Confessions of a Former Carb Queen: Part II

Okay, yesterday I told you I ran into a couple problems in all my carb queen glory.

Odds are you've run into this problem at some point too, because it's probably the most universal of my two problems.

Problem #2: My pants got tight. Real tight. Fortunately I rarely had an occasion to wear them, but when I did I avoided bending over in my skinny jeans—just to preserve their life; and I avoided sitting down in my riding pants—the top snap popped open almost every time I did.

This is not the first time I've dealt with pant dilemmas, and I know it won't be the last. It's one of the many joys of being a woman.

When I was a freshman in college I was totally unprepared for the way that heavy weight lifting with my track team would transform my body. Just two months into a regime of heavy squats and power cleans, my favorite pants split clean and quick up the backside while I was hopping into my dad's SUV. It wasn't one of my finer moments.

I learned soon after that the sprinter/hurdler/jumper girls on my team had two pairs of pants: one for the off-season and one for the in-season, because of the way the lifting in the different seasons changed their bodies.

Alas, my days of blaming tight pants on sweaty hours in the weight room have passed. In fact, while sick in bed I began to rapidly lose muscle mass, and there was no way in the world I'd be able to roll out of bed and move around enough to get my toneage back and shed a few jiggly pounds.

But glory of glories, the necessary diet changes I'd begun to implement for my energy and immune system eventually got my body back to its normal weight, and kept it there. Without any exercise!

Here are a few more energy-boosting and weight-shedding diet tips:

1. The word "diet" comes from the Greek word "diaita," meaning way of living.Unless you have exceptional health problems, the way you eat needs to be something you can do every day for the rest of your life. It needs to be manageable.

If you're on a "Super-Size Me" diet, then you are going to need to make some significant changes and it won't feel manageable, so try to make the changes in doable chunks. Give yourself one thing to change per week, or even month. And give yourself grace. (But do not "sin" because grace abounds!)

2. Remember the "focus on adding rather than subtracting" rule? Once you've made some good additions to your diet, you can begin to focus on gradually taking away some of your more unhealthy options and replacing them with good ones.

When you can, choose God-made over man-made.

Your body will be especially thankful if you use caffeine and sugar sparingly. I know, I know, climbing Mount Everest on your hands sounds easier. And it probably is. But eating refined sugar and drinking coffee will make your adrenals even more fatigued, which will make you so tired you'll want to eat more, which will make your pants tighter, which will make you depressed, which will make you eat more, which will—well, you get the picture.

So give up soda first ("pop" for you northwesterners, and midwesterners). Then replace froo froo lattes with black coffee and a little half and half. Then work on drinking tea instead of coffee once a week. Then work on replacing bad carbs with good carbs. You get the picture.

If you can slowly change your diet and adjust to the accompanying difficulties, you will eventually have more energy than you did when you ate refined sugar and drank loads of coffee.Your pants will fit better too!

3. Some of you may hate exercising, in part, because it makes you so darn hungry all the time. The irony is that exercise can make overeating even more of a temptation!

If you exercise regularly, try to eat in the first thirty minutes after you work out.

I know food is the last thing you want when you're sweaty, panting, and nauseated, but your body is doing its most serious muscle repair work in that thirty-minute window.

In fact, if you can eat the proper ratio of carbs to protein in that window you will be less hungry the rest of the day and you'll feel better for your next workout.

It's like magic.

Here's how you can figure out what you need to eat in that thirty-minute, post-workout window:

To determine how many grams of carbs your body needs, figure out your weight in kilograms(use this converter), and divide your weight in kilograms by three. This is the number of carb grams you need.

Take that last number and divide it in half. That's how many grams of protein you need to eat.

For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, then you weigh 68 kilograms. Divide 68 by 3 and you need 22 grams of carbohydrates. Divide 22 by 2 and you need 11 grams of protein in that window.

4. "An apple a day keeps the doctor a day." It also keeps your pants fitting like they should.

