Welcome to Free-for-All Fridays!

Becoming What You Read, Watch and Hear—It’s All About Worldview

What will you be reading, watching and listening to this weekend? What magazines do you subscribe to? What Book of the Month Club or Goodreads selections do you make? What television shows, or movies, are on your must-watch list?

Does it matter?

I proclaim a resounding “Yes!” It does matter. Very much.

What you read, watch and listen to are just as vital as the spiritual and physical components of a well-balanced life. Why? There are several reasons.

The brain functions like a big camera with permanent film and cataloging capacity. The images you show it are imprinted on the brain. And those images can produce chemicals that cause mood changes, stimulation, and brain chemical alterations. That’s one reason pornography is so insidious and addictive. The images get imprinted and can flashback at any time. And, if responded to, can cause the need for more and more stimulation. Like a drug.

Along the same lines, the brain also functions like a big memory bank for words and music. Music is a powerful one that can alter brain chemistry at the moment of listening. That memory is stored. When the music is heard again, sometime later, those chemicals are dumped into the system again, and the reaction is repeated. That’s one of the reasons music can trigger so many past memories and emotional reactions (like melancholy). Scientists know that repeated, methodical drumming and pounding can change the brain, for the worse. That kind of music really is brain-deadening.

Reading triggers complex thoughts and brain chemical reactions too. What woman hasn’t read a revealing romance novel without having some kind of physical and emotional response during the sex scenes? One thing leads to another, and soon she’s lamenting how her husband isn’t as manly or romantic as the character. Then resentment might creep in, resentment severe enough to affect how she treats her spouse.

In many ways, because women are so word and speech-oriented, I don’t think romance novels or graphic erotica novels are much different for women than pornography is for men, who are visually oriented. Women can replay that detailed, written sex scene in their minds and get the same chemical response as when they first read it.

Taking stock of spent time and how you’re feeding yourself—

Don’t think twice about spending $10 of your hard-earned money to watch an hour and a half of a lame movie, or one rife with sex scenes that would have garnered an X rating thirty years ago? If so, have you ever considered that you’re really just paying someone (the theater, and production company) to be a legal voyeur? A Peeping Tom? If you sneaked a look into someone’s bedroom while they were enjoying intimate relations, you’d be arrested. Why do we think it’s okay, and gratifying, to pay to do it? And sit there with a bunch of strangers watching at the same time?

How many hours do you waste reading magazines about famous people? What they’re doing, how they’re living and treating themselves and one another? Why do we care so much, anyway? Are we that bored with our own lives? Are we trying to live vicariously through them, keep up with them, be like them?

Really why it all matters—

The core reason all this matters is because everything you read, watch or listen to shapes your worldview. And your worldview specifically affects how you live your life—the decisions you make, the way you interpret life and world events. (If you’re unfamiliar with what worldview is, you’ll want to keep reading my blog because we’ll be getting into that specifically in a Meditation Mondays post this month.)

There’s a reason the Apostle Paul wrote:

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9, NKJV).

I LOVE how Eugene Peterson puts this in The Message.

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work into his most excellent harmonies.”

Sadly, I think one of our greatest problems is that we’ve compromised so much with our lives, given others way too much of our precious, priceless time. We have become so willing to allow ourselves to be fed ugly, worst, un-praiseworthy things that we’ve become immune to the ugly and forgotten what the beautiful is.

Weekend Challenge

Make a deliberate, conscious decision to be really selective about what you read, watch and listen to this weekend. Try turning off the political radio talk shows and turn on some good music.
Better yet, shut off your phone, television and radio and go outside to listen to and watch nature. It’s amazingly entertaining and invigorating. Good for brain, emotional, physical and spiritual health.
Close the magazines and do the above. Don’t even ruffle through the ones at the store checkout lane.
Start counting the hours you read this kind of stuff, in print or on line. You may be surprised at how much of your precious time it steals.

A final word

Before I sign off, I’d like to leave you with a quote from the author Annie Dillard, found in her book The Writing Life.

“The writer…is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know” (page 68).

Isn’t that true for all of us, no matter what our profession or status. We will know what we have learned, and we will write what we’ve read about.

Choose the best, and watch your life change for the better!

Have a great, inspiring weekend!

