Hello! Woke up this morning to find my husband online shopping! This is a great move forward considering how technophobic he used to be. I may not be 100% crazy about his purchases (do we really need that?) but it is a bit comforting to know he will know how to get online, shop, pay, etc. if/when my eyes get too bad.
My husband found an ad for Labrador Retriever pups so I called. The litter they have now will be ready right before we leave for vacation but a second litter they knew of will be ready right after we get back. Cautiously hopeful. We will go and look at the set-up, parents, pups next week.
And yes, I know, I should get a shelter dog, etc. I am guilty but …..puppy!
I am about halfway through my crazy list of activities for October. Sort of loaded heavy in the beginning of the month. Gives me time to load the back end. I did NOT say that! Did I?
Anyway, so glad to hear our guest authors are also busy people. Riding horses and volunteering for all sorts of community projects. You go, girls!
Any of you guys want to volunteer for a page? I think Lin said at least 25 or 30% of the Facebook members are guys. How about a male perspective ? I also was told some of you are eye care professionals. How about the view from the other side of the machine?
We never did fly yesterday. Point of information: balloon pilots (captains?) will not launch if the winds are more than 8 miles an hour. Nate is making its way up the coast and we got some of that. Maybe. Anyway, it was windy.
My friend who took me (you ever feel like baggage when you say that?) is my fitness freak friend (alliteration!) and was driving both herself and me insane when we had to wait two hours to see if we could fly. I sent her to run – literally! – twice. She did about four miles.
My friend does not know how to relax. It is an art many people do not know. I can do it for short periods. For those two hours I lay on my back, watched the clouds and listened to the entertainment. I am not looking forward to two days of downtime when we are literally at sea on the upcoming cruise. Last time that happened I did a lot of pacing.
So how to relax when you cannot run it off or pace the deck? I found a Psychology Today article from 2013. The author, Will Meek, had distilled the relaxation process down to five steps. His process involved ways to change your physiology to change your emotions. Dr. Meek, Will, suggested orienting yourself to your environment. You do this by taking in sense impressions to recognize where you are. Then you ground yourself by noticing how you are connected to your environment. Right now I am noticing my butt on the couch, my laptop on my knee and the dishwasher humming in the next room. Next Will suggests an inner focus on your breath and heart rate. Deep breathing. While still breathing deeply give yourself a pep talk. Tell yourself you are strong. Tell yourself you have supports. Tell yourself Jesus or Allah or whatever deity you believe in has ‘got’ this problem in hand and will help. Tell yourself what you need to tell yourself to feel more in control. The last step is emerging. Focus on bringing yourself back to your problem with a relaxed attitude.
Now this page is about 100 words too long already so I am signing off here. May be back later. Never did get that article critiqued. Bye!
written October 8th, 2017