Little things we do today

Dad and Missy

Last night I wasn't able to sleep. I don't know why. Today I decided to change my game plan a little bit. Practice a few things I know about. I can't change last night but I can do some things today. Line up some things to do that is fun for me but with a twist every hour of work I took time to move and exercise.
1st break I did body strengthening with a band and sit ups, push ups and squats as well. 2nd and third break I did 20 minute walks with Leslie Sansone which got all my muscles moving. 4th break I walked 4 flights of stairs. More movement I believe will help sleep tonight.
On the computer I was able to stream from YouTube, walks from Leslie from Exercise TV. If you are on Facebook or the web it is a great way to get a mile to five miles of walking in.
We have had a lot for rainy days the last few days. The garden and yard loves it. My sister Missy visited my dad and brother's grave site yesterday and sent me a picture. (Thank You) They are never too far from my thoughts. My dad served in WW2 and brother left us to early. I did think of them yesterday and others who gave their lives for others.  Love the USA, we are not perfect, but we have to opportunity to help others. Where ever we live we can be thankful for others who gave that we may have that opportunity.
I was reading a blog from "Today I Will" about little things we do can make a difference. Keep walking

http://todayiwill.com/2013/05/little-things-may-make-the-biggest-difference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=little-things-may-make-the-biggest-difference#.UaUxgL4o4dU

Hurting and prayer

"The man in the boat who with his hook takes hold of the shore, does not thereby pull the shore to the boat, but the boat to the shore. And so in prayer we do not draw the mercy to ourselves, but ourselves to the mercy." Wilber M. Smith
Prayer, talking with God, sounds simple, but is it? What has been your experience? Usually when I have listened to others talking about their prayer life, it has never been casual talk as talking to a friend about daily life. No what I have heard is serious talk from the heart about things hard to talk about. Usually something painful, hurtful of a loss of some kind.
Hard things happen to us all and I know my trials do not compare to trials of many. The purpose of prayer is not that we are kept from harm, pain, hardship for Ps. 23:4 tells us "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." James I think writes of this in James 4:8 "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Trials have away of testing us and getting us right with God.
The reality is we all live a short time on this planet. It doesn't matter how much you have, or what religion you practice, or even what I write about how healthy we are? It is not long. I think adding quality to how we live is important and even if we add 2 to 7 years because of better lifestyle changes matters, but it is still not a long life. Some how in our time we have to make peace with God and get to know Him as the one who saves us and gives us eternal life through death.
I believe Jesus did that for us on the cross and we personally must trust Him to be our Savior.
When we throw that hook out and snag on shore speaking of prayer of faith, we are pulled toward God and He is near and cares at the hurt. (Hurting however real, is brief in comparison to eternity) Peter reminds us to "5:7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." Keep walking

Assisted Suicide, let's slow down a minute

Let's take time to enjoy the path for a while

Today I am writing about a not so nice topic, but laws are being passed and attitudes are being accepted which will directly effect our aging experience. We need to be careful that we are not being set up or becoming lulled to sleep about who calls the shots when we age and face the possibility of dying.
Different states have ruled for assisted suicide for those very old of sick. I believe it will become the law of the land within five years. Doctors assisting suicide will no longer be criminals. They will instead be there to offer another option. Proponents are already aware that how they pose the option directly effects the response. Would you like a more natural death or would you like CPR not to be performed. A nice warm and fuzzy approach is to be preferred.
Our children who have no idea of what it means to get older or value the experience of being aged will often be in charge of our time to terminate.
Death will be free of pain and we will be made comfortable. Self murder if you survive can get you hospitalized today, but soon you will be able to go to a clinic and be helped.
For sure at first it won't be that easy and it will be a lawyer's and doctor's nightmare. At least I hope so, because this option should never be easy.
Ending life should never be easy and it should not be with the promise of no pain. The Bible makes it clear "that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that judgment." Like birth, life, school, work, marriage, having kids, raising kids, aging, we get one go around. It goes pretty fast. We need to smell the roses. Death like everything else is unique to each one of us. For those who love us, death separates us in this life. Let's pause a minute.
People dying recover, hang on, get worse. What ever their experience it is their time. While we live in this life there is hope, but everyone will expire save a work of God. There comes a time when we won't recover and a time when all that is left is the last moments. I am all for hospice and pain management, but just lost of awareness so we have personal peace and comfort is not enough.
I am all for the argument of are we extending death or the chance of extending life. The debate will come to each one of us. Also will come is the time we die however unpleasant, letting go and making peace with ourselves, loved ones and God. These things have never been easy and I don't think they should be assisted by suicide.
The next move will be people making this decision for us. Hope of recovery won't become optional.
If we keep walking, they won't catch us for awhile.
 

