This title is inspired by one of my all-time favorite songs by Dave Matthews. He does an awesome acoustic version which he performed during the telethon immediately after 9/11. If you've never heard it, maybe you can check it out on youtube. Look for the Farm Aid video.
Anyway, my point today is about the value of the daily check-in.
Yesterday on a long hike, Mr. Balancing Act and I were discussing our garden. I may have mentioned that it is on the brink, if not completely over the edge, of disaster. You can barely even find our garden these days due the dense and fertile overgrowth of weeds. Not little short weeds. We are not talking clover here. No, these weeds are taller than I am. I can still find and harvest the tomatoes, as that bed was heavily mulched and is resisting the onslaught of the weeds. But that's the only one. And the cucumbers are now covered with baby stinkbugs. Half of the plants are already dead and the rest will be soon. We bought an organic spray to kill them, but they just seemed to enjoy a lovely little bath in it. If anyone has used a product that actually kills these invaders, short of napalm, I would love to hear about it!
So we were attempting to distill the garden's needs down to an essence of chores that we plan to do together. This is new, as my husband and I have VERY different gardening styles. We tend to do most things separately, but as we have been watching the garden fall apart before our eyes, we have decided to join forces.
Step Number One: the daily check-in. Every day. I strongly believe this is an essential element to caring for anything. During the daily check-in, you need to look carefully. This is the time to assess how things are going, what may be going wrong, and what steps are needed to remedy any problems. In the garden, for example, you might look for bug damage, wilt, dry soil, weed growth, fruit that is ready to harvest, etc.
But the daily check-in applies to anything that you care deeply about. And hopefully your health is at the top of that list. We often check-in with the people we love to see how they are doing. But do we check-in with ourselves? With our bodies? With our minds? Our emotions? Not very often.
Most days, I do a weigh-in on the scale first thing in the morning. On occasion I avoid it, but this never bodes well for the next time. Denial does not improve the chances of an excellent outcome! Better to face the issue head-on, with all the facts, so you know what you are up against. The number of pounds on the scale is not a perfect measurement as it tells us nothing about our percentage of fat, but it is better than no measurement at all. And from this number, you can make some decisions about what needs to be done. Maybe it is nothing more than a reminder to rein in the portion size of your meals or drink more water on this particular day. If you hate the scale, use a measuring tape. Or try on the jeans you are attempting to fit into again. My personal opinion is that just looking in the mirror is not a very good indicator. Our eyes can and will play tricks on us.
Whatever method works for you, make the daily check-in a habit. A ritual. And use the information you gather to help plan your strategy for the day. Every day.
Anyway, my point today is about the value of the daily check-in.
Yesterday on a long hike, Mr. Balancing Act and I were discussing our garden. I may have mentioned that it is on the brink, if not completely over the edge, of disaster. You can barely even find our garden these days due the dense and fertile overgrowth of weeds. Not little short weeds. We are not talking clover here. No, these weeds are taller than I am. I can still find and harvest the tomatoes, as that bed was heavily mulched and is resisting the onslaught of the weeds. But that's the only one. And the cucumbers are now covered with baby stinkbugs. Half of the plants are already dead and the rest will be soon. We bought an organic spray to kill them, but they just seemed to enjoy a lovely little bath in it. If anyone has used a product that actually kills these invaders, short of napalm, I would love to hear about it!
So we were attempting to distill the garden's needs down to an essence of chores that we plan to do together. This is new, as my husband and I have VERY different gardening styles. We tend to do most things separately, but as we have been watching the garden fall apart before our eyes, we have decided to join forces.
Step Number One: the daily check-in. Every day. I strongly believe this is an essential element to caring for anything. During the daily check-in, you need to look carefully. This is the time to assess how things are going, what may be going wrong, and what steps are needed to remedy any problems. In the garden, for example, you might look for bug damage, wilt, dry soil, weed growth, fruit that is ready to harvest, etc.
But the daily check-in applies to anything that you care deeply about. And hopefully your health is at the top of that list. We often check-in with the people we love to see how they are doing. But do we check-in with ourselves? With our bodies? With our minds? Our emotions? Not very often.
Most days, I do a weigh-in on the scale first thing in the morning. On occasion I avoid it, but this never bodes well for the next time. Denial does not improve the chances of an excellent outcome! Better to face the issue head-on, with all the facts, so you know what you are up against. The number of pounds on the scale is not a perfect measurement as it tells us nothing about our percentage of fat, but it is better than no measurement at all. And from this number, you can make some decisions about what needs to be done. Maybe it is nothing more than a reminder to rein in the portion size of your meals or drink more water on this particular day. If you hate the scale, use a measuring tape. Or try on the jeans you are attempting to fit into again. My personal opinion is that just looking in the mirror is not a very good indicator. Our eyes can and will play tricks on us.
Whatever method works for you, make the daily check-in a habit. A ritual. And use the information you gather to help plan your strategy for the day. Every day.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please share your helpful questions and comments here! Thanks for being part of this balanced community!