Tag: writer wellness

Wednesday Workout: Sweat’s a Bore

Posted on by Joy Held

 

Even if it’s producing results, exercise can be boring. When you think exercise is boring it’s time for a change. Time to shake up the workouts or possibly time to get started with a fitness plan you can manage that will reap solid benefits.

Think of “boring” as a symptom of repetitive stress syndrome. Exercise bores you because your muscles are no longer responding to the actions because you do the same treadmill, the same bike, or the same yoga practice over and over again. You have created “muscle memory,” which is good, but the average person’s muscles respond better to a variety of workouts. Muscle memory is important for dancers and athletes who have to perform consistenly under stress. Games and performances are stressful and these folks rely on muscle memory to carry them through, but the same exercise routine day after day for the average person causes muscle fatigue because after a certain point muscles stop improving they tire and do not improve. This is the feeling that leads someone to think, “This is boring.”

Variety is the secret. Create a fitness program that includes a number of varied options. Exercise reaps more benefits faster and maintains results longer if the body and the brain are regularly challenged by variety. Mix it up. Yoga, treadmill, aerobic dance, walking, martial arts, kickboxing, recumbent bike, and weights can make for an interesting week of productive exercise. And change the locations. That helps also.

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Head Games

Posted on by Joy Held

 

In the exploding world of brain research, it’s being proven that play is healthy for your brain. Most people love to play games. Growing up my house was filled with games and gamers, although we didn’t call ourselves gamers back then. We played card games, board games, music and dance games, and learning games in my house almost every day. My mother was a dance teacher and my father played alot of musical instruments so our house was pretty busy with some kind of creative endeavor all of the time.

We not only learned skills and strategy, we learned competiveness. And we learned to think like someone else. If we could figure out how someone at the game table was thinking, it was possible to win the game by thinking like them but ahead of their thoughts. That’s strategy training.

Games were really big and the holidays were really special because it meant we didn’t have to stop playing a particular game to go back to school. My favorite Christmas was at age seven when I received Monopoly as a gift and my dad, sister, and I played the game for four days without stopping until one of us won. I couldn’t wait for the weekends as a child because it meant extra time to play games.

What good is playing a game? Were you “taught” that games are a waste of time? Too bad, because playing games creates new brain cells and new brain cells mean better quality of life because new brain cells help use function and cope longer and better. Work a crossword puzzle, play a video game, or play cards with family friends. It is proven that playing games challenges your brain and increases its ability to function.

The practice of using your brain to think through a game’s strategy and then implement your plan keeps things like memory and focus in tact. Playing a variety of games such as working puzzles and playing board games encourages your brain to build new brain cells in response to the mental challenges. These cells prosper when challenged continually. Playing games helps your memory to function better just because you practice using your memory when playing games.

Don’t play games with other people’s heads. Engage in gaming to strengthen and lengthen your own brain’s capabilities. As my college teachers used to say, “Play is learning.” Cool.

What is your favorite game? Do you know why it’s your favorite game?

(Fall Fairy by K. Held)

Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity

Who Dares Wins Publishing  www.whodareswinspublishing.com

There are  five primary areas of practice to the the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

 

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

 

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

 

 

 

Be well, write well

 

Monday Meditation: Just Breathe

Posted on by Joy Held

 

Relax? What does that really mean? It can mean taking a moment in the face of stress and remembering how inconsequential the problem is. But is that practical? What if the problem is a really big issue like something burning? Thankfully, the natural “fight or flight” response will kick in and you can probably put the fire out but what about responding to the everyday stresses we encounter all the time? It all matters a little bit but how we react to the situation is the real cause of most of our stress. It’s a matter of choice.

I believe that what causes the most stress for people are expectations. The fear of not living up to the hype causes us to tense up and that tension results in poo-poo thinking and the release of stress hormones that don’t dribble out later. They hang around and sludge up the works making blood sticky, muscles achy, and thinking unclear.

What helps? Breathing helps. Meditation helps. Exercise helps. Loving helps. Heck, hugging helps reduce the stress response and makes us think maybe we can cope with all this crap after all. Everything happens for a reason, and you are here now at this moment for a reason living life the way you are. You may not know it, but I think the human experience is only about finding that reason for living and pursuing it with everything you’ve got body and soul.

