Concrete Productivity vs. Processing Emotions and thoughts
This morning I slept in until 8:15... I tried to sleep until 9am but, too many thoughts clamoring that needed action! I got out of bed to feed the dog and pee (my only definite "routine" in the morning...), and I put the hot water on to boil at medium. I went back to bed, thinking I'd catch a few more zzz's, and then thought that leaving a 1/2-full kettle on medium to boil dry in 45 minutes wasn't the best idea...(!) and then started thinking of all the things I wanted to do before this afternoon's quartet rehearsal, so I got out of bed and got movin'!
I started coffee, started soaking my Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal, started some tea, took my MF vitamins, turned on the George Foreman Grill (GFG), and in-between all this I was putting clean dishes away, loading the dishwasher and hand-washing utensils I would be needing to prepare the day's food.
I started grilling the chicken that has been marinading for two days - divvied up the white tenders into 6 oz portions and put them in labeled baggies; divvied up the dark thigh meat into 5.5 oz portions and one 2.5 oz portion. I prepared cream of chicken soup for this afternoon's quartet rehearsal, and put in 1/4 cup chopped spinach leaves (a recommendation from Lyn at Escape from Obesity) and took .5 oz from one of the dark meat portions and cut up really fine little bits of chicken, along with substituting 1/4 cup of water for low sodium chicken broth.
I started eating my Oatmeal at almost 9am, and just finished it when I sat down to write this post... at almost 9:45am... had to warm in up a couple times before I could finish it!
I even went out and picked up the Sunday paper *on purpose* thinking I might have time this morning to look a the food sales and stock up! [Normally I pick the paper as I'm leaving the house, and it sits in my car for weeks or months...]
So I've been quite productive this morning and feel all self-righteous because I got so much done - and now I reward myself with some blogging.
Oh Yeah -- and I am back down the pound I was up yesterday... so that helped my good feelings; though I know I am doing good things, so being the same would have not been a disaster or anything.
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Doing Something Concrete is usually my answer for combating unhealthy thoughts and feelings. Concrete Details of preparing today's food and this week's protein for some soups or meals... the activity kept me focused this morning and prevents me from dwelling on all the things I haven't done, or the things that I have yet to do, or the worry that I really need to find another part time job or a full time job quite soon.
The questions I put down a couple days ago really need some attention, a few minutes at a time... I've been living a lot of my life as a reaction to my upbringing, as opposed to choosing what I really believe would be the best choice for me. I actually realized this as a seed of a thought in my late 20's, but back then I wasn't a big deal. It has become a bigger deal.
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And what would I want to write in my obituary... I've seen this on a couple self-help/life-focus blogs or articles, but haven't taken the time to do it... when I read an Obituary, I'm struck by what kind of service their life reflected. I believe we're put here to help other people, but I don't think we know very often what kind of positive influence we might have... which is one of the reasons if I hear something nice said about someone else, I will repeat that nice thing back to the person of whom the comment was said -- because I feel we don't tell others sincerely how much we appreciate them. If what I'm doing isn't appreciated, then I will move on to something that will be more appreciated.
How do I know if it is appreciated if someone doesn't say something? And not just a passing, "thanks" when the event or an evening is over... for me to really know that my effort is appreciated, I want a couple minutes taken out of someone's day by a postcard or a phone call, or a personal email even.
In my world, this concept is tied up with whatever our natural talents or gifts are... what is a talent for me -- something that comes so naturally without thought or effort... it is easy for me to not give myself credit for that, and even easier to negate someone else's positive affirmations of what I've used the talent for, because I didn't have to work at it. I throw away those kind and gentle words of others because I didn't have to DO enough to earn it.
The Twisted Way We View The World!
These Thoughts To Be Continued...
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