Sunday, January 30, 2011

Yoga and time makes me whine

28Jan11, 7am: Silent Hot Yoga with Martina Lee
29Jan11, 9am: Hot Yoga with Deva Biswas

I came out of this class thinking that it was a very easy class... hmmm....

30Jan11, 6pm: Hot Yoga with Anjan Kundu

This was pay-back from having an "easy" class on Saturday! If I ever thought any of the other yoga teachers of East Indian descent were tough, it's because I hadn't had an Anjan class yet. Anjan is Bengali... I'm not sure if there are different styles of yoga instruction based on which part of India you are from, but his style was crazy! It could also be because he's been practicing since he was 8 and competing for many years as well. I find the yoga teachers who compete or do talent-based yoga shows to be quite different anyway. He's tough, bossy, and has no concept of time (or enjoys making light of the passing time), which ends up making me VERY cognizant of time. I wanted it to END! Take note of this and laugh when you read my other post from today about figuring out your talents! I wrote it before this yoga class and will finish it in a bit. Anyway, it was almost ornery the way he would count down while we were holding a position... he'd pause at a number and ask us which number came next, e.g. he would say "three"... we would say "two" and then he'd say "NO!" and start counting UP again! WTF!!! (I can't believe I just wrote "WTF" on my blog, but it seems appropriate) Then sometimes he'd be counting down, "three, two" and then he'd just walk around and adjust people or maybe say something like "further" or "stretch harder." Meanwhile we're all wondering what happened to the "one" and about to curse him, at least I was. I think I even spoke out loud, "alright already" at one point. I did get into some postures I hadn't tried before and the class shook up my routine a bit. I even got all the way down into both sides of the splits with my arms straight up in the air and a slight back-bend. Yes, the yoga competitors always seem to work the splits into their classes... not the first time. Well, I promised to try a new class and/or teacher each week, and it had been getting more and more difficult to do that and stick to my usual schedule. So, I took this opportunity this weekend to do that, and I'm glad I did. I know that I'll chose Anjan for yoga class if I'm in that kind of mood. It was fine tonight, but I know that style won't always suit me. Good to know!


Continuing the theme of strengths


In my last long post, I left off wondering how to effectively identify our natural talents. We are told as children and young adults what our talents are. There were things I was "good" at, like ballet, long-distance running, teamwork-related activities, a bit of art/creative stuff, etc. Yes, these were things I liked to do but I was also told that I was good at them and should further pursue them. Told by whom? Do these people, regardless of how close they are to us (friends, family, teachers, etc.) really take into consideration how we are reacting and feeling about a certain said talent? Maybe. Sometimes they do have a bird's eye view. Furthermore, do these "talents" change as we enter adulthood? Everything else changes as we enter adulthood, as we start to make it our utmost priority to be functioning and influential adults in our families, communities, career fields, etc. How do our natural "talents" influence how we function in these respects? How do our "talents," which we can develop into "strengths" help us become good leaders in said aspects of our lives? That is what I'm hoping to figure out.

So far, I've learned a few things about how to discover talents, but I'm still unsure if my talents have always been or how they've changed throughout my life. My brilliant wife reminded me a while back to pay attention to activities I'm doing where I completely lose track of time because I am so "in to" whatever it is I'm doing. I can think of many, such as:

1. some types of art projects,
2. analyzing data,
3. developing a really neat research idea,
4. cooking,
5. making graphs and figures for a manuscript,
6. working on a presentation,
7. developing a lecture or seminar,
8. hanging out with friends, talking, playing games
9. going for a hike
10. writing my blog
11. exercising or talking about exercise and nutrition.

This list names a few of these types of activities that, in my life, I can get carried away and
completely lose track of time. However, I wonder a bit, as some are not consistently like that, e.g. meaning that I consistently lose track of time enjoying what I am doing. For example, sometimes I'm doing yoga and wondering when it will be over! Ha ha!! Does that mean that yoga is not a talent? Hmmm... I realize that this strategy is only a start to figuring things out, however. I've read to pay attention to five distinct themes regarding an activity, hobby, sport, etc.

1. Yearnings: you feel as though an internal force leads you to that activity or environment over and over and over again.

