To live a well balanced, rewarding life of our dreams by day and sleep restfully at night.
Being a life long learner will keep us young and help us to sleep well at night; a journal writing exercise
Published April 3, 2012 | 
We are never too old to learn new things. I firmly believe that learning keeps us young and vibrant. I love to challenge myself. When I am excited about something (new that I’m learning) I am absolutely alive. The neurons in my brain are making connections and I am in the now, in the flow!
I pose three questions for your journaling tonight:
1. What are things you remember learning about in your past that you were very excited about?
2. What are you currently learning about that you are excited about?
3. What would you like to learn more about? (just the anticipation will get you excited).
Let’s see… shall we begin?
What do I remember learning about that I was really excited about?
1. Figuring out 8th grade algebra. When the light bulb turned on, it was amazing!
2. Learning about dolphins in the 6th grade.
3. Learning about the culture of generational poverty when I went back to school to become a teacher. Very powerful and eye opening!
What am I currently learning about that I am very excited about?
1. George Washington
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. The states of North Carolina and Virginia
What would I like to learn more about?
1. I would like to become more fluent in French
2. Gardening in North Florida
3. History of The United States
Your turn!
In peace,
Debra
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A list of new things to try for the New Year! A journal writing session
Published December 18, 2011 | 
We are not meant to be stagnant creatures. Doing and learning new things keeps our brains active and our bodies and spirits more youthful. Trying new things also gives our self esteem a boost and as a result we experience less anxiety and more restful sleep at night.
How’s that for some significant benefits?
As we end this year and move into the new year, let’s do a little brainstorming, shall we? Let’s conjure up some fun new ideas for us to do this coming year.
In your journals today write down a list of things that you would like to try this coming new year. These ideas can be anything! They can be work related, ideas for you and your spouse, or just ideas for yourself.
I am very excited about this journal writing entry and so I am going to get started on my list right away! Let’s see…
New things I want to do and experience in my life in 2012:
1. Read more fiction (I tend to read a lot of non-fiction self help type of books)
2. Start a wine club with my husband and other couples who are interested in getting together, learning about wine, and sharing in good food and conversation.
3. Discover new music
4. Visit a city I’ve never been to before (New York City comes to mind…)
5. Try different yoga and fitness classes that my gym offers.
That’s a good start. Now it’s your turn, dear friend. Have fun!
Debra
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Pushing our edge will keep us young and help us sleep at night!
Published November 30, 2011 | 
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp–or what’s a heaven for?
- Robert Browning
Reaching, stretching, pushing our edge, and going for it is the stuff that our dreams are made of…
What are you reaching for?
On a regular basis I like to challenge myself and “push my edge” a bit. Last summer I wrote a post about pushing my edge while trying Bikram (hot) yoga.
Last week, my husband and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in the Asheville, North Carolina area. I pushed my edge once again by trying ziplining with Navitat.com
I was scared to death at first, but it did not take me long before I was coasting and soaring among the tree tops in the North Carolina mountains. Simply awesome!
When we were younger many of us were pretty fearless. Think about all of the things you did as a child that you might hesitate to do now…
Over time we tend to become more cautious, more inhibited. We lose that childhood “recklessness”, that “go for it” spirit of energetic, exuberant, and unapologetic youth.
I am 45 years old and I intend to reverse that trend!
I intend to stay young by:
1. not getting too stuck in my ways,
2. learning new things often,
3. and stretching myself, “push my edge”- so to speak..
What can you do to stretch your self?
What would challenge you?
What would excite you?
What fear, if you faced it, would leave you feeling pretty darned great about yourself? Hmm….???
I challenge you to challenge yourself on a regular basis. You can do it! (If I ziplined, you can do anything- trust me!)
Pushing our edge is good for our health, self esteem, and for getting a good night sleep. Anxiety issues? Do some things you thought you could never do and see how that old anxiety just might go poof! ( you will feel so proud and good about yourself)
Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is? ~Frank Scully
In Peace,
Debra
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Blossom and grow this Spring by doing these sixteen things.
Published April 9, 2011 | 
Tree blossoms don’t have to be the only things growing this Spring. We can blossom as well by doing these sixteen things:
1. Trying new things
2. Having adventures.
3. Take a few things off our plate and focus on what we really want in our lives.
4. Have faith and confidence in ourselves, others and life in general.
5. Laugh and love more.
6. Criticize, judge, and worry less.
7.Keep learning and challenging our brains.
