GOOD MORNING *SuNShiNe* and 12 flights of stairs and my English Breakfast Tea (with honey) in hand! Boy am I glad that I found you! I like the challenge and the feeling of a job well done once I reach my PT destination. This has not been a real typical week of triathlon training however, all the walking to and from the Clinic and these new found stairs give me that feeling of a job well done. My therapist is really big on keeping on moving to keep things moving (if you know what I mean :)! Plus, it is super liberating to have the ability to incorporate just these little extra activities into a normal day. Nothing big, but just finding ways to keep on moving and to have a little extra time to think and clear my mind, not rushing (driving, parking, and taking the elevator) just to get from point A to point B the quickest way humanly possible. I have found out this week that rushing robs me of my joy, always thinking of 'the next thing.' Remember that being "in the moment" stuff they have been teaching me? This is that opportunity for me. I don't have to be on the cell phone (unless I choose to be, not obligatory to make all my return calls while walking - just to get them done) but rather call when I can visit with a clear mind which is so much more gratifying and fair to give that person my undivided attention (still working on the undivided attention thing!). I don't have to be driving, watching out for traffic, and thinking about what I am going to make for supper while I decided when I will fit my workout into the day and then how many waking moments I will have left with my hubby where I am not so drop-dead tired that all I can literally do is say 'goodnight' as I fall into bed. I am actively choosing to be "in the moment" while I am working on staying present and enjoying each activity as if I have nothing else to do in the day. We all have tons of stuff to do within a 24 hour period, but whether or not it is important is another story for me. I think that I am Superwoman and can, therefore of course, accomplish all the things that I set out to do. I find that when I am obedient to sit down with God in the mornings before or after my yoga but definitely before I start the rest of my day, He helps me see what is important - if I ask, seek, and knock. He helps me prioritize to get the most important things done and then actually enjoying them while doing them. I don't know why, but this concept amazes me each time I am obedient to read and spend my quite time with God. I am constantly in awe of God as he lives out his promise to me upon my asking, seeking, and knocking for help and guidance. It's quite a crazy thought to me that some things must go undone and guess what?? It hasn't killed me! Shocking, I know, it still surprises me. This is not easy for me and does not come naturally at this point, however, if I can recreate the week that I am having right now, right here in Rochester once I get back home and into my daily life, I can assure you my life will be more fulfilling.
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| Blessed with awesome shoes! They feel great! Thanks again Kim! |
Funny story, I walked by a full-length mirror in the bathroom right before my first appointment and realized that I was totally and completely matching! I never seem to realize how much I really like that blue and pink together, I just naturally gravitate to those colors, I guess. My necklace that I made with Nancy in Texas, my two layered shirts, my new shoes, my blue phone cover, and my pink water bottle. LOL! Hopefully, my crazy fun-spirited bright will make someone smile (even if they are just amused that someone would wear all that together). A smile is a good thing and super easy to share!
I was called to be a "checker" for an appointment with a specific doctor scheduled way out in July. They have this awesome "checker" system set up to allow you to a) wait in the waiting room between your scheduled appointments in case someone cancels last minute and b) they will call you on the phone if someone calls to cancel. It's quite a system and worked really well for me during my visit in February. Turns out this time I checked in and quickly got called up to the front desk to be released. The person who's appointment that I could have potentially had, just checked in and didn't cancel. It's ok, they told me to come back this afternoon. (I rearranged the education class on my schedule and bumped it until tomorrow morning so that I could attend as a "checker" this afternoon with no schedule conflicts. Turns out by the time I got out of my second PT appointment, it totally and completely slipped right out of my mind. OPpsS! It's ok, it's all part of learning to let stuff go. I'll try again tomorrow!)
It felt so grand and fun exchanging smiles with passerby's.
Ok, so this might be random, but I am sent to Mayo Clinic - away from family and familiar friends (new ones keep popping up!) - for a two week Evacuation Disorder Program. I am also here to rest, relax, read, and reflect. One of the things that I dreamed up while here was to eat with my left hand. Yes, this is my totally non-dominate hand that I am horribly ungraceful with. Great, even better as this will work on that patience and slow down thing. I decided that if I am ever in such a hurry to eat (either to move on to the 'next' thing or because I feel that I am 'starving') that I cannot slow down enough to feed myself with my uncoordinated hand, then I should either eat sooner so I'm not 'starving' or forget about the other things that I need to do and ENJOY the process of eating. Remember the focus is to return to joy.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
~Philippians 4:4-9~
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| John and Rosemary |
These pictures show so much. I was sitting on a bench in the warm sun, just finishing up my rhubarb sauce, homemade almond butter with banana chips snack. I was just practicing being "in the moment" and enjoying the way the sun felt on my face while mindfully observing the things happening around me. I spoke gently to a man in a wheelchair with a young girl pushing him. Told them to have a great day as they passed. I got to exchange a brief happy smile with a young mom as we watched her kids running like crazy and having fun racing each other and screaming with delight in the grass. What a beautiful scene. Then, I moved over to an empty bench in the shade as I was getting a bit warm. An older couple asked if they could sit. "Well of course!" The rest is history as we started visiting and sharing stories and before I knew it I was telling one story after another, ending on Petey - our peacock - and showing them pictures. Crazy how many things I notice and get to experience by only being still.