2. Rapid learning: while doing this activity, you find as though it is easy for sparks to fly and you really understand what is going on, are able to acquire any new skills associated with that activity or gain new knowledge associated with the ideas of the activity

3. Satisfaction: you feel a sense of great achievement when participating in these activities, when you take on and successfully meet challenges, they are extremely energizing experiences , fuelling you

4. Timelessness (close to what I was referencing above): you become so engrossed in this activity you completely lose track of time

5. Glimpses of excellence: you or others observe moments of outstanding performance in these activities

I can think a bit more about these five themes and the aforementioned 11 talents I think that I have, based on timelessness. Do they fit for the other four criteria as well? Yes and no. Having said that, I have also been going through the first module of Level 1 of Susanne Conrad's goal setting and leadership program. Part of this module involved interviewing people that are very close to you about their perception of you (me). I have interviewed 7 of the 8 people in my life that I definitely wanted to interview. I'd like to interview a few more that are close to me, but this has been a good start. The hard part for me has been that it has to be via voice at least, if not in person, which would be ideal because this module also dealt with communication, specifically listening. Being 8, 14, or 16 hours time difference to almost everyone on this list made that logistically challenging, but with skype I have managed to make it happen. However, I'm still waiting to work out a time and day with my sister, who has been ill. Germane to the earlier rhetoric on talents and strengths, the majority of the nine questions request your friend/family member/colleague, whomever you are interviewing to describe your strengths and talents. For example, "What do you see as my key strengths?" "When am I most powerful?" and "When am I most inspired?" I'm finding this most helpful... incorporating perceptions of me by others that are extremely close to me, on one level or another. This is equally important, in my mind, as figuring out things on my own. Because these people are being lead by me, influenced by me, and/or inspired by me in some way or another, by seeing ME inspired and feeling great about what I am doing. It is that kind of back-and-forth reciprocity that is the whole point of this!

I'd like to talk more about others' perceptions of me relative to my talents (that I have developed into strengths), but given that I committed to including my sister's thoughts, I really want to wait and thus will save that information for a post a little later in the week. Meanwhile, as I am hugely supportive of Strengths based Leadership and Strengths Finder, which are Gallup-based survey protocols to help people sift through the nonsense of every day life and identify their strengths and talents. I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone, especially if you are in this transitional-type period of your life. This has really given me a foundation to further explore my talents and hone my strengths as a result. Furthermore, I am more cognizant of those with which I surround myself, not only on a personal/friend day-to-day basis, but also in my professional life and eventually the laboratory and research team I am establishing during my career as a scientist.

So, I started reading the the Strengths based Leadership book last summer (2010) and a lot of the content really resonated with me, leading me to take the very long strengths-finder test that they offer online if you own the book. The overall theme of the book was that knowing your strengths and investing in others' strengths, getting people with the right strengths on your team, and understanding and meeting the four basic needs of those who look to you for leadership is what being a good leader is all about. Again, at the brink of a major transition point in my career, I thought that there could be no better time!

Four basic domains of leadership (needs of those that look to you for leadership):

1. Executing: a good leader needs to be able to put an idea into motion, they take an idea and make it happen
2. Influencing: a good leader can take charge, speak up, and yes... influence people
3. Relationship building: good leaders can create groups and organizations that are much greater than the sum of their parts, they are likened to the glue that can bind ideas and people together to work even better as a group
4. Strategic thinking: good leaders can easily absorb and quickly analyze information while determining how it will affect future actions and make better decisions

Every leader will have their strengths spread out between these four domains differently. It is the domains that don't get filled by the leader that raise the awareness as to the type of people he/she wants to attract to his/her team. This is what makes me think that I will be a good academic supervisor (graduate students and supervising large projects and communicating huge ideas) because my strengths, I've found, fall into every category except the first domain (executing). In other words, I'm just not strong at actually doing the project. I can get it going, get the team together, get the information and planning done, and get everyone motivated, but when it comes to collecting the data... that's where I need my team!

You can't imagine how validating that is! For years, I've thought something was wrong with me. I'd love getting a project going but actually doing the experiments... nah! Well, let me back up. I love doing the experiments the first few times, but once they get to be routine... I'd prefer to move on! But then when it was time to sort through the data and determine how to communicate it all and get everyone excited about our findings... I'm back! This sounds kind of bizarre, I'm sure.

