Glitter or Not in Everyday Ramblings

Enough already with the leaves you might find yourself saying, but these are special leaves from a giant Scarlet oak that is over 200 years old and has presided over a view of the river, sheltered a manor home, and now fronts a modest home where the retired owner tends to his peonies and roses all out in the open for passersby to enjoy.

Plus, I think the frost makes the leaves look furry and that is cool.

My goal is to get 12,000 steps a day and a corresponding 5 miles and twenty minutes of cardio. Lately with the rain and cold it has been getting later in the day to hit these targets and I noticed over the weekend that I was dragging my tail feathers slogging it out to hit my targets before it is full on dark. I was depressed.

Not having fun or enjoying it at all. Pushing myself when I would rather be doing something else, pretty much anything else. Including resting. This week I have made a pack with myself that I will knock these targets out before noon. It means I need to be more focused and deliberate.

So far it has been working well. Putting a box around it, containing the effort really does seem to help. It also allows the cats to settle. My mood had improved.

That is a good thing because I am teaching “How to Cultivate a Sense of Well Being” this week. I do try to embody what I teach.

My students are engaged on this topic. And there has been some silliness. This morning Mrs. Sherlock, who went with her walking group yesterday for a tour of the downtown Christmas lights and decorations said in class that our problem was that we weren’t wearing enough glitter. I think perhaps she might have been channeling her inner seven-year-old.

We’ll be getting her light up sneakers soon.

For the record, I am not a glitter person. I am clearly a frost on fallen leaves person. I know those of you in the Southern Hemisphere don’t make as big a deal of the solstice as we do but I am thrilled to have today be the last shortest day of the year. We even have sun. I am trying to savor it and besides taking the bus to the store to stock up for the deep freeze we are all heading for, I went for a lovely walk as well.

And! The roofers are not here today. Yesterday it was close to freezing and wet, and they were up there geared up working all day. It has got to be an absolutely miserable job on a day like that. There were dropping stuff from the roof all day and it was driving the cats crazy and I had to close the blinds. There is tarry residue all over my patio and at one point they had dropped a plastic bag on top of my birdfeeder and a chickadee was trying to negotiate it.

They aren’t done yet. I can’t imagine they are going to try to work tomorrow with the high forecast of 25˚F. And we are due for snow on Friday. I hope they don’t try.

In the meantime, though I am well provisioned, The blinds are open, the cats are calm. And I do have a sense of well-being.

My heart and skin are behaving. I am completely recovered from the fall. I only have four more classes to teach before I get a nine-day break. The cats have been to the vet and Diego is stable. Carlo is probably the healthiest cat I have ever lived with, and he is pretty darn handsome too.

I signed up for the Cronometer App and am having fun making sure I get enough fiber and protein and playing with the metrics. I haven’t been doing this long enough to feel that my clothes are looser but there is momentum in that direction.

In eight weeks or so we will start seeing the early daffodil shoots and crocuses. Those weeks are going to fly by as I have my speech therapy appointments and the budget stuff to learn for the League.

And there is always always stuff to learn to keep my teaching fresh.

Well-being is a skill the experts say. One I hope we all can work to improve into the new year because oh baby these last few years have been one heck of a challenge.

Generosity and forgiveness seem to be key as well as cultivating physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, financial, and occupational factors that are a good match for us. Having a positive outlook on these areas is possible no matter what our circumstances are. Nobody said it was easy though.

Grist for the mill here as we head on into the holiday week. May yours be bright and safe and merry if that spirit moves you. Glitter or not.

Last updated December 22, 2022