This post is re-posted from my other blog, On Second Thought…

I’ve been away way too long. Sorry about that guys. Here’ what I’ve been up to:

• Bellydancing
• Samba
• Hand dancing
• Salsa
• Yoga
• Chiropractic
• Work (too many hours)
• Trying to fine tune my whole foods lifestyle
• Trying to adjust to Katrice and Kwesi abandoning me

So let’s take it from the top. After my dad got sick my workout schedule took a nosedive. Instead of going straight to the gym from work, I would go to the hospital to see him. Two weeks off is enough to kill any routine I have established. I am not a creature of habit. It takes time for me to develop a routine. I have to be very intentional about it for it to take hold. If I get off track, it’s hard for me to get back on track. Now, I enjoy weight lifting and jogging when it’s nice outside. I like the way they make me feel but I wouldn’t exactly say that I love it. It feels like work. It feels like something extra that I need to do to be healthy, but not like something I love to do that just happens to be a healthy part of my life. So I decided that I need to find a way to get exercise in a way that is less of something else on my “to do” list and more something on my “I can’t wait to do” list –hence, bellydancing, samba, yoga, salsa and hand dancing. And would you believe that I found a place where I can do them all at the same place? I know!!! Me either!!! So, I’m thrilled about my little home-away-from home studio. It’s a place that teaches a holistic, naturopathic approach to caring for oneself. It teaches the ancient healing benefits of the different dances and disciplines and encourages a healthy, whole foods lifestyle. It’s a place where one can pursue the mind, body, spirit connection with like-minded people who are, by the way, working out and having a good time. Yay!!! I spend lots of time there and get really annoyed when I have to work late and miss my classes. Which brings me to the next thing I’ve been up to.

Work. One morning at about 3am, while sitting on my couch still working, I realized that at some point I lost my boundary concerning home and work. I have notoriously managed this boundary very well. If I need to stay a little later or get in a little earlier to get things done, I’ll do that, but home is supposed to be my sacred space. No work here!! I lost sight of that recently and I need to find my way back to prioritizing my life appropriately. The thing is I enjoy my job and don’t mind doing the things I was working on, I just need to keep it out of my sacred space. I’ll figure it out in the coming weeks…with help. I’ll tell you about that soon.

Chiropractic. I never really thought of my chiropractor and massage therapist as holistic healers until this weekend. I noticed that western medicine isn’t big on referring people to chiropractors or massage therapists. They rather send you to physical therapy. I’ve concluded that taking care of my body is more than considering it in isolation from the rest of me and therefore I choose to exhaust alternative medicine before I turn to my physician. I’ve been having crazy neck and shoulder pain. I know it’s stress and the position of my monitor and spending too much time working and using my laptop on my couch and all this other dumb stuff I’m doing to myself. But I needed it fixed. I had options. I went to my massage therapist first. 90 minutes of pure ecstasy, I tell you. I could have married that woman! I felt like she worked out a lot of the tension, but quickly realized that I was just out of alignment. Off to the chiropractor and when I tell you I almost kissed that man when he hammered my little neck vertebrae back where they belong I am not kidding you. I don’t know how long I was out of alignment, but my weekend was so much better having had things put back where they belong. I still have major neck problems that will take 3 months of aggressive treatment to fix, but I’m good for now. Unfortunately, my freaking commute to work makes it almost impossible for me to take the time I need to go get fixed. My work and chiropractor’s hours are not compatible and my chiropractor is about 20 miles from work (which in DC traffic time means 1 hour away). Even when I tried to schedule appointments this week I had to cancel because of last minute meetings. I’ve got to figure this out. Don’t fuss at me. I’ll get it together.

My whole foods lifestyle. Trader Joe’s has finally moved to my neighborhood!!! My local organic market is as expensive as, if not more expensive than, Whole Foods. I was so glad to see TJ’s open up just up the road. I could stop by the TJ’s close to my old job on the way home from work, but now I don’t come near the place. I bought groceries this weekend and got double the stuff I can get at my local organic spot for half the price. I can’t get everything I need at TJ’s, but I’m saving money so that I can finance my dance habit. Good stuff!! I have had some ups and downs with trying to eat well. I still haven’t touched fast food or meat in 5 months, but football season has had me jonesing hard for chips and dip and beer on Sunday afternoons at 1pm. I’d make a meal of it, I tell you. I’m over it though. I think.

And last but not least, Katrice and Kwesi have moved to Texas. I was such a wuss that I left a note on their car to say goodbye. I couldn’t bear doing it face to face. Well, they showed me. They conveniently didn’t leave while I was at work that day. I got home from work just in time to watch them pack the last things in the car and drive away….all the way across the country. I still look for their cars when I come home from work. It sucks. BUT, I’m going to see them December 6-9, for the 1st Annual Corny Convention in Dallas. I can’t wait. I miss them already.

And, since this post isn’t as long as I thought it would be , I’ll tell you about figuring things out in the coming weeks with help. My new theme for self is, “when I know better, I do better”. I am learning a lot about other cultures, spiritual disciplines and ways of life through my quest to re-evaluate my belief system. In the process I have learned a lot of things that make more sense to me and feel more right for me than the norms of the culture to which I was born. I came across this passage in a book I am reading. It says it best:

We are all subjects–and victims–of our time and our perspective in history. Truth, or our perception of it, is a function of our limited, culture-bound understanding and is often as fluid as a change in custom…The best we can hope to do is rise above our culture as much as possible to see our biases, challenge them, and willingly allow our view of the world to shatter as our biases knuckle under the blows of scrutiny.

This is what this blog has always been about. I am re-thinking everything at once. It is so exciting and fun. I feel free of the guilt that came with shaking off the norms of the Christian community that guided my life for so long and now I feel like I can judge each new idea on it’s own merits. It has taken some time for the “Christian voice” in my heard to quiet so that I can think through some of these new ideas. But I’m far enough away from that voice now that I can evaluate new things for what they are and not what Christians say they are. Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense to me. I may need to rework that sentence when I edit. Anyway, I’ve hired a holistic health consultant to help me articulate my goals for this journey, create a plan to meet those goals and to teach me more about my body and the foods, drinks, etc. that are best for my optimal health (mind, body and spirit). It should be fun. I start on the 13th. I’ll let you know how it goes. I might be writing about all of that more on Fine Tuning, but who knows. The more I see the connections between mind, body and spirit, the less I see a need for 3 blogs. I’m realizing that I can’t separate these things as neatly as I once thought. I’m considering a merge. Who knows? We’ll see. Maybe I’ll just feed content between the blogs when it’s relevant.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I’ll be catching up with you guys soon.

Any thoughts on any of this stuff? What do you think about that quote?