An old lesson for me was learned yesterday and I want to share my thoughts about it with you. Yesterday I went to the swimming pool (campus gym). I haven't swum for about a year because I usually get cold in water. I began to swim and after 20 min I was tired and felt that I was not moving correctly or breathing correctly. But I thought, maybe it was because my body lost memory about how to swim and I just need to do it more often and it will come back to normal eventually. I took a mini test to see how I was doing by counting how many times I need to change breath in each half lap (15 miles). That's my own way to measure my performance and I counted 13! Woooo... that confirmed I was doing bad, I usually take about 10-11. So, I focused on how I was swimming... how I was moving my legs and arms and how I was coordinating them. As I focused on what I was doing instead of thinking anything else (what to have dinner, what I have to do tomorrow, what's in my research agenda, how can I deal with hot weather tomorrow, etc) I improved immediately, from 13 to 12 the first lap and then after few laps I was doing 11. And the best part was I enjoyed more and I feel less tired! Bottom line: we can only do things well if we really focus on what we're doing. We often do one thing and think about other things, which makes us act like a machine doing just what we should be doing instead of enjoying it. How many times you workout and think about other things than working out itself? How many times when you eat you think about what's coming next instead of savor every bite of the food? That's so normal and I'm sure everyone does it.... but try to focus on what you're doing in the moment, and it really feels different. You perform better and enjoy more. If the purpose of we do is to relax ourselves from other things in our life, what's the point of thinking those stressful things when we're supposed to be relaxing??
And then I asked myself what are the things that when I do, I am 100% in it. I could only be sure about doing research and yoga. And by no surprise I enjoy so much both of them and I do well on both of them. I guess it's not a coincidence that we focus doing what we enjoy and because of that, we do them well.
I'll definitely apply this concept into others things in life and I hope by this way I can live/enjoy each moment of the short life.
What do you think? Do you live the moment?
I'll definitely apply this concept into others things in life and I hope by this way I can live/enjoy each moment of the short life.
What do you think? Do you live the moment?
okay. now to eats
Breakfast: I wanted to try Krista's mango oat combo the night before I read her post but when I woke up I was craving toast. So I listened to my body and went to my old favorite combo: strawberries, mango, Tj's english muffin, Cinnamon Swirl PB and laughing cow.
Before leaving home to campus I had an orange and packed left half pack of the crackers because my presentation was going to finish at 2pm.
Back home assembled a quick cold-warm salad since I was starving. Cold part: Spinach + sprouts + tomatoes. Warm part: sauteed celery, tofu and peppers with Country Bob's BBQ sauce 
and sesame seeds. It was perfect, I love it.
And an oatmeal bagel with laughing cow.
Dessert: ice cream + cookie (treat from Krista)
Perfect combo!!! ^_^PM snack: a bowl of kamuf puffs, almond breeze chocolate and fresh blackberries.
Dinner: a fusion of italian, chinese and japanese meal! Leftover vegetarian lasagna, scrambled egg with cucumbers and seaweed soup.
And 3 course dessert: dairy free chocolate pudding, white fungus and argentinian chocolate.
STUFFED but happy~~ ^_^Question 2: What do you do with your old clothes?
I have a lot of used cloth that I don't think I'll use again, but each one brings some memories so I'm reluctant to throw them away.
14 comments:
sounds like a great swim! focusing generally does help us do better. :-)
I donate my old clothes to goodwill or other thrift stores. it's my favorite way to recycle.
Yeah, I agree with your comment - your heart has to be in it if you want to succeed at something! And I admit, when I workout, I'm often thinking about other things. But this isn't always bad. When I'm running, I like that I can think. That said, I also appreciate when I'm just in the moment and have a clear mind. Sometimes when I'm boxing, I like to pretend that the pad I'm hitting is some annoying person I don't like..!
Anyway, I probably don't always live in the moment and it is something I need to be more conscious of. Thanks for your post. It's good to get a little kick every now and then to remind you of these things!