Eat an apple and drink a tall glass of water before lunch and dinner. This will help you to manage portion size, especially since we're often tricked into thinking we're super hungry, when it's water that we need.

Well there you have it, my friends: Some sure-fire ways to feel confident when you zip up those fitted pants, and energized when you realize you need to run to the store to buy them in a smaller size.

Bon Appetit!

Confessions of a Former Carb Queen: Part I

Right around last Valentine's day I turned into a carb queen. No, it wasn't because I had boxes of Sees candies flooding my mailbox—although that would have been nice.

And no, it wasn't because I assuaged singlehood woes with potato chips and a carton of ice cream. Although some rocky road and a chic flick marathon would have been nice, too.

The source of my carb cravings was some seriously severe adrenal fatigue and the second round of mono in six months.

These illnesses sucked up every last ounce of my energy until I couldn't remain in a vertical position for more than five minutes without reaching for some sweet and savory carbs to give me a temporary energy boost.

And while I enjoyed my tasty indulgences for awhile, it wasn't long before I ran into a couple problems in all of my carb-filled glory.

Problem #1: The quick carb fix made me even more exhausted in the long run. Without fail, after every five-minute carb high passed I found myself feeling even sicker, weaker, and more exhausted than before.

I knew something had to change, and so did my doctor, so she ordered me to cut all gluten, refined sugar, and dairy out of my diet.

Goodbye joy and happiness.

Because really, who wants to eat cucumbers and raisins for an afternoon energy boost?

But overall health was more important than a short-term "fix", and so I turned into one of those health nuts that doesn't touch man-made foods, only shops at select grocery stores, and goes everywhere barefoot. Minus the barefoot part. Mostly because I hardly ever went anywhere.

Now don't get me wrong; I've always been a fairly healthy eater. I had to be to run track at a collegiate level for so many years. But I really loved my chocolate, cookies, and the salty, fatty carbs I ate to balance out my low-fat fibrous meals. I'm all about balance.

Not surprisingly, it took about four months of maintaining my new diet before my insatiable chocolate cravings died down, and it took just as long to figure out how to eat in a way that gave my body the nutrients necessary to repair itself on this long journey toward healthy living.

Thankfully I'd been picking up diet tips over the years that helped me to develop a way of eating that's slowly been restoring my body toward health.

I've taken what I've learned and have pieced together some trusty diet guidelines.

Give it a try, or your money back guaranteed!

And don't worry, you don't need to be as extreme as I am, and you sure DON'T need to give up sugar, gluten, and dairy to eat like this.

1. Here's the skinny on Americans: most of us have at least mildly fatigued adrenal glands. This is because our adrenal glands produce our adrenaline, and boy do Americans require a lot of adrenaline. We have fast-paced, action-packed, high-stress days, and don't often give our adrenal glands a reprieve from their adrenaline-producing frenzy. Nor do we feed them with the right fuel.

There are a lot of side-effects to having taxed adrenal glands because they play a role in regulating blood-sugar, monitoring hormones, and aiding the immune system. If you're prone to hypoglycemia, you could have fatigued adrenals.

Enter: good carbs.

Try to supplement your protein and good fats with carbs that won't spike your blood sugar, but will give you steady energy for the entire day. You can check this glycemic index for carbs that won't give you a temporary burst of energy before sending you crashing to the couch mid-afternoon.

Some carbs to avoid when possible:

• Potatoes
• Rice (especially white)
• Corn
• Chips
• Crackers

Some of my favorite good carbs:

• Black beans
• Oatmeal
• Apples

Is your heart sinking? Are you wondering if life is worth living without a daily dose of sour cream and onion potato chips?

I feel your pain.

Actually, I felt your pain. It gets better, it really does. Before you know it your body will be craving a handful of almonds and some cucumber with hummus. Bring on the beans, baby!

