The Glove--Tina helping Tina

The glove of addiction and overconsumption continues to be peeled off in the Findlay household. However, one thing I've had trouble with is commitment to daily fitness and exercise. We have a treadmill in the basement, and I was doing ten minutes a day for a little while. The treadmill is beside a wall, facing a wall, beneath a low ceiling, in a chilly basement climate. And a constant torment was this: what to use as the soundtrack, music, spoken word, peppy music, rock or soul peppy music, library audiobooks, Bible on CD, what, what, what??? Talk about absurdity--this is one of those things that shows the backlash of being such a music-loving creative type. There's no such thing as "just throw any old thing on, and go with it."

So along comes the savior of this torment, my Sarah Palin-esque Emmy-winning namesake, Tina Fey. I'm a big fan of 30 Rock, and have been needing to seriously lighten up emotionally, get my stress-induced blood pressure level under control. A wonderful idea emerged--turn the treadmill toward the TV, pop in 30 Rock, and let that be the focus while I break my daily sweat.

One episode per day has been working like a charm. From the warmup during the pre-opening sketch, to the turbo burn during the closing credits, giggling all the way in between, this has rapidly become a valuable tool for my body, mind, and soul. I'm calling it my sitcom slimdown plan. Five days in a row so far, I'm on a roll!

Let's do whatever silly, unorthodox, creative things we need to do to keep peeling off our "gloves" and let our real selves emerge as radiant and energetic as they are meant to be. What crazy things work for you?

Ripping the glove off--reprogramming!

It's working...as Oprah would say, "I get it, people!" Sugar, caffeine, white flour, all the satan substances, are steadily on the culinary decline in the Findlay diet. We are feeling better all the time, yet still are in the throes of reprogramming ourselves out of "the food matrix" once and for all. We are learning that so much of what is shoved into our faces via marketing is so harmful, and far below the optimum for food consumption. For me, as I gain in knowledge about food, health, and especially world hunger, it is becoming easier to eat less and stop the insanity. I've gotten out my old Susan Powter books, as well as Suzanne Somers, Stormie Omartian--Greater Health God's Way, even my old Weigh Down stuff. It's a blast to extract the nuggets of wisdom that click with me, and increasingly apply them consistently to my daily relationship with food. If I can evolve from a daily 44-ouncer at 2 pm to an unflavored pure water bottle at my side, you can, too! I see and feel the difference in my moods, my skin, my energy level, my clothes, in so many ways. Now I'm fixin' to add some sort of exercise regimen to the schedule, and future entries will track the progress of this former fast-pitch windmill and slingshot softball pitcher.

Ripping the glove off yet again...

"Addiction stays on tight like a glove..." -- lyric from not one but two songs on the hauntingly beautiful Emmylou Harris project entitled "Wrecking Ball"

Bottled water, oatmeal, and loads of veggies--that's a glimpse of my latest attempt to get healthy and detoxed. If I had a dime for every 44-ouncer I've downed in this life, I'd be Trump-rich by now. But like the Girl Scouts say, it doesn't matter where a girl has been, what matters is where she is going. Actually, all stages of the journey matter, but I trust you know what I mean.

Yesterday, I celebrated my 41 month miracle marriage. To be honest, I've been celebrating my newfound closer proximity to happiness all these months with, shall we say, caloric prosperity. For me, I guess it's some complex combo of success eating and stress eating.

Anyway, I'm thankful that the level of addictive behavior in my life has progressively decreased to this point, where it seems like the final frontier, the threshhold where dramatic breakthroughs are destined to occur, as the roots of the roots of the roots of this issue finally breathe their last breaths of toxicity, like mushroom cloud residue lifting and leaving the land once and for all (anybody watch Jericho?).

So wish me luck, keep Snicker bars away from me, pour me another vitamin water, and check back with me in the not-so-distant future for an update. All encouraging words welcome...