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Encouragement: May Flowers to end the month! May you always accept yourself as you are!

5/26/2017

April showers brought us
May flowers...
and then kept showering.
While I Iove to sleep at night with the sound and smell of rain, I do like my daytime to be nice enough to get out of the house and walk.

Here are some positive thoughts to end the month of May with, hopefully, these thoughts will bring the sunshine out to your rainy day!

"Forty is the old age of youth. Fifty is the youth of old age."
- Victor Hugo -

"When it comes to
staying young,
a mind-lift beats
a face-lift any day."
- Marty Bucella -

"The soul never ages.
My soul dances
without my feet.
I am the music."
- Alev Oguz -

Here are a few really good thoughts from Kevyn Aucoin (American Artist born on February 14, 1962, died on May 07, 2002.)

Enjoy!

"Today I choose life.
Every morning when I wake up
I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain...
To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices
- today I choose to feel life,
not to deny my humanity
but embrace it."

"Fear is the most debilitating emotion in the world, and
it can keep you from ever truly knowing yourself and others
- its adverse effects can no longer be overlooked or underestimated.
Fear breeds hatred, and hatred has the power to destroy everything in its path."

"My entire mission in life
is to help women
take over the world.
Not by force
(the route so many men
have taken
since the beginning of time),
but
with compassion, perseverance, and love."

"Life is too short
to spend hoping that the perfectly arched eyebrow or hottest new lip shade
will mask an ugly heart."

Remember, age is just a number. You have control on how your approach getting older. Positive people are happier people, happier people are healthier people, and healthier people tend to live longer.....choose carefully how you view getting older.

Accept who you are and love yourself. Acceptance doesn't mean you stop improving yourself in whatever way your choose. It only means that where ever you are in life, enjoy it and don't let others dictate your level of happiness. Beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has beauty!

May marks the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Don't sit around the house looking at the walls or vegetating. Go for a walk or a ride; or just sit on the porch or in a park and enjoy the outdoors; get out those paints and brushes and create something; plant a few flowers...and take time to enjoy them. Do something!

Now get out there and live!
Make each day count!
Don't waste
the life you have been given...
live it fully all the way to the end!

How do you enjoy your summer days? Do you appreciate the life your have been given? Have you stopped allowing others to control how you feel about yourself? Remember, some people will love you for who you are, some will be envious of who you are, and some are so afraid of who you are they treat you badly. These are the people who will not grow old gracefully or positively, they don't know how. We should set the example for them.

XOXO

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Encouragement: I Sprinted a Quarter Mile Today! Yes! It's a big deal!

5/19/2017

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Three years ago I was in a completely different place physically than where I am today. I had just retired and realized if I didn't change something I would not be able to do the things I always wanted to do when I retired. So, I went about laying out a plan to get healthier.

For several years I have had a weak knee with a lot of pain. Stairs were difficult for me and sometimes just walking was hard and painful. I seldom take a pain reliever, so I suffered in silence (most of the time). My children were gone living their own lives, my husband had his hobbies and interests, so now was the time for me. It was time that I fixed my broken body.

The first thing I did was take time to develop a way to eat that would not only help me lose weight (that I desperately needed to lose), but would also make me feel better. It was up and down for a few months until I hit my stride and found what worked for me. (That's a topic for a later blog.) But once I found it, it was easy. You have to find something you can live with and it's an individual thing.
I have always walked. However, in the years just prior to my retirement, my walking had taken a side position in my life and the weight was pouring on, also depression was hitting me hard. So, the first thing I did while figuring out my eating changes, was to start walking on a regular basis.

After a few weeks, I started feeling better and better. I started feeling like I used to feel when I took better care of myself (my younger self). Within a few months, I decided to buy myself a bike, a nice touring bike. The first time I got on it, I fell on the concrete floor of my garage. Let me tell you, it hurt.

I decided I needed more work on my knee before trying that again. What was I going to do to get my knee strong again and pain free? I decided to go talk to a YMCA Gym Coach. After talking to the coach I decided to join the YMCA and go under her guidance for a session of four weeks. The coach gave me so many choices in exercises to do that I never got bored. After about five months of working out, I was able to do some of the weight machines that had previously hurt my knee so much I wasn't able to do them. With each month that passed, I was able to do more and more. I continued to workout at the YMCA and walk at least a mile, most of the time two to four miles a day and on occasion six miles a day.
As I was coming around the indoor track on my second of sixteen laps to do, I noticed that no one was on the track but me, so why not? Why not try to either sprint, jog, or run? What did I have to lose, no one would witness the fall or the failure, it was just me against me. So I went for it. Something I haven't been able to do for over two decades, I sprinted! I sprinted four full laps which equals a quarter of a mile!
I still can't ride the bike, yet - but I know it is only a matter of time. I intend to keep working towards that goal.

This story has a purpose other than just bragging on myself.....although I am really proud of this accomplishment. ☺ The higher purpose of this personal story is to demonstrate that if we really want something, we can find a way to do it and we should never give up.

