Off Season Training
May 7, 2007 | 2:16 pm
Summer is the time for snow sport enthusiasts to ramp up their sport-specific fitness training. Here are some ideas about how to do it:
Skate to Ski
Posted by: — lmercer
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Spring is in the Air …
May 2, 2007 | 11:30 am
… finally. New England got hammered last month with several snowfalls, but it seems that we might have a precious few weeks of real spring before we head into the sweltering heat of the summer.
Spring is, of course, *great* geocaching weather!
I haven’t been out nearly enough lately. In my business life, I have a major client who’s been keeping me busy, a couple of smaller clients taking up other moments, and of course I’ve been working hard to promote OPEN YOUR HEART WITH GEOCACHING. It’s a good thing I’m not one of the geocachers who do it just for the numbers, because I’d be sorely disappointed of late!
As it is, though, I do feel some nagging guilt. I seem to be spending a great deal more of my time talking about geocaching than I do actually — well, geocaching. And that guilt, in turn, leads me to other interesting thoughts …
How many times do we forget to open our hearts to ourselves? There are far too many “shoulds” in my vocabulary, even after several years of trying to get rid of them altogether. I “should” be able to handle it all. I should be able to work and promote my book and write another and be a good stepmother and spend quality time with my husband and keep a tidy house and keep up my correspondence and write some additional articles and essays and get them published and volunteer some of my time for the greater good and — oh, yes, go geocaching a lot because, after all, I’m now supposed to be an *authority* on it….
Oh, yeah. And maybe in my spare time I’ll achieve world peace and find a cure for cancer, right?
You have to be able to laugh at yourself at times like this. Laugh at yourself, and start setting realistic goals — if goals you do set — that can be achieved, that you want to achieve, that won’t make you crazy at night in bed fretting about them.
I’m learning to give myself permission to not be perfect. To fail sometimes. To ignore the “shoulds” that keep surfacing in my type-A personality brain. To open my heart to taking care of myself
And if I can’t go geocaching this week, well — the only person who will notice it is me. And I’m allowed!
– Jeannette Cézanne
Posted by: — jcezanne
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Pets and Language
| 10:45 am
The media is all abuzz about research that demonstrates dogs “are much smarter than scientists have thought.” Thousands of dollars of research might have been saved had they spent anytime at my home or observing the lives of many of my friends who also have dogs. In the past thirteen years, I have been guardian to five dogs, three of whom died during the Dec 03 to Dec 04 period and two new pups now with me. Here’s what I could have told scientists:
- Dogs know when you are happy, sad, busy, angry, worried, ill, and in love.
- They know when you mean it, don’t mean it, aren’t sure if you mean it, and are consulting dog behavior books to find out if you should mean it.
- Dogs know that exercise is good for you.
- Dogs know that high-protein diets make them happier.
- They can find their way around the neighborhood and communicate with the neighbors.
- They understand that mail comes six days a week and sometimes what’s in the mail is worth yelling about it.
- Dogs realize that fashion isn’t important.
- Dogs are comfortable with all their body parts and the body parts of those they love.
- Dogs are not afraid of other dogs bigger than themselves. In fact, the smaller the dog, I’ve found, the more emphatic they are to express their bravery.
- Dogs can tell who is naughty and who is nice.
I don’t think the problem is that they can’t talk with us. Think about it, there are a gadzillion species of animals. Anyone with pet birds has learned the importance of body language and how tuned in a parrot can be just to the way you hold your shoulders. My hearing-impaired son has always had a sixth sense about the expressions, moods and body carriage of those around him. So, back to animals: If there are way more species of animals than the one species of humans, maybe we should be learning more about their language instead of studying whether or not they know ours.
I have to go now…my dog is outside barking at the neighbor’s garage-sale visitors. He knows these are people who do not belong on our street, and he wants them to know this house is well-protected. Or, perhaps he has his eye on some of the merchandise.
Posted by: — jphelps
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“Open Your Heart with Pets”
| 10:38 am
Open Your Heart with Pets focuses on how sharing our lives with pets can make us better humans — that opening our hearts to the lessons they have to teach us, and the lessons we learn from responsibly caring for them, makes us more humane. Parrots, cats, dogs, horses, and other pet animals are featured in true stories of people whose hearts have been captured by their pets, as well as the positive affect pet ownership can have on children and those coping with illness or disability. Activities to celebrate the pet’s role in the family are included, along with many photographs of animals, and a section on experiencing the grief that comes at the loss of a pet.
Open Your Heart with Pets will be available in the fall of 2007, from DreamTime Publishing (via this website and Amazon.com) and through U.S. bookstores.
ISBN: 978-1-60166-009-1 $14.95.
Posted by: — jphelps
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