My Cup of Tea

I have written about drinking water flavored with herbs from my garden during the summer, but during the winter they are not available. I drink mostly herbal teas, and I have a whole cupboard full of various flavors and brands for different moods and needs.Some are fruity, some are spicy, some are for health issues, and some are for pure enjoyment.
One brand that I like and buy frequently is Yogi. Yogi teas not only feed the body, they also feed the spirit. They are made from all natural ingredients, most are herbal, with a few green and black tea varieties. As one of their principles states, "We don't have laboratories, we have kitchens". Their guiding principle is: "Feel Good, Be Good, Do Good." Many of their teas are created for specific health issues, such as stress, colds, digestive issues and PMS.One of my favorites from this category is their Honey Lavender Stress Relief tea.
They also make a variety of teas in interesting and unusual flavors. My morning drink is often a big mug of one teabag each of Mayan Cocoa Spice and Sweet Aztec Chili, with a little Xylitol to sweeten it. As the names suggest, this gives me a spicy cocoa flavor to get me up and moving. Keep in mind, that if you are expecting the Cocoa Spice to tasted like a cup of cocoa made with milk, you may be disappointed, but if you try it with an open mind, and enjoy it for its own uniqueness, you may be happily satisfied. I have also sometimes combined it with a raspberry tea, for a wonderful 'chocolate covered fruit' taste.
So how does a cup of tea feed the spirit? Oh, let me count the ways. Depending on the kind of tea you are drinking, it can be refreshing, energizing, calming, soothing... With Yogi teas, you get something extra, besides the tea itself. Every teabag has a tag with a pearl of wisdom, almost like a fortune cookie.A sampling: 'Grace brings contentment': and 'Bliss is a constant state of mind, undisturbed by loss or gain'. Those of us with chronic health issues can take that to heart. We may have lost some aspects of our selves, life may be more difficult, but bliss is inside of us, despite our losses. I went to their website, www.yogiproducts.com, and explored. On the 'Inspiration' page I clicked on 'Inspirations'. There I found an interactive teabag. Click on a part of it, and you get a pearl of wisdom, written by one of their readers. (If you want to, you can post your own pearls.) The first one I found was 'Erase all the obstacles from your mind and let the light shine on you'. Another was 'There is no shame in what's shaping you'. In other words, stop apologizing for your illness and its effects on you (and others ).
On the 'Ingredients' page, you can look up particular ingredients that you especially want, or need to avoid, and it not only gives a description of that ingredient and what it is good for, it also tells you which teas it is in.
Even the box itself is a work of art. The inside of the box is a lovely Eastern pattern, one of these days I am going to open up a box flat after it is empty, and color in the design with my colored pencils. Maybe I will do a whole series of these... Another feature on the box and the website is yoga poses, with descriptions, pictures and the benefits of each pose.There are videos you can watch made by Yogi Tea Master Guru Hari, as well as some made by others, about the teas and their benefits.
As to the teas themselves, I enjoy the variety, the unique flavor combinations, as well as the way they make me feel. A hot mug of tea on a winter day makes me feel protected and cared for, and my mouth gets to enjoy every sip. Yogi teas may or may not be available in your local grocery store, but they are in health food stores, organic food stores, and the like.There is a store locator on the website, or you can order some online, without having to change out of your jammies.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Energy Conservation and Work Simplification are techniques to help save energy and avoid fatigue/excess pain when performing activities. Using principles of energy conservation and work simplification can increase your level of activity without increasing fatigue. Energy conservation is any technique that preserves the body's energy. Work simplification is any technique that decreases the amount of work that needs to be done, making it more efficient. Energy conservation and work simplification require assessing an individual's daily activities and demands and creating solutions using basic principles of:

1. Prioritizing
2. Planning
3. Pacing
4. Posture
   

Ask yourself: 1) Does the task need to be done? 2) Does it need to be done by me? 3) Does it need to be done now? 4) Are there ways I can simplify the task?

