Yes, the time has flown by, and we Project Transformationists have come to a place where our journey doesn't end, but where we part ways with our mentors, our trainers, and all the people who made it easy for us to stay on track. The road has been made easier with all those helping hands, but now that we can walk by ourselves, it is up to us to keep up the practice, to find ways that we can encourage ourselves, not backslide, be accountable and keep on the journey. These were only the first steps of the journey. First, we made decisions about our destinations and goals, and then we outfitted ourselves for the trip. We took our first steps and found that we could fit exercise and good food preparation into our busy lives. We educated ourselves, with lots of help, about the terrain, and took precautions, and even when we hit bumps in the road, we kept putting one foot in front of the other and moved ahead. Today, we look around at each other and only Percy looks the same, because he started out quite trim, but his reports of better numbers are quite a feat. Everyone else has changed equally significantly, but it is more apparent to the naked eye. Along the way on our journey, we have gotten healthier and even better looking; we have left lots of pounds by the side of the road, and we have also left behind the idea that there are things we can't do. Christy and I discovered that we actually liked to hike. Kassi has discovered that she can run down criminals and catch them more often than not. Kristin has overcome some very difficult times and still has lost the weight, looks only too fabulous and has a 1000 watt smile, well deserved. Sophia has been our hiking mentor, our demon tamer, our hard working Amazon, and looks terrific. Don't even get me started on the men. Bill and Dave look like different people than the ones who started with us. I have increased my strength and balance, feel great, and have had to buy smaller underwear twice!
I guess that all of us, or I should speak only for myself, and say that I am looking at the end of the program with some fear and trepidation, some elation, some relief and more than a little amazement. CHLI and the Four Season Hotel have given us six glorious months. we have practiced what we have learned, we have built up new habits, made new friends, learned tons of important lessons, and the gifts will just keep on coming as we practice what we have learned. We have added quality to our lives that was not there before. We have been given the chance to help our families learn to live healthier by example, so our mentors have not only helped us, but our spouses, and the next generation as well.
I don't suppose that there is a way to say Thanks for such gifts as those mentioned above, but I am sure that we have all reveled in our luck at being chosen to participate in this experiment. We have wanted to pinch ourselves as we enjoyed the healing sessions with Barbara and the massages. We have wondered, at times, what we were doing sweating like crazy as we engaged in some demon-invented bosu balancing while standing on our heads. OK, that's an eggzageration but it felt like that.
Now we will have to be our own fitness-demons, we will have to channel Paulette and Erika as we stare at a plate of food that someone has put in front of us and think "dressing on the side, quantity is important here, and is the dessert good enough to be worth those extra calories?"
We will have to get our proper number of hours of sleep, and plan strategically for times when things are not as easy to stick with. We will have to create our own schedules for fitness, training, learning and doing what we have learned.
The time has flown, but it has not been wasted. There are eight very appreciative people who will live better and healthier, and hopefully longer, due to the magnificent gift which has been bestowed upon us.
So to all the management and staff at CHLI, and all those at the hotel who have made our sojourn there so pleasant and lovely, a heartfelt Thanks. ♠
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The gift of time
Time has become the greatest luxury of all. We are so pressed for time, that we talk on the phone while we are doing twenty other things, and we listen to books on tape while we drive, and we rush from one thing to the next, with our minds filled with what needs to be done at the things after that.
What this time that we have spent at Project Transformation has done for us, while it has filled our schedules even more, it has given us the time to think of ourselves, our needs, and most importantly of our health and its long term implications. No one can say what will happen tomorrow, but odds are good that if we eat right, exercise, sleep enough, and practice good health regimens, we will extend the years in our lives, and more importantly, extend the life in our years.
This time of year is a time of change, looking forward, putting our mark on the future. Kids go back to school, the summer is over and families settle into routines, vacations are mostly behind us, and we begin to plan for the end of another calendar year. For me this is a time of contemplation. My religion teaches us that we must think of promises that we have made in the past year that we have not kept, and make amends. It is good to be reminded of this or we forget that we must keep our word, we must follow through, we must thank and we must be grateful for our many blessings. I remind myself that I want to fit more kindness into my life, and I am reminded that I, too, must be a recipient of my own kindness. We moms have to take our turn at being the most important person in the family every now and then,(dads probably do, too) and we have to become much more sensitive to unconscious self sabotage of our accomplishments.
We have been given the gift of time, and we have used it to increase self awareness in our food intake, to increase our strength and resolve, and now we have to use it, and practice it and expand it. While I exercise, I am not thinking of what needs to be done next, I am giving it my whole heart and attention. That was but one of the many gifts we have received. So now I promise that the block of time that I am putting on my calendar to set aside for working out, will be a gift that keeps on giving, one in which I continue to pay close attention to what I am doing. I promise that I will not fall back into bad or sloppy eating habits. I promise that I will take care of myself as well as I have been taken care of over the last six months.