Find your reason for living by paying attention to the little things and to how fast time flys when you’re engaged in a particular activity. When do you lose all track of time? When do you feel refreshed no matter how intense the activity? When is your thinking focused on one thing and nothing else can get in until you let it? These are clues to finding your reason for being here, for contributing to the existential drama that causes us so much stress because we don’t know for sure what our true purpose in life is supposed to be.

Be still, breathe, and listen and the answer will overpower the stress. Has meditation helped you see the clarity in your work or life?

(Photo by J. Purkey, 2003)

Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity

 

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

 

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

 

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

 

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

 

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

 

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

 

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

 

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

 

 

 

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Guest Joanna Aislinn Offers An Idea for Some Quick Pampering

Posted on by Joy Held

Quick Pampering

Hi all. These thoughts came to me a week or so ago, when hormones were making me crazy and I was seeing the world in one of those weepy-way days.

Every last thing was making me feel overwhelmed: the house; the price of gas; not utilizing my time well and thinking about all I had to do (or wanted to get done) in just a few hours.

I was in serious need of a mental shift and lucky enough to be feeling that way when I wasn’t scheduled to work the day job. I headed upstairs to face the bedroom that needed some attention and to figure out what I’d wear.

Maybe getting dressed forced me to notice my feet, which hadn’t seen an official (i.e., spa) pedicure since the summer. Since I’m lousy at scaring out the 45 minutes that would take (and often too restless to sit through it anyway), I grabbed the Ped-Egg and got to work. Within 20 minutes (possibly less) I was heading into the shower with much smoother skin at the ends of my lower extremities.

The process got my mind off my blues, and I can’t imagine scrubbing with some force didn’t help channel some negative energy out either, lol.)

IMPORTANT: If you have any problems with circulation or bleeding (i.e., are diabetic, take blood thinners, etc) DO NOT DO YOUR OWN PEDICURE. Talk to a podiatrist, who can steer you in the best direction given your condition.

For the rest of you, your own pedicure is easy. Just follow these steps!

(1) Keep feet dry and use the Ped-Egg to slough dead, roughened skin off anywhere on your feet you find it. (For those who can’t reach their feet, get hold of a foot rasp—usually available at dollar stores and pharmacies. Use Velcro to attach a longer handle—a wooden spatula is great—to the rasp’s handle. With that, you’ll get down to the heels pretty easily. Getting under the foot is a bigger challenge—one this occupational-therapist-by-trade needs to think about.)

(2) Don’t wet those feet yet! Once you’ve sloughed to smoothness, make a scrub with liquid hand soap and borax (yep, the inexpensive 20-Mule-Team box from the laundry aisle at any supermarket). Squirt a dollop of soap onto your dry palm and sprinkle enough borax on the soap to cover it. Apply directly to your skin and scrub away what’s left of those rough patches. (Borax tends to soften skin. Who knew?) Take it one step further and scrub your legs too!

(3) Rinse with warm water for a soothing effect. If you want to perk those legs and/or feet up, finish with a blast of cool—not cold—water.

(4) Apply your favorite scented lotion. (Lavender or vanillas are soothing. Peppermint is great for waking those toesies up!) If you’re doing this on a cold day, put socks or stockings on while your feet are a bit moist. If you’re bed-bound, consider putting on a heavier-duty ointment (i.e., petroleum jelly or Avon’s Moisture Therapy, which is based in petroleum jelly. Eucerin, Kerry and Curel products are great too, and my dollar store has an awesome creamy petroleum jelly that’s pretty amazing.)

(5) Pat yourself on the back for having done something nice for yourself! Take it a step further: prop those puppies up in your favorite relaxing hangout and read or just wind down for a little longer. J

Thanks, Joy, for allowing me this opportunity to share with your readers and fans one way I take care of myself.

All good thoughts to everyone,

Joanna Aislinn guest blogJoanna Aislinn

I am a wife, mother, day-job holder, mega-fan of tennis (go Rafa, Djok and Roger) and recently football  (Go Giants–so psyched for Super Bowl XLVI) She’s an avid reader. My writing roots stretch back to my early teenage days. At present, I’m fine-tuning the sequel to NO MATTER WHY, my debut novel. (For those who like, you can still snag an e-copy and/or print copy over at Amazon, while I transition into a new, to be determined phase of my writer’s life.) I’m also developing a third story in the series and working on some more free reads (for posting when the time is right J; there are, however, quite a few already at my blog).  When I’m not writing reports for work (or cleaning) I’m learning about promo, making on-line friends while building my web presence and looking for ways to connect with the readers!
 
