A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.   

~  Albert Einstein 



Most of us impact very few people during the day in comparison to how many people are in the world. Think of this. We are all connected. It could be through thought, energy, vibration, action, and even through basic  communication. You are connected to the homeless person you may have seen the other day. you may argue that you don’t even know that person. You just thought of him or her. Right? Actually, you are connected through thought. We are all connected in one way or another. Did you ever think of a long lost friend, and that friend calls you, or e-mails you, completely out of the blue? That’s one powerful connection! Right? We're all  made up of energy... and we transmit this very energy with our thought and simple being. Now, if we all connected through our energies, thoughts and beings, how can we make the world a better place?

Wayne W. Dyer puts it in his book... "You’ll See It When You Believe It." He states, “No matter how we separate into individual little notes, we are still involved in the one song.” The next time you shake someone's hand feel your very own pulse through the other person's hand. You might then consider thinking deeper concerning how you might treat them. Tread lightly for you might be stepping on your own toes!

Thank you for Wearing and Sharing Your Love!

I LOVE you all!

Lynda =)

PS - I hope you love this song as much as I do!...
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Love Blog ~ 02/23/2012
 

"To foster inner awareness, introspection, & reasoning is more efficient than meditation & prayer."  ~  Dalai Lama

"Happiness and distress appear and disappear like winter and summer. They arise from perceptions of the senses and you must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. When one is undisturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both, one is fit for eternal life. Although we are eternal beings we experience through our senses and mind the ever-changing conditions of this temporary world, from the cold of winter to the heat of summer. If we practiced patience in the face of the pleasures and pains of life and the happiness and distress they bring, we will learn to distinguish the firm ground of truth, which is eternal, from the tides of illusion."  
~  Bhagavad Gita
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Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.   ~  Ralph Blum

My sister Jen's favorite animal was the dragonfly. She often talked about it and how it had to get over certain adversities throughout its life. Dragonflies have been around for over 300 million years, making them one of the oldest species of insects in the world. Female dragonflies lay their eggs in or near water, often on floating or emergent plants. The dragonfly's eggs then hatch into nymphs. The nymphs live beneath the water's surface. The larval stage of large dragonflies may last as long as five years. Fish will eat dragonfly nymphs and eggs. When the larva reaches the metamorphose stage, it climbs up a reed or other emergent plant. Exposure to air causes the larva to begin breathing. The skin splits at a weak spot behind the head and the adult dragonfly crawls out of its old larval skin, pumps up its wings, and flies off to feed. This is the cycle of a dragonfly's life. To me, dragonflies are the perfect representation of things that are not always as they appear to be. 

Let's focus on living ‘IN’ the moment. The dragonfly normally lives most of its life as a nymph. It flies only for a fraction of its life, and usually not more than a few months. The dragonfly completes its total life cycle all in just a few months. This style of life symbolizes, and exemplifies, the virtue of living "IN" the moment, and living life to the fullest. By living "IN" the moment you are aware of who you are, where you are, what you are doing, what you want, what you don’t, and give us the ability to make informed choices on a moment-to-moment basis.

I am challenging you to allow yourself to have the ability to live your life in the moment, which might be outside of your comfort zone. I don't believe that the dragonfly knows that it might be out of it's comfort zone, when it climbs up the reed, has it's first exposure to air, and begins to breath for the first time. I believe it is in it's natural state of knowing where it is in the moment, and having trust, that it's exactly where it's supposed to be. I am asking you to stretch to your natural state of knowing, and be in the moment. Allow yourself to have trust in what God has created in the perfection of YOU! If this in not where you normally operate, like the dragonfly, allow the unknown to happen. Simply choose to allow your skin to split at its weakest spot. Then watch and appreciate the miracles taking place in and around you. 

I love you ALL!