What you think about medicine?

Liam is a big boy now, he is coming for a visit, can't wait

I was talking with a friend about the side effects of medicines. My favorite is a four hour erection see your doctor. Making sure a medicine is doctor directed is a good thing. Also doing stuff naturally to eliminate or reduce our need of drugs is a good thing. But with age comes drugs whether we like it or not. Commercials for drugs must come at a time when they think people who would use them are watching. Close your eyes and listen to the sales pitch, I think you will find it humorous.

Our need of medicine is beyond my expertise, but I like the idea of things we can do that help our health and may help with the drugs we do take. Drinking water over all helps me to process the drugs I do take. That may be different for those of you with heart or other problems. Overall for me I am better hydrated then not. I even sleep better and that is with an enlarged prostrate. Walking definitely helps over all. Making good diet choices is another thing we can can control. 

Another friend shared with me problems with blood pressure. There is no getting away from it we will need some medicine the longer we live. 

Good news walking is free so keep a 1/2 hour of walking in your prescription everyday. Keep walking

There is hope to move from disfunctional to functional.

A therapist in a group I attended said "80% of the homes in the US are dysfunctional." She also shared areas in her life that was dysfunctional. One of the questions I have always had is how in the heck can I become functional. Anxiety and insomnia can reap havoc on one's mental health. So in the past 7 years or so I have learned and experienced things that has got me back to sleep and some what more able to control my anxiety. Here is what has helped:
Walking
Eating healthier
Anti depressants and anxiety medicines
Change in sleeping pills
Cognitive therapy to cope with anxiety and depressing thinking
Strategies of relaxing
Strategies of distractions at the time of going to sleep (music, prayer, reading, photos

Judy and Scott have been friends for a lifetime,
their picture reminds me people smile with me.

of friends,)
family's love and support
God has been their through it all. Both the anxiety and depression was rooted in changes in my brain as I have gotten older. Previous abuse and how it effected me played out as well.
Thankful for the medical and therapeutic intervention. But over the years there has been another factor at work in my life. God is in the business of helping dysfunctional people become functional. I wrote a note about it, that you may find helpful.
Here is a note I wrote as I studied John 14:21

Reeves  - "we have always had sinful people, today there are dysfunctional people who have difficulty loving. We have the ability to love because God gives us that ability.1) As believers God makes love possible because He always loves us through the ups and downs. His unconditional love is both a standard and a model. 2) God gives us the power to love through the Holy Spirit. What was difficult on our own has now been made possible by His Spirit. 3) Whatever principle or plan we have been going by is now replaced by His revealed will. As we learn it and obey it in the power of the Spirit; we are transformed to be like Jesus and most of all we will be able to love. This is a growing experience and no two are alike. God knows how to make sinners - saints and dysfunctional - functional. By the way that is what the Book of Romans is all about.

My testimony – I was a fighter and a bit of a hot head. My temper made me very unpredictable. Over the years I have become more gentle and controlled. Where it counts has been seen in my home. I still like using a punching bag but I like more who I have become. It has taken awhile, some 44 years and I am still changing." (1 John 4:19; 1 John 3:1; Gal. 5:16; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:1-10;4:17-24)

Keep walking

Enjoying the net and virtual travel

 I have been looking at beautiful pictures from all over the world. Thank God there is beauty everywhere. I would love to visit and be able to enjoy people and and the creation seen in every country and region. Unfortunately I lack the resousrses and time. But I do love the net and people sharing what they see. This week my my blog has been visited by Ireland, the Middle East, South America, Mexico, and visitors returning from Europe, Asia, and the United States.
We may not be wealthy or able to travel at will but we can enjoy our lives and keep walking.

