I used to say, “I’m NOT a runner.” So I never ran. Or if I did, it wasn’t without complaint. Just thinking about running made my knees hurt. Two years ago I HAD to run. Well, I didn’t have to but I wanted my first degree black belt more than I hated running. I trained and trained. I practiced running. The more I practiced, the better I got. The more I trained, the less it actually hurt. After I received my black belt, I stopped running.

Well…here I am, two years later and in 6 months I’ll be testing for my 2nd degree black belt and yes, running is still part of the test. I decided to change my mindset and my attitude. I am a runner.

As part of my 2nd 90 Day Body By Vi Challenge, I am running in at least one 5k race every month until I test for my 2nd degree black belt. Never one to do something half way, I ran in two 5k races last weekend. Only 16 hours separated the two races. I don’t have pictures from my first race, but here I am after finishing race number two. (And did I mention that my husband raced with me? Love that man ♥)

Peggy, her husband Rick, and friend Jaime after finishing the Stonyfield 5k Earth Day Race (Photo by Jaime Parker)

My next road race is the Mother’s Day 3k in Manchester. Not a 5k, but I’ll make up for it in June when my husband and I run the Rib Fest 5 Miler!

1. I’m afraid of being hungry. Is the shake filling? Ask Renia Radziszewski – that was my biggest fear when I started! Renia suggested that if I was afraid of being hungry to add an extra scoop of shake mix. I did that once. The shakes ARE filling because of the Visalus proprietary blend that includes the Tri-shape protein blend, Aminogen, and Fibersol.

2. I don’t want to be drinking shakes for every meal. Do you eat real food? I’ll be the first to tell you that I LOVE food and I enjoy eating it. Yes, I eat real food! Yesterday  I had a strawberry – banana cheesecake shake for breakfast, trout and grilled veggies for lunch, and a BLT for dinner. A few times a week, especially after kickboxing, I’ll have a shake for dinner. It’s immediate absorb-able nutrition for muscles after a workout.

3. What about the soy – aren’t you worried about that? ViSalus uses the highest quality non GMO (not genetically engineered) soy protein *without* the isoflavones. For my friends who are concerned about soy as a phytoestrogen, the isoflavones have been removed, thereby removing the phytoestrogenic effect. As a breast cancer survivor who had an estrogen positive cancer, this was a concern of mine. I did my own research. If you are a breast cancer survivor, I suggest, before starting the challenge, that you bring the nutrition facts to your doctor if you have any concerns. I also think it’s important to do your homework and make the choices and decisions that are right for you. Most studies indicate that there’s not enough evidence to convict soy isoflavones (in any case, the soy protein that ViSalus uses does not contain the isoflavones).

Check out the fact sheet Vi Shape Fact Sheet

4. Is it expensive? Our challenge kits range from $49 to $299. And when you refer 3 you get yours free. I’ve been getting my challenge kit for free since February. I just pay shipping ($10). Free is pretty affordable to me.

5. Does it work? I lost 12 lbs and 18 inches in my first 90 Day Challenge. My brother Michael Bell has lost nearly 40 lbs in less than 2 months. One new challenger emailed me to tell me she lost 3 1/2 lbs in her first week! Honestly, I wouldn’t be sharing this with anyone if it didn’t work. I wouldn’t be sharing this with you if I didn’t believe in the product or the company. And quite frankly, if there was anything remotely in question I would not be using this myself (remember, I’m a breast cancer survivor) nor would I have recommended it to my brother who is a Type 2 Diabetic.

If you have any questions, please ask! I’d be happy to help you get started!

Here’s to your health!

Love,

Peggy

When I began reading the book what immediately caught my attention was the term “fog of distress” – this aptly describes how a vast number of people I personally know operate their day-to-day life. They are ruled by some past traumatic event or a series of events that lead them down the slippery slope of what the authors call “7 limiting beliefs.”

