Staying the Course

Well - I'm officially into my first two weeks of 2010. I've really made progress towards improving the quality of my life and overall health and wellness, both interally and externally. For the last two weeks, I have made a concerted effort to reflect upon my core values every morning as the foundation of my day. My core values authentically are who I am and what my thoughts and actions should reflect. What I treasure: my relationship with God/Jesus, my family (they ROCK!), and leading others. I've stopped obsessing about measuring food out each day, what the scale number is each day and how others perceive me. The result is that I've truly been so much more joyful and peaceful. My perspective has changed and I am reaping the benefits.Wanna hear something really amazing? My daughter's teacher just told me that Isabella has been so much happier over the last two weeks and for the first time in pre-school, Isabella has brought home two consecutive weekly reports of perfect behavior. I get it now - Isabella's view of her world is a direct reflection of how she sees me, not how she hears me. Epiphany!!!

With regard to my TKD training, things are really on pace. I've been doing 3 classes per week, along with an hour long private lesson. My new attitude has also really helped my TKD progress, as well. While I excel against a peer comparison, I am not where I want to be against my personal expectations and goals. I am wondering if I should take an additional 6 months to prepare for my black belt test and test in December. More than being prepared for the physical aspects of the test (3 hours of grueling anaerobic and aerobic testing activities without water in the 100+ degree Texas heat followed by a 1 mile run), I want to feel deserving of being a black belt and confident in my TKD skills. I just don't see that I can reasonably accomplish this within the next 6 months. My instructor feels differently, and while I don't want to challenge his authority, I am pressing him to consider letting me continue this level of training and test in December. We'll see how this goes with time.

My body hasn't felt this sore in awhile. My quads, hamstrings, calves, biceps, and core are definitely feeling the results of my new training - they are awake! Starting Monday, I'll add an additional mini-morning workout to supplement my TKD training. My morning regimen will focus on weight work with cardio on alternating days. There's a terrific martial arts conditioning program called Warrior X-Fit that really fits the bill for these morning workouts. I'm going to have to really become efficient and disciplined in my daily schedule, because adding my morning workout means I'll have to wake up at 4:45 every day!

My form this testing cyle is In Wha II. To see the form, I posted a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_kImUd-YF0&NR=1

Well - I gotta make some breakfast. I'm going to made some yummy high-protein pancakes! Then, on to my Warrior X-Fit training workout.

Kihap!

Dedie