I took Day 9 off from writing. It was fairly uneventful with just some errand running and family time mixed in. Day 10 brings with it a huge milestone. I’m 33.3% done with the 30 days!!! This is crazy. I have much more to go but I’m already feeling some huge benefits to this cleanse and I’ll share those today.
Transcendental Meditation Wisdom
My Transcendental Meditation (TM) app gives you inspirational quotes at the end of each meditation session. Some of them reassure you about the nature of TM and its’ benefits. Some of them are more inspirational in nature. This one really hit home for me.
The sun shines, and it shines forever in fullness. It may be that the clouds are gathering. Let them come and go; they go as they come. Take no notice of their coming; you go on your way.
This totally goes hand in hand with focusing on what you can actually control and rolling with the punches when something you can’t control changes things.
The First Peony of the Season
The Peony plant pictured below was a gift to my mother-in-law before her passing. We planted it for her in the front of the house and ever year that it flowers, it reminds us of her.
Speaking of planting things, while I wait for the electrician to do his thing in the garage later next week, I have another project. I’m way late planting our fruits and veggies. I have 3 varieties of tomatoes, 4 varieties of peppers, a strawberry patch, and a bunch of other veggies to plant in our planting beds. I also have a replacement raspberry bush for the one that was dug up by our precocious catahoula leopard dog puppy.
Can You Party on a Cleanse?
It turns out you can! My family went to a Memorial Day weekend BBQ at another family’s home. We had a great time chatting up friends and new people. In fact, our youngest got to take her first go-kart ride. The young man driving did a great job being safe and responsible.
As far as eats, I was able to drink seltzer and eat the amazing fruit they had there. Some of it came directly out of their garden (#lifegoals). We also brought with us some food and I was able to have my wife’s homemade Caesar salad. The dressing is super simple to make and has a lot of wholesome ingredients in it.
“There’s No Substitute for Guts.”
-Bear Bryant
I have had digestive issues for a loooooooong time. My digestive tract has always been a bit slow but within the last two years, it has gotten way worse. So much so that Jocelyn thinks I hang out the bathroom for an hour just because I’m trying to get away from the family. There have been some short periods of time where it was fantastic. Those usually coincided with times when I was doing high amounts of exercise and watching what I ate very carefully. This go around, my exercise isn’t exactly extreme. Unless you think walking 3 miles in the morning and then doing work around the house is extreme. At one point I was running 5-6 miles a day. I considered that the “fittest” I ever have been.
In addition, those periods of time were probably when I had my best mental health. Low stress, not a lot of loss to deal with, family dynamic was balanced, etc. There is a mind-body connection. I am beginning to place more emphasis on the mind component of it but I’m pretty sure I could be the most balanced person in the world and still have intestinal issues if I was eating 5 lbs. of french fries every day.
The last 10 days have been dramatically different in terms of my gut health. Issues I have had for years are starting to subside (and quickly). I also feel much less bloating in my stomach. So much so that I feel more comfortable. I can’t attribute this to any one change I’ve made. After all I’m working on the mental state at the same time I’m cutting out everything except good, wholesome food. There are all kinds of studies about nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, gluten, and seed oils and their effects on digestion. I can’t say there’s a definitive winner here. Perhaps it’s all of the above! Whatever the case, when these things happen, it’s a positive reinforcement that I’m doing a good thing for myself and also that I can keep going.
10 Down, 20 To Go
There are a lot more milestones to celebrate on this journey. The next one I’m eyeing up is day 15. I will be taking a peak at my weight then. Whether I lost weight or not doesn’t really matter. I feel better and think I look better. But my curiosity is too much to not indulge it a little. That will also mark the half way point. Let’s Freakin’ Go!
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