1. Plan your work day to alternate light and heavy tasks and pace yourself
2. Develop a routine that allows you to use your time effectively and efficiently
3. Make lists, organize tasks, eliminate and/or combine tasks/steps when possible, group activities or errands
4. Determine the balance of rest and activity that works best for your body
5. Take short (5-10 min), breaks intermittently rather than pushing to finish a task in one session
6. Stop working before you get too tired or sore
7. Manage time to avoid need for rushing, which increases tension
8. Find shortcuts- use prepackaged foods, don't peel potatoes, buy clothes that don't need ironing (or think like me- God wouldn't have put wrinkles there if they weren't supposed to be there), shop online, buy in bulk, make casseroles and one-pot meals, fully make one corner of the bed before moving to the next corner, reuse dishes from the dish drainer or dishwasher instead of putting them away, store a set of cleaning supplies on each floor of a multi-floor house, use no-scrub cleaners and automatic toilet bowl cleaner, use an automatic can opener, etc.
9. Use long handled reacher, duster, dustpan and other tools to decrease need for stooping and bending
10. Sit when possible, use a high stool to sit on for tasks such as ironing or food prep; If you have to stand, raise one foot on a low stool or inside an open cabinet, alternating feet frequently, and/or have a cushioned floor mat to stand on
11. Use a utility cart to transport items and slide objects along the countertop rather than carrying them
12. Use electric appliances, lightweight utensils and tools, use the right tool for the job.
13. Set work up to work with gravity, not against.
14. Adjust the work height for maximum comfort- usually shoulders relaxed, elbows at 90 degrees- use an adjustable ironing board as a work surface or put a board over an open drawer, raise dishpan by putting a rack under it
15. Arrange frequently used tools, appliances and supplies close to where they are used and easily reached, Keep small appliances on the counter, ready to use
16. Set supplies up in a semicircle, within easy reach
17. Eliminate countertop/desktop clutter
18. Use both hands
19. Support your arms- using them unsupported causes strain on your arms, neck and back
20. Decrease need to hold objects by propping them up, using rubber mats or suction cups on a table, or a pillow on your lap to hold a book
21. Use other body parts to compensate, such as a foot pedal to open a trash can instead of bending
22. Reduce extra motions- make a bed or set a table in one trip around
23. If lifting is necessary, lift objects using your leg muscles, not your back. Bend your knees and get as close to the object as possible
24. Push heavy objects rather than lifting, use your body weight, carry objects close to your body
25. Ask for help

Principles of Joint Protection

Maintain muscle strength and joint range of motion

Practice good posture and body mechanics (to reduce muscle fatigue)

Avoid positions of deformity and deforming stresses (ie., don't get yourself into positions that are uncomfortable or put strain on your body)

Use each joint in its most stable anatomical and functional plane

Use the strongest joints available for the activity- lift with your legs, not your back, hold objects with your palms, not your fingers

Avoid using muscles or holding joints in one position for any undue length of time- stretch every 10-15 minutes

Never begin an activity that cannot be stopped immediately if it proves to be too taxing

Pain that lasts more than an hour after an activity may indicate that the activity was too stressful.

Respect pain

You Don't Have to be Perfect

Last night, my husband was eating some dove chocolates, and I noticed that they had short quotes on the inside of the wrappers. and there was one wrapper that caught my attention.  It said "Remind yourself that it's okay not to be perfect."  Working in psychiatry, I often see patients who believe they need to be perfect, and are stressed  and anxious because they don't measure up.  I ask them if they think they are better than everyone else, and they say 'no'.  I then ask them why they expect more of themselves than they expect of others.
The belief that one must be perfect can come from a variety of sources.  It may be from parents or someone else in the past who said things like "You're not as smart as your sister", or "you'll never amount to much".  This can lead a person to always try to prove that person wrong, or to try to gain their approval (even long after that person has died).  The opposite kind of feedback can also create perfectionism.  "You always get A's on everything you do", or "You're the smartest one in the family".  These  kinds of feedback, for most people, would be positive motivators and self esteem builders.  For some people, however, they feel like they need to keep up this high level of performance in order to keep the other person's respect, and so they aren't able to accept any less than the best from themselves in everything.  For some people, the need to be perfect develops for no traceable reason.   Some people expect perfection from others as well as themselves, but most perfectionists expect it mainly from themselves.
There are some things in life that do need to be perfect.  I would not want my surgeon to be satisfied with mediocre work.  I would not want my architect to use estimates instead of accurate measurements for building my house.  Most areas of life do not require perfection.  Will the world go off kilter and stop revolving if your sheet was two inches more to one side of the bed than the other?  Will your house explode if you don't get every little speck off the floor?
I have never been a perfectionist, but I do get overly wrapped up in details at times.  When I do, I often feel fatigued afterwards.  I try to catch myself, and remind myself (as the Dove wrapper said, I don't have to be perfect.  It takes alot of energy to be perfect in anything.  I don't have extra energy to waste on unnecessary perfection.
If you are a perfectionist, and it doesn't bother or hamper you in  any way, you may see no reason to change.  If, however, it does bother you (or others in your life), there are things you can do to change this aspect of yourself.  When you do any task, think about the 'good-enough' factor.  This is the level at which the task is 'good enough', and any more energy spent on it will not improve the results significantly.  This is also known as the 'law of diminishing returns'.   For each task, there is a different 'good-enough' factor.  If you have variable energy levels, then what is 'good-enough' one day may be too much another day.  Look at the task in the larger scheme of your life, and learn to gage  how much of your time, energy and attention it deserves.  Be selective in where you use your energy to make something better than it needs to be.  
You may want to practice not being perfect.   Try leaving one corner undusted, or two grains of something on the carpet.  Though you may be uncomfortable if things aren't just so, nothing bad will actually happen.  I have heard that the people who make those beautiful Persian rugs will make a mistake on purpose, because only God can make something perfect.  I don't know if this is true, but it certainly gives something to think about.   

