Ouch

It's been three days since I started the gym and my pains have pains. I joined because I promised myself in 2012 that I would restart working out. I want to look better and feel better about myself health wise. I used to be in the gym last year and I probably went for 2 months total. That isn't so bad if I didn't pay for a year in advance. LOL. So this year I am determine to make things happen and not just sit at home and hope hat they happen.

I'm beginning to realise just how much of my life is lived in my head and not outside of it. Ouch Even though I know what I am suppose to do to achieve the things I want in my life still I place mental blocks, and obstacles in my way. And they are very clever that I am able to fool myself into thinking I deserve the behaviour that I engage in. I work hard all day I deserve to come home, sit in front of a TV/relax and do nothing don't I? DON'T I?

Apparently I don't. Ouch. Well let me clarify that, I do deserve to relax if I want but I also need to realise that every action has a consequence. If I sit on the couch for the next 5 -7 hours when I get home that is 5 - 7 hours that I am not committing my energies to creating the life I want. I saw this video my a man named Jeremy Yost. Jeremy was seriously obese and wanted to change his lifestyle to a more healtier one. Within a year Jeremy's weight loss was astounding but what was hard hitting for me was his motivation for getting up and deciding to lose the weight. Like all of us he had a vision of what he wanted to achieve. But that wasn't enough. He sat down and wrote down the pros and cons to achieving his dream. He discovered that there were more pros than cons and began to action it.  and what amazing results.

He discovered that what was stopping him from achieving his goals was his not having a strong enough, and clear enough vision of what he wanted to achieve in his life and when he got that vision in his mind and wrote down his goals it became a reality for him. I'm going to be following his example and applying myself to achieving my own goals and creating a strong enough vision that it will motivate and encourage me to achieve all of them.

Happy Birthday to ...me

Another birthday, another reminder that I'm getting older. But don't get me wrong I don't feel as if I'm getting older but better. Growing into my skin you could say. I look forward to the day when I can get my freedom pass, complain about the disrespect of young people today(I'm already doing this), and pass wind loudly in the middle of a rude carriage and laugh my toothless mouth off.  LOL.

But you know I discovered something out recently which makes me gratefully for living in a big city everyday. I work with a number of people from all over the world and I discovered that in some cultures birthdays do not have as great a significance as it does in Western society.
In the Western world a birthday is a day of celebration. It is a day to rejoice with other members of your family and friends that, I was born, I am part of a community, this is a rite of passage. A birthday says YES I exist. But if you are born into a world where you don't know where your next meal is going to come from, where your home is shelled almost daily by enemies of your state, political party, culture, religion, creed, class, or race, or where the fact of being born female is more likely to send up waves of lament rather than applause then, yes, a birthday isn't something you look forward to or even bother to remember.

Personally, I don't really "celebrate" my birthday. I know it's there, I acknowledge it but it's another day for me and I get on with it. I suppose when I was younger there was more of a significance. Age 7 the age of reasoning, Age 13 Puberty(eke!) Age 16 can learn to drive(still haven't), age 18 can vote,  21 can drink etc. There were all milestones and "rites of passage" in a growing individual life. But side I've been over in the UK My focus has been more on surviving and making sure I do the right thing for me to succeed. When I look back at it between the ages 24 and 30. I barely noticed the day. The one big day I started paying a little more attention was at 30. Where I tried to get drunk for the first time in my life and failed miserably. I ended up getting tipsy, slipping my drink all over my best friend and trying to lick it off him. Hmm, maybe I did get drunk. I'll hate to think I did that while sober. :-)

So anyway here's to me (and you if you are celebrating a birthday today) being on the wrong side of thirty and growing old disgracefully.

Looking good for 2012

New Year's day and I've still kept my resolutions.

I got up early and managed to make it to the New Year's day Parade. It's been years so it was a nice reminder. As usual the event was dominated by American teenage highschoolers. There were cheerleaders, tumblers, acrobats, floats and marching bands. Of course because this is England the floats are relatively small. Nothing to compare to the floats of gargantuan proportions of our American cousins.

The one thing I found disappointing is that though this is England, the British representatives in the parade were a poor showing. They were nowhere as sharply dressed, or enthusiastic as the Americans. The difference in American and British culture stood out sharply and it was a pity. We looked like the poorer cousins. I suppose we Brits no our strong points. We great at thinking and working out the finer details, but what the Americans excel at is he old razzle dazzle. All show no substance.

After the show I went to the portrait gallery and wandered around for an hour or two. Great portraiture pieces spanning the last three centuries from the 18th to 21st centuries. It's interesting to see how the subjuect changes over time from images of the royal and ariscocratic models to our modern day celebrities. I think I was more inteested in the art as an artictic endevour rather than the sudjects. I like going up close to see if i could see the brush strokes and how the paints themslves are mixed on the canvas. Funny how when near to the canvas or board you see sploshes of paint mixing, swirling, and frozen in mid movement and from a distance this crash of colour produces something remarkably beautiful.

I've been reinspired to take up my brush and dabble again or perhaps look for an art course to register on and learn the finer details of paiting.  Click on my paint on the left of the screen to see my dabbles on Flickr.

Be good. Stay positive.