Monday, April 21, 2014

Time to Blossom

One of my favorite quotes of all time is this one from Anais Nin:

These earrings just "blossomed" in my shop!



And the day came when the risk 
to remain tight in a bud 
was more painful than 
the risk it took to blossom.
                               
- Anais Nin



I don’t know about the rest of you, but I seem to cycle in and out of taking care of my body.  When everything comes together—exercise, eating well, sleeping sufficiently—my mind and body feel good.  Then at other times, I fall far short of taking care of myself and I start to feel run down.  Tired, crankier, I gain a few pounds.  That’s where I had been over much of this winter.  I’ve been exercising fairly regularly…3 to 4 times per week…but I haven’t been eating so well and I’m definitely overtired.  

My friend Tricia has been feeling the same way it seems.  When she suggested we form a support group for each other’s health and fitness goals, not only did I jump on it but so did two of our friends, Eileen and Marie.  I’m calling it Team Blossom.  

It’s not clear how this is all going to work, but Tricia promises to send out encouragement to us on a regular basis.  Tricia knows that by keeping us accountable that she will keep herself on the right track as well.  So far we've been texting to each other via a group text.  I've found myself becoming more diligent in my exercise.  Instead of a vicious cycle, it's a virtuous cycle--I'm motivated to exercise, I feel better, I want to keep exercising to keep feeling that buzz, I feel even better, and so forth.  We're about 10 days out since we formed our little group...I'm surprised at how much stronger I feel already!

My yoga instructor, Howard VanEs said something last week that stuck with me.  It became a positive internal message to me all week--I mulled it over again and again as I exercised and throughout other parts of my day as well.  He said that the purpose of yoga is not to be able to do some idealized version of the postures.  Instead, the purpose of yoga is to meet yourself where you are and accept it.


This is the perfect approach for reaching the level of fitness and health you want or you previously had.  For me it means I can stop beating myself up if I am not returning to previous benchmarks as quickly as I would like.  If I accept where I am, I can expend my energy working from that point and moving forward, instead of recriminating myself for having slacked off for a bit.


In any event, I’m glad to be resuming my yoga practice, skating a bit longer and more often, focusing on healing my shoulder injury, and enjoying the support and encouragement from my group, Team Blossom.

I’m going to try to get Tricia to write a guest blog for me.  The way she has taken to running over the last few years, including regular 1/2 marathons, has been so inspiring to me.  It helps me to keep going--if she can do it, then I know I can too!

Or maybe one of the other members of our Team Blossom group would like to write a guest blog...Eileen, Marie?

Join us!  Leave a comment and tell me how you want to blossom!  It's time.

Hugs,
Nancie 

My last skate:
4/18/14
Skate #34 of ?
6.17 miles
Iron Horse Trail
Alamo, CA

Nancie Zimmerman
NamiZuni Jewelry Design
Express Your Inner Goddess

Monday, April 7, 2014

Skating Erratically...and being OK with it!

Hello, friends!

It's been quite a while since I posted a blog about my skating...or for that matter, any blog at all!  I've started numerous posts over the last two months, but ultimately none of  them coalesced into a complete entry online.

What's that about?  I guess it's easier for me to write when things are humming along.  I skate, ideas come to me, I sit down to write, and voila--a complete blog just falls into place.  Somehow, the last few months my skating has been more erratic.  I've gone less often and taken longer breaks in between.  And even when I did skate, I just wasn’t coming up with anything that seemed worth writing about.  I just felt blah.


It's not that I'm reluctant to share my struggles skating (or about my life in general, for that matter).  I think my difficulty in writing my blog has been more that I haven't known how I feel or what it means that I have slowed down my skating over the fall and winter.  I was trying to get a handle on it myself.


At the beginning of 2013, I had set an intention that I would skate 200 times by the end of 2013.  I was humming along on that pace until about October.  Then I took a nasty fall on the street in preparing for a 15-mile event.  I managed to complete the event, but the shoulder injury from the fall nagged at me.  At the same time I loaded way too many commitments on my plate and at times felt resentful about some of my responsibilities, all the while knowing that I myself had created the situation.

Long story short, I "only" made it to 165 skates during 2013.  I put the quotation marks around the word "only" because part of me realizes that 165 skates is a significant achievement, while on another level I was somehow disappointed in myself for falling short of my goal of 200.

For 2014, I set a different intention for my skating.  I decided it has to be okay to wax and wane in the frequency of my skating workouts.  It's okay to take a break if I'm feeling sick, or tired, or just overwhelmed with all that's on my plate.   If my body needed to slow it down for the last 6 months, that is okay.  My main goal is to keep the enjoyment alive.  The important thing is to listen to my body.