2. Focus on adding, not taking away from your daily eating routine. Every meal should have a serving of good carbs, protein, and healthy fats. If you're like me, then you don't have a problem getting a serving of carbs in at every meal and will need to work on adding a serving of protein and healthy fat at each meal.

I also try to focus on adding leafy greens to every meal too—even breakfast. It's amazing the energy some dark leafy greens can provide. And it's amazing how much easier it is to add good things to my diet than focus only on taking bad things away. This is an empowering, energizing way to begin changing a lifestyle.

By the way, a serving is about the size of your fist, although your fat serving will be about a tenth of a normal serving.

Back to good fats: I CANNOT sufficiently stress their importance. I know it may seem counter-intuitive to include good fat with each meal, but our body needs the proper ratio of fats, to protein, to carbs to function properly, with high energy.

Try to include one of the following healthy fats with every meal:

• nuts
• avocados
• olive oil
• fish

I promise you'll feel the difference after awhile!

This is all for today! Come back tomorrow for my carb problem #2 and part II of "Tips From a Former Carb Queen."

Thursday Things: Lizards, Rogue Vegetables and an Esteemed German

The week in review (minus the gallons of orange juice, cough drops, long naps, and early bedtimes):

1. Our garden went rogue while I was on vacation.

Maybe I should have moved "buying metal cages for the cageless half of our tomatoes" to the top of my to-do list. They probably would have been a good investment.

This is what a tomato plant is supposed to look like:

This is a helicopter view of what tomato plants are NOT supposed to look like:

This is a ground view of the unruly little rascals. As you can see, they have become a nice ground cover:

This concludes my tomato tour.

2. I love my neighbors. They are like family to me. Let me tell you about them. J and M live in a sprawling ranch house on two acres of property with their youngest daughter, K. They are hospitable, generous, considerate and fun. I live in a small studio attached to their house.

L and L are a married couple my age that live in the guest house across the yard. They are hilarious, generous, adventurous and fun.

Our little community is like a compound. A lush, verdant compound with fruit trees and a community garden full of basil, onions, tomatoes, peppers, mind, and strawberries.

I love love love living here.

3. Allow me to give you a tour of our compound that feels like a retreat center.

This is the view from my front window:

This is my back patio where I keep the flowers that are supposedly prolonging my life:

This is the entrance to our communal garden. It looks like a Secret Garden, doesn't it?

This is the plot that houses most of our fruit trees:

This is the pool where I like to develop aqua aerobic routines, preferably when nobody is around:

The back and side yards are too big for my little Canon Powershot to capture, so you'll just have to come visit!

3. I broke a dish this week. I was carefully and methodically washing it, and then it just flew out of my hands Mary Poppins style, except it didn't land neatly on the shelf where it belongs—it crashed to the floor in irreparable pieces. I have broken three dishes in three months. At this rate I will be out of dishes in just 3.33 years. Is the number three lucky?

4. I'm reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy right now. Feast your soul on this little nugget:

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil:
God will not hold us innocent.
Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
— Bonhoeffer

I've been thinking about how this translates into my life in the midst of this baby genocide our nation has embraced. Any thoughts?

5. I had a staring contest with a lizard today while soaking up some rays on my back patio. He won, of course. This is because lizards don't have eyelids. At least I don't think they do.

Lizard-watching is one of my new pastimes. I love it. This is just one way that mono can change a person.

I watch them race across the patio, scurry up walls, and do push-ups. Yes, they do push-ups. I'm not sure if this helps them stay cool, or attract a mate. I'm going with the latter, because these little guys are preoccupied with finding a mate.

Here's how I know this interesting nature fact: almost weekly I catch lizard couples participating in elaborate mate-attracting routines that resemble the Pasa Doble. I'm not sure if the male or the female is the matador (how can you tell a lizard's gender?); all I know is these routines are tense and intimidating, and they make me very jumpy.

