Artic Air, Lazy Butt, & What Keeps You Sane?
It's early Sunday morning as I write this. Dawn is breaking as I sip on my coffee. I am sitting in my favorite spot....my bed, pillows fluffed all around me, laptop on my lap, cat curled up and purring at my feet, and the joyous sound of a zillion birds singing is flowing in through the slightly cracked open window, along with the frigid air.
I am wondering if Spring will ever come. When I was up earlier making a coffee I noticed the ground outside was covered with frost. Uggghhh! It's almost mid-April here in Ontario, Canada and I am longing to shed these winter blues and hit the nature trails so I can be nourished by the warm sun and the earth beneath my feet.
With so much time spent focusing on our websites, training, and WA blogs, especially in the winter months, I find that I can easily lose balance because I loathe to go outdoors when it's so friggin' cold and grey! This really affects my body as it's always wanting to move daily, and I tend to ignore this in favor of my precious 'comfort zone' of warmth.
It's not that I don't want to exercise..it's just that I want to exercise without my blood becoming frozen solid or the skin on my face falling off from the icy temperatures.
What I've succumbed to doing to balance out the long hours sitting on my butt is lifting some small weights, doing a short routine of arm and ab exercises, and pulling out my yoga mat to do some slow stretches and deep breathing. All of this done in the cozy, warm comfort of my living room.
Still...my soul is not content...she wants the freedom of breaking out of the four walls that surround her, she wants to feel the pulsating rhythm of the natural world as she winds and wends her way through the forest and drinks in the earthy scent of pine and new apple blossoms. She longs to sit in the long grass by her favorite pond and listen to the croaking bull frogs and the clicking buzz of dragonfly wings as they whiz past her face... upturned to the sun.
Nature is my nourishment. It keeps me sane and in love with life. I realize I am choosing to disconnect with her because I am such a wimp when it comes to the cold, so in truth, I am the cause of my own imbalance. Sigh...time to move to Hawaii...:-) (motivation to keep moving forward at WA)
What keeps your body and soul sane, balanced, and nourished?
Warmly, (ha! I wish!)
Heather :-)
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It was not long ago that I lived in PA and the winters were SO long! I just longed for the sun to come out, so I could enjoy the outdoors. My passion was dance...I was a professional dancer, and then became a teacher. That is what got me through those dayzzzzz ;-) Now I live in Florida and can guarantee that the sun will always come out tomorrow! Hawaii......LOVE it there. You should do it!! Have a beautiful day :-)
Thanks, Diane. Could use some of that Florida sunshine over here! How awesome that you were a professional dancer. Was it ballet? Have a great week. :-)
I know, Joe...I just loved it. However, warning..."not suitable for children." That would really mess them up.
Hi Heather... I have to say I like the closing best. You always sign off Warmly hahahaha! I'm not keen on the cold either.
I am a letter carrier in NH so I've been tested. Last winter was so bad, that I decided to train for a supervisor position. I lost my whole summer doing that, and decided it wasn't for me.
I went back to carrying, and this winter wasn't bad at all. AND IT IS MY LAST ONE!!!!! Yay Retirement. WA is full time for sure and looking forward to having the time to do it right. Warmly :) Robin
Wishing you a happy retirement, Robin! You're going to have to be disciplined (unlike me!) without all that daily walking delivering the mail to exercise. I would imagine that as a full time WA student, there is a lot of sitting at the computer..even part-time I find it so. Happy Sunday to you...and yes...Warmly, Heather :-)
hahahaha... Yes, I've already thought about the lack of exercise and the need to come up with something. Sitting on a balancing ball was one thing I thought of :)
Good morning my friend...the comic had me howling...exactly how I feel! Hope you're warm and cozy in your part of the world...at least inside anyway. Hugs, Heather :-)
Heather, Your writing is very descriptive and makes me feel like I am there. We had a rarity last night and today. Rain and thunder in the desert. The rain always makes everything smell clean and fresh. We have had temps in the low 80s already. (I know I am rubbing it in) Can't help myself. LOL!
I enjoy going out fossil and rock hunting. I am outdoors and on a treasure hunt where I might find almost anything. I even found a $20.00 bill one day out in the wilderness. Sometimes I am in areas where you don't see man's tracks. You make your own and then go back to that spot 2 months later and find your footprints but nobody else's. That is pretty cool.
