Habits - Help to Make or Break Them

 There's lots of information and many people out there that say it takes a certain number of days to break or form a habit. There are a many factors involved here, your motivation for making the change being the most important. You are the only person who can make this decision.

For anyone out there who owns and iPhone or iPand and is looking to make a positive change in there lives check out the Way of Life application. There are other habit building apps but this is the only one I’ve tried.

The app is free and will let you set three personal goals (there are also suggestions). If you would like to set more goals, you will have to buy the app. It’s not much and I think its worth the cost. Once you’ve set your goals you can set an alarm and at the end of each day you will be prompted to track whether you’ve succeeded or failed. This is good because it makes you aware of how many times you do or don’t do something. For example, I drink a lot of pop, so one of my goals was to only drink one pop a day (I know, so bad for me!). I started to track this and I noticed, that the days I was at work  I drank very few pop and the days I was at home or out and about I drank more. Now that I’m aware of this, I try and keep my fridge stocked with other (better) drinks so that I won’t fail as much. Its an uphill battle but there is something satisfying about clicking the yes button and filling in the green square. Now that I feel like I have some control over the situation my next step will be to add a new goal to drink no pop a day and see how I make out.  

Check out the apple website and search for the Way of Life app to learn more. The screen shots are very helpful. Better yet, download the free version on your phone and give it a try or see what else is out there that will help you succeed at your goals. 

Recycle for Life

Here is a poem I'd like to share. Don Merrel definitely has a knack for writing poems that matter. Every time I read one, it makes me think about what I'm doing and question my actions. He also has some amazing poems about safety in the workplace such as; It's up to me, I could have saved a life that day, I choose to look the other way, etc.

Recycle for Life

The bounties of nature are there for our use,
But we’ve treated them poorly – without good excuse.
We abused it, misused it, and threw it away,
Now the bills coming due – and we’ll all have to pay.
We can chose to ignore it, and put off the debt,
Pass it on down to those not born yet.
But the debts getting bigger and bigger each year,
And they may not be able to pay it – I fear.
With each of us acting with reasonable care,
We can use what we need – and still leave some to spare.
We can start on the process of setting things straight,
Clean up our environment – Before It’s Too Late.
Remember ” Recycle”, let that resource keep living,
It’s a much better life to our kids we’ll be giving.
If we keep on abusing the Earth – We should know,
When it won’t support life – ‘ We’ve got no place to go’

Don Merrell
donmerrell@hotmail.com

Start the Office Fruit Bowl

How often do you take fruit to work and not eat it? You might forget, not have time or maybe its just not ripe enough. The more times you throw that piece of fruit in your bag and carry it around, the more likely its going to be bruised or smooched and you probably won’t eat it anyway, right? You may even be left with a nasty mess to clean up. Instead, why not start the office fruit bowl.  Its simple, get a bowl and leave it in the coffee room or anywhere else that may be convenient. Then start adding your unwanted fruit to it.  There are several perks that go along with starting and maintaining this ritual.

1. You and your co-workers won’t be wasting fruit.

2. It adds some colour to the room.

3. You’ll be more likely to grab and orange or an apple instead of hitting up the vending machine or other nearby sources of unhealthy food.

4. People will love you for it and you will feel that love even if they don’t know it was you who started the trend. Its amazing how much happier some people are when they are full.

5. You may even save some money, depending on hoe the giving and taking balances out.

If you start the fruit bowl trend, you may want to keep an eye on it and make sure that any excessively damaged fruit gets tossed before it goes bad and contaminates the rest of the bowl.

Water It Down

I have this shaving cream that I love. Its not tested on animals, it has no artificial colours, parebens, phthalates, sodium lauryl or sodium methyl.  Did I mention it smells great! The squeeze tube it comes in is even made of recycled materials. So really I have no beef with the product but one thing that I hate is throwing the tube away when its finished. A couple of months ago I though about this. The cream is fairly thick and it doesn’t need to be to accomplish its mission. So I watered it down and the only difference it seemed to make was lasting almost twice as longs. Now I feel a little less guilty when I get to the end of the bottle and when I look at the price (which is very reasonable) I divide by 2.

Donate your stuff

I have moved a lot in my life. My parents were in the military when I was younger, so we bounced around quite a bit.  One thing  (of the many) my mother taught us was that when you get rid of stuff, you donate it.  A couple times a year the diabetes association would call and tell her they were having donation pick ups in our area and ask if she had anything to contribute. We would go through our old clothes that no longer fit and our toys we no longer used, put the items in a bag and leave them on the front porch for pick up.  During times when there were no pick ups, mom would drive us to a second hand shop and we would dropp it off there. My grandmother always said “waste no, want not”.

In the last 6 years I’ve moved four times and have learned several valuable lessons in this regard.

The More Stuff You Have, The More Stuff You Have Holding You Back

·      Most of the time storage is expensive and lets face it, who really wants to pay money to not see or be able to use their own belongings.  I did for a year and a half and you know what I realized at the end of it? Most of it I didn’t need or even notice was missing. When packing your things, get rid of what you don’t need or care about. The result will be a smaller and more affordable storage space.

·      Moving boxes are also expensive and sometimes a waste. Ask around and see if a friend or neighbor has some old ones kicking around. If not check out a local store and ask if they have any old boxes you can have.

·      Moving is often done by weight or cube size, therefore you basically pay for the amount of stuff you have. So the less you have, the less it will cost you. Remember if you are moving yourself you have to factor in the cost of gas.

·      If your friends are your movers don’t think you are off the hook. They will remember that time they lugged load after load up the flight of stairs, but what are friends for right?!

If It’s Free, It’s For Me

·      This is most peoples attitude towards free anything (well almost). Go through your things. If it doesn’t fit, you don’t like it, use it, need it or have multiples of it, donate it.

·      Family and Close Friends-donate to these people first, they are the ones that love and support you and will scrape you off the ground if you face plant into it. They are deserving and have probably donated to you at some point in the past. Ask them if they want the items you were iffy about letting go of . The things you really like but just don’t have room or use for. If you do this, you will know those items are going to a good home and may even see them being appreciated from time to time.

·      Second Hand Shops and Charities - Donate the items your family and friends do not want or need to these locations. Some donations to charity qualify for tax receipt so remember to ask if your not sure.

·      The Streets- If you live in a concentrated area with lots of foot traffic and you want to spread the love. Grab a box, make a simple sign that reads FREE, place your items in it and stick it outside. You would be amazed at how little will be left for garbage day. Just remember to clean up after and don’t put your items out when its windy or raining.

Keep the things you really truly care about . With less of the other stuff around cluttering your life up, it may be easier to see, appreciate or use them.

Once again, I’m moving soon. A short move this time but none the less I did the purge.  I donated to my sister, friends and the streets.  Sometimes its hard to give your things away, pick a day when your in the right mood. Once its done you’ll feel great about it.