Texas girl in the middle of Kiwiana

Amy Boatman

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Getting Up Off My Ass

I usually prefer to sit. I like to sit and watch TV, sit and read, sit and play on my computer, sit and play computer games. Sitting is my preferred position. This is followed a close second to laying down. Upright and mobile are not in my favourite categories. I also don't much care to leave the house. I have everything I need right here. Why go anywhere else?

Well, for only one of many reasons, staying at home too long makes me a bit squirrely. My mental health is much better served by my getting out and going somewhere, anywhere. Today, I actually wanted to! 

Shan has been off work on vacation for the holidays and has stayed home with me for most of them. She's a bit stir crazy too. Today we went to Waiatarua Reserve. It's quite a nice park. It was once a lake but was drained leaving behind wetlands which have an active pukeko population. I didn't see any babies today but maybe next time. 

I tried to bag a couple of geocaches but between my sling, my inaccurate gps, and Shan's impatience when I don't find it right away I was not successful. We decided to come back another day when she would walk on her own and I could geocache to my heart's content. 

My goal is to journal about a positive experience every day and today it was seeing this lovely park and spending time with my wife.

How to Be More Positive

Something passed across my consciousness on Facebook the other day about how to bring more positive energy into your life. I feel like I've had far more negativity in my internal mental space than positive so I thought "Why not give it a try?" It consists of doing five things every day.

1. Perform one random act of kindness everyday.

2. Be grateful for at least three things.

3. Meditate for at least three minutes.

4. Exercise for at least 15 minutes.

5. Journal about one positive experience from the previous 24 hours.

Today, I decided to begin this journey. I posted on Facebook about three things for which I'm grateful. They are a wonderful wife who made my favourite dinner, two lovely kitty souls who adore us, a family that I love but don't get to see as much as I'd like. Shannon and I went for a walk in Waiatarua Reserve for over an hour. I tried to bag a couple of geocaches but I just couldn't find them. I found a cool app for my phone called Calm that gives you a guided meditation every day. I did that for three minutes. I'm going to journal about something positive as soon as I get done with this. That just leaves a random act of kindness. I'm kinda stumped on that one. I'll have to think about what I can do in the next two hours before the day is over.