Pick Up the Pace

Spring is giving me new energy to get things done! 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda this week:

1. Read "The Spirited Walker"

2. Walking script
3. Spring cleaning and Home projects

4. Spring plastic round up!
5. Grandson fun

1. Read "The Spirited Walker":

I'm reading this little book by Carolyn Scott Kortge (1998), with the subtitle, Fitness walking for clarity, balance, and spiritual connection. She equates walking to a regular meditation or mindfulness practice. " ... walking has many parallels to life. Walkers move forward, take steps, go toward something. ...the action changes your perspective. It offers a fresh point of view."

I'm in Chapter 5, Breathwork for Walkers. Steady deep breathing calms the mind and relaxes muscles. You will get tired faster and get side-aches 

if you walk fast without 

breath control. Breathing practice is useful in any time of stress. It unifies the mind and body.

2. Walking script:

On Monday I also take time to use beginner's mind to create a perspective shift for healthy habits and renewal, and write a script for change. 

Beginner's mind is dropping expectations and preconceived ideas, seeing things with an open mind, fresh eyes, curiosity and wonder.

My pattern is to take 4-5 walks one week then only 2 the next. I always have good excuses. This week I'm going to give attention to 2 steps on 

My Walking Script:

4:15 - At the bottom of my priority list, write: Walking = Destination idea + Reward (such as NF + Donut)

9:30 - Set the visual timer to go off at 10, get dressed, and pack what I need for the walk.

3. Spring cleaning and Home projects

In March I take the first steps of spring cleaning and maintenance, those big jobs that get put off through the winter months. This week my focus is in the bedrooms - cleaning the filter on the heat pump, and cleaning the windows outside and in. 

I'm also doing the work to finish our home projects, because creating our home sanctuary is a priority, and finishing projects (one by one) satisfies my need for completion, integrity, and order. 

My goals this week:

1. Call an electrician about grounded outlet
2. Plan steppers and plantings! 
3. Reclaim fence wood
4. Make sand pit 
5. Get green and orange paint, drainage rocks, sand for pit
6. Buy screens
7. Paint header boards, posts
8. Seal fence
9. Paint bedroom windows
10. Sew canvas roof 
11. Dig up drain field

4. Spring plastic round up!

In the spring, when the snow melts and the birds return, I am eager to clean up the plastic garbage I see in my neighborhood. Plastic poses an urgent threat to the lives of birds, because mother birds, anxiously trying to fill the stomachs of hungry babies, will pick up bits of plastic that look like colorful worms, and stuff them into babies beaks. 

Scientists have named it plasticosis. It causes severe malnutrition, organ failure, and high mortality rates.

My habit is to go out at least once a week with grabbers and a garbage bag and clean up litter. I also do a scour of my own yard for discarded plant pots and plastic toys - these will eventually break down into small bug-sized pieces.
If you need a visual motivation to clean up your plastic act, take a look at this photo of a dead albatross chick at the Smithsonian site.

5. Grandson fun:

Monday is also my day to prepare for fun kid activities throughout the week. I'm going to prepare some bird and nest projects, and a birthday project for Mommy, plus edit and add to our choice cards:

• Hunt for litter outside
• Plant sunflowers
• Birds and nests
• Make stepping stones
• Feed squirrels
• Painting
• AC car
• Ride bicycles
• Playground