MoxieLife

Book Review: The Cure for Everything

goodwolve — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 13:26:00 -0500

The Cure For Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness, and Happiness by Timothy Caulfield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Knowing that the only way I am going to lose weight and keep it off is to eat under 2000 calories a day for the rest of my life and exercise like a madwoman is extremely depressing. There are no magic elixirs, dream diets, or other options. Even if I was going to subject myself to some kind of surgery the fat would just come back. What I should have done is NOT let the fat on in the first place. Sigh.

So, although this lays it out in a matter of fact way, and the news is disheartening, I figure at least I know the truth. I don't have to buy into the miracle cures that are offered on every fitness website, magazine or blog post. The truth is we have to eat less, eat better, and move more - a lot more. No secret.

Caulfield, obviously an expert in his field or at least with access to some of the best minds in fitness and health has a great chapter on homeopathic medicine. He tires to get everyone to take a whole bunch of sleep aid and anti-anxiety pills - and even though they all know that they are nothing more than sugar pills - they won't do it. Very funny, and an interesting look at our ideas of health and wellness.

He tackles fitness, diet, alternative medicine and more and mostly what we hear come out of both the medical community, science world and fitness press is pretty bogus - ideas twisted to fit the outcome that they want. Unfortunately, that outcome is to buy more stuff, consume more, or just believe more.

If you are looking for the what really works in diet and health this is a good look... if you want to stay ignorant run away. The truth is a bit scary.

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Light Eyes

goodwolve — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:00:00 -0500

I have never been a fan of sunglasses. I wear perscription glasses and the idea of having to wear non prescription glasses seems counter productive. Sure, my very light grey eyes would be protected from the sun, but I wouldn't be able to actually see. So, what would be the point.

Lately though the sun has been brutal on my little retinas so I purchased a pair from GlobalEyeglasses.com. They haven't come yet, and they weren't the ones I really wanted (they were out of stock). I figured if I was going to get them I would just go ridiculously big and pretend I was a rock star. We shall see...

June Goals - The Power of Three

goodwolve — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:58:37 -0500

I can't believe it is June. There was a moment in May that I thought summer had come and gone - yes, I have time issues. Like I zoomed over it somehow. I haven't though, it is right here staring at me in the face. Time for some summer goals - but first I'll just start with June.

Excercise at least 3 days a week. I am contemplating the Nike app that my daughter loves so much. So far I haven't been motivated at all, but perhaps if it is an actual goal I'll commit.
Eat as many meals with vegetables as possible - this includes breakfast and lunch.
Paint the trim in the living room. I have the paint, there really isn't any excuse not to do it.

There are a million other things I want to do, but I know that if I put too much there none of it will get done. 3 things. I can do three things.

Not Junior League Material

goodwolve — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:35:39 -0500

Last night we watched The Help and although I had read the book I had an epiphany - I have often felt like Celia Foote. Granted, I am not a blonde bombshell from Sugar Ditch, but after moving here to the Ozarks I have had Celia Foote moments. I have definatley been the woman with the pie wanting to come to the party. That kind of rejection, cliquish behavior, and what I can only call Junior Leauge syndrome is something I didn't really expect and yet have found. I live in the South, what else should I have expected?

What I realized though last night was that I could stop bringing the pie to the party. Those groups are never going to want me as part of thier little clan. I'll never fit in and that is ok. I have chosen to give up. Really, the humiliation of trying over and over to be liked is exhausting and I am 42 years old. It is time to stop.

I have a lot of things I want to do and get done in this life and being roundly rejected by women is not something that is bringing me closer to those goals. I get it. I am not Junior League material - hell, I don't want to be junior anyway - I want to play in the Majors!

I could almost kick myself for falling into the trap of wanting to try. How humiliating and what a waste of time.

We moved here to live more sustainably, to cultivate our own interests, to invest in our family and our relationship, to have meaningful relationships, to do work that we found worthwhile - not to impress anyone, keep up with the Jones's or pretend we are something we are not. I could have easily continued working in Corporate America and made money, if that was the goal, if that is what made you actually happier. I could have impressed the neighbors with fancy things, but that was never what I wanted to do. I knew too many people hooked into that game and they were unhappy. They all wanted somethign else, but they were too trapped to make a leap.

Well, we lept, and I am not sorry for that. Our story is fun, filled with adventure, and maybe not the norm. That is ok. It is our choice and with that I think I am almost ready to realize that I am not going to fit into the scene. I am not going to be invited to the party. I never really had a foot in anyway. It just took a little help to figure that out.

I Am Are You?

goodwolve — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:26:30 -0500

This weekend my husband and I watched the film I Am, a documentary from Tom Shadyac the director of features like Ace Ventura and other comedies. He documents his unhappiness, even though he has attained wealth, possessions and other symbols of status. He equates, in the film, the pursuit of stuff as a mental illness. That the more he had, he wasn't happier, he just had more stuff.

We laughed because we figured that out years ago without the benefit of having/selling a multi-million dollar mansion in Beverly Hills or riding around in private jets. We know that having more stuff doesn't make you happier, we just didn't acquire stuff in the first place.

I left the stuff game 10 years ago because I realized that it was futile. There is never enough stuff. You can never make enough money. You can't acquire enough baubles, clothing, cars, homes, vacations, etc. There is always more, more and more.What I saw, working in corporate America, was the people weren't getting happier. They were actually getting more stressed. Because all of that stuff needs more stuff and you have to keep doing bigger and bigger things in order to keep getting more and more stuff. This is extremely stressful.

He talks to a lot of wonderful folks (Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn, his dad, etc.) about what actually makes you happy. The idea over and over is that it is love. Love towards others. Companionship, caring, community. Those are the things that actually make you happy.

And they are.

I would propose there are two other things: doing work that you find value in and making a difference.

I think we have been suckered into thinking that we have to find work that pays great, makes us rich, or moves up some imaginary ladder. When I watch stock footage of men on the stock floor I realize that although they are in pursuit of something they look stressed, unhappy, and filled with grief. That isn't happiness. It is the same when I see checkers at Walmart. Those that don't truly love customer service are having their souls sucked out of them... they are just paying the bills. That isn't a way to live either.

It is great when both your work and your life get to come together to make a difference for others, but that doesn't always happen - it is fine. I just propose that somewhere in your life you have to do something for the planet, the people, or something other than you to find true happiness.

These are pretty simple things - don't go after more stuff, find work that you value, and make a difference. Why does it take so many people so long to figure it out?

(Note: there is a bit of hooey in the film about the heart, blah blah blah. I don't actually ascribe to that pseudo science, but the rest of the film was lovely. Search it out. It is worth a look.)