Modest Updates

No, I am not wearing more clothes (a joke.. about the title of this post).

(again.... continuing my thoughts that I could not fully flesh out Monday and Tuesday due to work related needs)

So, back to Mass last Saturday, our priest in his Homily was talking about the role and use and value of silence in helping one to really hear (be it faith, or purpose, or contentedness, or most any positive you can think of) and this really rang as true to me (hah, even my attempt at a descriptive colloquialism references noise (sigh)).  The homily inspired me in several ways I am attempting to enact to help me re-FIND my calmer "center".  Some changes, hell... most of the changes.... are modest, but I believe they can and will be helpful.  Interestingly, they also were also envisioned by me to begin this morning.... it just took me this long to get to the point to reveal them here as I enact them:

• I am taking a prescribed, atypical approach to eating for the remainder of this week (Wednesday through Saturday).  My goal is to "de-emphasize" my fixation on foods because I have been feeling rather sluggish and "overstuffed" with eating during the last few weeks.  This has crept up on me without recognizing this.  There really has not been a change in my healthy eating, but I am finding that what I am eating is more just something to DO and not something to APPRECIATE and ENJOY.    So, during this period I am going to NOT eat any food from waking until dinner (as a "cleanser" of sorts) and at dinner, I am to have a simpler, ~1/2 sized portion of my typical dinner.  Both the "simpler" and smaller version is to help me better appreciate foods more, and to appreciate foods in less elaborate forms. And, I will also allow myself a ~1/2 sized bowl of gently salted popcorn.  I believe this four day "semi-fast" will reset my enjoyment and appreciation of food when I resume unrestricted food consumption on Sunday.  I have done something similar to this once or twice in the past and have found that I can usually obtain a persistently greater appreciation and enjoyment of food and also a greater awareness of my feelings of "fullness" which also tends to lead me to consume somewhat smaller portions as well.
• I am taking a prescribed, alternative approach to beverages as well.  I am allowing myself one morning iced coffee.  But, where typically I make my large iced coffee either fully caffeinated or 1/2 caffeinated and 1/2 decaffeinated....  and occasionally add flavorants (sugar free hazelnut, sugar free caramel, sugar free vanilla, etc).... during this period I will purposefully only have decaffeinated iced coffee and always during this period have NO added flavorings.  And, in terms of my very favorite diet Dr. Pepper, I will, during this time, allow myself only one diet Dr. Pepper in the evening.  Everything else I drink will be iced water.  By limiting my "flavored" drinks across the day to a beginning plain iced coffee and ending with a diet Dr. Pepper..... most of my fluid intake will be water.  I believe this will help "reawaken" my appreciation of the flavors inherent in my beverages and not be simply "seeking" any of the various flavors I like to experience across the day.  It will be a "cleansing" of my palate to a degree.  And, when I return to more varied beverages on Sunday I will be more cognizant of the full range of the flavors of my beverages.  
• And, my damn gizmo phone..... UNFORTUNATELY, I cannot simply cast my phone aside (like in many ways I would like to do).  With the damnable multifactor authentication (MFA), I am regretably STUCK with having to carry the damn thing around with me everywhere at the U.  But, what I am beginning today.... and this is HOPEFULLY LONG TERM (not ending on Sunday like the above other items).... my "unrestricted" gizmo phone use will ONLY be for two items...... a) damnable MFA needs, since I have no alternative and have to use this, and b) Pandora music when I am running.  ALL OTHER USE (e-mail, social media things, Internet exploration, etc) will be restricted to FOUR, ten-minute periods of the day).  Obviously, though, I will still use the gizmo phone as a PHONE to talk to folks on.... but I do not do that particularly often, and my wife is my primary phone friend.   I am also trying to have my wife help me figure out how to TURN OFF most of the damnable "dings" and "beeps" and "boops" the gizmo phone is constantly making.  I am hoping by the weekend to have sounds restricted to a) a phone ringtone that is specific for my wife, and b) a phone ringtone for any other phone call..... NO OTHER SOUNDS.  That would be the way I would like my damn gizmo phone to behave for me.  I do not NEED to hear any of the other nonsense, and I think those SOUNDS are especially problematic in terms of creating in me that dopamanergic cycling that I so want to shut down.  

With the above I think I will be able to better HEAR the silence around me and will have a greater appreciation of a lot of facets of life.  

PipeTobacco