Finding Your Productivity Capacity

Everyone is different in their endurance and capacity for productive activity. This weekend I have been working on cleaning up a path that I made several years ago on our cabin property. I have been pulling weeds, scooting along the path on my butt to try to squash those I don’t pull. I did about 3/5ths of the path yesterday, so logic would say that I should be able to finish the job easily today.


However, it is hotter and more humid today (I feel like a nauseated wet noodle when I get too hot). Part of the path that is left to clean up is in the sun, so not only would it make me sick, the weeds are thicker and hardier in that section, so are harder to pull. On top of that, my right arm feels sore, the same arm that had tendonitis for 7 months, until a shot of Depomedrol cleared it up 2 months ago. Actually, all of me is a little sore, but miraculously less than I would have expected after the work I did yesterday. (I am not sure how to go about counting how many howevers this is.)

While I am doing the path, my husband is digging a drainage ditch and shoveling and relocating 10 tons of stone. Compared to what he is doing, I am having a picnic. One big difference in our capacities is that while he gets sore and recovers, my body doesn’t recover as readily. I tend to get tendonitis and other soft tissue damage from seemingly minor injuries, and it takes months of therapy, meds, ice and injections to get rid of it.

I decided to work on the part of the path not in the sun, where I would be cooler, and the weeds are weaker and easier to pull. The rest I would leave until another time. Watching my husband continue to work, it would be easy for me to feel guilty, like I am not doing my fair share, but I don’t. I know that if I continued to do more physical work today, I would pay for it for months to come. I know that I have worked to my capacity, and that is enough.

I know there are many people whose capacity is decreased like mine, and others whose capacity is extremely limited. If this is your situation, how do you come to accept that what you do is sufficient? Take inventory of what you can and cannot do. This can be difficult, because there are many factors that may affect your ability each day, including weather, how well you slept, what you did yesterday, etc. How much does it cost you to do more than your capacity? Are you out of commission for a day? A week? How much is too much to pay for what you want to do? There may be some things that are worth it to you to push yourself past your capacity, but most things are not worth it.

One area of difficulty for a lot of people is appearance. What will others think? Will they think I am lazy? If ‘they’ are strangers, it is none of their business, why should you care what they think? If ‘they’ are friends and family, you can try to explain this to them. Some people will understand, others will not, no matter how many times and how many ways you explain it. It is up to you how much you let it bother you. You can’t change other people, but you can change how you respond to them. You are the only one who really knows what it is like living in your skin. You are the only valid judge of your capacity. That said, you may be selling yourself short because of fear of pushing too far. Try experimenting a little. You may be able to increase your capacity by tiny increments.

Remember that you don’t have to be physically active to be productive. There are many activities that are productive that are easy on the body. Writing this blog is productive, as is writing anything that transmits information or ideas. Rocking a baby to sleep or reading to a young child is productive. Calling a sick friend or listening to a loved one is productive. Any time spent learning or teaching is productive. There are likely many things you do in a day for which you don’t give yourself credit.