Last week I successfully completed all of the exercises I promised that I would complete. The trick with these types of things is to just take it day by day. Don’t think about tomorrow, or even yesterday, just concentrate on what you are doing in this moment. Ask yourself, are living up to your values? Are you living the life you want to be living? I’m not talking about accomplishments and monetary earnings.  No matter what level of success a person has achieved, we are always in journey mode. We are always working towards something, and the question is: are you taking advantage of all the opportunities your position in your journey provides. It comes down to your ability to live in the moment. By sticking to my plan, at the end of the 7 days I had run over 18 miles on the treadmill. I’m thinking now, that I would really like to start training for a 1/2 marathon. Amazing how adhering to your values and living in the moment can open you up to possibilities that you (perhaps) hadn’t even considered.
Scheduling your workouts has some benefits that I would like to quickly share with you now.

1. As a morning exerciser, knowing exactly what I’m going to be doing when I put on my running shoes helps to get me out of bed. I’m not just mindlessly exercising, I have a plan and a commitment to myself. I’m the type of person who hates to break commitments – especially since I’d shared my goals with all of you. It really feels good to, at the end of the week,  feel like you achieved something you weren’t sure if you could do.

2. I enjoyed my rest day so much more, because I had earned it. Previously, the days I just didn’t have time to exercise became my rest days. This doesn’t feel as good, because it wasn’t scheduled and so you go about your day with a certain level of guilt. Scheduling your rest days removes the guilt factor. On this day, I can allow myself to enjoy just rolling out of bed and jumping in the shower.

Last week I also said I was going to be incorporating mindfulness practice into my daily routine. I was unable to keep this commitment, but I am going to make up for it this week. With exercise, I had very specifically scheduled the time to complete my commitments into my schedule. I didn’t do that with my mindfulness work, I operated more out of the mindset that I’d just do it when I had a chance. Unfortunately, I just never had a chance. It was an activity that was important, but not urgent – and so I let it fall to the wayside. I’m not going to allow that to happen this time.

I would like to share one of the journal entries I wrote after my mindfulness work on Tuesday of last week:

Instead of keeping my eyes opened, I closed my eyes this time and just concentrated on my breathing. I focused on the sensation of my stomach being filled with air and then deflating. As I focused on it, I became very aware of how fantastic the human body is – all the parts at work to help us complete daily activities. As I was breathing, I also experienced something that is maybe a bit more difficult to explain. I felt suddenly very still, and the world suddenly felt as though it was moving very slowly. I guess, for a moment, I became acutely aware of my body sitting in the present. This experience reminded me of how limitless life is, how abundant, and how full.

I can quickly go back to the state I was in when I wrote this entry. I was calm, and suddenly very happy and excited. It was definitely a bit of a surreal experience for me, and I encourage you all to try this. Just sit down on the floor, and for 5 minutes do nothing but concentrate on your breathing. When your mind wanders, gently bring it back. Do you best to do nothing but focus on the present motion, and the physical sensations you are observing in the now.
This week, I also started a food diary on the website Fit Pal. I want to target my compulsive eating before it becomes a problem, and keeping myself accountable for what I put into my mouth seems like an excellent place to start. Keep a food journal with me, and maybe add me as a friend and we can motivate one another as we work towards our fitness goals. My username on the site is: thepositivityproject. I’d like to build up a network of people on the site, and use it as a companion to this project.

If you’re following along with the schedule in the archives, this week is setting goals, and creating an action plan to achieve those goals. These are the goals I’ve decided to work towards this week. Tomorrow I’ll go over the action plan I’ve set in place to achieve these goals.

1. Write up to page 50 in the screenplay I am currently writing.
2. Attract 100 members to my facebook page – which will be undergoing a revamp this week.

As promised, I also said I’d share an example of one way to fill out the Weekly Planner that I posted last week.

Here is the plan I’ve done up for myself for this week. It would work better if you don’t stretch yourself too thin, as
I have done. You might get some ideas for how you want to do yours, but in many ways this is an example of what not to do. My categories should be more stretched out. I’ve highlighted what I have completed so that I can have a visual representation of my progress:

Weekly Planner July 22-28 Example