Visit me at my website and blog, and I’d be honored if you choose to follow me on Twitter and/or friend me on Facebook!
 
 
 
Joanna Aislinn
Dream. Believe. Strive. Achieve!
NO MATTER WHY
The Wild Rose Press (available now!)
www.joannaaislinn.com
www.joannaaislinn.wordpress.com

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Renaming Today “Muse-day”

Posted on by Joy Held

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

                ~Stephen King, On Writing

Waiting on inspiration? Really? That writer must not need the money or realize how important the process is. It’s just as important as the product when it comes to writing. Lots of us know we have a mysterious “writing muscle”, and true, it needs a kick in the thing we use to hold chairs down with but the process doesn’t require inspiration to be put into gear. The process requires perspiration. And since the advent of the psychological term “writer’s block”, the invention of a muse is popular when it comes to needing the proper impulse to write. What is a muse anyway? Is it the inner critic? Is it a secret font of ideas stored in our subconscious we just have to tap into for stuff to write about? Is it some guy sitting in the basement smoking cigars admiring his bowling trophies (more Stephen King) while we struggle for the stream of words that make us writers? Muse, inspiration, whatever, are all just another word for courage. Are we brave enough to be the writers we dream we are?

What the muse or the inspiration may actually be is the time it takes for our brains to sort through the muck of stimulations we absorb constantly and bring something cohesive to the surface. That’s why English professors have a far off look in their eyes all the time. It explains why novelists spill things. Brain work for writers is the equivalent of an intense cardio workout for not the recommended thirty-minute session with a cool-down afterward, but a continual mind boggling distraction until we figure it out. Then we have something to write. The muse is our minds organizing the clutter of the process until the words fall into place and we can fill the pages with them. There is no inspiration. There is only the process of thinking, connecting, writing drivel, and more thinking until it becomes the answer to the question we have asked with our stories. The muse is the imaginary delivery girl dressed or undressed in the costume of your own mental doing. She (or he or it) gives us somewhere to place the blame while we’re waiting on the brain to tidy up the mess of stuff we’ve fed it. But it’s the writing process that enables the brain to have what it needs. So keep the process going: journal, write ugly grammar, blog, and read, read, read until the muse is inspired enough to bless you with the story.

 

“Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:

‘Fool!’ said my Muse to me, ‘look in thy heart and write.’”

                ~Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

                Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet I

This inspiration-muse thing has been going on for quite a while. But notice the Muse says, “…and write.” She doesn’t say, “Take a seat, honey, and when I get this figured out for you, I’ll call.”

Will you take the process challenge this “Muse-day” and give her something, anything to work with?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Monday Meditation: Renaming Today “Fun-day”

Posted on by Joy Held

Monday Meditation: Renaming Today “Fun-day”

Monday is typically a dreaded day. It’s more unwelcome than a case of athlete’s foot. Yet it returns and reruns itself no matter what remedy we try. So it might be time for a change of perspective and to think positively about this day instead of always trying to avoid it. I’ve decided to rename Monday to “Fun-day”, the day of the week when we make an effort to enjoy the opportunities a fresh start to a new work week can offer. It’s time to look at all the potential Monday, I mean “Fun-Day”, presents.

First, we should admit that our problem with Monday is that it seems to end the fun of the weekend. If we make a choice to continue the fun on the first day of the week, sleeping on Sunday (the “day of rest”?) night won’t be the challenge is it for people who don’t look forward to Mondays. If we think of the day as “Fun-day” instead of Monday we might get enough sleep on Sunday to make the most of this promising day.

The next issue we have with Monday is that it never seems to have enough time built into it. That’s because we spend most of it being disgruntled that it has reappeared instead of making the best of something we can’t change anyway. The sun comes up and Monday comes back. That’s reality on this big round thing we live on. Like some other distasteful things I won’t mention, Monday happens. So it’s worth the LESS STRESS to plan ahead to make Monday more like “Fun-day” instead of I-hate-life-day. Take a few minutes on Friday to make a “Fun-day” plan. Look over the list and do one of the “Fun-day” jobs on Friday (P.S. I’m renaming Friday too, more on that later.) That way, “Fun-day” will have more space for taking care of something that invariably pops up or poops out.  Those last minute, didn’t-know-this-would-happen things that Mondays are famous for.