It is with a sense of loss that we now have to contemplate the end of our program as it was. We were pampered and pummeled, taught and tested, weighed and measured, but most of all we were cared for. Who will not miss being asked if we would like a glass of water? Who will not miss the luxury of having someone, or rather many people, who really cared about our progress, who kept a close watch on how we were treating ourselves. It is now up to us to keep that watch, to be not only a team member, but the Captain as well. As we map out strategies, and plan our exercise regimes, it is important to keep those goals in front of us, to keep moving in the direction of the goals that we set out toward at the beginning. Some of us have made our goals, and have only to keep maintaining them. Some of us still have a ways to go, but let no one say that they can't do it, because the evidence is there that you, we all, have done it and can keep continuing to do it.
So, today, as we prepare to take fitness "after" pictures, let's take a minute to think about all we have done, all there is left to do, and to thank those who have been with us all the way, encouraging us, urging us, applauding us and teaching us.
To all of the CHLI staff, the hotel staff, and everyone who we have come into contact with over this time, Thanks a Million. We couldn't have done it without you. But we are going to keep making you proud of our progress.
What this time that we have spent at Project Transformation has done for us, while it has filled our schedules even more, it has given us the time to think of ourselves, our needs, and most importantly of our health and its long term implications. No one can say what will happen tomorrow, but odds are good that if we eat right, exercise, sleep enough, and practice good health regimens, we will extend the years in our lives, and more importantly, extend the life in our years.
This time of year is a time of change, looking forward, putting our mark on the future. Kids go back to school, the summer is over and families settle into routines, vacations are mostly behind us, and we begin to plan for the end of another calendar year. For me this is a time of contemplation. My religion teaches us that we must think of promises that we have made in the past year that we have not kept, and make amends. It is good to be reminded of this or we forget that we must keep our word, we must follow through, we must thank and we must be grateful for our many blessings. I remind myself that I want to fit more kindness into my life, and I am reminded that I, too, must be a recipient of my own kindness. We moms have to take our turn at being the most important person in the family every now and then,(dads probably do, too) and we have to become much more sensitive to unconscious self sabotage of our accomplishments.
We have been given the gift of time, and we have used it to increase self awareness in our food intake, to increase our strength and resolve, and now we have to use it, and practice it and expand it. While I exercise, I am not thinking of what needs to be done next, I am giving it my whole heart and attention. That was but one of the many gifts we have received. So now I promise that the block of time that I am putting on my calendar to set aside for working out, will be a gift that keeps on giving, one in which I continue to pay close attention to what I am doing. I promise that I will not fall back into bad or sloppy eating habits. I promise that I will take care of myself as well as I have been taken care of over the last six months.
It is with a sense of loss that we now have to contemplate the end of our program as it was. We were pampered and pummeled, taught and tested, weighed and measured, but most of all we were cared for. Who will not miss being asked if we would like a glass of water? Who will not miss the luxury of having someone, or rather many people, who really cared about our progress, who kept a close watch on how we were treating ourselves. It is now up to us to keep that watch, to be not only a team member, but the Captain as well. As we map out strategies, and plan our exercise regimes, it is important to keep those goals in front of us, to keep moving in the direction of the goals that we set out toward at the beginning. Some of us have made our goals, and have only to keep maintaining them. Some of us still have a ways to go, but let no one say that they can't do it, because the evidence is there that you, we all, have done it and can keep continuing to do it.
So, today, as we prepare to take fitness "after" pictures, let's take a minute to think about all we have done, all there is left to do, and to thank those who have been with us all the way, encouraging us, urging us, applauding us and teaching us.
To all of the CHLI staff, the hotel staff, and everyone who we have come into contact with over this time, Thanks a Million. We couldn't have done it without you. But we are going to keep making you proud of our progress.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Wow, all of us Project Transformationists (almost) together in one room. What a dazzling display of effort and success. Our meeting on Saturday was for the purpose of making plans once the Project is over and we are on our own. It is essential to make plans for after. I can think of so many parallels in life. You have swimming lessons, and then comes the day that you have to dive into the deep end and prove that you can do it. But swimming is something that stays with you forever. You never really forget how to swim. You flap, you swallow a couple of gulps, but then you relax into it and are swimming along.