8. Read a lot and get inspired.
9. Meditate
10. Take care of ourselves.
11. Be involved in our communities.
12. Open our hearts and let folks in.
13. Write and reflect often.
14. Create!
15. Play!
16. Move!
Hope you all are having a blessed and blooming Spring weekend,
Debra
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Learn new things to stay young, be happy, and get a better night sleep
Published January 19, 2011 | 
I am a teacher and a life long learner. I firmly believe that if we are learning new things and continue to be curious about life and our world, we continue to grow and not grow old.
Learning new things provides these benefits:
- You are never bored
- Keeps your mind active and may help ward off aging and diseases such as Alzheimers
- Keeps you enthusiastic
- Helps to prevent depression and anxiety
- When you’ve put in an active, productive, and happy day you are more likely to sleep well at night.
- Improves your social life: you never know who you will meet as you learn about and explore new hobbies, business interests, etc.
- Stay young. As mentioned above, people who are learning do not grow old.
In your journal this morning, I encourage you to write down anything you are excited about. What are you learning about? What are some things you would like to know more about? Brainstorm some ideas. You will probably get excited at the thought of all these possibilities.
What are some ways to learn new things at this time in your life?
- You can always go back to school. It’s never too late. At age 38 I went back to school to become a teacher. It was tremendously empowering and exciting to do that after being home and raising my children for several years.
- You can take a class learn how to do new craft, foreign language, musical instrument. You name it.
- Check out some local meetings in your area and meet some new people while learning more about something you are interested in such as investment groups (I met my fiance at a local real estate investing meeting!), book clubs, Toastmasters, etc. Anything you can think of there is probably a group of people in your town or city gathering together to do it. Try MeetUp! Online to find meetings in your area.
- Browse bookstores and your library.
- Surf the internet.
- Ask questions. If you want to learn more about something find a mentor or someone who is successful at that thing and email them or meet with them. I find people are usually happy to share their knowledge with others.
Have a blessed day!
Debra : )
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Remembering to play
Published September 18, 2010 | 
I was inspired this morning as I was sipping on my coffee by a Tweet from Matthew Fry @lovepeaceunity.
He reminded us that we are all children of God and the importance of nurturing within us those wonderful qualities we had in natural abundance during childhood: being playful, curious, and laughing frequently.
I so appreciate that message, Matthew, thank you (wherever you are today)!
The importance of play and laughter for adults
I know that when I forget to play I feel off balance. Life is no longer much fun and I lose much of my joyful energy. We adults need to play as much as children do. Yes, we have lot’s of responsibility which is all the more reason why we need to play.
I own a few books on the subject which I may take to the beach with me this afternoon to review:
Free Play The Power of Improvisation in Life and the Arts by Stephen Nachmanovitch
Beyond love and work Why Adults need to play by Lenore Terr, M.D.
It’s Our Turn to Play! by Cathy Raphael (Cathy does “playshops” for adults with all kinds of fun improvisational games etc.)
A big new free happy unusual life by Nina Wise ( I spent a Memorial Day Weekend retreat in the Olympic Mountains of Washington State led my Ms. Wise some years ago. She’s wonderful!).
These books have great ideas to get some play into your busy adult lives.
Here are some of my own ideas that come to mind:
- Get moving! Children have a hard time sitting still with all that great youthful energy of theirs. I don’t care how you move, just do it: walk, jog, swim, dance, hula hoop, stretch. Movement is play and our bodies and spirits absolutely need it.
- Laugh! laugh even if you don’t feel like. We watched a Robin Williams video last night. Just great!
- Play games you remember from your childhood. You are never too old to play: Monopoly, Battleship, checkers, Yahtzee, etc.
- Throw the basketball or football around.
- Go bowling.
- Play hide and seek with your kids (and if you don’t have kids around this may have possibilities for you as a couple…)
- Hop on your bike and take a new route and discover something new.
- Get in your car with your sweetie or family and take a day trip to someplace new.
- What does your hometown have to offer? Museums, zoos, musical concerts?
- Create! Draw, paint, write, work with clay etc.
- Garden
- Sing
Keeping our curiosity
I truly believe that we only get old if we stop moving our bodies and stop stretching our minds. If we are learning new things we continue to grow our whole lives (and stay young in the process).
Ways to stay curious:
- Ask questions
- Read, read, read!
- Take a class
- Start a new hobby
- Travel to new places
- Befriend a variety of interesting people
- Spend time on the internet
- Spend time in libraries and bookstores
- Try to see things from a different perspective
- Watch documentaries about subjects you don’t know a lot about (history, science, etc.)
- Follow different kinds of people and organizations on Twitter. You will learn a lot and it is quite fascinating!
I hope your weekend is a playful one!
Debra : )
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Posted in Family life, Good Health, Physical Exercises, Self-empowerment, stress | 
balance, games, importance of play, laughter, staying young | 
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