6. I just dropped a gigantic battery on my nose and am now trying to figure out which icy food I can pull from my freezer to numb my throbbing bump. Ouch.

At least it wasn't a dish.

Happy Thursday Friends!

The Jacksons go to San Diego: A Photo Journal

I'm lying in bed while this virus storms through my system, but I'm grinning big as I flip through photos of my time with family this month. Won't you join me?

After spending a week in Sun Valley with my parents, my mom and I realized we hadn't taken a single interesting photo. The two photos I took of a mongoose-less woodpile and dandelion seeds do not count. And so ten minutes before bed on our last night in Sun Valley we reenacted every significant event of the week and took a picture of it.

I present to you: our staged photo journal

We rode bikes a lot.

And wrote a lot.

And read a lot.

And tried to figure out how to work the TV a lot. Like every day.

We also engaged in wild celebrations whenever we figured out how to get the TV remotes to work. Well, whenever my mom figured out how to get them to work. I tend to stick to the cheerleading role when it comes to troubleshooting technology.

After shooting several other random yet thrilling photos, we eventually wrapped up our vacation-documenting endeavor and headed to bed.

We arose three hours later and hit the road in order to catch our flight out of Boise to San Diego for my grandpa's memorial service. It was at this point that we realized that far more interesting photos result from live, on-the-scene documentation.

Take for instance, the deer escapade. Alas, I do not have a picture of this deer. I try not to think about this deer. It is hard, though, not to think about him. Especially when you have to drive 50 minutes at 3:30 in the morning to the nearest town with the deer's imprint on the front of your car.

We tried very hard not to hit this deer without endangering ourselves. We were cool, collected, and in control during the whole thing, but the deer was massive and we had to hit him. For years I have known that it is safer to hit an animal than to swerve into a ditch for him, so I braced myself as soon as I saw him. It was sickening and disorienting, and I shudder every time I remember it.

But I am also very thankful. For some reason our airbags didn't eject and we were able to drive to a small town 50 miles up the road that had cell reception before the car died. Thankfully, we were able to get a tow truck to come to this tiny town at 4:30 A.M.

This is what we look like when we're feeling sad about hitting a deer and a little nervous about making it to the airport in time.

Here we are at the airport. On time!

Upon arriving at the San Diego airport we met my siblings and dad.

The six of us squished into a five-seater sedan and drove to the hotel. This is a very effective means of getting reacquainted quickly.

We spent some time in San Diego before heading south, and we took careful documentation of our adventures.

First things first: Rebecca caught me up on all the reality TV escapades I needed to know about.

With this out of the way, we moved on to other important things.

Like this.

And this.

The plan was for all for of us to simultaneously assume the plank position while balancing on the stair rail, and although Sister and I easily hoisted ourselves up, did a few flips around the bar while holding on with just our pinkies, and then hovered in mid-air with a one-inch platform to balance our rigid bodies, the boys had some difficulty assuming the plank position, and so we didn't get the picture.

Geez boys, you might want to hit the weights or something.

If we were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy waiting for a train, this is what we'd look like.

Eventually, we got hungry.

And then we got thirsty.

And then we were full and happy, and so we ended the day with a jolly laugh...

...and a family photo.

The rest of the week was a busy blur of family gatherings, my grandpa's memorial service, and the graveside service. These final photos were taken at the graveside service, just before I returned to Los Angeles.

I love the contrast of the kids playing with the rose petals at the foot of my grandpa's coffin. My grandpa left behind him a legacy of life: young lives, maturing lives, and lives that have been transformed by the Life of Christ; Lives that can look death in the face and ask, "Oh Death, where is your victory? Where is your sting?!"

Thursday Things: Everything's Grace, After All

It's been a tough week, and I've spent the last 24 hours lamenting its toughness. There's something so satisfying about whining. But grace is more satisfying and gratitude is the lifeblood of our faith, and so today's "Thursday Things" is a list of some of the colorful graces God splashes everywhere when life is painted with shades of gray.