Lynda =)
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“If we can just let go and trust that things will work out they way they're supposed to, without trying to control the outcome, then we can begin to enjoy the moment more fully. The joy of the freedom it brings becomes more pleasurable than the experience itself.”      ~ Goldie Hawn

Tonight, February 7, 2012... there is a full moon. I have a wonderful friend, Laurie Frasier, who has taught me so much concerning the cycles of the moon. I thought I would share something Laurie wrote. "The Full Moon carries a powerful energy and vibration. It is a great time to let go of and release that which no longer serves you...for example: extra weight, bad habits, limiting beliefs, drama, guilt, anger, addictions, etc. It is important to release these things in order to powerfully create the space for something new." Every 14 days the moon is at it's opposite. So on February 21, a new moon will be in the sky. The new moon is a time to begin again. Start a new diet, a new way of working out, new possibilities, release the love that you have been withholding, learn new life lessons... feel your youth renew... choose to be strong... feel the abundance around you... set new goals... choose new things that will help you flourish and then thrive.

Allow yourself to let go... in a full moon let go of the things that hold you back and in a new moon allow yourself to open up to new possibilities.  Work on it for several months and see what happens.
Thank you all for wearing and sharing your love!
I love you all!

Lynda
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I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.  ~ Nelson Mandela

Today, be grateful. Be grateful for your favorite music, for movies that make you feel good, for your phone that connects you with people, for your computer, and for the electricity that lights up your life. Be grateful for air travel that flies you everywhere. Be grateful for the roads and traffic lights that keep the traffic in order. Be grateful to those who built our bridges. Be grateful for your pet, for your child, for your loved ones, for your eyes that enable you to read this. Be grateful for your imagination. Be grateful that you can think. Be grateful that you can speak. Be grateful that you can laugh and smile. Be grateful that you can breathe. Be grateful that you are alive! Be grateful that you are You!

Be grateful that there are two words that can change your life.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

~ Rhonda Byrne

I received a call from my son's school today. Zane, who is 12 said "Mom, I think you should come pick me up, somethings wrong with my arm." I drove to the school with my husband to see what was wrong. Christian went in to assess the situation. He ended up walking Zane out to the car. He said "I think it's broken." We hurried to the emergency room, and sure enough, his wrist was broken. I am grateful that we were available to be with our son. It was weird, because we were right by the school when he called. I am grateful that it wasn't a bad break and that he had the opportunity to go through this experience without to much pain and discomfort. We had the opportunity to drop what we were doing, when I chose to pick up the call. I felt so good to be by his side and laugh with him. He said that he has "crossed the threshold of manhood now that he has broken something." LOL! It was cool to focus on him... focus on what was important, and feel love. I love my son, all my other kids, and Grandson, with an amazing husband too! I have a good life and am grateful to be alive! 

Love you Zane, you're really tough! =)

Lynda
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"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.    ~ Steve Jobs

I don't know where to begin on this one... my thoughts are all over the board. On July 18, 2005 my sister lost her 7 year battle with cancer. I remember the morning vividly. It was 6:00am. I approached the door wondering... "who in the world would possibly be knocking so early in the morning?" It was my sister, Jen. She had this look in her eyes. Something was obviously wrong! She grabbed my hand and said "feel this!" It was a big lump for sure. We looked at each other and hugged.

My sister wasn't one to go to the doctor, even when she was sick. Soon after the rare doctor's visit, she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Following her biopsy, and after x-raying her chest to see if they had gotten it all, the physicians were stunned with what they saw. The cancer had jumped to the lymph nodes and went straight to the bone. Her sternum was covered with cancer along with a handful of ribs as well.

My sister's a strong chick! We used code when communicating when we were in front of mom and dad. We didn't want to create more emotional issues for them. "Good" was a really "good day" and "F.I.N.E" meant "Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional." We didn't have to dive into the details. We simply stuck to the code. I was going through a mean divorce while everything around me seemed to be spinning out of control. That very same week she passed away, my house sold, my dog died, the kids went to a new school, and my divorce was finalized.

As my sister was on her last leg of her journey here, I knelt by my her bed as she slipped away from me. I slipped into a sort of coma emotionally. At about the same time, I met the man of my dreams... my miracle. He was someone I drastically needed to show up at that stage of my existence, for sure! He woke me up. He pointed the way! He carried me through this incredibly hard time I was experiencing. I love him.

Several years passed. Then one day, out of the blue, I received a phone call. It was my Dad. He said "Dave's got cancer... stage 4."

