Human-Doing to a Human-Being

I am committing myself to more blogging! I miss it. The blog definitely needs a real makeover, but I'm not sure I am up to it at this point. In the near future, though...any tips or ideas would be appreciated!


The past 6 months has been absolutely insane. So much heartache and grief.


It began with my Mother passing away. And just last month, on June 16th, my stepfather since the age of 9 saw a similar fate.  Honestly, I felt as if he died along with my Mother and I was not shocked by his passing at all due to the lifestyle he was living. However, Jerry was truly my Dad. 
He drove me to school, fixed me dinner, and saw me through many of life's big events... 
He was my Dad and I am incredibly grateful for everything he did for me. Life was not always easy, but he will be missed deep in my heart forever.

Following Jerry's death, my poor kitty died. Really, universe? Really?
I am determined to make the next 6 months of 2011 positive and uplifting! 

Balance.

I want to refocus my life and move from being a Human-Doing to a Human-Being...
Here are 5 ways I am adding more balance in my life:


1.)Yoga.


My weekend intensives of Yoga Teacher Training ended last month, but I am still finishing up classes and workshops. 


Not sure whether I will teach. I'm 50/50 at this point. A huge part of me just feels like I need to just do it, but I am scared! 

2.)Journaling
In addition to adding more balance in my life through yoga, I have been journaling prior to bedtime. I try to write whatever is on my mind prior to bed just to get it out. Also, I think of what I did during the day that may have left me feeling imbalanced and steps that I could take the next day to prevent this.

3.)Strength Training with Mirza


Mirza and I have committed ourselves to strength/circuit training 3x week at the apartment complex gym. Since I accidentally let my gym membership of 4 years run out and me being too stubborn to repay a huge fee, I am postponing joining a gym and using the one at my apartment for now. It is actually a great gym with a huge set of free weights, two treadmills, elliptical, bicycle, and tons of machines. I don't know why I didn't utilize it more often sooner.


In all honesty, I actually love strength training. Much, much more than cardio. I think it's because of the results I see so soon afterwards. Even on my 5'3 small frame, I do tend to put on muscle pretty quickly simply from my genetic makeup. I miss feeling strong and toned!
I decided to take some "before" photos. I think "before" photos are generally hilarious, but I wanted something to gauge my progress. I also took Mirza's photo, but promised him I would not post it...!

(Here's a fun and random fact about me: My real father was actually really into powerlifting and won some competitions and beat records in his age group. Here's a photo of him at the age of 58 lifting 570lbs. He did eventually do a 600lb deadlift, but I have no photo!) 

4.)Decorating!
It may sound odd to add "decorating" to my list of balancing life, but let me explain...
Mirza and I moved in together on January 1st, 2011. Life was good those first 5 days and we focused a lot on making our apartment home and filling it with items we loved. We're definitely homebodies, so it is so important for "our home rising up to meet" us. As you can imagine, when my mom passed away just 5 short days into moving, decorating got left on the back burner. For the most part, we haven't bought anything new and the walls have been blank. 
In fact, we still do not even have a dining room table! We eat dinner sitting on the floor with the coffee table! 
Today, I finally hung up some photos in the living room...$20 at Salvation Army.

The iPhone photos don't do them justice, but they totally brighten up the room. We're no where near finished, of course. In the corner, we want to get a table with a lamp and maybe hang a mirror?


And Mirza has been busy making his music/recording room an enjoyable place for him!

5.) New Love
And finally, adding Abbey to our family has definitely given us so much joy and calms our souls!

What are some of the ways you add balance to your life?