5 Thought Friday — SleepMindHeart

Happy Friday everyone,

As I continue my own personal daily struggles to return to normalcy in the midst of this pandemic, I have found 5 key items that have positively assisted me in this quest. Let me share those with you:

1. Highly plant-based diet

Lunch consists mainly of an avocado and Greek yogurt (not plant based)
Dinners are quite diversified including lentils, assorted beans, asparagus, broccoli, tofu, quinoa, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, pumpkin, fennel, whole grains, etc.
Snacks include pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, apples, pears, Kombucha, etc.
Lots of water (and the occasional coffee)
….I also did a 48 hour “mimicked” fast this week, which consisted of about 400 calories over two days, plus supplements such as spirulina and wheat grass

2. Exercise

Mainly consisting of running, long walks and light calisthenics at home; especially with the gym closed
Below my last run through Coloane and Taipa (Macau), which I utilized the Galloway Method of running. You can see the swings in running and walking cadence at the bottom of the photo

I just bought a set of 7kg (15 pound) dumbbells, although only 1 piece arrived and the other is somewhere in the middle of China.

3. Sleep and Meditation

Everyone knows how I focus on my deep sleep and overall mental balancing through meditation, so I want bore you with the details. If you are interested in the details, just send me a 1 on 1 to SleepMindHeart@gmail.com. However, I will share the link to my favorite APP below for mindfulness and meditation; Headspace

4. Focus on what you can control

This is easy to say but difficult to put into practice…and it speaks for itself
Don’t blame others, but look inside yourself to change

5. Make your bed every morning

Check out THIS video about starting every day positive with a small “sense of pride” that leads to more and more wins
For the record, I make the bed every morning as my first order of business. It is quite refreshing!

Remember, “when you are no longer able to change your situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor Frankel, survivor of 4 concentrations camps in WWII

Happy Friday !!! I plan to go back to my old format next week as I slowly return to my own mental “normalcy”!