An Extra Day! How Will You Decide to Spend it?

Time in a Bottle. I've always loved this song and I woke up this morning with it on my mind. So I want to share it with you.

There never seems to be enough time to do the things we want to do, is there?  But there really is more than sufficient time. We are all given the same twenty-fours every day. How we choose to spend those hours and with whom is our choice.

Today is February 29th. We have an extra 24 hours to do anything we want!  An opportunity to make up for lost time.

Leap year only happens once every four years. Who knows where any of us will be four years from now.  Today is the day to make it count..........

How will you spend your extra twernty-four hours?

And this is my Daily Cyn.........

Eat The Darn Donut!

You all know by now I am anti-junk food, anti-white sugar, white-flour crappy foods that are nothing more than empty calories and fat that are just going to make us feel bad. And, over time, make us look bad. A regular diet consisting of those types of foods is the worst thing we could do for ourselves. Sickness, disease and death is inevitable. I think I'd prefer to drink poison. My death would be quicker and whole lot less painful and expensive.  

In a perfect world, we would never, ever eat that kind of stuff. We would know how awful it is for us and refuse to go near it with a ten foot pole.

We don't live in a perfect world. And sometimes, we have cravings. Gnawing desires to sink our teeth into something we know is "bad". We can't sleep. We can't stop thinking about it. We have to have it. Finally, when we just can't stand it any more, we give in. We take a bite and when that first burst of forbidden pleasure hits our tastebuds we say, "Oh, I shouldn't!"  But we do and with every bite we pour on another layer guilt.  We punish ourselves the rest of the night. Sometimes even the next day. And the next. Over a piece of pie. A brownie. A dish of icecream. A donut.

What we don't realize is when we do this, we are setting ourselves up for failure. It's a cycle of denial, pleasure, and punishment. What happens when we continuously do this? Eventually we have the day from hell and instead of one donut, we eat the whole dozen. Oh and guilt after all those donuts is the real killer. That's when we really punish ourselves to the point where we are so disgusted, we throw in the whole towel. Then we go on an eating frenzy. Our mission? To eat anything and everything we've been denying ourselves for years.! We tell ourselves we're hopelessly destined to be unhealthy and overweight so we might as well enjoy it!  

Sound familiar?

Have the donut! Just eat it! And when you do, enjoy every last delicious morsel. Don't leave one little crumb behind. Don't feel guilty about it. Refuse to punish yourself.

One donut will not kill you! One donut will not make you fat. It's a lifetime of unhealthy living and a daily diet of poor food choices that will!

Have the donut and enjoy it!

If you do this every time, your cravings for foods like candy, cookies and donuts will become less and less. Eventually, you might not think about a donut ever again.

Why? Because you're allowed to have it.  Not only that, you're allowed enjoy it, too.

We always want what we can't have.

So go ahead.  Eat the darn donut!

And this is my Daily Cyn........



The Best Time to Exercise for True Benefits!



Honestly, it doesn't really matter when you do it! JUST DO IT!!! And remember, every little bit counts.

And this is my Daily Cyn.......

I May Not Be Perfect, But............

Why is it that we always seem to notice the bad stuff?  Like the negative attributes and actions of others? And we don't need anybody to point our own flaws and mistakes. We do an excellent job of doing that all by ourselves.

It's time to stop looking at our imperfections and focus on the parts of us that are totally awesome. We all have wonderful, unique, amazing qualities and attributes.  Even the quirky stuff is pretty darn great!  DWELL ON THOSE THINGS!

And if you can't think of any, ask someone else to bring you up to speed on your awesomeness! 

And try to do the same when it comes to other people, too.  Focus on the good. You'll get good back!

And this is my Daily Cyn......

Take The Jeans Test

THROW AWAY YOUR SCALE!!

Stop measuring yourself in terms of weight or amount of pounds gained or lost!

That's just a number and it can change daily. It's so frustrating to step on the scale only to step off completely discouraged and disillusioned. You've been eating right and exercising yet that number hasn't budged. Or worse yet, it's gone up! 

What happens then? You become aggravated. You want to give up. You order up the biggest, unhealthiest meal you can think of. You eat an entire container of ice cream or a whole bag of chips.

Now you're on an endless cycle of emotions and sabotaging all your efforts.

BECAUSE OF A NUMBER!!

STOP!

The best way to gauge weight gain or weight loss?

Take the Jeans Test.

How do your jeans fit? Are they too tight? Ask yourself why. Perhaps it's that time of the month and you're simply retaining water. That will all go away in a few days. Maybe you're eating too many white flour, white sugar carbs or a had a few too many drinks at Happy Hour. That will make you feel bloated, as well. Or maybe, just maybe, you're eating more than what your body can burn. Time to start exercising.

