Food for Thought...

I'm a quote person. I love finding compelling quotes and pondering them, or passing along encouraging quotes to my friends, or journaling about a particular thing that I read or heard that really got my mind going.

I also write a quote to dwell upon for the week on my bathroom mirror. Now this may sound odd, I guess, but think of all the not-awkard-to-talk-about time you spend in the bathroom. Washing your face, getting ready for work, doing your hair, brushing your teeth, washing your hands, putting on makeup...the list goes on. So the bathroom mirror, for me and my routines, is a good place to put something that I want to see and think about. For me, doing my hair doesn't take much thought, as the motions are pretty much muscle memory at this point. The same with brushing my teeth...or any number of things on that list I just mentioned.

This week's quote has just really stuck in my mind, and I've found myself dwelling on it a lot:

"Strive not to be successful, but to be of value."

 [Albert Einstein]

 

This idea of being a person of value has just really caused me to stop and think about my life, and how many things are deterring me from being of value. Wasting time watching shows on Netflix for hours at a time, instead of being productive, or getting enough sleep so I can alert at work the next morning. Making decision based solely on me and not considering the far reaching effects of buying that candy bar that supports slave labor just because I'm craving candy. Spending money on clothes and shoes when I don't even wear half of what I own already. Just normal, everyday things that are hindering me from being a person of value.

 

 

I encourage you to ponder this quote in your own life, and maybe make some simple changes to help you become a person of value, instead of just striving to be "successful".

 

 

Continuing to ponder,

-AA

Thankful Thursdays

A few days ago, I wrote about a challenge to be more thankful - taking time at the end of every day to write down 5 positive/thankful things that happened during that day. And since I truly believe that being a more thankful, happy person can inspire others to in turn be more thankful and happy, I decided that most Thursday I'm going to recap the various things I wrote down for the previous week. I won't post them all, because some will be repetitive, some will be personal, some will be inside jokes that aren't worth sharing to anyone else.

I once again challenge all of you readers to join me in the quest to be a happier, more positive, more thankful person! Feel free to share some of you thankful thoughts with me!

Because I just started this challenge on Tuesday, I don't have a whole lot to post today. But here it is anyway!

1) Great friends. They are so hard to find, but I've been blessed with quite a few!
2) One of the girls in my Wednesday night program at church telling me "Miss Ali, you're the best teacher ever!"
3) Almost being knocked over by the kids in that program's hugs.
4) Violet and Kai being at the house when I got home from work yesterday.
5) My mom cooking dinner for the family on a regular basis.
6) Falling asleep watching Beauty and the Beast.

So there you have it. A brief glimpse into some positive and thankfulness-provoking moments of my life. What are you thankful for this Thursday?

AA

Life Update!

Back in October, I posted about my life and a few things that I really needed to focus on fixing. So for any of you that care about updates...here it is.

The first one was oversleeping.

This is still a HUGE problem for me. I just literally struggle to get out of bed in the morning, no matter how much sleep I've had. For some reason it's entirely logical to hit snooze every 5 minutes from 6:30 to the last possible minute. Now that my hair is short and requires time to actually style and is incapable of just being thrown into a quick bun, I expect my morning routine to change drastically. I hope.



Then I mentioned my caffeine intake.

This one I have greatly improved on. I am down to 1-2 cups of coffee most days. This is a huge deal for me because I just genuinely love coffee. And I was drinking 4-5 cups a day. I haven't really gotten into drinking green tea as a substitute, I just cut my afternoon cup of something basically out completely. I also have pretty much eradicated soda from my diet. I'll drink some occasionally, but now that I'm used to not drinking it, I don't enjoy it nearly as much when I do. Yay for progress!

Another area of vast improvement is my eating habits. I'm like literally a whole new person when it comes to eating. I've started making a smoothie for breakfast just about every morning that has acai berry juice, non-fat Greek yogurt, flax seed, chia seed, and whatever other healthy ingredients I have on hand at the time. For lunch a lot of days at the office I'll have homemade granola and yogurt, or oatmeal with cranberries and almonds. I reach for healthier options like whole grain crackers and fruit for snacks. I don't eat fast food nearly as often, either.

The last thing I mentioned in that October post was going to the gym. This is the area that I've had the most progress in for sure. I work out at least 3 days a week. The buddy system works, guys! My friend and I push each other to do just one more rep...to stay focused and reach our goals. And I'm definitely seeing results and really excited to keep going!





So there you have it. Some things I've greatly improved on, and others still need a little more focus and attention. So here is to 2014 being the best year yet!

AA

Baby, it's cold outside...

(Note: I started this post back in January, and then my life, again, became extremely stressful and chaotic so here it is...a few months later...)

It's been quite some time since I've written a post. Part of that is because the holiday season is mass chaos for my family and me. Part of that is because I haven't been inspired to write a post. But here I am, back again. This wasn't really the topic I was planning for my comeback post, but inspiration (or Divine direction) happens sometimes in the strangest of times.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much we complain in a day? It's too early. It's too cold. This coffee is not hot enough. I ordered my burger without vegetation of any kind. I don't have anything to wear. There's nothing to eat in this house. The list of complaints uttered daily by all of us could fill volumes and volumes and volumes. Well last night was one of those times when I got a reality check on my habit of complaining.

One of my close friends and I have decided to make a much better habit of going to the gym. So last night, even though it was 0 degrees on my car thermometer, with a real feel in the sub-zero zone, we went to the gym. And on my way home, I started to complain. About how cold it was. About how my car heater wasn't warming up fast enough. And there, mid-complaint about how cold the steering wheel was even though I was wearing my favorite mittens, I saw him.

I don't know who he was, were he was going, or why he was there. But as I drove down my street at 8:30, there was a guy probably around my age, walking along the side of the road. His coat was zippered up as far as it could be. His hood was up. But a coat doesn't do much when you're walking in subzero wind chills.

And that's when it hit me. Here I was, sitting in my relatively warm car. I just came from the warm gym, and I was going to my warm house to take a hot shower, and get into my warm clothes, and sit in my warm bed. Now I don't know if this guy had a home to go to or not. I don't know why he was outside on that particular evening. But there are a lot of people that don't have a warm house, or warm clothes, or a warm car, or a warm bed.

Is it cold around here? Yes. 9 below with a windchill in the 30s again this morning was freezing. But does that give me a right to complain? Absolutely not. The thing of it is, we get so spoiled in our comfortable life that we often forget the bigger picture. We often forget how blessed we truly are. The lessons that we've learned in times past.

We all have so much to be thankful for. But we take it far too often for granted. And we need to stop.

(Now we are jumping to the present. January to March in one blog post. You can now say you time traveled. Welll....not really, but you can still tell people that if you want!)

I heard some good advice the other day that I want to share and challenge you all with. At the end of every day, write down 5 things that you are thankful for, or 5 moments that made you smile, or 5 good things that happened that day. Every day. And watch how your attitude and outlook improves. I am going to accept this challenge, and I hope you all do, too. I'll post mine here a lot, but probably not everyday.

Here are mine from yesterday:

1) Seeing improvement in our workout from consistent gym time!
2) Reading llama llama books with two of my closest friends in the middle of Barnes & Noble! (don't judge. We had fun.)
3) Hearing the good news that one of my closest friends got accepted to the grad program she wanted!
4) Eating an orange for a snack instead of something unhealthy!
5) Cleaning my room and getting everything organized. Almost done with my spring cleaning now!

Hoping we all make the decision to stop complaining,

AA