Stength and flexibility and our Spiritual walk

Head ban, hair and smile, I am
probably watching Danny Foust

In the blog Today I Will Karyn Hughes, MEd shares strength training and stretching improves performance in golfers who average age is 57. The stretches were held for 10 seconds. I have read recent studies where stretching decreased strength performance. With any study you have to read carefully and see in follow-up studies say similar things. As we age we need to work on flexibility. In the east many elderly exercise with movements that help movement and joints. When we workout or do an activity or sport our body naturally stretches out. When our bodies warm up that is the best time to improve flexibility. Having CP I known this for years. I recall some 43 years ago my tennis coach Peter Neff at Joliet Junior College telling me at the end of the tennis season how I was moving much better.
Working out, walking, stretching are all things we can do to improve joint pain and muscle pain. For me it has reduced the amount of pain medication I take for arthritis. I am partial to less pain. Get off the lounge chair, desk, sofa and go for a walk everyday. Do it for 6 to 10 weeks and see if  you feel better. Walk at your own pace, as you walk you will move faster as you go along. In the summer walk early in the day or later in the evening, I find a naturally walk faster after the first 5 minutes. walk 10, 15 or 20 minutes at a faster pace, then slow down for a 5 minute cool down. It is your walk, your body will tell you what pace you can do.
If you are just starting a walk, remember most of us can do this, especially if we listen to our bodies. Also check with your doctor before starting a walk program.
Switching gears a little bit Earl Radmacher writes "Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Helper (John 14:16, 17). The Greek word, paraklētos, means “one called alongside to help.” In giving us the Holy Spirit, Jesus shows that leadership is not so much the ability to walk ahead of someone as the willingness to walk beside someone."
In my studies on walking with Jesus that is the sense of the perspective I have been looking at it. I have been viewing the gospels from the point of view of walking along side the disciples, attempting as best I can to get an idea what was it like to be there, seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting as I walk along side. I have eaten food they would have ate and I have looked at thousands of pictures and videos to see the locations as best I can. The two thousand year gap is no small problem. Walking most days where I like keeps my body moving and I try to connect the experience together. 
It is good to know as a believer the Spirit lives in me for thee power of the spiritual life. He walks with me for fellowship and He has been with me through it all, the ups and the downs. He walks beside me to protect and defend me from both the unseen spiritual world and here in the here and now. Bad things happen to good people, but I believe God is there to hold evil down. 
Be encouraged, and keep walking 

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson's new illustrated Bible commentary (Jn 14:23). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

 

Wowza spring is in bloom

I have been working on workouts for Barb to incorporate resistant training with tubes and aerobic

indoor walking. There is just to much evidence for strength training benefits as we get older. The basic idea is to do a resistant exercise of 12 to 15 reps and then do basic indoor walking, side steps, knee raises, and kicks for one minute, then back to another resistant exercise. Add push-ups, crunches, half squats and before you know it you have cross trained for 20 to 30 minutes. Great for the muscles, joints, bones, heart and brain. In my page menu I have shared some workouts along this line.
Hasn't the weather been great. I know I have shared before how wonderful all the green hues are in spring. Yard work is pleasant.
Good news on my diet, feeling better. My scale reminds me I am still fat, but a little less.
Keep walking

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

Mom

I was watching "On Golden Pond" with teens the other day. They wanted to know why we were watching this old movie. When I think of an old movie I think of "Bringing up Baby" a 1937 movie with Hepburn and Grant. All a matter of perspective.
One of the kids said with the approval of the whole room, "I don't never want to get old" he had been watching "Norman" the old poop, complain of aging. I responded after concidering his observation, "none of us plan to get old. It just happens."
He told me, "You ain't old mister."
I thought about being 61 and that I was closer to Henry Fonda in the film than I was to the group of teens in the room.
Many have told me when they get aged how hard it is to be old. Nothing works right. Katherine Hepburn herself wrote about how difficult is was to get old. Kate faced age with courage and grit and lived well into her 90's.
Pictured in the blog is my mother. One one of my visits she let me take a picture of her. She always did, but she said something I obviously never forgot.
"Why is it when I am old everybody wants a picture of me?" Painfully when she was younger we were separated from each other. Kids, take a lot of pictures of your parents when they are young. You will love them later.

 

So thinking of Mother's day I enjoy looking at my beautiful mother. She was quick witted and  full of fun. As an adult I had many visits with her and our conversations were priceless to me. She really took to Barb and Barb was always very relaxed and comfortable with my mother. By the way mom never sided with me about anything concerning Barb. It was probably right that I was wrong, but how wise she was.
I was never the best on the phone as I was in person. My only regret would be to have visited her more. I am glad I did visit her over the years.
You will see a lot of flowers on the blog, a gift to me from my mother, keep walking

Visit my bike page and other cool things

I came across a indoor biking routine from Cooper's Aerobics. I included the workout in a new page you can check out. Don't forget about the pages on the Fatman's site. They are good pages I think for spiritual and physical health. I up date them from time to time. I trust you find the blog helpful. I would love your feedback.
I understand walking and it's benefits I repeat quite often. I post new articles but I am aware they support the basic message of walking is good for you. Part of the freshness I believe will come as I challenge my self to get to a healthier weight. One of my psych medicines actually increases weight. I can't use that as an excuse but my must raise my activity level and be mindful of moderation in all things. I am fitting in clothes better and I have increased my water intake to curve appetite to process my medicine better.