So, drum roll... my strengths are as follows:

Within the "Executing" domain:
nothing

Within the "Influencing" domain:
1. Activator
2. Maximizer

Within the "Relationship Building" domain:
3. Harmony
4. Individualization

Within the "Strategic Thinking" domain:
5. Learner

There are 34 "strengths" in total, and the survey/testing is based on scenarios that are given and your responses to those scenarios. I remember it taking a long time, at least an hour to complete. But I am very intrigued with the outcome and integrating it into my plans for my future, both in my career and in my personal life.

I'm going to spend the next few blog posts to delve into what each of these "strengths" mean to me and how I will utilize them to the utmost potential in setting and achieving my goals and continuing to surround myself with the types of people that a) are in line with my values, b) will help highlight my strengths, and -- because of their own innate talents and strengths that I have learned to recognize and appreciate -- c) will make up for my weaknesses. I'm sensing my favourite word coming on... interdependence. I leave it at that for tonight!

To be continued...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Today's thought

Failure is not falling down. Rather, failure is staying down.

-Anonymous

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I know I am strong, but what are my strengths?

25Jan11: no yoga, no fitness

This upset me, but I've acknowledged it and moved on. I did spend the morning talking to my sister-in-law for one of my leadership exercises, the afternoon in a thought-provoking seminar at the University, and the evening over tea/coffee and eventually such a delicious dinner at Life Cafe (where else!) with a good friend. We had a tremendous 5 hours of conversation mixed in with some quiet time and lots of laughing, but we were also very productive. You know when you have that kind of "jam session" with a friend and you part thinking you can conquer the world? That was it. So, I feel better about missing the gym/yoga for one day and also because...

26Jan11, 7am: Hot yoga with Shirley Wong

... I had the best yoga class in at least a week Wed. morning!!! It was fantastic! Maybe skipping a day helped with that...??? Who knows, who cares... it was so good!

27Jan11, 7:15am: Bodypump with Kelvin
27Jan11, 8am: 25 min run on treadmill

It was hard to get going this morning, and I was very close to skipping my morning work-out and signing on for something later in the evening. I'm so glad I didn't though. I really AM much better when I get a morning work-out.

Anyway, I am in leadership mode. This time of my life could not be more ideal. I'm taking an online seminar in leadership skills and doing a few other reading and online exercises, some divided into several modules with assignments. My current role models for this are the following leadership gurus:


I know, many of you may recognize the last name on the list. She's my wife, but also one of the best passive leaders I know... why do I say passive, more on that a bit later.

The key to great leadership is knowing yourself, your strengths, and those of people around you, which is a lifelong process, I realize. However at this point in my personal and professional life, I'm taking this opportunity to better understand my own strengths as well as those of others, for example those in my research team or those in my family and circle of close friends, and making sure I surround myself with people bearing strengths that complement my own.

According to Strengths Based Leadership, a strength is the "ability to consistently produce a positive outcome through near-perfect performance in a specific task." A strength is comprised of the following:

1. skills
-not innate, rather have to be acquired via training & practice
2. knowledge
-also must be acquired, but through education
3. talents
-ways in which you innately think, feel, act, & behave, cannot be acquired

The authors of Strengths Based Leadership say that "your most powerful talents represent the best of your natural self" and are therefore the "best opportunities to perform at levels of excellence through strength."

So do we search for our talents then, since everything else can be acquired? If I have a natural talent then I can develop skills and knowledge to further hone that talent so I can collectively call it a strength? Ok...

They further suggest that everyone has the following types of talents:

a. dominant
b. supporting
c. lesser

And, they take priority and are powerful in that respective order.

I guess I need to discover my talents in order to build my strengths then.

To be continued...

Monday, January 24, 2011

Convenience

20Jan11, 7:15am Body Pump with Kelvin

21Jan11, 7:30pm Power yoga with Serena Chan
8:45pm Pranayama breathing and meditation with Devea Biswas
22Jan11, 9km hike with one particularly vertical portion called Pyramid Mountain

23Jan11, 11:30am Power yoga with Michael Lau

24Jan11, 7am Hot yoga with Michael Lau

Consecutive days where I've not eaten after 10pm: 9
Consecutive days of water consumption logging: 9 (only 2 of which were 3L or more, but still...)

I wanted to talk about my meditation evening from Friday, but something just came up this evening that made me get on my computer to write.