Time and trying to live against it instead of with it is a major contributor to creating bad stress in humans. Take a minute or two on some day in advance of Monday to make it “Fun-day” and relieve yourself of a tiny bit of stress.

What will you do today to make it “Fun-day”?

CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCED! The winner of the drawing for a free digital copy of WRITER WELLNESS, A WRITER’S PATH TO HEALTH AND CREATIVITY and a month of free Writer Wellness coaching via email is

 

JOANNA AISLINN!     Congratulations. Contact me to arrange for your prize package! Thanks to all who entered.

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Friday Feast: Spam, Ham, and Jam: 2011 Blog Comments in the Rear View Mirror

Posted on by Joy Held

Of the many blogging platforms available, I am really pleased I followed the excellent advice of my social media guru Kristen Lamb and went with WordPress as she recommends in her superior and helpful book

WE ARE NOT ALONE, THE WRITER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA, Who Dares Wins Publishing, 2010.

She was spot on the money when she said that WordPress was an accessible, easy to learn system. I’ve been really pleased with my neophyte experience as a blogger in 2011. Thanks to Kristen I have learned a lot and have many miles to go as a blogger, but WordPress makes it seem do-able even for me.

One of the points Kristen makes in her book and on her incredible blog is the importance of comments. It’s necessary to put thought provoking, interesting content on your blog to engage readers with your ideas and therefore your product. It’s a savvy form of promotion that encourages healthy discussion and hopefully encourages people to seek out your product. “Yes, conversation can turn into relationships, which ultimately translate into books sold,” says Kristen. She’s right. I tried it for a year and it has worked. I have easily seen an upswing in sales in correlation to reader’s comments at my blog. Thanks, Kristen!

The funny part is what WordPress does with the dreaded spam comments that every blogger gets. If you want a brief history of why unsolicited email is called spam (not the meaty SPAM luncheon meat trademarked by Hormel,) read this article at Wired. I know from guest blogging on other platforms that WordPress does the best job for me of identifying and corralling the obviously unwanted (by me) comments by some blatantly nefarious characters. How can I be sure they aren’t valid readers of my blog? Read on.

I regularly check and clear my spam file at WordPress and am constantly given to chuckle over comments I receive such as:

I conceive that you should compose writer on this content, it strength not be a preconception substance but mostly group are not enough to communicate on specified topics.

All rightee then. Or this one:

You should try some Norwegian carrot cake (gulrotkake langpanne) to cheer you up instead.

Is it suitable for my blood type diet? And my recent favorite:

Nono hair removal All computers wait at the same speed.

Right. In the spam can you go! Granted, blogging is partly about developing relationships and community, but frankly, these are bots I can do without. Have you found any tasty morsels in your spam file lately?

Get a copy of Kristen’s book and get started on the road to successful blogging. Better yet, join Kristen in her online workshop “Blogging to Build Brand” about social media techniques sponsored by our mutual and wonderful publishing house Who Dares Wins Publishing!

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

 

 

 

 

 

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well.

 

 

 

 

Thursday Thot: Looking Back to Understand the Future

Posted on by Joy Held

Something I recommend in Writer Wellness is looking back through old journals we’ve written. It’s a meta-cognitive exercise that actively engages our minds with the path we’ve taken while giving us a hint of where we could be headed. I don’t mean to sound contradictory or psychic. Reviewing what we’ve written in our journals is just a good healthy way to check in and see what’s missing and give ourselves the opportunity to think about how to fill in the gaps of life. For instance, I have looked back through journals I kept for 2011 and realized that something I enjoy is spending time with friends and I don’t get enough of it. I also noticed that I wrote about wanting to do more leisure activities such as attending sports events which I really love. Now I make time for more of these things in my life and consciously tell my inner critic that I don’t HAVE to have the toilets clean and all the laundry done before I can go out and play. Consequently I had a marvelous latter half of the 2011 because I didn’t miss a home football game at the college where I teach, and I invited seven friends out to lunch at the same time, and we had a splendid time!