Spencer West walking for clean water

Have you noticed celebrates who lose weight and then regain weight. I see this in retired jocks. Weight loss is harder than we think. Change of lifestyle I think is the key and change of thinking. But change happens slower than we want so hang in there.
Here is an update on Spencer West. He will walk 300 kilometers on his hand to raise money for clean water in Africa I believe. Wow! Where there is water there is life. Tony Bourdain got sicker than he ever experienced when visiting Liberia, West Africa and I bet he will tell you how important to cook with clean water is. Spencer you are a hero!
A read research on how exercise is an ally in the fight against breast cancer. It is something we can do to fight this disease. Mom's take a walk this mother's day for life.
Keep walking

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/BreastCancer/38967

Taking in the spring flowers

Walking at Rock Run the water levels are much improved from last years' drought. It will be fun to take pictures of the changes through this time of year.

JT Central campus is beautiful this time of year. Perfect for sitting outside at lunch time under the shade of one of its many trees.
My little flowered tree is in bloom. And once again the grass needs cutting. Our yard give oportunity for walking.
Last night watched the Bulls win over Miami. The way they play together is pretty cool in a time of inflated egos. 

Walking, eating and living well are things we can do to slow aging and improve health. I read an article on how faith helps people with mental illness. The research talked of a higher power rather than a personal God the Bible talks about. Higher power could mean anything. The good news is most therapy and treatments now don't refer to faith as a sign of weakness in the way Freud used to view religion. Research now shows it helps better than unbelief and we see the benefit of hope.

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/mental-health/faith-healing-belief-god-improves-psychiatric-treatment-outcomes

Here is a clear video showing the value of walking and running compared. Walking is good for us, see why...keep walking
http://health.yahoo.net/videos/healthday/exercise-for-your-heart

Reading a blog from Today I Will discusses the value of weights or bands. The real key is doing the resistence training. Bands give alot of practical uses.

http://todayiwill.com/2013/05/dumbbells-or-bands-is-there-a-difference/

"Hey Ralphie boy"...Loved the Honeymooners

Thanks Connie for a sunset in Africa

Jesus said in John 14 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."  I was reading a man who lived in a mansion but could only use a small space because of the cold. I was looking at beautiful places right here on earth that I will not see in those locations in person. I am happy to see them on the net. We will never see our nearest neighbors in space or other solar systems, but can you imagine all the beautiful places in the universe to see. God and Jesus has gone and prepared a place for us. We will be at home there and we will be able to experience it at its fullest.
I was reading Henry Thoreau on walking, I was encouraged to do so by Scott, Walking to Retirement. Walking had the idea of adventure, of being somewhere new to your experience, even a spiritual experience. As a young man I remember in particular walking with Mark Huber and had a spirit of adventure.
Another friend went on a backpacking trip to the off road trails in Yellowstone. With the college and career group there was a huge sense of adventure. My friend I had to share a tooth brush and towel. We survived! I came across a "HoneyMooners" script with Ralph and Norton. That show is one of the all time funniest shows. For me it brings the humor of sharing a tooth brush. Their dialogue went like this:

Ralph Kramden: Norton?
Ed Norton: What?
Ralph Kramden: Did you use my toothbrush?
Ed Norton: I dunno.
Ralph Kramden: What do you mean you don't know?
Ed Norton: Well, you got a red toothbrush and I got a red toothbrush. They was layin' side by side and I didn't know which was which, so I just went, "Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo."
Ralph Kramden: [holds up toothbrush] Is this Mo?
Ed Norton: [looks at toothbrush] Yep, that's Mo all right.
Ralph Kramden: Well, for your information, Mo happens to be my toothbrush.
Ed Norton: Oh, I was wonderin' why there was somethin' familiar about Miney.

Enjoy your adventures in your walk, keep walking

Enjoying a sunny day

Another day in the 80's and sunny. Walking around work and I am sweating. Sweat is good but I can over do it. My work out today will be cutting grass and work three rounds on the heavy bag and weight program. With my steps today at work I will walk 10,000 steps.
Thanks to my Aunt Janelle I have added oat bran to my oatmeal. With raisins and walnuts throw in slices of bananas and strawberries awesome breakfast.
For lunch I will sit outside at the school enjoying the shade and flowered trees. I will take a couple of pictures and share them in future posts.
Yard work can give us a lot of movement that is good for us. Working after work makes the sunshine

healthy. We will do some planting this week of hearty veggies, tomatoes and peppers in a few weeks.
Strength training for me started with my old man workouts of sit-ups, push-ups, and squats with tubing a couple times a week. I still do the old man exercises daily, really helps with arthritis. The tubing I am replacing with weights and total gym three times a week. I will use the tubes for rotator cuff therapy and some range of motion.
I share the things I am doing to demonstrate there are a lot of ways to workout. Challenging yourself to be open to strength training can be a part of any of us as we move to retirement or age. take in the outdoors any way you can and keep walking