Endorph What?

What is your favourite thing to do in the whole wide world?  Is it free?  Is it something that you could do on any day of the year or as often as you want?  Would there be much planning that you would need to do to execute your enjoyable activity?  Once the activity is over, will it be paying you in dividends so to speak?

To share with you, when I think of those questions, it comes down to simplicity.  Sure, I would love to eventually do some travelling once our sons are older.  That is a here & there future plan yet day in & day out, the answer to the question is usually one of a few possibilities.  The activities that make my heart smile are either virtually cost neutral from a monetary perspective or of a nominal amount.  The short list includes:  a walk in nature either alone with our furry gal or with a friend as well, a tea experience with a Dear Heart,enjoying an uplifting book, writing or sharing time in spiritual growth. The combination of a few of these activities at once is medicinal I find for myself.  You will have your own list of favourites.  When we look at our lists of favourites, do you find that the activities are simple yet meaningful or are they more involved?  Each one of us is a beautiful original.  We are each on our own journey walking with one another yet we can be at different phases on the path.  Let’s face it, when we were children, we would certainly give different answers to these questions likely than we give now. 

You know already that I do not have any background whatsoever in science or medicine.  I was instead given a sentimental heart & it is my vocation to wake up each day & say the same thing, “it is not about me so who can use some kindness today.”  Every person will have his or her own mission in life to give to the world & that is exactly right.  Along with the sentimental heart, thankfully, it is my feeling that I was given some humour genetically.  There are several Dear Hearts in my family that have absolutely amazing senses of humour.  A sense of humour has been a valued companion especially over the past 5 years living with type 1 diabetes.  If you are a “pumper”, you may share the countless experiences of your pump beeping & other folks asking you if your pedometer is malfunctioning.  I have found quite a few humourous responses over the years surrounding the “beeping insulin pump.”  At times others will come across as a wee bit embarrassed when they realize that what they thought was your pedometer is actually an insulin pump.  You know what, I don’t personally find my insulin pump anything to be embarrassed about & I sure don’t want others to feel embarrassed mentioning it or asking me questions.  Just last week,  a lady was asking me some questions & she could see through humour, a genuine smile & my enthusiastic answers that she could comfortably ask me anything at all about my pump.  Finally, she said that she really wanted to know how the pump was attached to my body.  I asked her if she would like to see the infusion attached & she said that she would.  The infusion was just on my side so that’s no big deal to me.  She was kind of fascinated.  She shared some of her assumptions about diabetes, insulin pumps & related things.  How cool was that though that by having a humourous, honest & humble chat that she went away with the real deal on some aspects of life with diabetes.

It does not matter what type of a mood I am in on any given day, there is one activity from my list that is 100% reliable in either taking a blue mood to a better mood or a good mood to a great one.  You may share that you love to walk too.  Utopia is when the walk is in nature with our furry gal along with a nice cup of tea for the walk.  You likely have a music playlist of walking music.  I do too.  I have a fast-paced playlist for walking to the lake & a slow paced playlist for walking back home again.  The really cool thing too is that the sky is the limit on the different audio selections that we can add to our music devices.  Yesterday, I downloaded 4 inspirational speakers’ conference sharings & listened to one on a walk.  It was so cool because as I walked, I learned from a “giant” & felt even more gratitude on that walk.  Walking is virtually cost neutral.  We likely have everything that we need already for a basic walk.  Do you know what else is absolutely free?  Endorphins! As an aside, I can still remember one of the first times that I heard the word, “endorphin” as a wee girl & thought that the word meant dolphin.  Too funny.    I have no idea how they work & I personally don’t even need to understand the science behind the power of endorphins.  I find that just knowing that every single time I have taken a good long walk, I have felt energized both physically & cerebrally is enough to propel me to putting on my sneakers & going for that walk.  Some days we may not feel like giving ourselves that walk yet if we go ahead & do it anyways, isn’t it super how it feels?  Perhaps, the activity that brings a smile to your heart is something else.   Maybe your activity more closely relates to dolphins!  Maybe you like to swim like one, fins or no fins!  And you just may even have an idea of the science behind how endorphins work. 

My heart’s hope for you is that you find that activity that lifts you up both physically & cerebrally & that those positive “endorph whats” kick in big time just naturally & beautifully.

Smiles, Saundie :)

Happy Canada Day Canadian Friends & Happy 4th of July this Thursday to our American Friends & Happy Celebrations to all our friends around the World all summer long!  Next Monday's sharing is, "Pardon Me Miss or Mister:  There is an Elephant on the Table!"  :)