Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Things I'm Excited About - Volume 5

1. 3 Day Weekend!
We work 5 days and usually get only 2 off, where did we sign up for this!
Finally a 3 Day weekend in honor of Memorial Day!

2. Mexican Grocery Stores
Just bought 5 Cucumbers for $.99, no joke and 9 bunches of radishes for $.55!


3. Happy Books
Just got a couple books on happiness from a friend of mine, can't wait
to read them!

4. Change
Sometimes change gets rejected, but lately I am open to it.  Feels good to adapt and face
challenges that are foreign to me.


5.  Cvsphoto.com
You can upload straight to the website, create scrapbooks, order prints and
pick up at your closest store.  Its SO convenient!



Thursday, May 19, 2011

Intermittent Fasting and CFit Soreness

Ok so after being on vacation and totally slacking exercise-wise I went to Crossfit 2x in a row this week which is unheard of for me.  Both days required a lot of arm work and this morning I could not even blow dry my hair without grimacing in pain.  I feel like a gorilla dragging my arms because lifting them is just out of the question.  On that note, it felt good to be back into the swing of things and I can honestly say I miss being that sore. 

I am also trying to re-vamp my diet by keeping Paleo/Caveman and also practicing intermittent fasting.  It can be said that it can help performance,boost immune system, anti-aging and in general can help cleanse your internal organs.  I am practicing daily fasting, which comes natural to me.  I almost never eat breakfast, and according to Robb Wolf, writer of The Paleo Solution, it is ok and even more beneficial to skip it.  I try to restrict my calorie intake time from the hours 12noon-7pm. 

Typically I skip breakfast, have a small salad for lunch around noon then a protein packed dinner.  Last night I made snow crab, coconut shrimp and asparagus and washed it all down with Coconut water. I swear, seafood is now my new favorite thing.  I'm new to the whole seafood game because growing up I dispised fish and shellfish.  Now I absolutely love it! 

Taken out of the website: thesameffect.com:

Why Intermittent Fasting Makes Sense To Me

"When evaluating how our bodies evolved, it’s seems reasonable to think that the human body was in a fasted state a lot of the time. Maybe not by choice, but by demand. Food is scarce in the wild. There is no tupperware, no microwaves, no packaged convenience foods. Hunting and gathering takes effort (aka exercise), and often coming up empty handed and remaining hungry would be unavoidable. This is why the human body is extremely effective at storing fat (I know from experience ;) ). In other words, in nature food was probably scarce for most of human evolution. Human beings definitely weren’t pigging out continuously, and most likely the feeding times were irregular and erratic.

Fed vs. Fasted

If you look at modern society, we rarely let ourselves go fasted. I was under the impression that it was a muscle building sin to not have something in the stomach at all times. I don’t know what it’s like to be on steroids, I have never done them, but it seems like most of the ‘never let yourself go hungry’ preaching is coming from the bodybuilding community (the gurus being steroided up). At one point I listened to this preaching without question or critical thought. However, it just didn’t work for me. I found it nearly impossible to actually lose fat, I felt like crap alot of the times (especially in the afternoons), I was drowsy and un-alert, and looking back on it now I just didn’t feel vibrant and healthy.

On that note...Ok, I'm ready for another vacation. Anyone want to go to Bali???

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Quotes I Like

"All know the Way, but few actually walk it."
                                         -Bodhidharma

"Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts."
                                        - Buddhist Quote

Monday, May 16, 2011

Pleasure and Happiness

I have come to a spiritual crossroads.  I am asking those big questions now like "What does it mean to be happy?".  Buddha says that pleasure is not happiness because it is fleeting, and to seek a more meaningful peace within to allow yourself ultimate long lasting happiness. Epicurus said that the heart of happiness is through avoiding pain and gaining pleasure.  He did, however, state that pleasure isn't wealth or material things but things that were easily attainable, even something like a good dinner after being hungry.  He said to fill your life with moments of pleasure since that is ultimately what makes you happy.

Is the world so black and white or is it complicated? Sometimes the answers are easy, and it's me that makes them difficult.  What if the turmoil in my head is right and the way society makes me live is wrong?  Do we all want the same things?

So what is happiness? Well, it is a word to describe a feeling.  How do you get this feeling? Is it freedom? Reason? Painless existence? Peace within? Pleasure?


Questions, questions. :)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Kentucky Derby Pics

Hi Y'all!! Ok I officially have a southern accent that I acquired from my trip to Louisville.  Everyone was so nice and the town was beautiful! Of course The Kentucky Derby was the highlight of the trip and a big congrats goes out to Animal Kingdom who came from way behind to win the 137th Derby and who helped me pay my rent this month! So glad I was lucky enough to go, scratch that off the bucket list!









Monday, May 2, 2011

We Are All Sisyphus

The philosophical story that always intrigued me was Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus.  It is a mythological book about a man who seizes Death so no humans die.  Once Death broke free the gods punished Sisyphus by condeming him to carrying a giant rock up a hill for all eternity.  Once he managed to get to the top the rock rolled down to the bottom for him to carry it up all over again.

In Albert Camus' eyes, Sisyphus is seen as the hero who continues to defy any human recollection of doing something so dull for eternity.  We are all Sisyphus in that we live life to the fullest, fear death, and are slaves to a meaningless ongoing task or job.  This reflection of modern society is eye-opening.  Camus presents Sisyphus's ceaseless and pointless toil as a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices. "The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious."

With the absurdity of the task, Sisyphus gains some peace and acceptance in hoping that the impossibility of it will set him free.