What Swords Do You Carry?

Today’s card reminds me that I can change my mind. I am not limited to or locked in by what I think. I don’t have to be blinded by my thoughts, you see. The Eight of wands in many decks shows someone blindfolded while walking through a field of swords. Dangerous, that. One really should watch where one is going when one is navigating a “mind”field of sharp pointy things. This is one of the reasons I’m always on about seeking joy, y’all. My personal “mind”field is full of negativity and harsh thoughts–about myself and others. I have to watch the people I allow into my world–too much negativity and they must be moved to an outer ring. That’s how I control my joy hula hoop. I don’t let them in if they are going to suck my joy dry.

Lately I’ve been moving to a focus on the outer me now that I’m happier with the inner me. I LOATHE dieting. I LOATHE the focus on dieting. However, I loathe more the fact that my back is in constant pain. A few things have happened recently that have brought this to the forefront for me. The first was seeing one of my cousins. Last time I saw her (nearly a year to the day), she was a stocky woman showing off our shared German heritage of stocky womanness. This time she was about 1/3 of herself. All she did was eliminate two things from her diet. Sugar and the much-maligned gluten. Yes, it completely changed how she eats but, damn, she looked so good. Not her weight loss. Her energy. Her smile. Same German heritage–just less of it.

Then my best friend told me, yet again, that she would be doing this challenge thing. She’s done it twice so far. So this time, I took the plunge. It’s a 24 Day Challenge where you drink their drinks and take their vitamins. I’m on day six today. It’s working. Period.

I’ve also been focused on walking 10,000 steps a day. I have hit that a time or two. What’s nice is that my weekly average has been going steadily up. Week before last I walked 21.1 miles for a personal best. Then last week (it runs Sunday to Saturday on my pedometer app on my phone) broke that record. The app I use is MOVES (may be iOS only…sorry Droid lovers) and it is free. It keeps me on track because I can see that at noon I’ve only walked 2200 steps so I need to …grin…step it up. But back to the personal best of 21.1 being broken.

You read me correctly. I broke my record. OH YES I DID. 22.5 miles walked. That’s 56,289 steps for 11:09 hours of walking. I’m averaging 8041.25 steps a day. And you know what? I’ve found that walking is something I really enjoy. I hear/see birds. I sometimes visit with other walkers. I love seeing if I can walk just one block more. I take pictures too. And then there are some other bonuses.

Some of those benefits I’ve learned (yes, I’ve read them but never believed them) are that I am far less cranky when I walk. The more I walk, the better I feel. My feet are hurting less (bonus) but it still takes me some doing to get motivated in the morning. I have some pretty impressive blisters too. Right now I’m back to walking in my Birks and switching to my tennis just so my feet have some changes. Oh. There is one other benefit.

I have lost five pounds doing this plus the Advocare 24 day challenge (started that on Wednesday). If you want to do it too, go here to get yours. It’s definitely challenging but it’s working so that’s a good point. The cleanse part isn’t so hard except I really miss dairy. LOL I had a tiny piece of farmer’s cheese that I put in this morning’s omelet. Had to make myself do that instead of the meal replacement shake. Those things are seriously tasty. I loved breakfast drinks as a kid. The chocolate mocha one tastes very similar to those.

One of the drawbacks is the fiber drink. OMG. Just drink it as fast as you can. It’s not NASSSSSSSSSSSTY but it is nasty. 😀 The Spark energy drink has truly done what it says. I am only doing one of those a day. It is tasty as well. I prefer the orange to the fruit punch.

It’s helping me change how I think about things. Food wise I’m eating more salads and focusing on more veggies at night. I’m lucky in that I adore things like cabbage which is very filling. All in all, the new healthy me is doing well. When I’m done with this challenge, I hope that I will have a new idea of how to eat better and control things like dairy and wheat. That’s really my goal. I don’t say diet because it’s not a diet per se. It’s more of a lifestyle/attitude adjustment for me. 😀 That’s why I picked the 8 of Swords. Sometimes thoughts are my worst enemies. I have to control them around food a lot. I have some “issues” around food.

A big one is an empty pantry. Anyone who knows me will tell you I hoard certain types of food. I can’t be without mustard, vinegar and pickles. Yes, I hear you laughing now but having them makes me feel secure. I could have no meat in the house and feel less anxious than when I know I’m down to my last bottle of mustard. It’s like a crisis for me. Same for Tabasco . Funny thing is, I don’t use any of them that much other than the vinegar. Right? Laugh all you want!

Do you have certain foods that have to be in your house? What are they? Or is that not one of your hangups? I think, for me, I will need to remove my blindfold in this particular “mind”field so I can examine it a bit more.

Still, feeling the loosening of clothes? Oh yeah…priceless. I don’t think I’d be seeing these results if I weren’t doing the walking of course. But I haven’t had anything to drink that hasn’t been water. The diet sodas, so I hear, actually work against a healthy life style. No sugar AT all. That’s been super hard. The strawberries with Stevia last night went a long way to helping that sweet tooth issue. Truly that’s my weakness. 😀 So I’m going to the store today to get more fruit. I’ve polished off the quarter watermelon I got on Tuesday. Strawberries are gone. So more fruit to curb Arwen’s sweet tooth. 😀

And more work on my thoughts around food and need. 😀

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

8 of Swords, World Spirit Tarot, U.S. Games

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