• I am not safe
• I am worthless
• I am powerless
• I am not love able
• I cannot trust anyone
• I am bad
• I am alone

If left unchecked, these limiting beliefs can run amok and wreck havoc on our lives! Ah – but the authors have “discovered” a way to turn these limiting beliefs around for good.

Ready for some answers?

In chapter 3, the authors discuss the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is like a vast computer that handles thousands of processes that our conscious mind is completely unaware of. At the same time, our conscious mind programs our subconscious mind not by just the thoughts we think but the emotional attachment and belief we have to our thoughts. Our subconscious has no choice but to accept our input and act upon our input.

Think of it this way: our conscious mind can process 20-40 neuron firings per second while our subconscious is processing 20-40 MILLION firings per second. Holy fashizzle! Our subconscious mind is a power house of activity yet it operates beneath the surface of our mind.

In Chapter 4, the authors talk about our bio-field. Again, nothing earth shattering or new here, but I’m so glad our energy field has a chapter! Think of Chinese acupuncture, the 7 energy centers or Chakras in our bodies, and if you’ve been watching The Universe on the Science Channel, you’ll know that our bodies are an electromagnetic field. And yes, we can have shifts in polarity that affect our moods.

(As a certified yoga teacher, there are asana’s (postures) and pranyama (breath) techniques that help balance our energy centers)

I appreciate that the authors point out alternate nostril breathing as one technique to bring one’s polarity back into balance!

In Chapter 5, the authors help you turn around your seven limiting beliefs with empowering beliefs and self-acceptance.

The authors also facilitate how to anchor these new empowering beliefs. As I’m so fondly known for stating, “habits we train are habits we gain.” The new empowering beliefs are your new thought habits which will help you “put the past in perspective, get grounded in the now, and gain a clearer picture” of the road ahead.

Are you ready to create your own Code of Joy?

Thoughts of lack, scarcity, fear, doubt, & negativity breed actions and circumstances that are less than desirable. Thoughts of love abundance, joy, prosperity, success, bring about actions and circumstances that are loving, happy, successful, and abundant.

Which do you chose?
]]> http://serendipitysmiles.com/2012/04/09/where-thought-goes/feed/ 4 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 Peggy Nolan http://serendipitysmiles.com/2012/04/02/the-results-are-in/ http://serendipitysmiles.com/2012/04/02/the-results-are-in/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:29:32 +0000 Peggy Nolan http://serendipitysmiles.com/?p=3099 Continue reading →]]> 90 days ago I had nothing to lose but weight, body fat, and inches around my waist. I’m 48 years old and gosh darn it, but my energy came to a screeching halt. No matter what I did, the pounds wouldn’t budge. Well, they did, just in the wrong direction. For someone who is as active as I am, it was discouraging. I’m a yoga teacher and a black belt in Thai Kickboxing for pete’s sake!

60 Day Results

90 Day Results

Today marks the end of my first 90 Day Body By Vi Challenge and the beginning of my 2nd 90 Day Challenge. I want to lose 12 more pounds and 9 more inches (6 off my waist and 3 off my hips.) I’m also challenging myself to run in at least one 5k road race a month until I test for my 2nd degree black belt later this year.

If you have already found a weight management program that works for you – awesome! But if you’re like me and no matter what you tried, nothing seemed to work, give the 90 Day Body By Vi Challenge a shot. There’s a kit for every budget and goal. And for those of you who are looking for something even more affordable, how does FREE sound? I’ve been getting my kit for free since February (and I started in January!) ViSalus has an amazing program called Refer 3 and Get Yours Free. Free is Affordable – yes?

If you want to check out the nutritional information, click HERE. Vi-Shape is gluten free, lactose free, diabetic friendly, kid friendly (the nutrition is fabulous!) husband friendly, best friend friendly, and crazy lady down the street friendly. I personally have never had results from anything as great as this.

