no aspersions on an alluring request. Rather, our dedication to remembering what it is that you want, along the constraints of time and space, reflect our integrity. Saying yes when you really would rather not leads straight to resentment. The recovery and repair needed in the wake of disgruntled assent is highly time-consuming for everyone involved—a black-hole for human energy.

Honor Your Choices

Commit time to what you choose to do. Calendars are critical for this. From wall calendar to day planner to iCal, the instruments change as the intricacies of daily life swell. Those blocks of time dedicated to certain activities help remind us of our human limitations and offer us a visual aid to what time we have “free” for frivolity.

Here’s a challenge. Sit down and designate what tasks reflect your choices this week—all of them. From morning ablutions through evening devotions take stock of how you spend your time and how much time it really takes to care for yourself well while meeting your commitments. Maintaining a well-tuned physical condition assists performance and optimizes what gets done in the time we have. Just as you budget your money, budget your time for the coming month. Choose the biggies, the small stuff will sift in. Don’t spend more than you have and spend it on what you truly want and need. Enjoy the time you spend.

The Biggest Difference

Attention expands time; distraction contracts it. With extensive research on the brain over the past twenty years, scientists generally agree that we can only focus on one thing at a time. The more concentrated our attention, the smoother the flow of information through the brain is processed. Because those neuro-nets are quite quick, we think we’re attending to more, but really, we’re not. Multi-tasking may seem more efficient, but interruptions take their toll on our time by requiring that we refocus, reorient and begin again rather than moving through to completion. How many times have I gone from stove to pantry only to open the door and stand with no idea what  I went there to find? I know I need something in the pantry, but all those entertaining thoughts that “preoccupied my mind” during my five-foot trek took me off-task and now I either gaze for a clue, mentally pondering my process or give up and go back to the stove only to recall the needed item and repeat the pantry path. What a waste of time.

Give your concentration to that upon which you choose to allot your precious time. In so doing, time slows down, expanding what we can process and appreciate. Interruptions of phone and family divert attention and are, in the end, inevitable. Life happens. Distractions abound. So, add  “cushion-time” to your PDA that you may take heart and finish what you started. To complete a task or goal offers great tidings of accomplishment, self-discipline and renewed motivation. In the meantime, enjoy the recess afforded by the disruption and thoroughly savor the interactions with those you love. The sooner you return to your agenda, the easier it is to reinstall your attention. See how far you can extend your time of focus. Stay with it a bit longer than is easily comfortable. Having a “commercial break” every thirteen minutes is costly.

It’s Fall. Time is tight, only to become more so in the downhill slide to year’s end. Perhaps it is because the end is in sight that we feel more rushed and overwhelmed by all there is to do. There is no inspiration like the deadline and 2010 is quickly coming to a close. Use organic time to keep your body working well. Decide how you want to spend your commodity time. Remain flexible. Add cushion-time. Keep your eye on what you want. Commit to your choices and tend them with wholeheartedness. In so doing, the passing of time stops and all we are left with is the moment.