Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.
~Oscar Wilde
Category: Blog
Friday Focus – 1/13/17
The theme for me this week has been consistency. In a major way.
Creation Is Yours
Freedom can only come to the mind that assumes complete responsibility for the creation of its experience.
~The Way Of Mastery
Experimenting with Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
In recent years I’ve heard of heart rate variability (HRV) time and time again. It was the newest thing to the quantified self but I had no interest… until now.
First, what is HRV? In short, HRV is an indicator of how well your body is managing stress. Over time, your personal HRV should be able to tell you whether or not you are ready for an intense workout, or if you should take it easy and go for a walk instead. If working out isn’t your thing, it can also indicate whether or not you have other stressors in your life, such as that big project you’re on at work, relationships, or simply taking on too much. Remember, your body doesn’t know the difference between mental/emotional/physical stress so it truly is about how well balanced you are with your life.
So why the sudden interest in HRV? Well, after experiencing adrenal fatigue, and knowing how I actually like the feeling after a hard training session, I thought it would be nice to find a way to measure A) how well my body was managing stress, and B) get a second opinion on how “ready” my body was to train for the day. While I’ve gotten a lot better with intuitively knowing when to rest and when to go hard, I also found that it’s pretty fun geeking out on this sort of thing too 🙂 Who knew?!
Before buying any gadgets I decided to first do my research. After scouring the internet and reading every article I could, I then read Mark Sisson’s Primal Endurance: Escape chronic cardio and carbohydrate dependency and become a fat burning beast!
Here’s what I ended up purchasing as part of my arsenal. We’ll see how it goes in the next few months:
Continue reading “Experimenting with Heart Rate Variability (HRV)”
How I Recovered from Adrenal Fatigue Pt. 4
I remember a time, after I first saw the cortisol test results, of scouring the internets in search of some testimony to how someone out there cured their adrenal fatigue. Anything. A book, a pill, a guru, yes… I was desperate.
I wrote about how I felt despair and a whole host of other emotions in previous posts and how at the end of the day, it was the core thoughts, beliefs and emotions that I needed to switch up in order to truly make recovery in leaps and bounds.
While I don’t discount the professionals I consulted and the plans I was on to help heal the adrenals, it all couldn’t have been possible without being at peace first.
Yes, thought management.
All that said, I do remember how I felt hoping I could find some source of information that could accelerate my path to recovery, and thought I should share a bit more on the supplements side of things.
Continue reading “How I Recovered from Adrenal Fatigue Pt. 4”
The Everyday, All Day, Inspiration Journal
Lately I’ve gotten into the habit of having a journal on me at all times. I’d call it a gratitude journal but it’s more of an “inspiration” journal. Whenever I’m struck by an inspirational quote, deep thought, or moments of gratitude I’ve gotten into the habit of physically writing it down.
Prior to this I would take these notes down in Evernote, or for the quick and easy every day reminders I would write them down on my phone’s notepad.
However, I find that physically writing things down brings me one level deeper to the quietness of the moment sans the neurosis of ensuring I have things categorically noted in Evernote… yes, I can be a bit type-A 😉
A few randoms from the journal…
Continue reading “The Everyday, All Day, Inspiration Journal”
Yes, but…
If you found yourself in paradise, it wouldn’t be long before your mind would say, “Yes, but…”
~Eckhart Tolle
Friday Focus – 1/6/17
The new year is here already and it’s crazy to me how fast the holidays just flew by this year. The holiday lights are coming down in the neighborhood and I can feel the city settling into it’s new groove.
Over and over again this week I keep coming back to the theme of owning your own happiness.
For example, as if it were a test, yesterday I was speaking to a customer service agent and I was taken aback (almost speechless) by the cut offs, short answers, and overall tone of this person. Despite all this I decided not to wallow in anger and reminded myself that we all own our own happiness.
Sure, something not so pleasant happened. It was an event. But does it mean you have to stay angry? Continue reading “Friday Focus – 1/6/17”
Perception
“We can never perceive what is real. We can only perceive what is real for us”
~Barbara Dewey
ATK’s Gluten-Free Buckwheat Pancakes
Typically if I’m ever craving pancakes (which is pretty rare given the science of gluten-free baking was the new frontier back in the late 2000s) I’ll head over to Plow for their fantastic almond pancakes and deliciously fried smashed potatoes. I mean deeeeeeeeelish.
Since I’ve started to dive into the world of gluten-free baking I have been pleasantly surprised by the results!
This recipe from ATK’s book was fantastic and my family raved about them. In fact, they were shocked this was gluten-free at all and loved the subtle taste of the buckwheat.