Leave a comment on the blog page and let me know how you spent it.

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo © Andrea A Owan

Welcome to Workout Wednesdays!

When you hear the word “workout” what goes through your mind, and body? Excitement? Ambivalence? Dread? Do your hands sweat from excitement, or fear? Are you instantly transported via a PTSD flashback to your ninth grade physical education class where you loathed putting on those classy polyester gym shorts and block-shaped exercise top and got relegated to the worst team in the class because you were a bona fide “klutz” and couldn’t coordinate the timing of basketball dribbling or manage to get your foot to make contact with a slow-moving kickball to save your life?

I won’t tell you I can relate, because I can’t (except for the ugly gym shorts and top). Coordination (to precision) was my forte, and I oozed competitive spirit. I hated being shown up, and I seethed internally if I lost. (Although my hand-eye coordination with a tennis ball and racket was horrible, I was determined to overcome that failure and showed up on the tennis court every day one summer to learn how to play with the guys in doubles.)

And I was strong. Stronger than some of the guys in my class. Even guys who took me on in arm wrestling in college were stunned when I slammed their arms to the tabletop.

But as a coach and physical education teacher, I took a completely different approach.

My greatest desire was to instill in all of my students a love of the complexity of the human body and human movement. I wanted them to appreciate physical health for the sake of being physically healthy, not for the sole purpose of competing or beating someone else. I wanted them to develop a lifelong love of fitness. Not necessarily “exercise” in the traditional term, but general, overall fitness. So instead of grading them on what they could do, (because, frankly, some of them would have failed the class if I had stuck to a traditional can-do grading system), I graded them on how much they improved from the day they walked into my class to the day they exited it for the semester or year. And I also tacked on some brownie points for good behavior and honest participation.

And you know what happened? Some of those kids, who entered my class with their arms clamped across their chests and an I’m-not-going-to-do-anything-you-ask-me-to-do look on their face left the class feeling pretty proud of themselves and their accomplishments. They had fun. They ended up being able to pass a soccer ball to a teammate, which meant they were able to participate in the shear fun of doing that. They had strikes in bowling after weeks of rolling gutter balls. I actually cheered and cried with one of my students who never thought she could accomplish anything remotely related to physical education or movement.

And that’s what we’ll do with our Workout Wednesday time—help you change your outlook on fitness and develop a program that works for you. One you can adjust as you desire or need based on your current fitness level, future (improved) fitness level, age or physical capacity.

Not just for the body

Why is exercise important?

I’m sure you know the standard answers: Reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke, cancer, and other major debilitating and death-causing diseases. But do you know what scientists have discovered the most important side effect of exercise is?

Your brain health and function. Neuroscientists say that when you exercise, so does your brain, and it probably benefits the most from it, by forming new neuron connections. In short, exercise helps keep you young and sharp!

But there are important tips to maximizing this effect. And we’ll cover those.

And we’ll explore connections like:

Exercise and sleep
Exercise and Mood and Mental Health
Exercise and Sex
The Importance of Flexibility, Balance and Mobility

We’ll also explore nutrition and the latest diet trends and fads. And we’ll learn how to identify food sensitivities and allergies that affect your overall health and mood.

Fair Warning!

Let me warn you ahead of time: I’m not a big fan of some of the extreme, “elite fitness” programs, which I won’t name here. I think a lot of you know what they are. And in succeeding posts, I’ll tell you why. I was a highly trained, competitive athlete for YEARS, and I’ve worked collegiate athletes and Olympians, so I know the mindset. I understand the obsession. But you could say I’m a recovered athlete. I’ll explain that in another post too.

But first, we need to get started and prepared for next Wednesday.

Getting started

Just as you do for the spiritual component of your life, you need to lay a good foundation for the physical. And that means getting some baseline measurements and assessments recorded. That way you know where you are, better decide where you want to go, and then track how you’re doing getting there. So, before next Wednesday, I invite you to do the following:

Buy yourself a fitness/workout journal. One of my favorites is BodyMinder: Workout & Fitness Journal. It’s got great grids in it to record cardio and strength workouts and dietary notes. I’ve provided the link for you at the end of this post.
Another great journal is the HealthMinder: Personal Wellness Journal. This helps you identify the health of nearly every part of your body. It’s one of the ways I was able to identify some of my food sensitivities. I can’t recommend it highly enough for tracking your overall health!
Finally, the DietMinder: Personal Food and Fitness Journal is also great to have handy.