I find myself now with a renewed sense of excitement about skating.  The weather has been at times sunny and warm and at other times rainy.  When it's sunny, I'm hot to skate.  When it rains, I feel sad that I can't go skating.  That's a good feeling--to be missing exercise and to be anxious to get back to it.
The is a church parking lot next to my trail in Alamo.  This is a great spot to practice turns and stops.  It's also a good place to get back on your skates if you haven't skated for awhile.  Anyone want to meet me there to try skating?

Now I’m enjoying skating only when I want to skate and not feeling guilty if I don't want to skate.  If I’ve got time and the inclination, I’ll skate for 6 miles or more.  If I don’t have much time or much energy, I’ll skate for 2 miles.  If I don’t feel like skating at all, then I’ll skate 0 miles.  It's all good.


I’d like to get some more voices besides mine here on this blog.  Have any of you trained for a long event or recently decided to get back in shape?  Are there any among you that would like to write a bit about your own trials, tribulations, successes, insights learned through exercise?  Tricia?  Kristine? Irline?  Liz?  Elaine?  Cynthia?  Brian?  Anyone else?  If any of you answer “Yes!” or even “…um, maybe?” then send me an email!
My Next Blog: Trying out my new toy that arrived today--Skorpion skates...they're a whole 'nother thing!


Hugs,
Nancie 

My last skate:
4/7/14
Skate #28 of ?
2.22 miles
Lafayette Moraga Trail
Lafayette, CA

Nancie Zimmerman
NamiZuni Jewelry Design
Expressing Your Inner Goddess

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

10 Things I Learned from My Gratitude Jar

Hello, friends!

It's been a while since I posted a new entry here.  I do want to tell you about how my 2013 "Intentions" went (NOT resolutions!) and what Intentions I'm setting for 2014 (hint: one of them involves being more on time!).  First, though, I want to tell you about my Gratitude Jar.


A couple of years ago, I saw a post on Facebook about creating a Gratitude Jar.  I liked the idea of filling the jar throughout the year with scraps of paper to remember and record the many blessings in my life.  At the end of the year, you can read the slips of paper and remind yourself all you have to be thankful for.


In 2012, I started my own gratitude jar.  Naturally, the artist in me picked a beautiful vase in my favorite blue color instead of just a plain old jar!  It makes me happy just to look at it!


This week I removed the 2013 papers and started reading them.  Here is a random sampling of some of the things my jar reminded me to appreciate:

1. My pretty gratitude jar and my friend Bundy who first shared the Facebook post about creating one.

2.  Maple syrup...the real stuff.

3. Learning how to back into a parking space.  I don't mean parallel parking, I mean backing into a parking lot space between two other cars.  In 2013 I consciously set out to get good at something I thought I didn't have the "knack" for.  In fact, I noticed far more men than women park this way.  More about that in a future post.

4. Bead Fest Philadelphia where I found these treasures to make into new jewelry pieces:

5. My friend Cheryl telling me about the Napa Skating 1/2 Marathon, which I never would have competed in if she hadn't spurred me on.  I'm definitely planning on doing it again this year.  Anyone want to join me?

6. My chiropractor Dr. Nicole Toenjes...yes, she's very good and keeps my body feeling flexible and strong:
Lotus Integrative Wellness3708 Mount Diablo Blvd
Lafayette, CA 94549
Phone: 925-283-6900


7. Replacement wheels for my inline skates.

8. Getting a tattoo with my dear friend Gail...yes, you heard right!  At the ripe "old" age of 56, I am no longer a tattoo virgin.  





9. New inline skates that I love as much as my old favorites.  I've logged 307 miles on them since I got them.



10.  Having readers comment on my blog...the feedback is warmly received!



I already started my 2014 gratitude jar, which doesn't really involve any action on my part other than emptying last year's papers and adding new ones.
  
As far as skating, I'm still getting out there, but not so much as last year.  I've skated four times in 2014 so far, which is more regularly than what I managed in December.  It's got to be okay for me to skate more sometimes and less sometimes.  I'll get back into it more regularly in time.  

Until then, I'm striving towards more balance.  I'm back at my regular yoga class, trying to go to bed earlier, and looking forward to longer days of sunshine.  No complaints about the weather here in Northern California (especially in a drought year with so many clear days!) but the short days do leave me feeling funky at times nonetheless. 

What are you grateful for?  And what are you doing to chase the winter blues away?


Keep skating (or whatever you do)!

Hugs,
Nancie 

My last skate:
1/8/14
Skate #4 of ?
4.25 miles
Iron Horse Trail
Alamo, CA

Nancie Zimmerman
NamiZuni Jewelry Design
Expressing Your Inner Goddess