• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

At Home and Outside

“I meet a friend four times a week to walk four miles.”

“I bought some videos—a tae-bo tape and others on yoga, and a couple on aerobics. They sat around for a long time—then I got one out and actually did it. I have a little trampoline, some weights, and an exercycle. When I wake up in the morning I scan my choices and do whatever feels good.”

“I bought a little jogger, and my rule is that if I’m going to watch TV, I have to use the jogger for at least a half hour.”

Here’s what women said in response to my question, “What keeps you exercising regularly?”

“I feel better,” was the overall response that was reflected in many ways—I have more energy, feel brighter, my work goes better, I’m in a better mood.

Other responses:

“I don’t want junk food afterward.”

“It helps me keep my weight down.”

“I don’t want to get osteoporosis.”

“It keeps me from getting depressed.”

“I sleep better.”

“Flat out,” one woman said strongly, “I want to be healthy when I get older. I see so many people in my family sick. My aunt walks like this,” she said, demonstrating the hunched-over stance. “I saw my mother clutching her chest with angina pains, and I saw my brother do the same.”

Returning to the health club, I asked Bill at the front desk why he thought people worked out regularly.

“Fear,” he said.

I was surprised.

“Fear of dying, fear of heart attacks. Many of the men started coming here after a heart attack. They want a better quality of life. I also think people like the positive atmosphere.” He grinned. “They get to see me!”

I laughed with him. But it was true. There’s something sweet about knowing I’ll get a friendly greeting as I’m handed a fresh towel. It’s a little like the Cheers bar. I see the same people on the track, exchange hellos, and have superficial chats. The women often have friendly conversations in the locker room about hormones, weight loss, families, work . . . just good-natured exchanges.

On the subject of sleep, I asked my friend Dodi how she maintained her amazing schedule and always seemed relaxed and friendly with three teenage daughters, a full-time job, and a weekend disco business with her husband, and then she’s out biking and having fun. I never see her dragging around saying how tired she is.

She responded emphatically, “I always get enough sleep.” Followed by, “I get a lot of exercise riding my bike (ten miles to and from work, up a three-mile hill) and we have a lot of fun as a family.”

For some people, the issue of sleep isn’t just about getting to bed early—it’s about lowering anxiety so you can get to sleep, easing depression so you can stay asleep, and fostering a consciousness that eases worry. Worried minds don’t rest well. For those with an autoimmune disease, sleep can be problematic as well. People have shared numerous strategies to help them relax into sleep, including taking amino acids, herbal remedies, reading in bed (nothing too exciting), drinking relaxing teas, self-massage, back rubs, listening to audio tapes, Reiki healing, getting a new mattress, or a satisfying love life.

To people who value sleep it becomes more important than old movies on TV, late-night phone conversations, cleaning, or fixing things. As one woman said to me, “The house is kind of sloppy and sometimes we wear day-old socks and eat simple meals, but exercise, relaxation, and sleep are at the top of my list.”

In a myriad of ways your body tells the story of your life and cannot be separated from spirit. Relaxation, flexibility, strength, concentration, energy, joy, and being with the flow are intricately woven aspects of our being at every level.

49. Take on the Saboteurs

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

We have met the enemy and it is us.

—POGO

If you want your life to be different, you have to do something different. To do something different