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." ~Psalm 46:10
My mind was in the clouds as I had such a great break between appointments with all my new memories. Rose had told me about this street festival beginning today called "Thursday's on First and 3rd." I had been looking forward to this since she told me. After meeting Kim the other day, I decided that I would ask her if she would like to attend the festival with me. Rose had to go to a work meeting over her lunch hour so she could not go....otherwise, that would have been a blast! Kim said that she could go after 1 pm, so having about an hour to spare, I decided to see what the Cancer Education Center was offering. "Personal Writing - A Healing Place." So...."Personal Writing - A Healing Place" it was.
This was a really unique opportunity! The gentleman only teaches this class twice a year and I was fortunate enough to attend. He comes down from St. Paul, Minnesota to teach. I was the only one at first and then this big conference table began filling. Not sure exactly what to expect, I was excited to be here! I used to blog and thought this might spur me on to want to share my story, my testimony once again. He did his intros and then we wrote for 5 minutes on a prompt. After we were finished with the prompt: Random Feelings, Follow the Random Thoughts, he asked us to share, if we were comfortable. You wouldn't believe that every single person that wrote on that prompt, shared. There was a cancer patient, a few Mayo Clinic employees, several grad student/research students, and other patients in treatment like me, and yet others still seeking a diagnosis. It was exhilarating to hear each and everyone's story, random thoughts, random feelings. The cancer gentleman, Dave, his thoughts were with his family and how they would survive with his new found diagnosis, God's new role in his life with this news....it was a beautiful prayer. The researcher talked about how they were trying to find a "cure" for cancer that might prolong a patients life for one, maybe two months and how that feels for the family. Is it worth prolonging their life without the quality? One lady wrote about the random squirrel that was tormenting her dog while I wrote about my most recent experience with John and Rosemary out on the bench upstairs and my excitement for the street festival here in a little bit. I went first with the sharing. One prompt, several stories. Touching, humbling, open, honest, we fed off of each other, encouraged each other, amazed at what truth (because we didn't know we'd be reading aloud) would do. These open and honest conversations that people were writing down were raw and real and for some emotional, perspective-putting yet healing. Imagine a world if we could all tell the truth in love. We could be real with people that we are not perfect and we do not have it all together all of the time. In a world of impossibly high standards with Facebook and Pinterest, we so often feel like failures as we compare to others. This is where we need to offer ourselves and others grace. Thank you for the reminder Jen Hatmaker in your book For the Love.
Wow, great session! Now, time to switch gears....woah, kind of hard after something so intense as that. I started meandering toward where I would be meeting Kim. I had no idea that this event was so big! Rose had told me one time last year over 15,000 people had gone through on one of the Thursday's! Just being there was a whole different feel as the streets were full of white tents lining the streets - that were shut down to motor vehicles. There were two different stages set up for live music later in the day and evening. This event goes from 11:00 am in the morning to 8:30 pm at night every Thursday from June to the end of August! WOW, quite a deal! From food to crafts, to artisans, chefs, artists, jewelers, all kinds! Tons of local restaurants brought out their stoves with a sampling of their wonderful cuisine for all to try.
I met up with Kim and we meandered up and down the streets trying to narrow it down on what we wanted to eat for lunch. From pizza to homemade ice cream to fish tacos to oriental to you-name-it. Crazy how many choices yet so fun! I went into the experience wanting to be open to new and exciting foods which really opened my mind up. It was fun because I let myself be fun and be adventurous. I ended up with the fish taco from Pescara and Kim ended up with pizza! (To be completely honest, after I walked Kim back to her work at the Running Room, I went back and had me a second taco with that excellent green chimichurri sauce!)
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| Street Taco #1 |
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| ....and, YES, Street Taco #2 |
As we meandered, we were both totally amazed by this woman's work! She had a whole stand full of glass bowls, plates, cake stands, etc. which she bought at a special glass place and then created these beautiful works of art out of the serving-ware. I originally had picked out a single bright serving spoon before I saw this set that I figured I would use double since there is a fork and a spoon. It will go beautifully with my *BRIGHT* trivet I got in downtown McKinney at the fair trade store. Amazing what colors do for the soul! Happy Spoons, check her out on Facebook!
I was also totally drawn by the whole story of the off-the-grid barrel aged maple syrup I purchased. This husband and wife team live in Wisconsin and create this amazing magical natural sweetener. I stood and listened to the story of how they create it and flipped through the pictures with them and salivated over some recipes they gave me and then purchased the syrup. You can order at E&B's Trees.
HalleBand was also one of my purchases. 3 for $20, I couldn't pass it up. I wear these headbands all the time when I workout and was just noticing my old ones wearing a bit thin. They hold back all the fly-aways and help control the glistening (also known as sweat).
I ran by the People's Coop to pick up a few fresh things before heading home. Not going lie I sort of felt like a pack mule with all these items stuffed into my backpack. Rose said that the weight is good to help my posture as it naturally pulls your shoulders back to where they should be.
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| Only $7 and some change....not bad! |
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| 3 cute headbands, BRIGHT silverware, and maple syrup ~ all combined with the above produce in my backpack for the walk back. |
My day ended with this beautiful and colorful supper including spiced black beans, avocado, lettuce, goat cheese, mixed peppers and onions, and a fresh, cold, sliced apple. YUMMY! Blessed!
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