A challenge for all

It has been said in the health and fitness world that to correct a movement pattern, we may need to correct a negative behavior in order to find positive results. In this article,  (number 33), physical therapist and author, Gray Cook, is quoted by strength coach Brett Contreras, that before we add something to a routine we first may need to remove a negative.  Sometimes removing one thing may allow space for many things to improve . My challenge to all today is to try this in your daily lives. 

No matter what side you are on, we are all anxious and uptight about the state of affairs in the USA and maybe the world these days. My "liberal" beliefs most likely aggravate my "conservative" colleague belief system just as much as his does mine.

In an effort for us all to take a collective breath that will improve everyone's life I encourage you to remove just one negative item from your life today. 
Some ideas may be:

• Turn off the song with negative connotations
• Switch off a violent TV show or movie
• Put on a funny show vs watching the late night news before bed
• Bite your tongue once when you want to lash out at someone
• Stop criticizing yourself for  something that didn't go right
• If your spouse didn't get the paper or do the dishes as you hoped they would, let it go
• Don't complain about the weather just for today
• Instead of flipping someone off because they are tailgating you and flashing their high beams, just let them go past and don't look at them
• Instead of criticizing your child because they are late/lazy/slow/annoying....hold back and remember they are your child who you love
• Instead of obsessing because you cannot get it all done, remind yourself that you will get done what you can and it will be ok
• When your daily mode of transportation gets snarled up (traffic jams, delayed flights, crowded public transportation) be thankful you have transportation and remember you will arrive when you do

These are some of my buttons that I am working on shutting off. I'm sure you can name a few of your own. They don't have to be complicated. By removing one negative behavior can make a world of difference in your health and will make life just a little more happy.

I'd love to hear some of your ways you are removing the negative if you wish to share. If that is one of your buttons, embrace that you do not have to share, and make that your negating negative action for the day. 

In every way, I wish you all PEACE

Tidd-bit of the day: A bit of MY beliefs.

I don't think it matters who won the Presidency. People marched against President Obama too. I wasn't happy when G.W. Bush was elected. I didn't know what Bill Clinton would do when he took office. The world is populated with people of very different views. THAT is what makes America great. WE are allowed to have our differences and speak up about them.

I wasn't there today. I didn't see any of the news or reports. I don't like any of the new President's words because they are derogatory and crass across the board, but he certainly has made his mark and I hope in the end something good will come of it.

All I heard from friends who were in Boston today were words of positive support for one another. I think it's safe to say that vulgar words are now the norm in the media and on TV. Are you all really that shocked that Madonna spoke up or swore? She's been shocking people since the 80's and became an household name and changed the face of women in music. I have been a huge Madonna fan since I was 17. She was the first person I admired who broke the rules and had a voice. President Trump is doing the same thing. Shocking a lot of us with his words by calling America "a place of carnage" and saying he is the only one to fix it. News flash folks! Every administration blames the one before it. Some people like the change that occurs and some people don't. We are so lucky that every four years we get to decide if the change was worth the angst.

I tried to listen to the inaugural address while driving for work. I felt the need to hear some positive words from the man who will lead the country I call home for the next 4 years. "We are one nation -- and their pain is our pain." When I heard this I shut it off with tears in my eyes.

I had to look up the whole speech. It's not fair that I complain and can't back it up. I don't think his persona has the capacity to deliver his true message, which is what I admired so much about President Obama. I am the first to admit however when I see the entire speech in writing it is a bit more hopeful than I thought. If I read beyond the defensive, antagonizing opening, there is a message about promoting America while keeping our friendships with other countries. There is talk about uniting the world. There are words of being able to speak our thoughts while creating solidarity. There are words of encouragement, peace and especially hope.

I have a great life. I hope it will continue. He has had nothing to do with it. He may have some great ideas to help some people move forward, but he has no idea what it is like to struggle to pay your bills. I work hard, and struggle sometimes to pay my bills. He was born into wealth and has no idea what the people who weren't go through. He has no idea what it is like to want to take care of your parents in the way they cared for you, but healthcare and social security benefits just don't make it possible. This is what makes me angry. I am worried that his wealthy ways will adversely affect my parents and worry for what will happen when I reach "retirement age".

I worry that the President's actions will create a world war and the end of the world as we know it. If I'm truthful though, I've had the same fears since Ronald Reagan was elected and I started realizing there were elections. In reality over the 50 years that I've been on this plane, the financial, health and spiritual status of the world has continued to be like a sine wave. In the USA, we've had a few blips, but really only had ONE major disaster on our soil in 243+ years. That is incredible and tells me that through the ups and downs in the "sine" of life, we can ride the wave.

My friend commented that she admires women like Kellyanne Conway who are able to rise to the top of their field while raising a family. I think it's amazing that she was the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign. While I don't agree with all that she says, I do think Kellyanne is well spoken and is able to make President Trump's verbal barrage sound ok. I just wish President Trump didn't have to refer to her as " 'MY Kellyanne' " like a wife or child, and then say "thank you baby" like a wife or child after he shook her hand. I have not heard him say the same thing after shaking VP Pence's hand. I know there are a lot of men who act and speak that way. I have friends who say "thank you darlin" to waitresses or comment on a female's body sometimes. I don't like it and I try to call them out for it. I don't think the First Lady will do much to curtail that but time will tell.
One woman I used to coach posted that it was important to dress like the First Lady so that as women we can continue to get interviews and prove our worth as women. Melania did look beautiful. It was a gorgeous outfit.

I would rather to see a well spoken woman earning her keep because of her actions and her brain vs the clothes she wears or the silence she keeps. That statement about Melania's outfits, which I saw posted by multiple women, made me realize that we women are no better off than we were in 1960 in the eyes of the business world. Unless we continue to express ourselves in thoughtful,respectful and sometimes outspoken ways, all the work that smart, proactive and vocal women (like Michelle Obama, Jane Fonda, Sheryl Sandberg, Madonna and Hillary Clinton) have done for us all will be for naught.

My friend who inspired this post suggested that we need to take action and not just march to make our point that the world needs to listen and communicate. I plan to start sending donations to areas that I think will need support in the upcoming years like education, Planned Parenthood, environmental protection, and assistance for the elderly.

This is new ground for me. I have to figure out what is out there beyond my own bubble. Today's marches--around the world-- made that clear. President Trump...I hope you stand by your oath that all of our voices matter. That we are but one world. That you will listen to all of us because....Everyone is listening to you now.

Peace.