30 days in the bag

Really, 30 days of no TV and my husband and I watched no less than 16 hours of TV last weekend. Unbelievable! We watched hours of the most ridiculous reality show ever made about a Las Vegas hot spot, Jon & Kate+8, and VH1 Top 100 songs of the 80's (my husband made me)!

Honestly did I learn anything at all? Yes I did! I am going for a bike ride today and accomplishing many things on my to-do list, there will be NO TV!

On a side note I did begin 30 days of silent meditation on Wednesday. First time out and I was jerked awake by the buzzing of my timer informing me that my 20 minutes was up. Evidently I went into such a deep state of silence I fell asleep. I might need a little work on this one! Starting it again on Monday, more later.

Side Note- day 29

My husband would like all 5 of my readers to know that this is the music he finds inspiring:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLfoy2XsFw

Courtesy of Matt enjoy this 80's throwback!

The inspiration of Music- Day 29

I was driving home from the bootcamp workout this morning and a song came on the radio. I pulled into the driveway as it was starting and stopped. I sat and listened, moved by the music, awed by the trees blowing in the wind, the blue sky, and the beauty of life. Waves of emotion washed over me. I was curious, why does music inspire? I know words can inspire emotion but in this case I wasn't even listening to the words.

I checked this out. Music operates just as words. Except music is a higher vibration than words. There is much research available about energetic vibration. Love is the highest vibration of all and and as such it offers us the most inspiration. Ever wonder why there are so many songs about love?
We all offer a vibration, the more inspired, compassionate, loving we are, the higher our vibration, and thus our ability to affect change in our lives and those around us. Want to inspire yourself today? Turn on your favorite song, close your eyes, breathe deeply and feel your vibration rise.
Need a song? Here's the one that stopped me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhVfeOAgmAw

Life is music, enjoy the notes you create today for they will become part of the larger symphony that is your epic journey.

Exert from the website http://www.healingmusic.org/
Our listening process starts with hearing. Beginning at the sixteenth week after conception. The cochlea [is a coil in our ear that] converts the vibrational energy of sound to electrical impulses that travel to the brain, and from there, travel to the brain stem. This energy at the brain stem activates the limbic system. It is here that emotional and physical reactions are produced. Sound energy moves on to the auditory cortex of the brain where we become conscious of the sound and can recognize what we are hearing.

As your brain comprehends the sounds or in this case the music, the electrical energy released by the neurons creates various frequencies of brain waves. The brain waves that are created (beta, alpha, theta, and delta) determine what “state of mind” you are in. Beta waves are most prevalent during focused and active thinking, alpha waves during relaxation and quiet creativity, theta waves during meditation and pre-sleep, and delta waves during our various stages of sleep (both dreaming and dreamless.)

Once through your brain, music in the form of electrical impulses make their way down your spinal cord causing an impact on the autonomic nervous system. This, in turn, can impact heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and muscle tension.

Awesome Quote- Day 26

Anything in life worth having is worth working for.
-Dale Carneige

I just finished reading the book 'Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude' The quote is from this book and I must say there are many more golden nuggets to be found within this book.

One of the best pieces that has motivated me is that success is discovered through desirable action. If you want something, whatever it may be, TAKE ACTION!

Do something, anything to move you towards your goal. With this wind beneath me I have decided my next 30 day experiment will be 20 minutes of silent meditation daily. I definitely desire some peace, time to reflect on my life, where I am, where I am going and what my definite, specific, desirable goal for my life is. I know that time spent in quiet prayer and meditation will bring me clarity and so it will be.

My action step is to take this quiet time to myself for the next 30 days and see what it brings me. It will benefit me to no end that I am coming off a TV freeze because I can use my quiet time to keep me from falling back into the sweet lull of commercialized vacancy.

Blog, Blog, Blog...-Day 24

Thanks to my sister-in-law, no TV means a fun-filled hour on a new blog, perhaps my new form of TV, but hopefully more informative.

http://smittenkitchen.com/

It's totally fun writing and makes me hungry. Sarah, do I thank you or curse you for bringing this kitchen to my attention?

I will persist- Day 22

I am engaged in a 10 month study of 'The greatest Secret in the World' by Og Mandino. It is based off of his best selling book 'The Greatest Salesman in the World' and involves a scroll that is read three times a day. There are 10 scrolls that you read for a month each. This month I am on the third scroll. The basis of this scroll is " I will persist, until I succeed"
I have seen no better example of this than from our very own Cleo the cat. Each morning he awakes and feels hungry. He knows that his beautiful morning soft food comes from his dad, Matt. And so the persistence begins. Cleo will softly lay himself on Matt's tummy and begin to pad at him with his paws. When Matt doesn't wake up he starts to meow a bit and then moves his face closer to Matt. When Matt continues his slumber, Cleo starts to mew and move his paws over Matt's face scratching and irritating until finally his dad wakes up.

This morning behavior has been so persistent that in the last month Cleo has succeeded in waking his dad earlier each morning. The prodding used to begin at 6am, then 5:30, then 5am (around the time I am leaving the house), however this am Matt got out of bed to feed Cleo at 3:30am, a total record early time. He didn't even realize it was that time until he got back into bed.

What an example of persistence. "If I want to be fed, I must be fed!" I imagine this is what Cleo thinks without regard to the difficulty it will take in waking his master.

If only we were all this way, no matter the obstacle, no matter how difficult, we would continue on until we reached success. Cleo's success is eating Fancy Feast but perhaps yours is a successful career, or a lasting relationship, or a full Bootcamp(mine). No matter what it is, if you persist, you will succeed.

Cleo failed many times to wake Matt at such an early hour but after so much persistence he succeeded. No matter how many times he failed, he tried again. And that is the key.

You may fail a thousand times but around the next corner is success. You will never know unless you try again!

I will persist and I will succeed, as long as it takes, I will succeed.

ps. I am spot on in no TV but I heard through the grapevine that Helen, the older contestant and definitely the underdog, persisted, she won $250,000. I am sorry to have missed it but so glad I was out on a date with my husband instead, at Ikea!

Living my life without TV, persisting, succeeding, and loving my life!

A slip of the finger- Day 13 (sortof)

Ok, I had a slip of the finger....allow me to use on of Monk's favorite lines. "Here's what happened"...it was Thursday night and I had been lulled into a deep trance after watching our most recent net flix arrival, Kung Fu Panda (which by the way is entirely adorable), and there it was, the remote, in my hand, the movie over, and The Office just starting. I could help myself but really I didn't. I watched it. YES, I WATCHED THE OFFICE AND I AM NOT STARTING OVER AGAIN!!!

So today is day 13 because even the best of us have our slip ups and I only took a sip of TV I didn't drink a whole day of it in...

What's the first step again? Admit your powerless? It reminds me of those HULU commercials with Alce Baldwin, he says that TV is just an alien plot to take over the world after turning human brains to mush. I can hear mine sloshing around right now but not all is lost.

It is a beautiful night and my hubby and I are walking up to the icecream shop for another one of my favorite addictions. Cones! At least I'll get a little exercise on the way.