Gray Wolf Productions

Tag: aging

  • Coffee, Coffee, Exercise, Coffee

    These images reflect my daily routine, the first 2 cups of coffee come with something in them. I guess they are called bulletproof coffee. I change what I put in them, but there’s always something good in there – but not milk.

    Then I exercise. It used to mostly be yoga or a HIIT exercise or something like that, but I got this vibration plate about a month ago and I’m loving it – so that has become my morning go to exercise and I’ll explain why after I do the 3rd cup of coffee, which comes with nothing in it – just black and that is followed by go out and play with dog time. [We’ve already been out a couple of times by now, but that’s just to do her morning constitutional.]

    I got into this routine many years ago and it seemed to work then but I got away from it and now I’m back to it. I’m trying to remember things that used to work for me. I got a little off kilter when I did this last move, but I figured it’s time to get back to what used to work.

    Until I got the vibration plate, I had been doing my usual yoga, HIIT, Pilates and things like that. I still do those, but they’re not part of the morning routine anymore. The vibration plate has replaced the between the coffees morning exercise.

    Of course, this doesn’t happen on days where I have to get out the door within an hour or two of getting up – unless it’s summer when I get up early. I’m a light/dark sleeper. If the sun is shining, I’m usually up which means in the summer I am up earlier than in the winter.

    Back to the vibration plate. I’ve seen these online with what I considered “influencers” yammering about them and my thought was oh yeah, right and I would scroll by it, but then I saw something that sounded more legitimate than an influencer, and I started reading about them and decided to get one.

    Being a long time Costco member my first look was at Costco and no they don’t have them at my store. I don’t think they have them at any stores that I’ve seen, but they had one online. And I figured if I don’t like it it’s a quick drive to Costco to take it back – anyway it came very quickly and I’ve been using it ever since it.

    I won’t go into all of what I like about it because I’m one of these people who thinks results vary. I know people who hate these. I know people who love them.

    What it has done for me, it may not do for you, but I am very happy with the way I feel. I have more energy. My flexibility has improved, and I am actually doing more of the other exercises over the day!

    I have a smart watch which measures many functions – and every one of those is moving in the direction that is considered good health. I’m healthy to begin with, but my watch is telling me I’m getting healthier.

    I’ve worked out my own vibration plate routine – as I said I do it every day between coffee cup two and three, but I change what I do every day and I’m still learning it – and nope – I haven’t cranked it up to its fastest paces.

    And by the way, that’s my almost 14 year-old lab. I’ve never had a dog get this old – so not only am I learning about my own aging. I’m learning about her aging.

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • I Was Challenged; And I Won [we all won]

  • Are You Part of My Tribe?

  • Finding That Perfect Brain Time

    Hmmmm Is there a perfect brain time?

    As part of the ongoing blog challenge, and honestly part of my almost every day personal/business challenge, is making a specific time to work only on a specific goal – usually part of a long-range goal. I do that during the day but I don’t have a specific time, it is more random from day to day and therefore on many days I let other things get in the way and then all of a sudden it’s time to go to bed and it’s the next day and I haven’t done the one or two things I know I need to do to keep working towards a specific goal. Another part of my problem is that my goal[s] tends to vary from day today – that’s me and that something I’m working on.

    But, and this is good for me, as part of the challenge today I am to figure out a 15 to 20 minute part of the day where I will work on my goals. Only 20 minutes or 15 minutes? I think I can figure out what times of the day that can happen and happen daily.

    Puppy Energy

     I’ve done something like this before and I know it works. But me, being me, stops using tactics like this after I finish one major project and I get into other stuff and then get off track again. So what I am going to do is go back to what I know worked before. That is to start my day with my coffee and my first 20 or 25 of focused activity. Given that I have a dog and I eat and I drink more coffee I will take a break after that 25 minutes and have breakfast. I will also have more coffee and then take the dog for her morning stroll. Then I shall come back and do another 20 minutes or 25 minutes. I know I work better with breaks so that will be session number two and I will take a break after that and do fun type stuff. Then I will come back and do another 20 or 25 minutes of work.

     I know my best work hours are between 9 AM and 1 PM so I shall do these 20 or 25 minutes segments in that period of time and not try to push myself past that 1 PM timeframe. I may do yoga in between some of the 25-minute work sessions because I also think yoga helps me get my mind back on track. It certainly keeps my body feeling better.

    What I will do that is a bit different than what I have done in the past is to spend the first part of the first 20 minutes session prioritizing what it is I am going to be doing that day. When I tried making myself a priority list the night before I forget about it – it’s written down and my brain considers it done. So I have to get back to prioritizing my day after I am awake and while I’m having my coffee.

    As it is now mid afternoon and I’m still on a roll I may get some of my focused work done today even though it’s past my usual work hour. Part of what I’m also working on is the ability to refocus at different times of the day or night.

    Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Thank you!!

    This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 5

  • My Superpowers Are……..

  • My Vision For Me – and Maybe You?

    This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 3Mt. Hood

    I am already living in a place that I had a vision about many years ago. That’s why I moved here. I love living near water and now I live ON the water. I actually float in a house on a large river so I have water on all sides. But my vision that got me here also had an important caveat and that was a promise to myself that I would live in the area of a fairly large city for the rest of my life. Having tried living in the country a couple of times in my life I have found that I am a genetic city person and thus I will stay in a city. Luckily for both versions the water and the house or totally within the boundary of a pretty large city. So I can have the quietness of a river. I can sit and look at the water or go kayaking, but if I want, I can hop on a train, bus, or car and be downtown in a very short time. I have found my perfect place to live.

    So for this challenge, I have a different sort of vision because I no longer need to find the perfect place to live. What I need to do now is make the place into ideas that I have for it. And me.

    When I get up in the morning the first thing I envision doing – and do – is let the dog and cat out. There’s no getting around that. Doesn’t matter if it’s what I want to do or not it’s with the cat and dog want to do. Then I make coffee and while the water is boiling I have a glass of warm water with lemon in it. I have the coffee and I also do a lot of intensive stretching because I’ve discovered that all the exercise I do tightens calf and foot muscles and as I’ve gotten older I need to do more stretching to keep flexible. I do about 20 minutes of yoga and then have breakfast. Sometimes a simple smoothie, sometimes a more complicated meal.

     Morning is the above because that won’t change but I envision my house being very different. I see the space having all the the internal walls removed and having it be one light filled open space with a butcher block counter. By the way, my house is very small. I downsized when I moved out west. And a way to have more space is to remove the few internal walls that now exist and have that island that I can eat at and use for parties, etc. Then I can get rid of the table that now serves as both desk and eating space. 

     Also in my vision is a brand new Subaru Impreza. I’m old enough now that the car will last me the rest of either my life or my driving life.

    my next car

    Another part of my vision includes new skis, boots, and poles and my vision often includes a cabin up in the mountains so that I don’t have to get up so early to go skiing.

    How will I reach this vision?  I intend to become the go-to expert on healthy aging. And that’s where you, the readers come in, please let me know what questions you might have about your aging. I’ve written about aging before and I will continue doing so – but I’m envisioning doing the research that I have put off and procrastinated about and when it is done hopefully we will all know how to live healthier, longer, more prosperous, and happier lives – filled with the visions that we want for ourselves. I will be continuing on this line of thought for a while and you will hear about it.

    Comments? Thoughts? Thank you!!

>