It's Time

 I remember the day I came across this book, perhaps 3 years ago.

My apartment was so cluttered that I had stacks of books everywhere. Some stacks were behind others and so I couldn't even see a spine or part of a cover sticking out that might remind me of having a book that I would have gotten somewhere, interested in reading.

I've got to organize my books, I thought. Just to emphasize this point, I said to myself: You see, for example, I've got this little light green colored one wedged in between two larger ones, and I can't even tell from here what book it is, or where I even got it. I definitely need to declutter this place!

Then, I went and pulled it from the stacks. It was the book shown.

I am thinking of practicing the art, as part of a broader ranging New Year's resolution.

And the place to start, according to marie, after resolving to stop capitalizing your name, perhaps, is in doing a visualization that she describes thusly: "This means visualizing the ideal lifestyle that you dream of."

I have come about putting my own visualization together by deciding to revert to the lifestyle I had in 1998, when, at the age of 35, I was a bundle of energy and would race against the neighbor's dog to a store a quarter mile away, where I would get a Sobe "power" drink (plus a treat for the dog) to start each day, around 1 PM.

I played the guitar at least 5 hours each day, and did about an hour and a half of working out on a weight set in the garage, consuming at least 3,500 calories, 25 grams of protein and 100 grams of carbs, all out of bottles labelled with names like: "Ripped Fuel," "Carbo Force," "XXL,"and "Metabalol." I didn't chew at all until the evening meal of fish and greens with garlic and hot sauce, to go with a bottle of red wine. 

This one looks like it was taken from Emerson Pond, where my friend, Dave and I caught many a Painted Turtle...

So, I visualize waking up in an uncluttered apartment, where I will create the only dirty dish in the place by making a cup of coffee, and then will do the WIM Hof breathing exercises, before stretching out for a mile jog to an outdoor gym comprised of equipment that utilizes the weight of a person's body as the "resistance," where I will work out before jogging home.

Switching my diet back will be a challenge, as I have, only in the past year, eaten things like pizza and even ice cream sodas.

The pizzas were thin crust, gluten free, organic and topped with white cheese and spinach, but still something I would have passed on in 1998.

The ice cream sodas were me trying to recapture a part of my 14 year old self, the part that did things just for the sake of being "creative." I kind of came to the conclusion that I was possessed of that energy despite the ice cream sodas.

I used to hop on my 10 speed bike and ride 37.5 miles to the base of Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire, lock the thing up, then climb the 3,704 feet to the peak of it, eat a bagged lunch I'd brought, take a few pictures, then ride back home. That was just a typical summer vacation day when I was 13 or so.

I have lost some of that initiative, and perhaps it's because my house is too cluttered.