And for those of you who could use an extra $300-$500 a month (or more) the business opportunity is amazing. I get paid weekly and monthly PLUS I get my Challenge Kit for free (and I get paid on that, too!) What’s not to love about this?

If you would like more information, please sign my guest book and I will contact you. You can also connect with me on Facebook HERE and HERE

Here’s to YOUR health!

PS: My brother Michael has been on the Challenge for 3 weeks and has already lost 30 lbs. As a Type 2 Diabetic, he knows he has to lose the weight. I can’t wait to be sharing his results soon! (And he’s started Thai Kickboxing! His commitment to transforming his health is so inspiring!)

“What do I need to do?”

“Ah Young Jedi, you only need to be you. Nothing more, nothing less. You are masterfully and powerfully made.”

“What do I need to know?”

“Ah Young Jedi, everything you need to know is within. You were born with all the answers but you have simply forgotten. Be silent. Listen.

“What do I need to accept?”

“Ah Young Jedi, accept the wholesome what is so and allow your imagination the freedom to create your future is.”

“What do I need to try?” I swear I heard my Yoda self laugh.

“Young Jedi (how many times do I have to tell you?) Just DO. There is no try in do. Do or do not. The choice is always yours to make. Grass does not try to grow. Flowers do not try to bloom. Rivers do not try to flow. Dogs do not try to bark. Capeche? (I think My Yoda Self channeled the Godfather for a second…)

What does your Yoda say to you?

Sunrise at Kripalu, March 10, 2012 ~ copyright Peggy Nolan 2012

Be Still
Be Silent
Listen

What do you hear?
The wind?
or the whispers
of your soul?

Be Still
Be Silent
Listen

Peggy's 60 Day Results

If you’d like to learn more or join the Challenge, please visit my website, http://pegnolan.myvi.net.

I don’t know why I decided to decorate the living room. May I needed to add to the room as I was losing my hair. Maybe I was tired of looking at bare walls and naked windows. Maybe I needed something to take my mind off cancer and chemo. Maybe I needed to show myself and my girls that this is what living people do.

My sister, Rebecca, has a gift for interior design and she can sew. Both talents skipped me. Rebecca was only too happy to help and take charge. In the face of my battle with breast cancer, it gave her something to do. She didn’t like feeling helpless and that’s what watching me grapple with bi-weekly chemotherapy treatments did to most of my family. They could each take turns driving me to Dana Farber and sitting with me while I was poisoned with toxic drugs like Cytoxin and Taxol but nobody could take my infusions for me.

Rebecca and I met when our parents got married. I was nine and she was eleven. She came with mom and I came with dad. I remember the day we met. Dad had just moved me and my three brothers from our house on Cedar Hill Drive to the new multi-level house on Carmel Court. My new mom had already moved in with my two step-sisters and youngest step-brother. As I rode my bike around the cul-de-sac with my new best friend, Mary Howard, I saw a girl with long blonde hair holding my baby step-brother, Kenny, in her arms. I skidded to a stop in front of her.

“Hi!” my nine year old self said. “You must be Rebecca.” I waited for her to say ‘hi’ back. Instead, she pursed her lips together, which made her look like she had a beak, flipped her head back, turned, and walked away. Her blonde hair swished back and forth as she huffed her way inside the new house. We didn’t get off to a good start and growing up we didn’t like each other too much. Mostly, I stayed out of her way and mostly, she ignored me. It wasn’t easy growing up blended.

As adults we carved out a friendship. At some point in our late 30’s we became the sisters we never were as kids. Maybe it was the night in October she slept over at my new house. She had just found out her husband cheated on her and she was really (and I mean really) angry. When she arrived, I handed her a vodka cocktail and a carving knife. Three pumpkins awaited her slaughter.

_____

With cancer, it was my own body that was cheating on me – or at the very least, my cells were in full rebellion. Rebecca couldn’t hand me a vodka cocktail and a carving knife but she could bring me samples of paint and fabric swatches.

