Live out loud.

     It has been one year since I started this blog for health and self-motivation.  I have read many nutrition, health, and fitness books and articles; shared a few, and plan on continuing.  I thought this one-year mark would be a good time for a bit of self-evaluation.
     I am feeling more fit and toned.  There isn't a huge difference, but it is there.  I have been doing plank-a-days since September and am up to two minutes for the forearm plank, and one minute for the side planks, daily.  I am still jogging three times a week. I am extremely slow, but believe that no matter how slow I go, I am still lapping everyone sitting on the couch.
     More importantly, it is winter and I haven't gained any weight.  I can't wait for spring and getting outside to hike more and feel the sunshine.  Dean introduced me to the joys of hiking in the high country, as he moved to Colorado a year before I did.  We regret that we don't get out to do it more often.
     I often wonder about the philosophical question, "if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?"  You can apply that same question to blogging, or to life.  Does my blogging, or my life, or any of our lives, have an effect?  I believe they do.  We all make a sound.  Emile Zola said, "I am here to live out loud."  We all are.
     I also believe in the butterfly effect.  In chaos theory, the butterfly effect states that a small change at one place can result in large differences to a later state.  The theoretical example is of a hurricane formation based on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before. (source, Wikipedia).  Hopefully my blog is like that....it is contributing in a small way to reaching the tipping point, the critical mass or threshold, of a healthier America, a healthier world.
     My hope is that you are living out loud.  Flap your butterfly wings.


                      The journey is the reward.     Chinese proverb.

2-2-12 update

forearm plank