As I've written in the past, there have been a few aspects of my lifestyle here in Hong Kong that I don't agree with but I've had to deal with until I find a solution that is in line with my values. For most of them, I have, and I am happy and proud of myself with each solution. However, there are still other situations that bother me that I cannot change... not quickly at least. For example, peoples' attitude or I guess I could say peoples' perception of convenience. Words that come to mind are the following: now, short-term, acute, immediate... There is a lot of waste, for example, and a lot of that has to do with packaging and cheaply made "now" items. There is an emotion regarding waste here too, an emotion of indifference, i.e. it doesn't matter because garbage will be shipped to China or another Asian country, anyway. That's my perception and I'm starting to see more of this unwritten animosity between Hong Kong-ese and any other Asian. So, if the garbage is going to China, who cares, because disposable is convenient!!!??? Or is it?

One particular incident came up this evening that was a true testament to the indifference I sense about waste.


Let me back up a bit... I have an induction cooker, basically a one-burner hot plate, and if you know anything about the particular models common to the apartments in Hong Kong, you know that they are major fire hazards. They heat up fast and to very, very hot temperatures... even on the "warm milk" setting. My apartment came with a few "cooking utensils" one of which was a wok/skillet hybrid... it was neither one nor the other, and so that means it didn't really have a flat bottom either, which is not good for induction cookers. That's the first strike. Strike two is that it was a teflon-type pan, for which I'm against. Thirdly, and worst of all, this poor pan had been abused, likely by the induction cooker. Teflon (or whatever brand) was coming off, and the bottom of the pan was warping. Yes, I've used this pan a few times, trying to use the area that's not been abused or else making sure whatever I was cooking was liquidy so that it wouldn't burn. I know.... I do not feel good about this decision, but there are so many things... Anyway, I had finally decided that I was going to tell my landlords about it. I have to space out my complaints because otherwise they won't be as effective, and I don't want to be "that girl" because that won't get me anywhere either, especially in HK. I had thought about just buying a small one of my own that was stainless steel or some other safe metal (our favourite cast-iron would not have been practical and does not work on induction cookers, sadly), but it was kind of that debate in my head as to whether I should be buying stuff like that since I'll only be here for another 4 months. Ugh!!! So, I took it to my landlord and they said they'd bring me a different one. There was no question. Sometimes I wonder if they just test people's limits... if they don't complain... oh well, they can continue using an unsafe pan... no problem. Anyway, they took the cancer pan and said they'd bring me a "new" one.

I went to my room, some call it an apartment, I call it a room. I proceeded to cook an egg on my other pan, which is more like a pot, such as one you'd make soup in or boil eggs in because doing that in your electric kettle is a bad idea. Trust me. I digress. I made my ridiculous dinner of one organic egg, one piece of tapioca bread toast, some hummus, and an organic carrot, a large one. I ate it. There's a knock on my door, and it's one of my maids. Yes, I have two! I have two maids! That means I have one maid per 50 sq. ft. of apartment! Emily hands me a new-ish skillet... a real skillet this time with a glass lid. The skillet is teflon but not peeling. I take it.

Emily looks around as she is standing there in the doorway and asks what happened? I presume
she means, "why do you have every piece of clothing hanging from every possible hook or bar or curtain rod in your flat?" I say, "oh nothing, I just did laundry." She asked why I didn't use the dryer, and I explained to her that I could easily just hang everything to dry. I only use the dryer for one small load every other week, and that consists of pyjamas, socks, and towels... in my mind all things that are better off dried with the dryer.

"But you pay for laundry, you should just use the dryer, it's so convenient," she says.

"Yes, but I think it's a waste of energy."

"But you paid for it."

"Well I think it's better for the environment if I use less energy."

"It doesn't matter. You already paid for it, you should just use it."

"No, I don't believe that way. Thanks for bringing me the skillet. Goodnight."

I feel good about hanging my laundry. Most of my clothing doesn't do well in the dryer anyway, such as my abundance of Lululemon work-out and yoga apparel which I LOVE! The last time my hanging my laundry came up was with my other maid and was quite a funny conversation (rather than an environmental responsibility conversation like I feel this one was). I do not know my other maid's name, and she only speaks Mandarin. So many people here can't understand here either, but she strangely thinks that everyone can understand her. One night
as I was bringing my laundry upstairs, she was apparently recalling that I hung all of my work-out wear, and made some motions of a dancer. To me, her motions looked like Flamenco, which wouldn't make ANY sense coming from a tiny old Chinese lady. After taking her with me to one of the other maids to figure out what she was saying, I finally learned she meant that she thought I was a belly-dancer. This also explains the look she always gives me with her eyes and the tiny chuckle... here, a belly dancing is not just a fitness class you can take at the gym... I demonstrated some yoga so she knew that was what I mostly did when wearing those tights, short shorts, tank tops, and sports bras. Now when she sees me, she calls me "yoga" which sounds more like "yorger." Anyway, that's my other story... quite a bit more light-hearted I'd say.

