So, here are the things I have learned this week.
1. I miss doing Dave's Space Place, so it was worth putting in the time to bring it back the way I had originally envisioned it.
2. Get enough sleep. I haven't been doing enough of this lately and it caught up to me this weekend. Destroying the forward progress I had already made in the prior week.
3. Cut back on the wine. Period. I was doing so good with two glasses a night. It needs to return to that.
4. Started the 5 Second Rule audio book. Love this book and the author. Truthful and blunt with a great sense of humor. Reminds me of my friend Susan Ross. Task: Reach out to Susan. Haven't talked to her in about 18 months.
5. Using the 5 second rule, starting today. It really does work. :) Stopped hitting the snooze button at 6:40 am. LOL Got up. Made coffee. Took a shower. Now sitting here writing, drinking coffee. Took Xena out potty while in the middle of writing this. 5...4...3...2...1, Move! It really does work.
6. Things I can't eat. I thought it was the reduced sugar ketchup, but I just discussed with Mary that we had bread & butter pickles last night and that's what spiked my blood sugar to 159 this morning. Coconut bread with peanut butter (natural no sugar kind) also spiked me a few days ago, but it might have been something else too.
Focus for the Week
1. Align my eating back to a more Keto way of eating. We are experimenting and finding what works and what doesn't, but I want to buckle down some more with my own plate and get back to burning the fat. I'm sitting in the 340s and have been going up and down between 343 and 347 for the last two weeks.
2. I want to start making some recipes too and helping out with some cooking. Time to make some menu plans and get focused and help out more.
3. Get back to my morning rituals. I'm really digging The Miracle Morning way of doing things. I've adapted some of it to my own way of doing the routine in the morning. It's working for me beautifully. More on that in a second.
4. Finish reading 5 Second Rule (listening on Audible actually)
5. Walk a little more (adding a little more each day), even just a little bit more.
6. Get the weights over to my desk so I can do a little light lifting when I get home. Need to start incorporating my muscles back into my routine.
7. Seriously start tracking my food again. It really does help to see how many carbs I've been eating and I got away from that the last two weeks. I know, "you really don't have to do that on this diet..." guess what, I want too. I want to know what's working and what isn't. Becoming more serious about this. I liked not waking up with a blood sugar over 150 in the mornings and a 6.2 A1C at the doctor's office. It's worth it to me now.
8. Get to the library this week. We've been wanting too, so let's find time and make it work.
9. More focus on data science.
The Miracle Morning
The book that kicked me in the butt back in January, but didn't take hold till late May. I love getting up at 5 am and I'm striving to hit a new goal of 4:30 am soon and then work to hitting 4 am if I can. I love the time in the morning doing meditation, visualization, a little affirmation, reading and writing. The Life SAVERS™ is what Hal Elrod calls them.
Silence (meditation)
Affirmations
Visualization
Exercise
Reading
Scribing (writing)
I wake up. I do a little silent breathing mindfulness meditation for 5 minutes, then I listen to a binural beat audio called Zen12, which is a meditation recording that has 12 months to help train your brain to enter into deep meditation a little easier. I absolutely love it! It brings me into a calm and focused state.
Then, I use Learning Strategies Paraliminals for affirmations and visualization. It's a form of self hypnosis kicked up a notch and I love it as well.
Exercise has been walking Xena in the morning. I'm building up strength. A lot of you don't know, but when I was tipping the 370 pound mark back on Father's day, I had the worst back problems. I couldn't walk 20 feet without pain and without it going out. And please don't reach out to me and say, "find a good chiropractor", a good chiropractor is what screwed my back up in the first place and the weight just added to that. I love the guy and he's a good friend, but my back is worse for seeing a chiropractor. It's not for everyone. Losing the weight will allow me to strengthen it with Yoga, stretching and some muscle building exercises that I can take on fully when I've dropped down to a certain point. Want to see a success story on a bad back? Go watch Tony Little's story, it's out on YouTube somewhere.
Reading. I've been reading every morning when I get up. 10 to 20 minutes. Then I listen to Audible books in the car. Right now its SJ Scott's newest book 10 Minute Mindfulness on Kindle. It's a great read. 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins is on my Audible player at the moment and like I said above, and excellent book and she reads it and adds her own inflection which I love!