Things for which I am very thankful:

1. My sister is here for a mini vacation this weekend, and even though she's sick sick sick, her sore-throated, achy, chilled presence is a great comfort to me.

2. My grandpa died this week and now he sees Jesus face to face; he knows Him fully, even as my grandpa is fully known.

3. The sound of voices rushing out of bodies clad in black, souls singing softly,

“I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see,” at my grandpa's memorial service this week.

4. My sister and I returned my place last night and were greeted by the roses outside my french doors: soft yellow sunbursts smiling big for an old friend.

5. Dear friends have sent me a steady stream of encouraging cards of condolence since I broke off my engagement last February. There was yet another lovely letter waiting for me when I got home last night.

6. My landlady had roses, dinner, water bottles, and snacks waiting for me and my sister when we got in last night. Now there are roses all over my studio—"Singing in the Rain" roses by my sister's bed and "Eden" roses by mine.

7. Tomorrow morning I will harvest fresh vegetables from our vegetable garden so I can make us sickies a healthy breakfast. I'm thinking vegetable egg frittatas with sausage is just what we need.

8. We've been drinking orange juice all day, squeezed fresh from the oranges off our tree.

9. I took a three-hour nap today and woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. From my bed I can see the flaming fuchsia bougainvillea cascading down the hedge that borders the yard.

10. There is a rooster that cock-a-doodle-doos every time the sun nears the horizon. Any horizon. He is terribly confused and he always makes me smile.

11. The cough drop I am sucking on tastes like strawberries and cream. Yes, it's true; my mouth is bursting with creamy summery strawberries laced with zinc. Adios harsh menthol flavored cough drops that turn my tongue blue but at least clear out my sinuses in less than 11 seconds.

12. Did I mention I took a three-hour nap today?

13. I got to spend a day and a half in San Diego with my whole family. We ate ethnic food, took silly pictures (which I will debut shortly), and laughed deep belly laughs.

14. I got to see like 18 of my 23 cousins at my grandpa's memorial service. We had a grand time catching up and getting to know the babies that are popping out left and right. Isn't marvelous that Christians can use memorials as a time of celebration?

15. Revelation 1:12-18

"When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. ¹³ And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man.^[h] He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance."
¹⁷ "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.^[i]"

Watch that Mongoose Groove

The Lion King soundtrack was the first CD I ever owned. And boy did I get my money’s worth out of that thing.

I used track #5 to figure out how to play “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” by ear on the piano, and then crafted a piano performance I enthusiastically subjected all of our babysitters to that year.

I developed a dazzling song and dance routine to “Hakuna Matata” that I just knew would woo Jonathan Taylor Thomas, should we ever have an opportunity to perform my routine together. I practiced my routine until it was flawless and rehearsed the song’s lyrics until they were etched indelibly on my mind. To this day I have been known to walk through the house bellowing “When I was a young warthooooooooog……”.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas sure missed out on something special.

Whenever I played the dark and menacing "Be Prepared", I lurked around the house pretending to be a dancing hyena; and when I skipped ahead to the orchestral music on the latter half of the CD I worked diligently to choreograph new age jazz routines. I have no idea what new age jazz is, but it sounds impressive.

Yesiree, the Lion King is responsible for a very colorful time in my life. So you can imagine my delight when yesterday, while sitting on the patio here in Sun Valley, I saw Timone dancing on our woodpile. No joke.

Okay, okay, it was probably Timone’s great great nephew. But still, he was dancing on the woodpile.

Determined to document this once-in-a-lifetime experience, I whipped out my camera and crept stealthily to the woodpile. Thankfully, I had the foresight to refrain from bursting into the impassioned and no doubt moving rendition of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” that was bubbling up my esophagus.

Or is it diaphragm?

But Timone still scrammed. And so I waited, and waited, and waited, until about 26 seconds had passed and I realized I could never be a National Geographic photographer.