The sprint didn't happen overnight. It was after I took "baby steps" and slowly worked my way back up to good health. That is what we have to do at our age....the over 50 adult. We have to set reasonable goals, with a reasonable plan to achieve those goals, and then do it!

I could have given up and said this hurts too much,
this is too slow I will never be better,
or I could have just given up because it was hard.
I didn't. I stayed with it.
You can, too!

Decide what it is you want to do, make a plan, and then do it! Nothing ever gets done by just hoping for it or wishing for it or thinking about it...it takes action, it takes determination, it takes slow and easy at our age.

Over 50 is not a time to stop or even slow down (maybe a little, but not unless you have to). It is a time to focus on yourself and your health. It is a time to realize those goals you have and work toward them. It is a time to have fun and live.
It was only a quarter mile sprint, not much to some people, but to me it was a big deal. To me, it was a milestone reached. Now I want to take it to the next level and I feel good about it.

Do you have something you want to do and you are thinking you are too old? Have you taken "baby steps" to work towards a goal? Do you celebrate your accomplishments no matter how small they may seem? I did! I immediately called two people to tell them I sprinted a quarter mile - my husband and my sister...and they were both proud of me. Celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small.

XOXO

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Beauty: Fat or Plus? Which one are you?

5/12/2017

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If you are over 50 you have discovered how much easier it is to gain a few pounds and how much harder it is to lose them. This is especially true for women. Hormones and the female structure of the body make it more difficult for women to stay in shape compared to their over 50 male counterpart. This is not to say that men don't have weight issues after 50, as well, but it is a bit easier for them to fight and win the battle against the middle age bulge.

There was a time (before the 1800s) when a
woman of physical substance was considered a beauty and it was also a sign of affluency.
.
Still today, there are many cultures, that are not in the western world, that view this type of woman as a sign of good health
and even vitality.
.
Somewhere on our journey to progress beauty became something different. In 1840, Sylvester Graham, Presbyterian minister, began a personal campaign to change the way women ate. He preached a plain diet for women as the key to health and he tied morality to abstinence in eating. "Spices, stimulants and other over indulgences lead to indigestion, illness, sexual excess and civil disorder," Graham preached. "Grahamites," (the name for his followers) ate mostly bread made of coarse graham flour as well as vegetables and water.
After the Graham period, along about 1860,
another diet became popular and it promoted
lower weight over higher. The Banting diet
became popular and had striking similarities
to modern day Atkins diet with its
promotion of more protein in our diet.
At the end of this century, if you were
overweight (even by a little) you were
considered obese and looked down upon.

Unfortunately, the American path
of weight for women traveled to unhealthy limits with the Twiggy era. The thinner you were,the healthier you were
perceived to be. With the discovery of the
calorie, the body weight scale for the home, and the push to be thin, eating disorders surfaced and the way women perceived their bodies began to become distorted.

The size of a woman's body became more
important that the subtance of the woman's
character. While the average woman (non-model) is substantially larger than those of the women on magazine covers and ads promoting products, thinness is still perceived as more beautiful. But by who?

If you ask most men, they will say that every woman has her own beauty and they look deeper than skin for a woman's beauty. There are some men who are obsessed with a woman's body appearance and the character of the woman is of little importance. So, if the majority of men look at the whole package, then why are women starving themselves to the point of being unhealthy to look like that model on that men's magazine? I know it's hard to believe, given the messages that the media puts out to us, but men are not as superficial as we have been led to think they are...there are a few, but the majority are not.

If you ask most women, they will tell you that men don't want women who are over a size 6. Consider this, the size of the average woman in the United States is 14. A size 14 is not fat and should not be considered plus size and yet, plus size starts at size 12. Seriously? Size 12? No wonder we have a problem with self image, confidence, and healthy eating. Many times in her life, Marilyn Monroe wore a size 12 and no one would call her fat. Most men found her curvy body beautiful.

Consider this:

"According to researchers,
94% of females on television are thinner than the average women in the United States."

- Wikipedia article The Thin Ideal
( www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Ideal)

"Women's magazines focus mainly on "domestic" aspects of life,
including marriage, child-rearing, beauty, etc.
More than 75% of women’s magazines include at least one ad or article
about how to change their physical appearance
by diet, exercise, or cosmetic surgery.
Twenty-five percent of the magazines contained messages
regarding weight loss and dieting suggestions.
Many women's magazines focus on how to lead a better life
by improving physical appearance,
while men's magazines provide information
about hobbies, activities, and entertainment.
When women are constantly exposed to ways to alter their appearance,
they may over-internalize and feel pressure to look like the images they see.
The analyses of images in women's magazines
observed from 1901 to 1980 and
from 1959 to 1999
show that the featured models have become thinner over time,
making the thin ideal even more difficult to achieve."

- Wikipedia article The Thin Ideal
( www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Ideal)

Today, almost 100 years later, we are still struggling with this problem created by Minister Graham. What is fat and what is healthy? What is the difference in being fat and being a plus size? Why is being thin a goal? Why not healthy as a goal?

