30-Day Balance Experiment 2010 Day 11

Just returned from Gloucester, Virginia (east of Williamsburg) visiting my mentor, the grande dame of White Marsh plantation. (In Virginia, one does not capitalize the ‘p'.) My dear friend Gail met me there as she has for 15 years. I've been going to this extraordinary part of the world for 43 years. This time we stayed at the fabulous Inn at Warner Hall that used to be the home of another grande dame we used to call on. Warner Hall's innkeepers, Theresa and Troy Stavens, are terrific and now new friends. I am grateful to them for carrying on the grand traditions of Tidewater Virginia.

My mentor has shaped me almost as much as my mother and father. I love Connie because of her spirit, style, and values. My novel, Vermeer's Lady in Waiting, (still in the production stage) has a character based on Connie and a plantation that bears an uncanny resemblance to White Marsh.

Need I say that having spent 5 days celebrating with Connie and Gail I wouldn't think of getting on the scales yet? But while away I didn't go nuts eating and drinking. I did my fair share but I didn't notice compulsive consuming although I am very sad that my mentor is not in good health. So one tiny gold star for my behavior modification. I have walked 2 miles since my return and will start ramping that up. I hope you have given yourself some gold stars since we started our Balance Experiment.

Back to our 4-part program:

SPIRITUAL thought/action: "When we are bowled over by grief and our response is to eat a pizza [or a box of chocolates or drink a bottle of wine], we halt our ability to move through the grief as well as our confidence that it won't destroy us. If you don't allow a feeling to begin, you also don't let it end." Geneen Roth, Women Food and God.

PHYSICAL thought/action: I still have a book (published in 1973 costing $1.50!) titled Cosmopolitan's Super Diets and Exercise Guide. Its pages are yellow with age (sort of like my skin). The advice-guess what?-is the same as all the other diet books published since. To lose weight we have to expend more calories than our bodies need so they draw from our stored fat. But, Cosmo's book says, quoting Dr. Atkins: "Dieting should always be associated with feelings of well-being" not deprivation.  Today I will focus on eating more proteins and less carbs. I will eat only until I am full. I will not overfill the tank!!! And I will get this bod moving!

MENTAL thought/action: "To do nothing is the most difficult thing in the world-the most difficult and the most intellectual." Oscar Wilde 

EMOTIONAL thought/action: "When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books are not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much." Fen-Yang  Today I practice the luxury of solitude.