Here’s your challenge. Look back on the year 2011 in your mind and in your journals or on your calendars before you trash them and identify something missing in your life that you want to change. Tell me about it in a comment to this post no later than next Thursday, Jan. 12, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a month of personal Writer Wellness coaching with me via email. And if you don’t have a copy of the book, that’s yours too. So look back on your life as you’ve kept track of it and decide what steps you want to take to make the path you’re on brighter and healthier. I’m here to help.

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Wednesday Workout: 7 Workout Mistakes to Avoid

Posted on by Joy Held

Happy new fitness year! Month? Week? Can you get to the gym at least once pretty soon and see what happens? In the year of 2012 I hope you’ll try your best to exercise and figure out how regular workouts can be a part of your life. I’ll admit it. Sometimes if I wasn’t the teacher, I’d just skip a day or two or three of exercising especially if I’m by myself. The tip about exercising in a herd or with a buddy really does help. But there is such a host of possible pitfalls when it comes to exercise that it’s no wonder people don’t stick to their New Year’s resolution to exercise more. Perhaps if you can be proactive and head off the troubles before they hit, you’ll stand a better chance of exercising longer and stronger.

This list isn’t the typical “do this” and see if it helps list. It’s designed to prevent some potential problems that make exercise a chore or at least a bother.

1. No pain, no gain is the cruelest fitness cliché ever coined. Because it rhymes it has stuck in the exercise vernacular, but the idea does more harm than good. Bouncing while we stretch went out in the nineties with leg warmers and headbands. Pain is a signal that should alert you to an important message from your body. It’s your muscles and bones telling your brain to back off. “Ripping” muscle fiber to achieve a temporarily visual affect if not what is meant by health and fitness.

2. Timing is everything in the world of exercise. Your body loves consistency and your brain loves the high it gets from habit. Give them both a good reason to keep supporting you in everything you do by exercising as close to the same time on the same days as often as possible. This is the number one way to increase metabolism and speed up fat burning.

3. A good workout includes a warm-up period, an intense aerobic series, and a steady cool down. With practice or a good class with a competent instructor, you can learn to do this safely and efficiently in thirty minutes a day five times a week with a variety of different practices. Most people don’t exercise enough however and don’t get the cumulative benefits. Physical fitness is a lifestyle for the long haul. That way intensity can be safely implemented into a long term exercise plan. Think of your workout schedule like riding a roller coaster. Some workout days are more challenging than others. This actually provides muscles the work/rest time needed to develop safely.

4. If you’re talking too much while working out, you won’t be able to concentrate on the correct breathing. Breathing patterns can aid or detract from the value of an exercise. Muscles and the brain need oxygen and lots of it, especially during physical exertion. Learn how to breathe for the exercise program you’ve chosen. There are different philosophies in some fitness corners and they really do contribute to the overall benefit of the program. Focus on good breathing patterns when you exercise.

5. Unless you’re running a marathon, you can make it through a 55-minute exercise class WITHOUT taking a drink of water. Hydrate before and after because drinking water while you exercise draws blood and oxygen away from your muscles and to the stomach to deal with the fluids. You’ll make it.

6. As mentioned in #3, a balance of high intensity and gentle workouts aids the body in recovery and development. Try for three aerobic sessions per week and two or more lighter workouts in between.

7. Throwing money at exercise will not make your workouts any better. Low tech equipment such as light weights, good footwear, and a decent yoga mat are all just about anybody needs to accomplish a decent fitness plan. When money is involved, the brain starts thinking value and outcomes and ratios and “did I get my money’s worth?” Exercise doesn’t work that way. The value is experienced over time as health care costs are lower and self-esteem is higher. You can try, but placing a monetary label on something like positive mental health defeats the purpose in my opinion. A good instructor is worth her weight in chocolate, I mean calories, but be careful about obsessing over what it costs to be physically fit. The price of not being in good shape is the real number you should be worrying about.