Next, you’ll need to learn your:

Blood Pressure—Before you get out of bed in the morning, record your blood pressure. You can find a good cuff at your local drugstore or online. Wake up, take a few breathes, slap on the cuff and take your blood pressure while you’re still lying down.

Blood Pressure Again—Then sit up and take it again. Women will likely see a drop in their pressure. Wait another five minutes and take it again. It should have stabilized. Note both of these readings, both the big number (known as systole) and the smaller number (diastole). I’ll explain what each of these mean in the next post.

Resting Heart Rate—Now, if your blood pressure cuff doesn’t have the capability to measure your resting heart rate along with the BP, then you’ll need to do it manually. You can do that by placing your index and middle fingers on your neck to the side of your windpipe. You can also place these same fingers over the inside of your wrist. DO NOT use your thumb! It has its own pulse and will throw off your count. Now for the proper counting. While many medical office personal will take your pulse for just ten seconds and then multiply it by six for a minute count, I don’t recommend that method since it’s not as accurate as measuring it for a full minute with your fingers.

Weight—Then, hop out of bed, step on the scale and record your weight. This should be a first thing in the morning weigh-in, after you’ve emptied your bladder. Go ahead and disrobe for this. Record it in your journal with the date.

Body Measurements—Get out a measuring tape and measure the circumference of your chest, waist and hips. The waits measurement should be around the belly button area, or just slightly below it. Also record the circumference of your thighs and upper arms. You’ll probably need help for the arms.

Resting Breathing—Next, lie on the floor and breathe normally. Place your hand on your tummy to see if your abdomen moves up and down. Breathe deeply and check it again. Breathe in through your nose AND out through your nose. (I know, breathing out through your mouth was the standard for years.) Do the tummy check with your hand. Is your breathing smooth or jerky? Does your chest, and not your abdomen/tummy rise when you breathe in? We’ll be addressing proper breathing techniques too.

Looking ahead

That will be enough for us to get started next Wednesday. But do think about one more thing.

What kind of exercising do you like to do? What would you be most likely to stick with?

Reference/Journal Links:

Here’s the list of links for those journals, but any regular journal will do. These just make it easier to jot numbers down in the right columns and trigger your brain in all areas of fitness.

By the way, I don’t get anything from Amazon or the publishers for recommending these books. I just found them years ago in a Reno, Nevada medical facility I was visiting with my dad. Snatched them up. They’ve been around for 16 years and have great ratings.

BodyMinder workout journal

www.amazon.com/BODYMINDER-Workout-Exercise-Journal-Fitness/dp/0963796844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522802240&sr=8-1&keywords=bodyminder+workout+and+exercise+journal

HealthMinder Journal

www.amazon.com/HEALTHMINDER-Personal-Wellness-MemoryMinder-Symptoms/dp/0963796879/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0963796879&pd_rd_r=J8BT3Q9KV0VSPJ53WXJH&pd_rd_w=WIgnS&pd_rd_wg=pOM4P&psc=1&refRID=J8BT3Q9KV0VSPJ53WXJH

DietMinder

www.amazon.com/DIETMINDER-Personal-Fitness-Journal-Exercise/dp/0963796836/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0963796836&pd_rd_r=J8BT3Q9KV0VSPJ53WXJH&pd_rd_w=WIgnS&pd_rd_wg=pOM4P&psc=1&refRID=J8BT3Q9KV0VSPJ53WXJH

I hope you’ll join me here again Friday for Free-for-All Fridays. We’ll cover a variety of topics, including recreational ideas, current news and recommended articles, stories and books to read having to do with balanced living!

Until then,

Blessings!

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo Courtesy of Andrea A Owan

Welcome to Meditation Mondays! Prepping for Spiritual Success

Welcome to Andrea’s Meditation Monday blog posts! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have you join me for this journey.

Every Monday we’ll explore the deep questions of life and spirituality. Not religion, per se, although I may do some history and basic theology overviews so you can see how similar many of the religions are, and how different.

But let’s get our feet wet today in preparation of stepping into the river of life next Monday!

Devotions or Digging Deeper?

