Hog and body maintenance

Took my Harley in for service today. Had the 10k service done. Hard to believe I've ridden that many miles in the year I've had it. Wonder how many miles I'd put on it if I lived someplace other than the soggy Pacific Northwest?

Anyway, the shop has an area set aside as a customer lounge with TV, Wi-Fi and other assorted distractions. Since it wasn't actively raining, I took the opportunity to put some miles on my boots and wandered off. Now granted, this wasn't exactly a workout, but the point I'm trying to make is that opportunities for exercise exist all around if we'd simply pay attention and take advantage of them.

Do you cruise around the mall parking lot looking for a spot close to the door? Doing so not only increases the chance of door dings it typically makes it harder to get out of the parking lot. And, you miss the opportunity to get a little additional exercise walking. How could the short distance difference matter, you ask? A single instance wouldn't matter but consistently parking further away from the entrance has a cumulative effect. It's the same thing with your diet. Is one dish of ice cream going to add poundage to your person? Not really. But a dish every night for a month sure will.

Make it a point to move your body every day. Look for opportunities to add movement to your day. Do that each and every day for a year. Keep track in a log if that helps. Next Christmas you'll look and feel like a whole different person.

Check out some of the links on the right like Body by God, Matt Furey and Dr. Mercola for more info.

Oh, and the Hog is purring nicely. Or should I say, thundering nicely?

Survived another one

Christmas is over. Finally. It's not that I don't like this time of year. It's just that it's typically the most difficult for me emotionally. I start struggling with depression as the days get shorter. My exercise routines get further apart and less intense. My eating habits deteriorate. I withdraw emotionally. Quite simply, I experience a sort of meltdown.

Add all of that to the insanity of the hyper-commercialism Christmas in America has become and I go into survival mode around Thanksgiving. I can't wait for Christmas to be over. My mantra becomes, "You can do this, you can get through it. Once you're on the other side life will seem worth living again."

I also dislike how disappointed I am in people during this season of "brotherly love". The pressure to outdo oneself from last year or to upstage one's friends and family seems to reduce people to a snarling pack of mutts. The selfishness is astonishing. Most seem to think that by giving another person a material object somehow makes up for being a (fill in the blank) during the rest of the year.

In spite of all of the above, I love the spirit of the season and relish the eternal gift it represents. I am especially astonished during Christmas at the love God shows us, and am humbled by the reminder that I should be more forgiving and loving myself. My hope and prayer for the new year is that I can learn to forgive myself and look upon myself with kind eyes, as Dr. Maxwell Maltz has said. That way I can forgive others and look upon them with kind eyes since my filter will be clean.

Maybe that's why I have such a hard time with the season. If I enjoyed it more, perhaps I wouldn't be reminded of how lacking I am in the brotherly love catagory.