Happy Thanksgiving

     Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends.  I hope that you really enjoy your day. Thanksgiving is a time to take stock of everything in your life that you are grateful for.  It is also a time to think about all of the holidays, events, and things that you really want to be around for in the future.
     You can definitely eat all that you want, it's a day made for that.  But, while the turkey is in the oven, go outside and shovel or sweep a little snow.  Take a walk down the block, do some light aerobics while listening to Christmas music.  Make sure that you get some exercise in before you have the wonderful meal.  I'll get on the treadmill in the morning.  My wife will be frantically cooking, but even she will get on the treadmill in the morning too while she watches the parade.  It is important to take care of yourself so that you can enjoy your life.  Eat the turkey, eat the stuffing, eat the pie...but burn the calories.  You will thank yourself Friday morning.

Stay Strong

      I am sure as we go through our lives and deal with problems and things that come our way, we get stronger. We bounce back.  We learn to deal with or prepare for life differently.  For some reason, nothing seems to get easier, we just adjust our routines to meet daily challenges.                                            Our bodies, however, don't bounce back as easily from illness or injury as we get older.  Our bones aren't as strong, we don't use our muscles and flex our joints as much.  Arthritis and other disease processes take their toll on our bodies.  We begin to notice the aches and pains that advancing age brings.  We have to think about things a little longer, like where we parked the car, what we actually went to the store for or what is coming out of our checking account this week.                                                                           There are many things we can do to ease into our "Golden Years".  I take classes at Marywood University, not so much to get a piece of paper that documents the achievement, but to keep learning about things that interest me and to keep my brain sharp. I walk whenever and wherever I can.  I like to run, even if it is on the treadmill, as it keeps my joints moving and my muscles from becoming atrophied. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of aches and pains.  That comes from years of being in the military, from martial arts participation and instruction, from doing difficult things that I like to do.  It can't stop me though.  It will never stop me from moving, from jumping out of planes, from running through the streets of Scranton or at Nay Aug Park.                                              You can't let it stop you either.  Life keeps moving and so should you.  If you have to sit and do exercises, then sit and lift weights, or stretch in your chair.  If you can walk to your front gate or to the street, walk to the corner, walk to buy your coffee or walk from the back of the parking lot to the store, then you must do that. As I always say, anything you can do is better than doing nothing. Take a class, learn to cook, learn to work on the computer, do something not only for your mind, but to develop into a better person.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Life keeps going, you should too...

  

It's Not In the Finish, It's the Start

     It is true...you hear yourself saying things like "I'll do it tomorrow" or "Maybe later".   It's hard to get started when there is so much of life getting in the way.  But how do you want to live your life?
     I want to be able to be to move.  I want to be able, as I always say, to tie my own shoes until the day I die.  I want to go on vacation and visit new places and be able to walk around all of them.  I want to be mentally sharp until the day I die.  I take classes, do mental testing on the Internet and watch educational videos.  Read.  Read books, read articles, read the newspaper.  Life is moving really quickly.  The days seem to go by slowly, but the years are just flying.
     Get up and walk to your front porch ...go to the sidewalk or driveway...and keep walking.  When you feel tired, come home.  It's that simple.

Get started...