I have discovered new dinosaur tracks on one of my hunts. I have found pre-dinosaur ocean fossils. I have also found broken small pieces of dinosaur bone. I stop and look around trying to imagine what it looked like 65-150 million years ago.
My favorite thing to find is petrified dinosaur poop. I have only found softball or smaller pieces but it does come much bigger. (no it does not stink anymore). It is funny when I hand them the rock and ask them if they know what it is. When I tell them, 9 out of 10 people will sniff the rock. LOL!
I find a lot of jasper and agate in all colors and combinations. There is also petrified wood everywhere. Sometimes I will find some pieces with the bark clearly visible. It is so preserved that you cannot tell it from regular tree bark and wood until you touch it. I found one piece this way about 2 feet long that had perfect bark showing on the one side. What made it very beautiful was a 2-inch wide row of whitish clear crystals that really sparkle in the sunlight. It was sitting there for millions of years just waiting for me to pick it up.
This trek into the wilderness/desert recharges me! Dave.
Wow, Dave....what an awesome telling of your rock-hounding treks into the wilderness. You are speaking my language my friend...I can totally relate to how this activity makes you feel and I adore how you've written about it. Right there with you too as I was reading it. How amazing that you can find dinosaur fossils and their petrified poop! I've gotta get myself down there and go rock-hounding again. Feeds the soul for sure. Thank you my friend for sharing this. Many blessings for the day. :-)
Wow Dave! So glad you took time to write down what you enjoy. I celebrate the differences in us all. I get the feeling Heather would gladly join you on one of your expeditions to escape the cold! I enjoyed every second of the story. Thanks, Robin
Would love that...especially seeing the look on people's faces when I tell them I'm going on a trek for petrified dinosaur poop! :-)
I used to live in the far north of Saskatchewan and the cold would get to you. We stopped traveling by air craft when it hit 35 below, and sometimes it stayed that way for weeks. I have to say today we are in Calgary Alberta and the winters are great, light on snow and the cold is only for short bursts.
We, Canadians are a strong bunch (well...some of us :-) when it comes to the cold winters we have, Peter. :-)
For sure we are - often wonder how this land ever got settled when the first winters hit. Tough stock I guess. Have a great day
The life span was pretty short back then...when I think about those kind of hardships, my whiny self falls immediately into gratitude. Enjoy your day too, Peter. :-)
I know precisely what you mean Heather, I too hate the cold which is why I have the desire to retire to Italy! At least the sun is shining in the UK today, (although the temp is only 10C at 1 o'clock in the afternoon) and that always makes me feel better somehow. Hope your day goes well :)
Thanks, Jude. Current temp here at 8am is minus 7C....seriously? I read a quote by Ellen recently where she said she would only get out of bed if the temperature was above her age! Think I'll follow that...Blessings. :-)
So Heather, this means that you would only get out of bed if the temperature was 29 and above? :)
Nicely written. Very evocative. Here's some sunshine from today in Thailand. About 35C today. Bit warm. :-)
Thanks, Ian....and a thousand blessings for the Thai sunshine! What a great pic...that's EXACTLY what I want to be doing! Beautiful...:-)
Good for you, Heather. Sunday has been and almost gone here in Tas. Gotta love nature, great read!
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91 mineral complexes instead of only the 12 we get daily. It keeps the body from falling apart as time passes, and passes, and passes......
Also, the complete vitamins. I've found only the green sprouts such as barley grass covers them all. Fresh green cauliflower's not bad either.
If you have a small garden, do, by all means, put that complex mineral powder derived from rock and stone, which is supposed to be a mineral supplement for humans, in as an additional fertilizer. The stone powder is there to fully nourish the mineral needs of the plants, and the resulting plants are there to fully nourish the mineral needs of mammals, one of which we are.
If its not done in that order we can't ever assimilate what we need to assimilate!
Sorry for rambling on here, as a comment to your excellent post, Heather, but its been building up inside me and I had to get it out somewhere...........
Cheers, my good friend!!!:-)))
Wow, thanks Therese. Great information that you've shared. Sounds like you're gonna live to be100 or more! I do my daily juicing of greens, apple, ginger, cucumber, carrots, and lemon. Love how it tastes! Much love my friend. :-)
Thanks so much, Heather!
But remember, I may know a bit, but there are some bad habits I'm still working on.......
Yeah...well...are'nt we all my friend! :-)