I am now the oldest in a family of 5 kids, all adopted. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that those words would come out of my mouth... "now I'm the oldest." My older brother had a great life! He married to his soul mate. He has 3 truly amazing kids. He had an amazing carrier carrier as a major contractor and developer in Utah. He was able to travel the world with his sweetheart and children. Dave had it all! He built a Cabela's, headed out project house project for "Extreme Make Over Home Edition" and traveled the world carefully selecting the next materials that would be used for various LDS Temples. He had everything he wanted it seemed.

Mid November I received another call. Dave was admitted to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. We thought this might be the end of the road for him. I was by his bed in minutes. We had time to genuinely speak of time lost, dumb opinions that got in our way of having a deeper relationship, and much more. He had regrets of not being the best big brother, and time slipping through his hands. Dave had been diagnosed 12 months earlier. He thought he had it all figured out. It turns out when God calls you home... it's not ever on your schedule.

When we found out Dave had cancer, our cousins all got together.  My cousin's husband walked up to me and said, "I hope your not next." At my brother's funeral my Dad walked up and said "don't go anywhere, ok?" Their intentions were pure with these comments. But it made me mad! I held it all in, and didn't show it. I allowed this to fester and built up over the 2 months without sharing it with anyone. When I finally decided to go get checked myself, it took me a month to make the call. But I finally did it. It took over another month to get in for the actual mammogram.

I stood there in the changing room where I slipped my shirt off and looked in the mirror. Topless, looking at my reflection, I thought,  "I wish I could have driven my sister to get her mammogram." I realized how much I began to regret missed time with her. I thought... "I could have encouraged my brother to go make that appointment earlier, even with his busy profession, schedule, wife, church, and kids. I could have done more!" I would give anything to have time back!  As I looked in the mirror I swear I heard something say... "blog about this!" I thought to myself... "and say what?" Again... "blog about this!" Just as I thought... "umm k"... the nurse called my name. It was my turn to go in. As I came out of the waiting room, I was met by the same amazing woman who helped me a year ago. I told her I wanted to take some pictures and talk about the subject of early detection, bla bla bla. She was more than willing to accommodate my wishes. So as she instructed me through the motions... "arm out of the sleeve, hand here, don't move"... I talked about Jen and Dave and the horrible cancer that stole their lives. She was sweet. She gave me some very genuine and good advise. She said "Love and take care of yourself. Watch your stress levels. Just because you might experience stress doesn't mean that you can't be at peace. Take care of your body. Rest. Eat smart and healthy." She mostly talked about letting the mind wander and focusing on negative things. Then she said... "Lynda your brother's cancer died with your brother. Leave the worries that you came with behind, and I'll look forward to seeing you next year." I felt like she had taken an elephant off my back!

I'm so grateful for such amazing spirits who are everywhere around me every day! Sometimes I can be a good LOVE critic or LOVE advocate. But I found myself very humbled in the genuine spirit of true gratitude for the simple perspectives that were so freely given to me by this lovely woman. I'm in awe of life itself. I have a genuine desire to at least share my life in hopes that it might simply effect someone, somewhere, in only the most positive ways. I follow my hear in sharing my life with you. And thank you for sharing whatever you can with me!

So, to all the Grandmothers, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Sons, Brothers, Fathers, and Grandfathers, get checked out! I am finding that there are multiple ways of doing this, and as I find more information, I will blog about it. 
Thank you all for taking the time and interest in reading my blog. I feel your heart felt and unconditional love!

To the many survivors of breast and all other cancers out there... you are my heros! To my sister and brother, I miss you!

I love you all!!!

Lynda =)

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"Sit In Silence And Smile" ~ Ketut Liyer 

I was watching "OWN" the new Oprah Winfrey Network earlier today. I caught the end of an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of "Eat Pray Love." If your a woman, you've probably read the book, watched the movie, and even chatted about it with friends for quite some time now. If your a man, and you actually watched the movie... then God bless you! I had to 'drag' my husband to it! And I actually think he enjoyed it. After watching the movie myself, I felt inspired to find peace in at a deeper level. Today I learned that the movie wasn't just a great screen write, but it was Elizabeth's true journey of finding her true peace. Oprah asked Elizabeth, "Does one really have to travel around the world to find inner peace?" The answer was "no." Apparently, Ketut really exists, and has some great advise. He said that "so many people make life so much harder that it should be, even in meditation." I thought I would share with you, my LOVE Thredz friends, Life's lessons from Ketut, a man who really never left his front porch.
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Our dreams have been stomped on and blown to bits so many times that we become conditioned to giving up on them. We seem to think it’s safer to cater to the dreams of the person abusing us, rather than doing what we need in order to find our own dreams.

