Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

An Unmanageable Life and the Possibilities of Kaizen

September 30, 2013

So, here I am admitting my powerlessness over people, food, life in general. As some of you know, the last few months unleased a torrent of unpleasantness on me and my family. I’ve been angry, jealous, and sad for awhile and it’s beginning to show. This month, I decided that it was time to get a grip on things again.

The first step I took was to get a health counselor – for free. We’ve had three phone sessions and I know this was a great decision. I talked with her on Friday and decided on one step to move forward (even though she suggested several things that could help right now). So, I’m drinking a 4 oz glass of water each hour to make sure I get that in. I’ve done it before and it works great, so I’m reintegrating it.

She also wants to see progress, so that night, feeling the out of controll-ness, I searched Amazon for books on “changing your life” and I found one on Kaizen – “One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way” (by Robert Maurer PHD). Again, this word, kaizen, is dropped in my lap and I think it’s not a coincidence. So, I start reading and in the pages I find actual steps to take and questions to ask to move your life in the direction you need/want it to go. And I write down what I’m reading to start focusing on change.

One of the stories related is of a woman who is depleted – a single mother worn out, depressed and with high blood pressure (sounds familiar). The doctor wants her to start an exercise regimen, but the psychologist (the author of the book) knowing the difficulties of that says, “How about if you just march in place in front of the television, each day, for one minute”. Of course, the doctor is horrified at such a suggestion, but the woman perks up and says she could give it a try. And she did and it helped her to make room for more in the way of exercise down the road.

So, I thought, “Geez, I could do that”, and yesterday and today I have done just that. Marched in place in front of the tv for one minute. I laugh my way through, but when I’m done I feel good because I’ve finished something and, physically, it gives me a boost for the rest of the morning. It is one small change I can do right now to get well again.

There are questions in the book to ask yourself like:

“Can you think of a very small step you might take to improve ….?”

“What can I do in 5 minutes a day to….?”

“What’s the smallest step I could take to…?” (The blanks are mine)

There’s a psychology to all this because fear is the thing that keeps a lot of people from making changes. Just the thought of trying to keep up daily exercise for a week makes me cry. So, to stop the overwhelm, you start with very small manageable steps. So, I’m going to give this a whirl. I have hope that changes will be made. Not immediately, but I will get there.

So, you can laugh all you want at my 1 minute exercise regimen, but right now at least it’s something gentle I can do for my body and mind. And it’s buildable. As my kids would say, “It’s good for your soul!”. :-)

2 comments
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On September 30, 2013 at 3:24 AM, dxprog said:

The funny thing about exercise is that you dread doing it (at least, at 6:45am, I sure do), but after I roll my bike into work and wobble my way upstairs, I feel good despite being physically worn out. That feeling generally stays through out the day too.
And, yeah. Fear is a bitch. Fear of failure at the most stupid things prevents me from getting a lot of stuff done.

On September 30, 2013 at 8:29 AM, Hi from GA said:

I like this idea! Hope you update in a week and let us know how all the little bits helped your week!

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» An Unmanageable Life and the Possibilities of Kaizen » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

An Unmanageable Life and the Possibilities of Kaizen

September 30, 2013

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On September 30, 2013 at 3:24 AM, dxprog said:

On September 30, 2013 at 8:29 AM, Hi from GA said:

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