Thursday, May 28, 2009

Training in Tranquility

I went into the gym this morning feeling grumpy. The economy is on my mind, and it's the season for annual performance evaluations at work. The budget is tight, and small differences in my evaluation could make big differences in the amount of money my family has on hand next year. But things are hard everywhere. I tried to remind myself that I was lucky to have a good job. That others have it much, much worse. Intellectually, I know this. Emotionally, though, I was tense and stressed and worried.

Exercise really, really, can help one's state of mind. When I finished my ten minute warm up on the treadmill, the thoughts were still with me. I started working out on the bench with dumbbells, doing reps much faster than normal. Angry, impatient lifts. Then something happened.

I'm not sure when. I don't remember a transition. I just realized, as I was finishing my third set and heading for the quiet of a side room to stretch, that my mind was at ease. I couldn't summon up the angst of an hour before at all. Not that I wanted to, really, but I tried, as an experiment. Couldn't do it. My mind and body were warm and quiet.

I almost skipped the gym this morning. I almost slept in, but got up early anyway and came in. Once at work, I almost went straight to the showers to seek solace in hot water and seclusion. But "Do a little more..." ran through my head and I got changed and started up the treadmill.

I'm so glad I did.

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While looking through friends' galleries on Facebook today, I found an image someone had created using an online tool at BeFunky. The site provides all kinds of tools to goof with an image. Some of the results are pretty fun.  This one looks like some of my favorite comic book art.


And this one? I wish I knew how to make ink drawings that looked this good.



I kept looking for the effect that would show me what I'll look like after I lose forty-five grapefruit, but couldn't find it.

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Food log:

Breakfast: Waldorf salad of berries, melon and walnuts dressed in yogurt, and about a cup of pineapple.

Lunch: A big salad, half a leftover breakfast sausage from our local grass-fed butcher shop, a few strawberries and blueberries.

Dinner: tofu, bok choy and water chestnut stir fry, with brown rice. A glass of nice merlot. Yummy.

Snacks: a dozen Rainier cherries

3 comments:

  1. Be careful what you wish for... you may wake up one morning and find that you have become a 4-color superhero! (Evil Smirk)
    Click here to see what you have become...(Your blog does not allow direct embedding of images, so I had to leave a link instead... I don't quite have your superpowers it seems :-)

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  2. I have go try this. And reading your most recent post I have to say congrats even though you are feeling rough around the edges.

    We had one of those preschool graduation too. Only difference is Wyatt was the kid who stood there and mumbled the words to every song. I think performance of that nature is not in his make up. Oh Well! Be thankful your kid is not an introvert in school and extrovert at home...

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  3. Thanks Julia. I appreciate the congrats :-)

    The graduation was lots of fun. My kids probably aren't headed for Broadway, but they had a GREAT time with the song.

    Drak, that comic drawing is hilarious. Just the right over-the-top exaggeration to make for a "realistic" comic book!

    Cheers!

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