I didn’t agonize over my choice of colors or fabrics. Without knowing cost, I picked the most expensive paint. A Ralph Lauren brand, sage green, texturized with sand. The sand gave the paint dimension. Dimension made my living room vibrate with a welcomed aliveness.

Not one to stop at the most expensive paint ($35 a gallon!) I selected the most expensive silk fabric for my curtains, valances, and throw pillows. My choices made Rebecca happy. Not because they cost the most but because my selections were her favorites. After she packed the samples away, she gave me a hug and whispered, “you can tell we were raised by the same woman. We both have her taste for finer things.”

My mom lived 3,000 miles away. After she and dad divorced in 1990 she lived in England for awhile. That’s where she met her fourth husband. By the time I was diagnosed with breast cancer, mom had been living in her home state of Washington and was married to husband number five.

The woman I call my mom didn’t give birth to me. My father gifted her with me and my three brothers when he married her. I suddenly, in one fell swoop, went from being the oldest and only girl to being number 3 of 7. I now had two older sisters and another baby brother. As far as I’m concerned, my bio-illogical mother, Suzanne, gave up the honor of being called mom or mother the first time she beat on me. I distinctly remember three beatings (not spankings, beatings) and that’s three too many.

I often tell people that Suzanne is like a box of cereal: a fruit, a nut, and a flake. Dad divorced her in 1970 and by the grace of God was awarded full physical and legal custody of four children between the ages of 1 1/2 and 8 years. The State of California declared Suzanne unfit to raise rocks let alone children. I never saw Suzanne again (at least not until I chose to contact her when I was 28.) When dad remarried a month before I turned 9, I glommed onto my new mom. When I was 12, she adopted me and my three brothers and somewhere along the line, I adopted her taste in finer things.

___

The weekend after my fifth chemo treatment, Rebecca and her crew of helpers showed up to transform my living room. My brother-in-law, Brian, was in charge of installing new hardware for curtains and all things electrical. He was also responsible for moving heavy things. My daughter, Christina, and her friend, Molly, were in charge of taping and painting trim. My stepmom, Sharon (dad’s 4th wife), was in charge of her paintbrush and acting as Rebecca’s gopher. Me? I was in charge of laying down on the couch and watching my living room go from blah to WOW.

The weekends after a chemo treatment were the worst. I had what is known as dose dense therapy – chemo every two weeks rather than three. I needed eight treatments so the upside was that I’d suffer this for sixteen weeks rather than twenty-four. On the downside I felt like shit most of the time.

Chemo made me feel queasy. Zofram kept nausea at bay but I always felt green around the gills. The Neulasta shot 24 hours after chemo was the worst. The drug triggered my stems cells to become white blood cells and these cells would congregate in my joints. No one warned me how painful this would be and there wasn’t a lot I could do for the pain. Except take Decadron, a steroidal wonder drug. At least it kept me from feeling like I was dying and it made me crave bread. I blamed Decadron for my 15 pound weight gain durning chemo. So much for my cancer weight loss plan.

___

I couldn’t wait to see what the very expensive Ralph Lauren paint would look like on my walls.

“Ready, Peg?” my sister began rolling out the paint.

“Ready,” I replied. But no sooner had I said that when the smell of paint assaulted my queasy pain riddled body. I bolted from the couch, through the kitchen, and outside to my screened in porch (minus the comfortable deck furniture because I sold it when I moved.) I sat on one of two cheap plastic chairs and gulped in air. Rebecca ran out after me.

“You ok?”

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”  Here hands were on my shoulders. Her blue eyes bored into mine.

“The smell,” I began.

“Ah! The paint.”

“Awful.”

“At least you’re not painting.”  Rebecca was satisfied that I was ok. I stayed outside while she and my daughter and our stepmom spent the afternoon making my living room worthy of living in.