Do you have any suggestions for things to avoid that have made your workouts better?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey 

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well

Tuesday Tickle: Heat Up Creativity With These Jan. Celebrations

Posted on by Joy Held

Who doesn’t need a moment or two of mental game playing to relax the mind? When we are deeply engrossed in a project and start to feel bogged down or out of focus, taking a mental play date with some fun or nonsense notion can provide the respite we need to feel refreshed enough to finish the chores. These out-of-the-box January holidays may be just the ticket for giving you a moment of merriment and perhaps provide you with an idea or two for conversation or blogging like this first date did for me.

January 4 Trivia Day

I’m always looking for connections and synchronicity in my life. I needed something to jump start my blogging for the week and my husband has been obsessed this holiday with reading a particular book. It’s wonderful when my husband reads because usually he’s quiet, and I always know where to find him-in his comfy reading chair in the family room. But this book has been a noisy intrusion. He’s reading BRAINIAC, ADVENTURES IN THE CURIOUS, COMPETITIVE, COMPULSIVE WORLD OF TRIVIA BUFFS written by Jeopardy game show phenom Ken Jennings. Like I said, it’s fine when my husband reads, but he’s way too excited about this book. I know because instead of being quiet, he’s sharing out loud as he reads. And there are obviously many banal trivia questions in the book that he simply must ask me if I know the answer to. The holiday break has been a daily game of Jeopardy in my TV room while I’m trying to watch something serious like the New York Jets get their rears handed to them on a silver platter. But I’m patient because trivia, I’ve decided, is a form of higher intelligence. After all, as my daughter said during one of the quiz sessions, “I’m not so sure there is such a thing as useless knowledge.” Okay. I can agree with that because I’m a word person and the juxtaposition of ‘useless’ and ‘knowledge’ intrigues me. But when she immediately searched for useless knowledge dot com and started to add to the trivia swirling around the room, I went to another room to finish the cooking show I was watching. Cooking and food. That’s important.

In all fairness, Jennings’ book is well written and who would have thought to organize the world of trivia into a “Trivia Timeline: A Brief History of Time Wasting”? And I admit, I finally picked up the book and as my habit, read the last page first and was rewarded with trivia I consider valuable.

“Trivia, to borrow a phrase from Walt Whitman, is large. It contains multitudes. In fact, it contains everything. That’s what we love about it.” (Brainiac, Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs, Ken Jennings, The Random House Publishing Group, New York, 2006.)

January 20 Penguin Awareness Day

Again the connections and synchronicity of this observance caught my attention. I don’t typically have much use for penguins. I don’t understand how they can be so content waddling everywhere, but I guess if that’s all you know… The holiday information site Holiday Insights provided me with the loosely structured information about this day. While not a holiday or a national recognition of penguins, it provided me with a bridge to this post. I received a copy of the dvd The King’s Speech for Christmas which has an endearing scene in it where the king (played by Colin Firth) tells his daughters, (the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret) a bedtime story about a father who had been turned into a penguin by an evil witch. He is subliminally complaining about having to wear the tuxedo he is dressed in and claims that in the story, the papa is heartbroken because as a penguin he can’t hug his darling daughters because penguins have no arms. I loved the movie but I still don’t have much use for the poor penguin except to notice how the image cropped up twice in as many days on my personal radar. Well, that’s my contribution to Penguin Awareness Day January 20.

Here’s the website if you need some more random, synchronous connections to notice in your own world Holiday Insights.

Do you have any January observances you are especially looking forward to?

There are five primary areas of practice to the Writer Wellness plan. Every other week I will post an idea for relaxation (Monday Meditation,) creative play (Tuesday Tickle,) fitness and exercise (Wednesday Workout,) journaling and misc. (Thursday Thought,) and nutrition (Friday Feast.)

 

Meanwhile, remember to look for a digital or print copy of Writer Wellness, A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity at Who Dares Wins Publishing, http://whodareswinspublishing.com.

And check out these great blogs for ideas to keep your writing and publishing healthy and prosperous.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Bob Mayer

http://jenniholbrooktalty.wordpress.com/ Jenni Holbrook

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ Kristen Lamb

http://inspiration4writers.blogspot.com/ Inspiration for Writers, Inc.

http://pentopublish.blogspot.com/ Natalie Markey

http://amyshojai.com Amy Shojai

Check out my new website Joy E. Held

Have you subscribed to this Writer Wellness blog yet? Get email updates when a new post is added. Click “subscribe” and leave your email. That’s it and thanks in advance!

Be well, write well