Oh yeah - your food! Gorgeous as usual. I love your cold-warm salad. Sesame seeds are great!
Also, thanks for the info on the white fungus. I'm wondering where you find it? Chinese shops? And do you get it fresh? Sorry for the 20 questions!
I definitely relate to your comment about focus. It really makes a huge difference if you can focus on what you are doing. I find that to be very true in my workouts - I do much better if I'm simply focusing on working out instead of reading a magazine or thinking about other things. One thing that really helps me do that is having everything else under control, so to speak. For example, if the house is a wreck, I have twenty million things to do, and I'm afraid I'm going to be late for the next place I need to go, then it's really difficult to focus completely on workout out (or whatever I'm doing). But if I have a plan for accomplishing all those other things I need to do, it is much easier to focus.
Ooooh, I haven't tried those cookies that you got, but now I am going to lookout for them! They look gooooood!
I always let friends go through my clothes that I don't wear anymore, then whatever's left goes to charity.
I like the beginning of you post and I think those are very wise words to live by. Life is WAY too short. For instance, DD will be 10next month and I wonder where the heck 10 years went? And if the next 10 go by as fast she'll be 20 before I know it and I'm not ready for that. YIKES!
What a great eating day, everything you had looked so awesome! I definitely need to prepare my breakfasts better, you have inspired me! I also need to get those cookies :)
wow, the first part of this post really made me think I do think I actually do a lot of things perfunctorily, without much thought. yeah, I'm def going to try to live every moment and focus on everything I do, too!
for my old clothes, I use them as rags to clean the floor or something, or just donate them!
thanks for the insight on concentrating on the "now" instead of the "what next". i often find myself going through the motions at the gym, almost hypnotically, but after reading your post i want to try to concentrate on my workouts more so i can get the most out of them. i appreciate your motivation! good job on the quick improvement with the swimming.
don't get me started on old clothes! i swear i can find an excuse for every article of clothing i own, even if it is ten years old. so i have boxes of clothes i will never wear just collecting dust. i used to buy a shirt at every concert i went to as a teenager, and my sister is working on making all those shirts into a patchwork quilt, which will be awesome to have.
love your food photos also, the cold warm salad was my favorite photo for the post!
Living/being in the moment is one of the MAJOR things that we worked on in both of my yoga trainings! So often we're not in the moment at all - planning, thinking of something else - and we miss out. I think the best way to stay in the moment is to focus on your breath at first, and then just try to experience what's happening at that moment. It's so important not just in yoga but in life as well. I'm glad you talked about this :)
As for the clothes - I have a lot of clothes that I should get rid of (never ever wear) but they have memories. I like the idea of making a quilt out of them! My mom quilts so maybe I'll ask her to do that for me :)
I'm sure bbq would be fine too. I also added parmessan (can't spell that..) cheese, about 3 T shredded.
I am going to make the silken tofu chocolate pudding this week. I bought a block of tofu but I am curious as to the amount of chocolate and almond milk I should add. Should I Just play around with it?
I definitely go through my clothes before each summer and call to have a clothing pick up come :) TOtally agree with your comment about having to be focused! Good point girl ;)
:) Swimming is nice!!!
and the food you prepared looks lovely!!!
About the clothes, there is an old saying" the old doesn't gone, the new doesn't come"
I completely and totally agree with your comments on "we can only do things well if we really focus on what we're doing". I love swimming but I've never thought about counting the number of breaths!! That's a great idea to keep track of things. And you're right, my mind always wanders off when I swim, but I think it's relaxing and free at the saee time.
You have one of my favorite java ice-creams RIGHT THERE!!! ahhh i miss it!!! I bought it once for my mom when she visited me in Chicago, and she also fell in love with it!!! :)
I keep all my old clothes. hahahah It's a HUGE waste of room even though I want to donate it all the time!!
Hehe--I love how all the cows on Stonyfield products have different hats on!
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