I’m reading “Under The Tuscan Sun” (again) by Frances Mayes. I love the way she writes and when I need a trip back to Tuscany, next to plane tickets, she’s my first choice. But these words, “by remembering rooms in houses we’ve lived in, we learn to abide (nice word) within ourselves,” triggered something in me. I knew I had to start writing about my house, this house I bought in 2003, which was supposed to be temporary. But here I am…still living in it, abiding in it.

Because my book (or whatever it is) is turning out to be a collection of essays that reflect on divorce, post divorce life, finding love again, and blending two families, I thought a series of essays on my house, this place where I have finally found my center, is only too appropriate (thanks to Frances Mayes) This is the first one.

****

Wherever I Go, There I Am, Part One (Or Scenes From a Life)

As I unpacked my kitchen, I thought I’d be relieved. I thought I’d feel happy. I thought the weight of all that had happened in the house before this house would evaporate as soon as I moved. I thought moving one town over and six miles down the road would make the hurt go away. I thought if I got rid of most everything we shared I could purge the last two years, the worst two years of our marriage, from my life. Instead, as I unwrapped my dinner plates and soup bowls, tears fell down my face. I might as well have been unpacking the heart break, the anger, and the bitterness of my divorce.

There’s this saying, “wherever you go, there you are.” I don’t know who said it. It sounds like something Winnie-the-Pooh would say to Piglet as they walked through the Hundred Acre Wood. But there I was, in a new house. A new house that I desperately was hoping would be my etch-a-sketch. I could simply shake it up and down, erase the past, and start with a clean slate.

But there was no clean slate. I packed up the toxic emotions, the bitterness from being cheated on, the out of breath feeling of watching my ex-husband walk out on me and our daughters along with the pots and pans.

Wherever I went, there I was. I couldn’t escape from myself.

Before I moved, I decided to sell or giveaway almost everything. I gave 300 science fiction and fantasy books to my brother, Michael. I gave a TV, VCR, and all my Disney movies on tape to my brother, Chris. I gave my bedroom furniture to my cousin’s son, Nate. He drove 175 miles from Burlington, VT to Hampstead, NH just to pick up stuff that I would have rather torched, demolished, and made splinters out of.

What I didn’t give away (or break), I sold. I sold my two over-sized faux leather reading chairs to my ex-husband. One hundred dollars, thank you very much. I sold my deck furniture to strangers. Even now, ten years later, I wish I would have kept the deck furniture. It held no tortured mangled memories. I sold off the knick knacks, junk from the garage, and other reminders of my marriage that crashed and burned beyond any salvation.

I only kept the things I didn’t attach my ex-husband to. The hutch I had made. The south western hand made bench I picked up in Albuquerque. The Polish pottery, (which is still my everyday plates, bowls, and mugs) I bought when I lived in Germany and traveled to Poland. I planned to keep my kitchen table, but it broke during the move. I kept a futton for my living room, but once my new furniture arrived, I gave it to my youngest step-brother so he could finish decking out his new attic pad.

The leather couch I loved was too big for my living room. My ex offered to take it so I gave it to him. When he loaded it into the back of his Chevy Blazer, his back windshield shattered. I made zero on the transaction but the $500 it cost it him to replace the windshield was priceless.

I resisted making my new house a home. I resisted making it permanent. I convinced myself it was a temporary resting place until my youngest daughter, Christina, graduated from high school. We moved in when she was a sophomore. I only needed to stick it out for three years.

My oldest daughter, Jessica, is an old soul. Either that or she’s just tapped into intuitive energy. No matter how much I tried to hide my heart, my unhappiness, or my resistance to establish roots, she dimed me out. “Mum,” she said, “this isn’t temporary. We live here. At least hang some pictures.”

So I did. And I bought new furniture – a kitchen table, a new bedroom set (French provincial, something the ex never in a million years would have allowed), new bookshelves, area rugs, and new pretty things.

Three months after my daughters and I moved into the three bedroom, two bath, 1,638 square foot cape style house, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Wherever I go, there I am. What else in God’s name was I supposed to learn?