I love hanging my laundry. Not using the dryer prolongs the life of my clothing, especially the pieces with elastic-type fibres. It's not rocket science. Plus, I have this fear of shrinking my clothing as it elicits this whole other cascade of emotions in me. So, it's just easier to avoid drying most of my pieces. I guess the only time I wouldn't love hanging my laundry is when I'm cooking a delicious curry dinner, when it is simmering on the stove for hours and hours absorbing all of the beautiful spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric... rice is cooking in the rice-cooker, and so you can also breathe in that nutty steam... and I may be cutting up some fresh coriander to garnish... wait... I forgot, I don't have a kitchen and said hotplate would not be conducive to this meal... I'm dreaming. My point was that I don't like all of my clothes smelling like curry. I do love that they smell like the eucalyptus all-natural eco-friendly laundry detergent that I use and sometimes take on a bit of the sandalwood or vanilla from the incense that I burn... I also think hanging laundry is beautiful, not in my case, but in general. Here are a few gorgeous images I found with credits hyperlinked to each, as they are not my credit.








Sunday, January 23, 2011

Remake ourselves?


"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves."
- Mahatma Gandhi


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Check, check, and check

18Jan11, 8:30pm: Body pump with Anna (new teacher, liked her!)
19Jan11, 7am: Hot yoga with Shirley Wong

So today, Thursday... was a great day!!! Fitness, check! Food, check! Water, check! I did 4 water bottles, which I haven't consciously done in a couple weeks.
Plus, it was quiet in my office, I got a lot of work done on something that is taking me so long and is AGONIZING!

Yoga was fantastic this morning too. I had two "asanas of the day" including standing bow pose (dancer's pose) or Dandayamana-Dhanurasana. I've mentioned this one before and posted many images, as it is one of my favourites. Rather than posting an image this time, I've hyperlinked above. The linked-image is, again not me, but where that woman is wither her asana is where I am right now too (when right leg is supporting). It was so good today. My foot was so high above my head, and my leg was only barely bent. I like Shirley Wong a lot because she will come and help you get to a posture if you need it. For this one, she came and just watched. And then she stood there and complimented me for a moment after the posture was finished. She said she really liked how I went for it and the energy. Wow, that felt amazing!

She did help me today with my bow pose (Dhanurasana), which is a posture I've never liked. There are supposedly so many benefits to this posture. I'm not sure how much is substantiated, however. There are suggestions that during bow pose, the liver and abdomen are massaged, which helps digestion and balances the secretions of the pancreas and adrenal glands. The bow pose is also thought to decrease the amount of fat that tends to accumulate around the waist. Hmmm.... getting interesting! Specialists also believe that the bow pose helps alleviate gastrointestinal disorders, dyspepsia, sluggishness of the liver and chronic constipation. On top of all those benefits, this asana is supposedly recommended for people with diabetes, menstrual disorders, incontinence and colitis. Finally, because it is thought to improve blood flow and helps to realign the spine, it can also relieve asthma and improve breathing. It sounds like the magic asana, really! REALLY?

I would love to love this asana, and I'm starting to, slowly. But, I think that the reason I may not like it is because I eat breakfast before yoga. Granted, I eat my breakfast at about 5:40am for my 7am yoga mornings. That's about the earliest I can make it, but I have to eat! Every yoga book and website recommend not doing this asana sooner than 3 hours after you've eaten. Hmm.... that would put me doing it no sooner than 8:40am. By that time I'm drying my hair and off to work. That could explain a lot. All things aside, today I liked it. I've been working on it over the past few weeks, knowing fully that it wasn't my favourite, but today was the best it has ever been! I knew this, but Shirley also reminded me that it was "very well done" too, which helped!

What a day! Well, the only other thing I try to accomplish is getting to bed around midnight, and it's about 25 min. past... good night friends!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Accountability

Logging my fitness works!