If your jeans fit fine, good for you! Just maintain your healthy way of eating to keep them fitting perfectly.

If your jeans feel loose or keep getting looser, you're definitely losing pounds and inches. Keep it up! It's almost time to buy a new pair of jeans!!

And this is my Daily Cyn........

Go back to Cynfully Good Living

What Are You Waiting For?

So........ what are you waiting for?

And this is my Daily Cyn.......

Chocolates, Flowers and Cards. Valentine's Day Reflections......

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Some people love it. Others despise it.  I am not anti-Valentine's Day! I can be just as sappy, silly and romantic as the next person.  I just have mixed emotions about the one day of the year set aside for lovers.  Let me explain why.

My parents celebrate Valentine's Day in a big way. They have the strongest love and the closest relationship of any couple I know.  Every year my mom bakes my dad a heart-shaped meatloaf and a cake decorated with candy hearts.  They exchange chocolates, flowers and cards.  Their marriage didn't start out that way. On their first Valentine's day as husband and wife, my dad came home empty-handed. When mom asked about flowers and candy, my dad replied that she wasn't his sweetheart, she was his wife. The romantic dinner she'd prepared was forgotten and instead she cried for hours. She punished him in ways only a woman can.  He never made that same mistake again!

When I was married, my husband and I often made it clear how miserable we were together but every year on Valentine's Day, we pulled out all the stops.  He always brought me chocolates, flowers, and a lovely card.  I always reciprocated in kind with a card expressing my undying devotion and by cooking his favorite meal.  We wrote tender sentiments in the cards we exchanged.  I am sure we meant every word but the sweet gestures of just one day couldn't heal the hurt or the gaps between us.  Our marriage ended despite all the chocolates, flowers and cards.

At times, Valentine's Day gestures are nothing more than desperate attempts to make something work that clearly isn't.  Chocolates,  flowers, and cards are meaningless without kindness, respect, understanding and love every day of the year.  

A few years later, I dated a man who never did anything special for me on Valentine's Day.  He believed it to be nothing more than a Hallmark Holiday geared toward silly men who spent foolish amounts of money on meaningless expressions of love. As a child, he was forbidden to participate in any Valentine's festivities and he didn't see any reason to celebrate it once he became an adult. Basically, he was telling me not to expect anything.  At least he had the decency to share his views on the subject a few days before our first Valentine's Day together.  His explanation seemed reasonable enough and I accepted it for what it was. I told him it was okay but I was still coming over with candy and a sappy card and taking him to dinner because I believed in Valentine's Day . 

During our relationship,  that's how it went down every Valentine's Day. I gave him candy, a card, and dinner. He accepted it all graciously but never had anything for me.  I told myself it didn't matter. I loved him and I didn't want to pressure him into doing something for me that was against his personal convictions.  But every year, I secretly hoped that maybe, just maybe, this time he would have something for me: a flower, a piece of candy, a card. Eventually, our relationship ended and I learned through the grapevine that he was buying chocolates, flowers and cards for the new girlfriend. And, that he had done the same for girlfriends before me.  I was crushed and it was then I realized the painful truth.  He didn't have an issue with Valentine's Day. He had Valentine's Day issues with me.  Why? Because by accepting, placating and pulling out the stops for him and never asking for anything in return, I communicated to him that I did not believe I was worth it. So he didn't think I was, either.  A man cannot really love a woman like that. If she asks for nothing, she'll get nothing.  This is why our relationship ended. I never challenged him on anything- EVER.  I wasn't worth the effort of chocolates, flowers, and cards. Our relationship never grew beyond casual and convenient because he was not about to invest his heart in someone who was not worthy of it.  And this was my fault, not his.  Lesson learned.

At times, Valentine's Day chocolates,  flowers and cards mean everything. No matter how grand or small the gesture,  someone is taking the time to express what we mean to them.  If we're not getting or giving, we need ask ourselves why. And we need to love ourselves enough to face the cold hard facts.

And a word to the wise: if you really, really love someone- tell them. Show them. Dare to challenge them.  It's worth the risk even if you lose. In the long run,  it will save you years of pain and heart ache.

For those of you with partners and big plans for Valentine's Day, good for you.  I wish you all a wonderful day. I hope you give and get plenty of chocolates, flowers, and cards. I also hope you do not measure love by the gestures of just one day. You will be sadly disappointed if you do.

This February 14th,  I will do what I always do when I find myself flying solo on the most romantic day of the year. I will stop after work and treat myself to a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and the biggest, most expensive heart-shaped box of chocolates I can find.  Then I'll head over to Mom's for her heart-shaped meatloaf and candy-covered cake. That's only place I know where every day is Valentine's Day. 

And this is my Daily Cyn.............