Exercise your mind as well as your body

I find I think better, more clearly AFTER I've exercised.But I have to exercise for quite some time for the effect I need to take place. So I walk.

Long walks allow my mind to slow down. My mind is a real chatter box when we start. Going over and over problems and issues and things that I need to do. Slowly as the miles and the time evolves my mind forgets it was in a hurry and begins to enjoy what we're doing and where we are going.

I'd forgotten just how important long walks were for me. Once, twice a week. A way of getting out of my head and into my body. Some of you may call it grounding or centering. I just call it sensible.

I know I could go to the gym and exercise quickly and at a higher intensity (and burn off probably more calories as a result). But my mind doesn't get the rest it needs when it's being shouted at in circuit class. And my mind needed a rest after last week's intense work load, it didn't need to be told, one more, 10 seconds to go, come on you can do it, reverse direction, Elle you're on the .... next. It needed to slow down and give itself a chance to process what it had been given.

Which is why exercise is not only essential for the body but the mind as well.

As a kid, what did you do exercise wise?

I've been thinking about that question since my long distance walking revelation and I have discovered a couple of things.

I used to cycle long distances. As we didn't have a car to get around the options open were cycling, walking or catching the bus. And for "fun" I played tennis, badminton and volleyball. I didn't NEED to exercise or go to the gym as I was toned, fit and healthy from living my life.

As I've gotten older, landed a job where I spend a lot of my time sitting on my rear end I've become lazy and as a result my mind NEVER stops.

So, my aim as I incorporate more activity into my daily life is this. To be active to the extent that I don't NEED to exercise any more, gain better tone and definition and lose the weight I have gained over a number of years.

Comments

[Stanley Rozewski]

Ok. Help me out. I lack motivation to work as a Real Estate Investor. I thought I was motivated. I met many people who do it and we are all regular people. My sister is into it much more than I am. Is being a Real Estate Investor, when you break it down, a sales job after all? I'm beginning to think so. I can elaborate on another post. I viewed it as a challenge to myself to work this business to prove to myself that I can do it and then know, in my mind, that I have the desire to work hard to be a successful business owner. Oh, oh. I'm finding it hard to keep track of all I need to do to keep in touch with my relationships with realtors who will work with me. I need to conduct a mailing campaign to locate certain people who I can help, and hope they contact me. Then I need to keep relationships with other investors and professionals. It is tough to remember all of them, manage them, and keep in touch with all of them in the hopes that one day, that relationship will have developed in a way that I can help them or they can help me. Excuse my vagueness, if it sounds that way. Maybe that is what I don't understand. I welcome any and all suggestions as what to do to find that motivation to do well. Many thanks.

[Elle]

Hi Stanley

Wow, that is a big challenge. Have you thought about using the social networking sites? Facebook, twitter and the like? You can send out a mailing list (as I do) and add a "lets connect" at the bottom, I've managed to "speak" to many people in that way over the years. Yes it takes time, but as with all good things - little and often is the best way.

When i first started the Daily Dose of Motivational Medicine (Motivate Me's almost daily e-zine) I used Yahoo. I kept a group / distribution list and emailed my readers. It was a reasonable way to manage the list and I know of others who use Outlook etc in the same way.

Then I outgrew Yahoo and Yahoo's send capacity - so I migrated to Group Mail - a pay for program that allows you to do much more. We still used our normal home gateway - but eventually that clogged up too, now we have a professional account with gmail which allows me to send up to 2,000 messages per email account a day (I now have several distribution lists as a result) which seems to work well. I'm sure there are other ways of doing that, but this way works well (at the moment for me)...

As to finding the motivation to do well - well that depends how badly you want something. Or should I say - I write the daily dose to help other people do well, and I find that in order to help other people I have to constantly raise my standards. So - maybe that will work for you - how can you help other people (and in turn you can help yourself). If I can recommend a book - read "the go-giver" by Burg and Mann - great book and covers that in so much detail. http://www.thegogiver.com/

Speak soon

Elle