We have learned what is good for us and what works to get us to a place that we would rather be, a place of health and feeling better, more like the us we were meant to be. But have we learned, is it is the muscle memory to push ourselves away from the table, to say no to that dessert that we really don't need, in my case to never get started on that piece of bread because I know that I am powerless to stop. This morning, I had a doctor appointment. I had to be in Tarzana at 8am. I had arranged for my daughter to take Lucy for her morning walk so I cold get out on time. But when I got up, I realized that I need that walk as much as Lucy does (although not for the same reason), so I got into my clothes, lickety split, and got down to the park. I did get to the doc on time, so that was a good thing. I hope that this is a portent of the future.
I realized on Saturday, that even thought I have made it into the gym at least three times, usually more, every week, I did not schedule it. I fit it in between laundry and meetings and other things. Just like paying yourself first to save money, I am going to have to get more used to blocking in my exercise time, and scheduling the rest around it. For now this has to be my priority, until it becomes a part of me. I have done pretty well, but there is more to be done and the importance of having an inspirational person out there came home to me when I ran into Mr. Gertler on Thursday in the hallway of the hotel. We had a wonderful talk, and he was kind enough to show me a photo of himself standing at the top of a 14,000 ft. peak that had been his aspiration to climb, and this year he climbed it. His pride in his accomplishment was wonderful to see, inspiring to me, and made me feel as if I have to set some goals. Fitting them into the
S M A R T configuation makes sense.
The S is for specific. What is it you want to do? Run a 10K?
The M is for measurable. It's going to be the Alzheimer's 10K.
The A is for attainable. It's 6 months away. It's a stretch, but if I train, I can do it.
The R is for relevant. It relates to some long term intention, an underlying aim or purpose that has special meaning for you. I want to be healthy and fit.
The T is for time based. A specific date for the attainment of this goal. I will do this by March
While we think about the goals we want to achieve, we are teaching ourselves to be what we want to be. We would not have tried out for this project if we did not have something in mind. We have been, for the last six months, the toddler, held by both hands while we learn to walk. When CHLI lets go, we are bound to take a few spills, but you don't unlearn to walk. You don't sit there where you plopped down on your butt and stay until the moss grows. You get up and take another step and another until walking is just the precursor to running. We are walking successfully most days. We are also getting up and starting over when we fall. It is up to us to find the path that best suits our purpose in order to realize our life's intention.
So to all my cohorts, I salute your success, and I commend you to the care of yourselves, as we adults actually have to be, to do what you have to, to sustain the victories that you have achieved.
We have learned what is good for us and what works to get us to a place that we would rather be, a place of health and feeling better, more like the us we were meant to be. But have we learned, is it is the muscle memory to push ourselves away from the table, to say no to that dessert that we really don't need, in my case to never get started on that piece of bread because I know that I am powerless to stop. This morning, I had a doctor appointment. I had to be in Tarzana at 8am. I had arranged for my daughter to take Lucy for her morning walk so I cold get out on time. But when I got up, I realized that I need that walk as much as Lucy does (although not for the same reason), so I got into my clothes, lickety split, and got down to the park. I did get to the doc on time, so that was a good thing. I hope that this is a portent of the future.
I realized on Saturday, that even thought I have made it into the gym at least three times, usually more, every week, I did not schedule it. I fit it in between laundry and meetings and other things. Just like paying yourself first to save money, I am going to have to get more used to blocking in my exercise time, and scheduling the rest around it. For now this has to be my priority, until it becomes a part of me. I have done pretty well, but there is more to be done and the importance of having an inspirational person out there came home to me when I ran into Mr. Gertler on Thursday in the hallway of the hotel. We had a wonderful talk, and he was kind enough to show me a photo of himself standing at the top of a 14,000 ft. peak that had been his aspiration to climb, and this year he climbed it. His pride in his accomplishment was wonderful to see, inspiring to me, and made me feel as if I have to set some goals. Fitting them into the
S M A R T configuation makes sense.
The S is for specific. What is it you want to do? Run a 10K?
The M is for measurable. It's going to be the Alzheimer's 10K.
The A is for attainable. It's 6 months away. It's a stretch, but if I train, I can do it.
The R is for relevant. It relates to some long term intention, an underlying aim or purpose that has special meaning for you. I want to be healthy and fit.
The T is for time based. A specific date for the attainment of this goal. I will do this by March
While we think about the goals we want to achieve, we are teaching ourselves to be what we want to be. We would not have tried out for this project if we did not have something in mind. We have been, for the last six months, the toddler, held by both hands while we learn to walk. When CHLI lets go, we are bound to take a few spills, but you don't unlearn to walk. You don't sit there where you plopped down on your butt and stay until the moss grows. You get up and take another step and another until walking is just the precursor to running. We are walking successfully most days. We are also getting up and starting over when we fall. It is up to us to find the path that best suits our purpose in order to realize our life's intention.
So to all my cohorts, I salute your success, and I commend you to the care of yourselves, as we adults actually have to be, to do what you have to, to sustain the victories that you have achieved.
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