And so, I just took a picture of the woodpile.

Now look at this woodpile and try to imagine Timone grooving like he has no worries for the rest of his days, his tiny feet frisking from side to side, his wide eyes shining with delight.

Can you see it?

Isn’t it amazing?

Who would have thought: a desert mongoose in the mountains. In Idaho.

Of course experiences like this demand the consideration that I'm crazy or need glasses, and that maybe all I saw was a slender squirrel with a shaved tail. But my mom thought it looked like Timone too, and she has great intuition and vision.

So I'm not crazy, and I don't need glasses.

Hakuna Matata.

Thursday Things

It’s true what they say: good things come in small passages. But some of the best things come in lists.

Lists are a daily compass, and a portable filing cabinet. They make me feel productive and they may even make me more productive. They are a convenient way to compile random-yet-interesting sound bites, and they are an excuse to use scratch and sniff markers. Lists make me believe I am organized, which is a peace-giving delusion that I prefer to continue perpetuating.

If you were to search my purse (a risky operation) you’d find three cough drops, a bobby pin, a golf ball (doctor’s orders), my wallet and phone, some "recycled" Kleenex (I’m pride myself on being green), chapstick and approximately 11 lists.

I love lists. I love reading ‘em, and I love making ‘em.

And so, I give you “Thursday Things”—a weekly list to celebrate the day before Friday, and to ease my mind into weekendium, which is a word I just made up to represent the slowing brain synapses and ensuing static that typify my Saturdays and Sundays.

The list:

1. Why are men unable to stay on the same TV channel for more than three seconds at a time? I feel dizzy.
2. I wish the sun coaxed freckles onto my face. Anne Shirley would be incredulous.
3. I recently discovered that pumping your arms really high when you go walking is a great motivational technique. Your incessantly waggling triceps will make you want to just. keep. going.
4. “Waggling” = wagging + jiggling. What can I say; I've got end-of-the-week word quota. Thursdays bring out the sniglets in me.
5. Dave Barry will be speaking at the local library here in Sun Valley next week. Go read his stuff if you haven’t already. I made the mistake of reading his colonoscopy piece back when I taught third grade, while my students worked in rare, silent independence. Sometime between my uncontrolled wheezing and tears of joy my students’ writing mojo was disrupted. That darn Dave Barry.
6. The more I write the more confusing punctuation becomes to me. I am hoping this is something akin to learning a lot and then realizing how little you know. Which is a good thing. Right?
7. Because of my health problems this year I’ve had to implement some rather unfortunate diet restrictions. Just when I thought I couldn’t handle another dessert of raisins and spoonfuls of honey, my mom made the most glorious gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free muffins. I’ve eaten one for every meal and snack today. Amen.

Enjoy your Friday!

On the Road to Recovery

Today my dad and I went on a bike ride near the vacation home we’re staying at in Sun Valley, Idaho. We pedaled hard and breathed deep delight as the sun warmed our backs and the wind pushed us toward the stately mountains standing guard on the western horizon.

Slowing our pace to enjoy the murmuring applause of nearby quaking aspen, we were suddenly enveloped in a troop of dancing dandelion seeds, gliding and swirling like little parasols caught up in the gusting wind.

I smiled big and remembered my little girl self sitting at the family’s new fangled computer, writing story #46 about a girl who was turned into a dandelion seed by a benevolent wizard, blown off to fairyland, returned to her human state upon reaching a candy-flavored apply tree (the blue cotton candy flavored apples were totally the best), and thrust into an adventure that began in a fairy lodge made entirely of cherry blossoms.

This story, “The Babbling Blossom Tree,” was the last I fictional story I ever wrote. Adolescence came soon after, sending hormones coursing through my changing body and making me painfully self-aware.

Aware that there were other writers out there who penned much better stories than I.

Aware that any story I wrote for public enjoyment would be criticized and maybe even mocked.