Step One:

Take your power to dream back!

During Oprah's interview, Elizabeth Gilbert explains aspects of her journey that aren’t in her book.  She started with writing a journal. The first, and most important, step toward empowerment and joy is to clearly articulate where we want to go.  We need a destination, or we’ll end up adrift with our sails flapping in the wind.  Or worse, we’ll end up helping to make everyone else’s dreams come true, leaving our own behind. She suggested we think about what we really, really, really want.  One “really” isn’t enough to tap into our passions.  The first question you ask yourself in the morning is... "What do I really, really, really want?"
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Step Two:

At the end of your day ask yourself "What was my happiest moment of this day?" Find gratitude for at least one thing in your day. 

Whether you had a moment to yourself, or that you met your soul mate, write it down in your journal so that you might be able to see the happiness and joy you can recognize in every day. 
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Step Three:

Take responsibility for what you repeat to yourself every day. If you go around telling yourself your an idiot, you might want to refine your mantra! You want to project into your mind... LOVE, Wisdom, Courage, and Compassion among other positive thoughts. Then project that into your surroundings.

I have heard the saying... "you are what you eat", so if we are telling ourselves every day that we are an idiot, then you'll believe it. Listen to what you are saying to yourself and you might just want to make some changes like, "I am beautiful"... "my back is straight and strong"... "I am interesting"... "I make friends easily"... "I am wealthy for life"... etc... etc! 
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I love what Ketut told Liz... "Sit in silence and smile."

"Why they always look so serious in Yoga?  You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy.  To meditate, only you must smile.  Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy.  Even smile in your liver.  Practice tonight at hotel.  Not to hurry, not to try too hard.  Too serious, you make you sick.  You can calling the good energy with a smile."

I am grateful for you all! I genuinely wanted to let you know that I am inspired by your emails and loving messages. We live in a whole new world with abilities to share, like never before. Being so transparent online gives me the ability to share and accept you sharing with me. We can help heal the world one person at a time by such simple things like this! It has inspired me to reach deeper in my own existence and even my workout blog. Hopefully a message of "LOVE" throughout this world will be heard. Let's keep threading the love!

Thank you for Wearing & Sharing Your LOVE!
I love you all!

Lynda
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No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.

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Sorry but the "Butt Fairy" isn't going to swoop into your living room, wave her magic wand and proclaim, "Be gone, flabby tush". A tight toned tushy requires a healthy diet (get rid of the sugar, bread and dairy) plus some serious weight training that will target your booty. In the quest for the perfect butt, some exercises work better than others. The best exercise for toning, shaping and targeting the butt muscles is the single leg squat. 

Single leg squats don't just tighten your booty. According to Fitness RX, it's the #1 exercise for building lean muscle mass because it provides constant tension during your workouts, which activates all of the muscle fibers during the set. 
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The gluteal muscles are a group of 3 muscles which make up our buttocks.
  • gluteus maximus – moves our leg backwards, sideways and helps rotate it out.
  • gluteus medius – moves our leg sideways (contributes to rotation)
  • gluteus minimus – helps move our leg sideways and helps rotate it in.
Single-Leg Squats:

1. Place a bench behind a fixed, vertical pole such as the base of a smith or cable machine. Hold on to the pole with one hand to keep your balance during the squat. You can do the exercise without holding on to a pole but without perfect balance, you could be headed to the floor.

2. If you exercise the right leg first, flex the knee of your left leg (non-working leg) to about 90* and place the top portion of your left foot on the bench (which is placed behind you). This position will help you maintain your balance.

3. The toes on the working (right) leg should be angled slightly outward. This angle produces a more direct line of pull of the patellar tendon across the patella than if the knee was straight.

4. Shift your bodyweight to your right leg, and slowly lower your body by flexing your right knee. Keep your back straight and your eyes and head looking straight ahead, as you lower your body. Continue to lower your butt toward the floor until your knee is about 90*.

5. Raise upward by straightening your right knee, but do not allow it to "lock" out. This will maintain tension on the thigh muscles. Do not let your eyes focus on the foot when you are going up or down because this will decrease your stability and you may lose your balance during squatting.

