Tag: approach goals

What if we call them “self-care promises” instead of resolutions?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas     ♥    @HeartSisters   

Well, we’re into the New Year now. For some of us, that’s almost enough time to notice small cracks beginning to appear in the boldly announced resolutions made in the midst of all that post-Christmas excess. I’ve already, for example, ditched the Lettuce Leaf Diet I was contemplating for 2025 after all that Christmas feasting.

During the last century, when I was one of the volunteer run leaders at our local Y Marathon Training Clinic, we’d often hear lofty New Year’s resolutions from first-timers signed  up for our 10-month training program each January – something like:

“This is the year I’m finally going to quit smoking, lose 20 pounds and run a marathon!”

“Honey,” I would say gently to them:   “Pick one!”          .  Continue reading “What if we call them “self-care promises” instead of resolutions?” →

Swedish death cleaning isn’t only about death

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 12 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

In 2017, Margareta Magnusson, a Swedish artist who describes herself as being “somewhere between 80 and 100,” wrote a best-selling book called The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning:  How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter

She explores a Scandinavian concept in which you work on eliminating unnecessary items from your home so that your loved ones won’t be burdened with those tasks after you die. And she urges everybody 65 and older to get started on this process of shedding possessions. 

It’s not imminent death that has prompted my recent interest in reducing clutter. This spring, I’m selling the tiny perfect 1-bedroom apartment I’ve loved for 17 years. And although pre-move sorting, packing and cleaning would be most heart patients’ idea of pure torture, I’m so surprised to discover how much I’ve been enjoying the immediate before-and-after results so far.      . Continue reading “Swedish death cleaning isn’t only about death” →

New Year’s resolutions for those who hate resolutions

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas     ♥    @HeartSisters   

Well, we’re into the New Year now. For some of us, that’s almost enough time to notice small cracks beginning to appear in the boldly announced resolutions made in the midst of all that post-Christmas excess. This is not new.

When I was one of the volunteer run leaders at our local Y Marathon Clinic during the last century, we’d often hear such resolutions from first-timers starting our training workouts every January – something like “This is the year I’m finally going to quit smoking, lose 20 pounds and run a marathon!”

“Honey,” I would say gently to them:   “Pick one!”          .  Continue reading “New Year’s resolutions for those who hate resolutions” →

Dear Cleveland Clinic: It’s food, not poison, for crying out loud!

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 23 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Earth to Cleveland Clinic dietitians: please stop sharing your joyless, preachy, pinched-face, finger-wagging lectures about foods you consider to be evil. In a rush to convince the great unwashed out here to improve our daily diet, many so-called “experts” like you seem to believe that nagging and food-shaming are the most effective ways to change behaviour. Trust me, they are not.

Today, I offer two examples of dietary advice, one that I plan to not only ignore but publicly mock, as well as one terrific example (definitely NOT from Cleveland Clinic) that’s already printed and posted on my fridge door. Continue reading “Dear Cleveland Clinic: It’s food, not poison, for crying out loud!” →