Aware that trying my hand at anything meant experiencing inevitable, embarrassing failure.

I wish an awareness of the awarenesses that made me stop writing stories were enough to coax stories out of my fingers again. But it’s not.

And I realize that the things I did as a child when I was unaware of people’s expectations, untainted by insecurity, and unburdened by failure, those things made me feel fully alive.

Because those were the things God wired me to do.

 Those were the things he knew would pump life through my soul; the things he knew would give him great glory—not because I shouted praise each time I did them, but because he is glorified when we bust out of our self-made cocoons of mediocrity and monotony the way he busted out of the grave.

Because he is the Redeemer God and he made us to really live, the way Adam and Eve lived in Eden before they became self-aware and ashamed.

I’ve been looking back on the things I did as a kid—the pastimes that didn’t make it into adulthood with me—and thinking maybe I should try my hand at them again, see if they seep new life into my soul. Not driven by an awareness of my awarenesses, but by the realization that to live in Christ is to live better, fuller, richer.

As a kid I used to sneak away from the din of the cul-de-sac kids just before sunset and climb to the top of the neighbor’s tree. I’d sit alone on my little stump seat, my hazel eyes wide, my soul hungry, and I’d watch the sun shoot sherbet flames beyond the horizon’s darkening evergreen fringe.

I've forgotten to seek this kind of beauty daily.

This will be my starting place,

in re-learning to really live;

To recover Eden,

like a child.

Bring on the sunset.

© by scj

Pump Those Brakes, Baby: Part 2

I give you: Part 2

(Previously entitled "Pump Those Breaks"--yet another sign it's time to slow down. And work on spelling.)

5. Some of us have the thousand-white-rabbits-running-wildly-and-reproducing-rapidly-in-our-heads syndrome that kicks in without fail when we crawl into bed each night. When this happens we are overwhelmed by our rabbit-like thoughts and often spend hours chasing them, trying to corral them into some sort of cage before we can peacefully fall asleep.

Enter: journaling. Your journal is your rabbit cage. It corrals and preserves your unruly thoughts, helping you to process them now, and making them available to process further at a later time. I've found that it's helpful to journal at least an hour before bedtime each night so that your mind is cleared from the day's events and burdens sufficiently in advance.

If your rabbit-thoughts come in the form of thinking through (and worrying about) the next day's events, start a to-do list around dinner and add to it throughout the evening. I've heard these planners work wonders as we try to spill our messy thoughts onto a sheet of paper.

6. Go on a 20-30-minute walk each day. Walking is another sure-fire endorphin releaser. So strap on your walking shoes and go tackle that massive hill down street. Better yet, play the "Ha-ha-ha" while walking up the hill. Your body will be relaxed and invigorated, soaring in a sea of endorphins.

I've been battling a number of health problems this year that leave me absolutely exhausted each day, and my daily brisk walks are the only thing that make me feel temporarily rested.

I've also been doing some research lately on the role of walking in health, and have discovered that it can prevent chronic fatigue, in addition to heart disease. A rested body is a healthy body.

7. Take time at night to lie down, close your eyes, and listen to this song.

8. Ease the day's tension out of your body with a 15-minute stretch. If your muscles are beyond the help of normal stretching, get a foam roller. When in use these things are borderline torture weapons, but they work better than a deep tissue massage.

A tip: the black rollers are the firmest, so they loosen you up the best and hurt the worst. Trust me, it’s worth the pain.

When you're done stretching, take a soak in Epson salts. The magnesium in the salts will help your muscles relax (A fun fact: calcium makes them contract).

9. Finally, “forget not his benefits” (Psalm 103—Go read it). Our bodies can only be as rested as our souls. If you’re like me, your schedule is often packed to the max because you’re striving to get. things. done. And if you’re like me, it’s natural to blaze through your day meditating on the difficult, discouraging, or potentially disastrous things in your life. Neither of these patterns gives rest to our souls. And no amount of practical activities can undo the frenzied toll they take on our souls.

