Archive for the Living with a Vengeance
A new year means a clean slate, a chapter waiting to be written; this is how I’m feeling right now on the first official work day of this new year. I’ve got a confession about my goals for the new year. The biggest goal I have is to do what I’ve always said I want to do.
First here’s a wee story. I booked a strategy session with an excellent business coach named Shawn Driscoll. (That’s not an affiliate link) My goal was to gain some clarity around what I wanted to do with my business in 2010. Was it more coaching in the weight loss area? Did I want to run more teleseminars around the Mind and Body Tune Up concept? Speak more? And what was my core message? Anyone who stops by this blog knows it’s more midlife health and life information presented in encyclopedia format than a targeted, you-come-here-for-one-thing kind of blog. That’s not a bad thing but I don’t reach as many people as I’d like to because of that.
I expected some of what she and I discovered–such as getting more focused, offering something more compelling than tune up tips to expand my tribe, honing my message, etc. What I was a bit surprised about–but shouldn’t have been cause I’ve known this on some level for a long time–was that I don’t really want to do some of what I’m spending my time doing. I want to be on the stage motivating women to live fully expressed which often begins by helping them do the lifestyle stuff well so they feel up to their dreams.
If I’m not living fully expressed, how in the name of midlife can I inspire others to that end? What’s been holding me back? The fear of being bad at it, of not knowing how much it will take to get as good as I need to be–in other words, fear, fear, and fear.
The profound sadness that I felt knowing I was denying my own dream because I couldn’t see how I’d ever get there was the most surprising thing of all. And it kicked my butt. So did my mastermind group and I know they’ll hunt me down if I try to wiggle out of at least going for this in the biggest way possible.
Now you can hold my feet to the proverbial fire too. I’m outing myself as having played small, hidden my talents, and used all sorts of busy work to keep me from doing the thing I fear and long to do the most–living fully expressed which includes changing people’s lives, not just feeding them information.
To help me stick to what I’ve decided I must do I’ve hired a coach. It’s the only way I can be sure of playing full out and doing it with some direction. If you don’t know where to begin, find someone who has done what you want to do to whether it’s lifestyle change, personal growth, or starting a business.
What’s going to make your 2010 special, different, magnificent and delicious? Join me in making a public commitment by leaving your answer in a comment. Let’s all hold each other to the realization of our dreams. It’s what living midlife with a vengeance is really all about.
What the heck does that mean you may be asking and what has it got to do with midlife?
Science has discovered that the genes we are born with are not a static bunch of cells that doom or bless us with our height, health, disease, and jean size. Far from it. And that includes the idea that at the very least genes determine height, frame, eye color. Science cannot explain from a genetic point of view why tall kids are born to short parents. The assumption that it’s better diet has been ruled only one possibility as the younger generation of Phillipinos is growing shorter despite better economic conditions.
In truth there are at least 20 genes that determine height. And science now can’t even decide whether height is 90% gene directed or only 20%!
These facts and so many interesting others come from Deepak Chopra’s newest book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul.How to Invent a New You. I’ve long been excited by the science of epi-genetic control–the science of genes and how they turn on and off–and Dr. Chopra’s book is full of wonderful examples of how this works in real people’s lives and the science behind it all.
So what’s this got to do with you and midlife? Right around the middle, for many women, our bodies really start to change. Hormone production is erratic, systems that allowed us to beat them up with no consequences are speaking up, and the diseases associated with our lifestyle choices start to show their symptoms. Add to this that many of us have stories that include reasons for our weight, our illnesses, and our levels of happiness or discontent as being “genetic.” Here’s where it gets really good. You don’t have to tell that story–or have results you don’t want–anymore.
When you were born your genes began adapting to how you thought, felt, and acted. The genes of 70 year old twins looked wildly different than they did when they were born–no longer even close to identical. Life–how we think and feel as well as the environment we choose for ourselves–turns genes on and off.
Translation, you don’t have to have diabetes because it “runs in your family.” You don’t have to gain weight at midlife because it happens to all the women in your family.
“Genes are the most complicated thing about the body. Yes there is simple truth behind them, which is this: you can change your genes, and therefore you can improve them. You are talking to your genes when you do simple things like eating and moving” so says Dr. Chopra in chapter 4. Could there be more of an incentive to eat foods that heal and support healthy aging and get some exercise? Not to mention that you feel better when you do but come on people. We have the power to create our second half with a vengeance. We are not victims to the familial gene pool.
If you want an easy to follow version of this science–with some exercises to help– I recommend Deepak’s book. If you want to hear Dr. Bruce Lipton on the subject, he’s sort of the designated voice of epi-genetic control, use this link to see a 6 minute video. It’s just fascinating.
We’re not talking inner strength here. In that category most midlife women I know are at least an Atlas. Maybe even like a hybrid of Atlas and Spidey.
No, I’m wondering about your muscles.
What started me down this path were two things. First, every other day it seems, I’m reading something about bat wings. You know the scary webbed skin thing women’s upper arms do?
Second, I recently noted that I could no longer just pick up the 40# plastic bucket of cat sand and hoist it out of the car gracefully. No, suddenly performing this fairly common act–we have 5 cats thank you–now requires a full on old person noise and two hands.
You know the sound, it leaps from the lips without warning when one is bending down, standing up, hoisting 40#s of cat litter, getting that last sock from the way back of the dryer. It’s part grunt, part hurl without the bits, and shorter in duration. Unlike the hair ball noise this one is monosyllabic.
But I digress.
It got me thinking about other tasks that used to be easy which now require more effort. Opened a bottle of wine lately? Some corks just don’t want to come out like they used to. Screw top on a jar of salsa–not that I ever buy store bought, I helped a friend recently–where is that plastic jar pop thingy I saw on TV on night?
So what’s a midlife girl living with a vengeance to do? Curls, pushups, pull ups, and skull crushers. Thank you Bobby Schreiber via Amy for that last one.
Bat wings can be contained, camoflaged–is that a word?–and covered up. Losing the ability to carry groceries, open jars, and pop corks on bottles of the elixir of midlife cannot be any of those things. It means less independence down the road.
It could mean the difference between preventing a fall cause your arms are strong enough to grab something and save you, and face planting.
Weight training, no matter how annoying, is better than face planting. And the resulting extra muscle not only helps us look good and keep up independent, it’s going to help keep the pounds from creeping on. Muscle aids calorie burn.
So grab a dumb bell, a cardio ball, or a resistance band and work it like you mean it.
And let me know what changes you’ve noticed and what you are doing about it.
Have you heard about gene testing to determine what lifestyle choices, supplements, exercise, and even choices of medical treatments would best support your health and healthy aging? Well it’s here and it’s not only gaining popularity, it seems to make sense.
Let me explain. DNA makes proteins found in every aspect of life.
Genes are the software code for DNA expression; blue eyes, big ears, yellow skin, 6 toed cats.
Our genes have developed variations, or SNPS–referred to as snips–over centuries making each of us slightly different.
Gene variations, or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, do not cause disease. According to the doc we heard speak on this test at Extreme Health, most human disease is the result of interactions of genetic susceptibility and modifiable environmental factors–like nutrition.
Which brings me to the most common use for this SNP test at this point in time; creating nutritional products that give targeted support to your individual gene variations.
Continue reading ‘DNA-Gene Screening’