Scribing, is a little tougher. I've been writing this journal again. I've been trying to write blog posts when I can. I don't know if anyone really reads this or not, but if they do and get some inspiration or find a new book or thing to try that I write about, then great. It's worth jotting it down. If nothing else, as a record for myself to go back and read some day.
Now more about Dave's Space Place
There are a lot of reasons for bringing back this show. I loved doing all these shows I had set up. Independent Share was my baby. It may make a return some day too, but not right now. There is too much I need to weed out in my life to focus on that puppy again. DSP is a little easier to put together and back at the beginning, I had some grander plans for it. I've relaunched with part of that grander plan for part one. Part two will include a stop at a spaceport to go to a jazz lounge and listen to some intergalactic jazz, then we will disembark and head back to Earth.
So why bring it back?
1. After selfishly dropping the shows to focus on career changes and writing, I realized just how much I missed it. I needed it. It was a place of relaxation, unwinding from the week, de-stressing, chilling and most of all; healing.
2. Along those same lines, I realized how everyone who hung out in that show missed and/or needed it.
3. There was a community that was built on that show. Albeit a small one, it still let everyone come, hang out, be themselves and just get into the music. They could chat, post meaningful quotes, tell jokes, pun around with each other or just listen in while surfing or even while hanging by the pool (as one person told me last night). So, it brought folks together, which we need more of in this messed up world right now. I know a few who hung out had disagreements, but I hope that those have been let go so that all can enjoy the "Space" now. I will always allow people to express themselves, but a new rule in the chat room is if you have a beef with someone, take it offline, not in the chat. It is a peaceful place and I do not wish that peace to be broken again. I love everyone in there and only wish that folks love each other and get along and let go of past differences and give each other big old hugs at the end of the week. Everyone is going through their own stuff and we need to love and respect that and hopefully think before we react and respond instead. I'm guilty of this in the past and am stepping up to stop this going forward.
4. I let people's expressions get to me, as it came to a close. Lashing out and taking out my own deep seeded issues I was going through, out on them. Friends even. I am not this kind of person. I wasn't in a good place when I shut the shows down. I needed some time to step away from all the shows and heal. I am now in a better place both mentally and spiritually then I have been in years. I own what I did and I hope that I am forgiven for this as I have already forgiven myself for doing so.
5. One of my life purposes (and please don't laugh at me for this, because I've always believed this) is to bring Light into other people's lives. I've always felt this to be true and this show happens to do this on a bigger level. There are two other shows that I dabbled in that followed this as well. Musical Relaxation Station and Dave's Deep Space Place. The first was solo piano and new age music, past and present and the latter was an ambient space music show, playing everything from meditation music to dark ambient soundscapes. I intend to bring those back as well on a regular schedule, so stay tuned for announcements. Both of these shows are also easy to put together for me, because the music just speaks to me in a way that I know how to tie them together with an ebb and flow to the playlist.
6. Lastly, and a little further down the road. I still want to do a positive, new-agey talk show. Allowing Mediums, Clairvoyants, Metaphysical Teachers, Healers and Yoga practitioners to have a place to speak about their gifts and to advertise their services. Helping them help people. Yeah, I know, why am I doing the "airy-fairy" stuff? Because there is a lot there that I believe in. It's not up for debate, it's my belief system and I feel the need to help out others somewhere down the road with this. While I state that I am a Buddhist, I follow a more Buddhist philosophy. I believe in a Source. I do not label it with a name like everyone else. I do not like to follow a religion, because I don't like what that entails. So, love me for who I am and I will love you for who your are. I belong to a Unitarian Universalist church, where they respect what everyone believes but come together for a common purpose of helping the world through Social Justice programs and just volunteering and serving others in need. I am returning there today for a committee meeting for our communications team. I have not been involved in this for a long time and need to step back in and up to be an active member of this church and what it stands for in my own way.
All this being said, there you have it. I've been asked by several people why I was bringing it back and now you know. There is a grander plan for these things and I feel the need deep down inside to do it now. The flame is burning bright and it is purple. (someone I know will get that reference and he will laugh really hard that I said that)
I wish everyone a very peaceful and stress free week.
Namaste