True rest is only found in Jesus. Our souls can spread out and rest because he is good. That’s it.That’s the secret to a rested soul, and eventually a rested body. Truly believing and meditating on God’s goodness.

Of course rest is a choice—we can’t maintain our crazy lifestyles and expect to evade the consequences. So we sometimes say “no” to create margin; we reorder our cram-packed days to allow for stillness; we take care of our bodies; we divert ourselves daily; we take a weekly Sabbath and an annual vacation.

But first we remember the good things God has done. We record them by journaling, writing, and composing so we can regularly look back on God’s history of faithful, good provision. Then we meditate on them instead of our worries, burdens, and the unknown future.

This meditation almost always turns into praise.

We praise God for being good, powerful, with us and in us.

We praise him for his sovereignty that swallows up our frantic striving.

And this praise is the consummation of our rest.

Pump Those Brakes, Baby: Part 1

The other day I signed my replacement credit card on the silver strip you slide through the little card machine at the grocery store. Somehow I didn't see the gleaming white strip two centimeters below that said "SIGN HERE."

This hardly phased me. You see, it was nothin' compared to the time my key to my apartment didn't work and I stood banging on my apartment door for four minutes, juggling eight bags of groceries and yelling for my roommates to come answer the door, before realizing it wasn't my apartment.

And it was nothing compared to the time I tried to break into my car because, well, my key wasn't working, only to realize that, yep, you guessed it: it wasn't my car.

Or the time I finally bought a car with a clicker, got into my car after an appointment and wondered why it reeked of cigarette smoke, before realizing it wasn't my car. Creepy. For the owner who may or may not have been watching the whole thing, that is.

Or the time I got in the shower with my clothes still on, or asked the car wash guy for an unscented air freshener, or locked my keys in the car twice in three days.

Yes, the credit card incident was mild. But it was yet another yellow flag waved high in the air, cautioning me to slow down, alerting me of my desperate need for rest.

For years I blazed past these yellow flags, pedal to the medal in this life I'd made into a race. Not surprisingly my trusty racecar began to wear out. Its hubcaps fell off, its spark plugs misfired, its gas sensor went screwy, its batteries ran down, and its engine started to stumble. But let me tell you, its brakes were still in great shape. And so I decided to start using them.

Here are a few ways I've recently learned to apply the brakes:

1. Remember the Ha-ha-ha game? The one where you and your friends would lie in a circle, your heads on each others' stomachs, and take turns fake laughing? The game where real raucous laughter would always eventually ensue, sending endorphins shooting through your body?

Well, your tired body needs those game-induced endorphins. Majorly. So play the laughing game with your kids or your friends. Or yourself. If you're playing with yourself all you have to do is fake laugh for 60 seconds straight. Feel free to experiment with different laughs. If you’re alone you can do this in a vertical position. No need to lie down.

I sometimes do this when I'm feeling especially stressed, and always when I'm alone. I end up laughing for real. And blushing. And looking cautiously over my shoulder.

I heard from someone who heard from someone else who heard from their doctor that fake laughing is actually an effective way to lower anxiety levels and prevent panic attacks because it really gets the endorphins flowing. So do this. Doctor's orders.

2. Try to sit down 2-5 times each day for 2-5 minutes. This is SO DOABLE and amazingly rejuvenating for body and soul. The key, according to my clinical nutritionist, is to sit and not do anything. No reading. No Facebook. No nothin'. Just you in a chair, leaning back, your legs up and your body limp like linguine.

3. Eat like this.

4. Bribe your kids/siblings/students to give you a back massage at least once a week. Then drink lots of water. People who are touched often stay healthier. I just made that up, but it's got to be true.

If your bribing skills aren't great, a simple hug should help you chill out.

I've been brake happy these days...so I've got more! Come back for a 100% guaranteed, sure-fire rest-giver in part 2.