You may have a daily devotion book you use. That’s wonderful if you do. It’s a way for you to learn how others are doing on their journey with God, how their experiences relate to yours, and how their experiences speak to your heart. You will likely find peace and encouragement through your daily devotions. So I want to assure you that we’re not going to set aside the devotion, if you like to use one.

What I’m inviting you to do, though, is to simplify. And go deeper.

What do I meant by that?

Maybe you—like I—sometimes find daily devotions a bit tedious, or that they sometimes only skim the surface. That’s often because a devotion piece is supposed to be short and concise, without time to dive into the deep end of the passage or focus. They just give you a sample or hors d-oeuvres-sized taste. And maybe you feel as though you’ve become a slave to “doing them,” or “getting them done.” I hear people ask, “Did you do your devotion today?” as though it was a chore, and they’re you’re devotion police.

Or maybe you miss one or two, berate yourself for that neglect, and then feel as though you’ve failed at your personal spiritual-self-improvement-program. You might promise yourself you’ll go back to those missed devotions, and dutifully mark the pages to read them. But soon your go-back-to devotions pile up. If you’re the super achiever type, or coerced by guilt, you do read them—all in one sitting—and, while you’re relieved you could now get your gold star (from God, or the devotion police—which may be you) for accomplishing that feat, you don’t get any spiritually productive (soul changing) kernels out of that marathon read-fest.

Or maybe you’re like me. I sometimes like to sit down every day to a familiar devotion book. But more often, I go in waves. Sometimes the devotion tide and interest is out; and sometimes it’s in and high. But most of the time I’d rather have an idea or thought a week to really chew on.

That’s what I mean by simplicity.

And then you can take that thought or idea to a deeper level, with more introspective, exhaustive questions.

That’s what we’ll do together on Meditation Mondays. Really dig up and till the soils of our hearts and souls. Get out some soul fertilizer and enrich the spiritual soil.

4 Steps to Prepare for Success

But first we need to prepare. Because anything worth doing well requires good preparation!

For next Monday there are some things you’ll want to do to give your meditation the best chance of success.

First, locate your Bible. Any version will do. Use whatever you’re comfortable with. If you’re using an online Bible, make sure you can bookmark the pages or highlight passages.

Second, get a journal you can use a pen or pencil to write in. While you may not be the journaling type, I can’t encourage you enough to give this journaling thing a shot. The actual process of writing (not typing) helps you slow down, focus and remember your thoughts and impressions. Even doodling or drawing pictures will engage the brain, rev it up, promote thought and creativity, and trigger the development of new neuron connections. Your brain’s superhighway will enlarge!

And it doesn’t have to be a fancy journal. One of those lined paper, spiral type notebooks you bought for a high school or college class will do.

Then, decide on a day and time you can commit to reading the post and writing in your journal. Pick a time that’s best for you, one you’re most likely to stay with. I recommend at least reading the post on Monday or Tuesday so you have all week to think about and meditate on it. But you may select an entirely different day to make journal notes. If you’re in your home or a building, make yourself a “Do Not Disturb” or “Occupied” sign to hang on the door of the room you’ll be sitting in. Be intentional. (I recommend a quiet place inside, or outside, for this. Not some hip coffee cafe where people and activities (and loud, fingers-raking-a-blackboard espresso machine noise) can overwhelm the brain and senses.

Finally, I invite you to find the following verse in your Bible, read it, commit it to memory, and use it to pray for yourself frequently throughout the week. Call to the Creator of the universe, to do what He promises to do. Doing that will prepare your heart and mind for whatever it is God wants to teach you. He has a word to speak specifically to you, a truth He wants to reveal. For your benefit and His glory!

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and might things, which you do not know” Jeremiah 33:3. (NKJV)

If you like The Message, Eugene Peterson’s rendering of this verse is great!

“Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.”

I cannot begin to tell you what truths were revealed to me once I started using this verse as a focus. God is faithful, and He will faithfully answer your prayer for revelation if you call to him with all your heart.

Expect great things from our gracious and generous God!

Looking forward to seeing you back next Monday, when we’ll start exploring several of the most important questions in life!

AND I hope you’ll also join me this Wednesday, for our first Workout Wednesdays!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Photo Courtesy of Christopher P Owan