Back to the Start

Several years ago I got into really good shape.  I was running 3 miles per day (although I'll grant that I wasn't setting any land-speed records) and my weight was actually where it should be.  And then I got comfortable; the weight began to creep up, and I bought new clothes. I kept walking every day and sort of lulled myself into believing the spread was just a normal part of the process for women moving on past middle age.

But there comes a time when one must admit that "normal" isn't a good enough excuse.  So after researching ideas and giving the idea a whole lot of thought, I decided to try Apple's "Couch to 5K" program, a method designed to help out-of-shape folks progress from strolling to running three miles over a nine-week period.

Today was day one.  The program for week one calls for three sessions, each including a 5-minute walk, followed by alternating 60-second runs and 90-second walks and a 5-minute cool-down walk.  It was harder than I thought it would be, and also easier than I feared.  It felt great to actually break a sweat, to have followed my little iPhone coach's instructions, to stretch out afterward.  I look forward to keeping it up.

However, right now I'm just hoping the Aleve kicks in soon.

Being Right and Social Media

 

Being right in the sense I'm using the word isn't a political stance.  It's an insistence on the correctness of one's personal opinions.  If you had full access to my Facebook account, you'd find that I have friends from all parts of the opinion spectrum.  But you'd also find that when any of us posts an opinion, the respondents all "Like" or affirm those opinions.  Those who disagree just stay on the sidelines. In all honesty, I must include myself among the sideline sitters.  Seldom is there real dialogue aimed at understanding each other.

 

An exception occurred in my little corner of  the Facebook world a few days ago when I had a true discussion - an exchange of ideas - with a former student who generally expresses opinions much more conservative than mine.  Frankly, I'd always thought this young man probably belonged to the Tea Party movement, and I'd probably still think so if we'd not stopped expressing our own views and asked questions about and listened to each other's judgments.  We discovered that - at least on the issue of gun control - our ideas are much more similar than either of us had thought.  We don't fully agree, but we found areas of understanding and respect.

 

Which leads me to consider a little saying in a tiny frame that sits on my desk:  "Listen without defending.  Speak without offending."  Which leads further to the realization that I can't change how others interact; but I can work on my own attention to remembering this phrase.  This may be a baby step - but I think it's a step in the right direction.