15Jan11, 9am: Hot yoga with Deva Biswas

16Jan11, 9am: Hot yoga with Bernadette Leung
16Jan11, 2pm: Two-hour hike (some good vertical)

17Jan11, 7am: Hot yoga with Deva Biswas

Now it's time for logging my water consumption to work. I've been keeping track for the past three days exactly how many containers of water I've consumed. I don't count tea or coffee, and some days I drink a lot of green tea because I'm so cold in my office. I feel especially happy if I'm still getting in my regular water consumption on top of that. In addition, my water bottle is just around 750mL and so if I get to the point where I am drinking 4 containers per day, I'll be having 3L of water.

I have also been trying to be more aware of my eating. There are so many things I'd like to change with my eating habits, but I also know that I can be a very extreme all-or-nothing kind of person, and those practices are not sustainable for me. So, one at a time.

I already eat high-quality, humane, and environmentally-friendly food. This has taken a couple years to become second nature, but it is now. There are areas where I draw the line here in Hong Kong. For one, I don't eat meat where I am either unaware of or uncomfortable of the origin. This means that most times eating out means going vegetarian. I buy only organic, free range meat and dairy (yogurt and I've bought cheese once). Most of it comes from either NZ or Australia. I buy only organic produce and dairy as well. There are many cafes I enjoy in Hong Kong that only serve organic food (namely Life Cafe), but that is one area that I'm not so hard on myself about. Meat is priority. Furthermore, when living in Vancouver, I was easily able to buy not only organic, but local produce and meat. I don't have that luxury here. There is no chicken produced in Hong Kong because of Avian Flu, but I am able to find Hong Kong grown organic lettuces and carrots! "Food miles" is a big concern for me, but transporting produce from NZ to Hong Kong, while a flight is involved, isn't as damaging in my opinion as bananas from South America. I have it justified for now.

My timing and rationale for eating is where I can focus my goal-setting for now, I think. I just wrote a letter to a friend where I included the following bit about mindful eating:

"... Indeed, food has turned into this crazy thing for some… I’ll say, most people… it’s a political movement, it’s an environmental movement, it’s a social movement, it medicates us, it makes us happy, it makes us hate our bodies, it makes us feel smart, it makes us have more energy, it makes us feel connected to family, it makes us feel rich, it makes us feel poor… but really, it does go back to calories in, calories out. We nourish our bodies in the best way possible so that our bodies are able to be the best they can be. That’s all, and we definitely have more knowledge about that now. Nowadays, however, because of all of the emotional attachment we have with food, we have to start recognizing hunger again… in general. Sometimes, I have no clue as to the difference between mind hunger and body hunger. Mind hunger… all of the other reasons that we eat- a stressful day, a celebration, boredom, sadness, fear of feeling an emotion… We have learned that when our body or mind is yearning for something, we give it food. It is a quick and easy fix. Maybe what we really needed was a nap, or a hug, or someone to listen or to learn how to express ourselves better. Or, does your body physiologically need more energy to sustain an activity? Learning to not feed mind hunger with food is a long process; this is a behavior that we learned long ago, and need to relearn other coping techniques. But just being aware is a great start. When you think you’re hungry, ask yourself if food is truly what you need... "

There have been a few nights where I've found myself staying up rather late, past my midnight bedtime, which may sound late to some, but it works for me. With the exception of one weekend night, perhaps, if I'm getting to bed before midnight every night, I am a happy clam. I also know that if I stay up past midnight, I'm more likely to eat again. Why? Am I really hungry again? If I eat too close to bedtime, I have an even more difficult time calming down and settling in for a good night's sleep. Sure, this is very much a physiology-based issue (specific dynamic action), as our bodies have to shuttle energy to digest food, making it hard to completely relax. So, in the past, I've aimed to have all of my meals and snacks eaten by 10pm each night. I feel that this gives my body a couple hours to digest and start the relaxing process before I lay my head down around midnight. This also keeps me from eating for "the wrong reasons" as I mentioned above. For example, if I eat after 10pm to get more energy to stay up later, what is that saying? Jodie, just go to bed! That's only one example. For now, in hopes of maintaining a great balance with my body and energy and keep off unwanted pounds, I am logging this as well.

For water (blue) and food (black), it's only been a few days (started on the 15th), but it's a start... 21 days to make or break a habit, right?