6. After completing about 10 reps with your right leg, take a short break. Reposition your right leg so that the top of your foot rests on the bench, and then start your squats for the left leg.

You can add more reps as you improve your muscle strength and stamina. After accomplishing about 2 sets of 20 reps with each leg, you will be ready to hold a dumbell or use a weighted backpack. Be careful not to allow your body to twist while you are squatting. This could increase the chances of injury to your lower back.

Thank you for wearing and sharing your love!

I love you all!

Lynda

References:Ebben WP ML, Kaufman CE, Magnitude of mechanical loading.  
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I am sitting here in my hotel room, in New Port Beach California, as the rain pours outside my window. Starting my day, as usual, getting up, kissing my sweetheart good morning, and jumping into my workout clothes, I started to stretch. I got my protein shake and all my supplements together. Then I started wrapping my head around today's workout goals. What muscle groups do I need to end the week's workout? Abs! I grabbed my workout journal, when it hit me... I have never shared, what my good friend Carrie, shared with me 4 years ago. She told me she had 10 years of workout journals and that her husband Michael even went back further in his journals. I asked "why?" She then explained.

I didn't realize how important it actually was until I got about 4 months into serious training. I couldn't remember all the details concerning the road that took me to where I was going, and from where the results were coming exactly. Now I have a large library of a hand written "body bible" of events & detailed information. These books are so precious to me! I have details of what I call "Love Lessons In The Gym". I'm talking about gritty details and truths concerning my workouts each day. How many reps? How much weight did I lift? How many sets did I accomplish? What was my personal weight? Did I eat enough the day before? Was my workout enough? Was it me that sucked... or was it everything I thought it would be? Was I out of town that day, or week?

I'll continue to share my workouts... and maybe it can help you start writing your own "body bible."

I'd suggest simply getting a small spiral notebook... something that would fit into your workout bag. I prefer the outside covers to be plastic, so they don't tear over the years. I also suggest a size that can be carried around the gym in order to keep track of real-time information for each day. In the picture shown, one of the workouts is from October 23, 2008, and the other is June 16, 2011. I have gone through experimental phases of loving running and logging 6 miles June 1, 2009. It took me 56.50. I made a positive note to myself that I felt I could do 7 miles on my next run. In the year 2000, I ran the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon after I had logged 420 miles to preparation for the 26.2 miles. I call this journey "Love Lessons In The Gym". When you do something that blows your own mind, and look back on it, you'll find that you probably could have done it earlier. but you might have lacked the encouragement or belief that it was time to move forward and challenge yourself and go for it!

I love you all!

Lynda
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I thought this was something important to share...

Water
Roughly 70% of the human body is made out of water and for the body to keep on functioning properly it needs an adequate supply of water coming in throughout the day. This is patciuarly the case when you’re on a weight loss diet or a fitness program because the bodies need for water increases in order to flush out poisonous toxins, to and carry essential maintenance work in the body.

You should drink water throughout the day, a lot of people go without liquids until they are thirsty, by the time thirst has set in usually your body is past dehydration and has already begun to slow down metabolism and maintenance work. It has not been firmly established exactly how much water the human body requires, but a rough rule is to aim for 8 glasses of water, and if you are training intensely you should aim for 1.5x more than during your workout days.

Protein synthesis creates a lot of waste by products inside the body which needs to be diluted in water in order for the body to process it, in addition to this the kidneys need water in order to process all the toxins. Without sufficient water the kidneys will not be able to function effectively and may also help create kidney stones.

Why plenty of water is essential for fat loss
If your goal is to lose fat, then there’s even more reason for  you to drink plenty of water, water can help you lose fat in the following ways

Reduces hunger pangs. Water gives you a more “full” feeling, and can stave of hunger pangs and a glass of water before bed can help eliminate midnight snacking, provided your bladder can hold onto the water that is.

Increases metabolism. The metabolism is the speed at which your body burns calories, and consequently fat levels in your body, insufficient water in your body will cause your body to go into survival mode and slow down your metabolism

Liver function. The liver is responsible for turning your stored body fat into usable energy, an increase of water in your diet will help the liver work more efficiently and thus lose fat.
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