In recent years, the acceptance of the plus size model has become accepted as beauty...natural beauty. A few companies have developed ad campaigns directed at the plus size woman and they use plus size models to promote their products. ("Dove" soap, body washes, and moisturizers being one of the most well known.)

If you look at any of these ads, you will see beautiful women who look healthy and strong. Plus size models such as Ashley Graham, Saffi Karina, Jennie Runk, Gabi Gregg, Barbie Ferreira, Tess Holiday, Nadia Aboulhosen, just to name a few, are making headlines and changing the way the world see women. ( see www.mtv.com/news/2228102/plus-size-victorias-secret-models/ )

There are several beautiful models that are over age 50 you should check out such as Yasmina Rossi (56), Daphne Selfe (84), Lauren Hutton (70), China Machado (83), Pia Gronning (64) and many others. While there may be a few, I will dare to say that most of the top models over 50 years of age are not a size 6 or smaller.

So, as you get older and a little extra weight accumulates, don't fret or feel less than the beautiful woman you are. Concentrate on being healthy. Be healthy by eating healthy, exercising or moving more, and smile...keep the positive attitude.

Make sure you make your regular check ups with your doctor and focus on living, not your weight or what the world tells you that you should look like. Love yourself where you are today. This is a lesson I learned the hard way. Some day in the near future I will share with you how I learned that lesson.

In the meantime, get up and move - go walk, dance, just get up and move! Eat foods that nourish your body - after a while you will crave healthy food and the unhealthy food won't be calling your name (as much anyway)! And smile and be happy! Your attitude about life affects how you look and feel. Be positive!

The original question to this blog was Fat or Plus Size? Which one are you? Well,
I say Plus Size and proud of it. I am healthy,
I look pretty good for a woman my age,
I feel good, and I am happy. Fat is a word reserved for what you cut off the edge of your meat or skim from the top of your milk.
Fat is a negative and I don't have room for negative in my life now.

I am Plus Size!
No skinny minnie here! 🙂

How do you see yourself when you look in the mirror? Do you compare yourself to other women? You shouldn't, you know. Every woman is made different and every woman is uniquely beautiful. Do you stand tall and walk with confidence? You should, you know. You are a special woman, you have lived long enough to know things, you have value beyond your body size. Do you get negative image thoughts from time to time? What do you do to fight those negative image thoughts when they creep into your mind?

XOXO

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Book Review: "Stronger Than Ever - Heavenly Advice for Earthly Life" by Jason Jackson

5/5/2017

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Life can be happy in various degrees and the blessings are many, but it can be equally unhappy with all of the problems and tragedies of life. These problems and tragedies can ruin our lives or we can live a life of faith, love, and hope to survive and return to a measure of happiness.

Sometimes after a tragedy or a personal problem, people struggle to merely function, much less embrace a deeper spirituality. This book offers help to regain the life that you deserve after the suffering of life's events. Stronger Than Ever is a guide of practical lessons and advice for living again after personal set backs and applying biblical truths to real life.

In his book, Jason Jackson states that:
" a life of faith, love, and hope enables you to persevere - but more than perevere - you can grow stronger, overcome adversity, and become a blessing to others in need."

Jason also states:
THE PURPOSE OF GOD : God desires mankind's redemption. He provided the sacraficial lamb that he might be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)

Jesus says to the sinner and the saved alike:
"Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

In his book, Jason discusses guilt and what we let it do to us. He describes guilt as "the knowledge of good and evil".
There are two forms of guilt - objective and subjective.
Objective: You break the law
Subjective: You feel guilty

Jason also states the following
inspirational thoughts:

We all become more like Jesus as we reach out to love and support others.
Any person can be forgiven of anything.
When the earth crumbles around us and we feel helpless, there may be only one thing we can control: our perspective.
When experiences of life make us long for heaven, we can view distressing times with an element of joy.

This book is excellent if you are experiencing trials or tragedies of life. The author uses true stories and real life people who overcame adversity and are stronger because of their perspective and the ultimate power of Christ.

You can find this book here: http://www.christianbookstore.net/stronger-than-ever-heavenly-advice-for-earthly/catalog-249596/
You can also purchase it through
Amazon or Barnes and Noble,
but you will pay more.

Have you lost a loved one and need help getting through life on a daily basis? Do you feel like life is against you and you can't win? Do you have faith? Share your experience and help others. Become a blessing to others.

XOXO

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Encouragement: May Flowers to end the month! May you always accept yourself as you are!

Encouragement: I Sprinted a Quarter Mile Today! Yes! It's a big deal!

Beauty: Fat or Plus? Which one are you?

Book Review: "Stronger Than Ever - Heavenly Advice for Earthly Life" by Jason Jackson

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Encouragement: May Flowers to end the month! May you always accept yourself as you are!

Encouragement: I Sprinted a Quarter Mile Today! Yes! It's a big deal!

Beauty: Fat or Plus? Which one are you?

Book Review: "Stronger Than Ever - Heavenly Advice for Earthly Life" by Jason Jackson

My mission​

Categories

Archives

About

Blog

Contact

My mission