It's that time already

Happy holidays to all!

Time flies. It's that time of year already to do a yearly review.

We continued to walk daily when weather permits, and we added a few kilometers a day from 8 to 12.

Richard continued to play pool every day and started rope skipping. He continued to lose weight. Now he weighs around 160 lbs. This is the weight he will maintain. We measured his height and turned out that he was 6'. At the above weight his BMI would be 21.7.

I added some stretching exercise, and 15 to 20 minutes meditation in the last three months of the year when walking became difficult due to the weather. I continued not smoking.

We continued to eat healthy, which to me is home prepared meal with plenty of vegetables and fruits. Our protein source is mostly from fish. Towards the end of the year, we added some tofu and a little bit of pork. Our carb. comes from pumpernickle bread, plantain and rice. Fat source is from cheese, avocado and walnut for Richard, and avocado and walnut for me. Of course, all nutrients overlap somewhat. there is fat in tofu and protein in cheese and walnut.

We cut off refined sugar in every format, except one chocolate cake (1kg) every two months on average.

We stopped drinking fruit juices all together after reading how fruit juices are processed (Orange juice: basic beverage isn't that simple).

Are we caloric restricted? Not by very much, anywhere between 0 to 20%. However, I have achieved my goal when BMI is concerned, which is at 18.8.

At the beginning of the year, we wanted to put in some house plants into the apartment. We started with 3 Mother in law's tongue (which survived three months without any care). Now we have 13. The ones we added include:

1 English ivy
6 Money Plants
1 peace lily
1 Christmas cactus
1 Madagascar jasmine

Out of all these, the Madagascar Jasmine was the most expensive and probably hardest to care for.

Richard continued his bible study.

I read and studied health and longevity related articles and becoming increasingly convinced that living till or beyond 100 is very achievable.

We started to host our own blog, which you can find at www.instead-of-wishing.com.

On the living space, we started the year by finishing Sanya home and just continued on. We started purely to beautify our living environment. However, this year seemed to have more weather related disasters on buildings than ever. We were one of its victims. So we fixed whatever damages done to us and tried our best to stay one step ahead; do what we could in order to prevent future disasters.

It's that time already

Happy holidays to all!

It is this time of the year when every one reflects what one has done for the year.

We replaced the last segment of the cast iron pipe in our building, in doing so Richard broke his leg, which turned out to be good luck after all. While learning how to walk again, we discovered the pleasure of walking. We now walk 8 kilometers a day along the St. Lawrence River every evening when weather permits; 3 kilometers in bad weather. Next year we will continue to do the 8 km walk in the evening and would like to add a 3 km walk in the morning.

I started blogging as a way of observing my own thoughts. In the process, we have set our course for the next 40 years for Richard and next 56 years for me. We are also implementing steps towards Epicurean way of simple life or Jerome K. Jerome’s simple pleasures. I will continue to blog next year first as a tool to find out what I think and then to monitor my thinking.

Richard is playing pool every day as a physical and mental discipline. He will continue to do so next year.

Richard has also joined the gym and lost 15 to 20 pounds in the course of three months. He will continue to go to the gym next year and will exercise in a way to maintain his current weight, which is 180 lbs for 6’2” height.

We have cut out sugar in our coffee. Richard has also cut out coffee for a couple of months, but we have decided that drinking 2 to 3 cups of black coffee a day are more helpful than harmful.

We always eat a lot of vegetables. This year, we have consumed more fruits than ever. We practically have an apple a day, but have also eaten tons of grapes, raspberry, blueberry, etc.

Meditation continued to be difficult for me. I tried and failed to form a habit to meditate daily. I will try again next year. Richard reads his Daily Bread (a Christian program) and following its program to read the bible cover to cover in a year.

I quit smoking since August 17 and will evaluate its merit next year. Side effects of quitting smoking includes weight gain of 12 lbs (12.5% weight gain), which helps my appearance; but hinders my agility.

We did some Lian Gong in 18 forms (type of exercise to combat modern forms of stress caused by bad posture, structure and balance) and will try to form a habit next year.

Richard kayaked several times in the summer with a friend and will do more next year.

Self Discipline – the 2nd most important aspect of success

In my last blog “Is it harder to attain success than to maintain it?”, we have established that it is equally hard to maintain success as to attain it. There is no standing still. Success is a continuous journey, as Einstein said it: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
We have also pointed out that the most important aspect of success is to continuously set and re-set goals. However, setting these goals was not enough. We have to work on them.

Therefore we bring about the 2nd most important aspect of success, self discipline or the ability to delay gratification. Unfortunately, it seems that only one third of pre-school children have been taught this skill as illustrated by the video of Joachim de Posada from TED talks “Don't eat the marshmallow yet”.

How do we achieve self discipline?

There are many different ways to help us to achieve self discipline. One way of achieving self discipline is to intelligently cultivate our mind so that only intended actions will spring forth.

Then, we have to remind ourselves our goals constantly. On our way to our destination, there are many distractions we encounter. We must constantly remind ourselves where we are going in order not to get lost. The first emperor of China had himself reminded every day that his destiny was to unite China. So he was able to do unpleasant tasks that were needed to achieve his destiny.

Right now, my focus is health. So I have my Daily Reminder, which is to deal with stress. Then I have a list of daily routines that I tick off after I accomplish each one.

Hope you enjoy reading this article.

The Science of Getting Rich

I would like to remind myself of this book "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattles. The following is the summary:

There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which in its original state permeates, penetrates and fills the inter-space of the universe.

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

A person can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon the formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.

In order to do this, a person must pass from the competitive to the creative mind, otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the formless substance, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit.

A person may come into full harmony with the formless substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of individual with the intelligence of substance so that the person’s thoughts are received by the formless.

A person can remain upon the creative plain only by uniting himself with the formless intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.

A person must form a clear and definite mental image of things he wishes to have, to do or to become, and he must hold his metal image in his thought while being deeply grateful to the supreme that all his desires are granted to him. A person who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his vision and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him.

Too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude. This is the process by which the thought is given to the formless and creative forces set in motion.

The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his metal image will surely be brought to the person who follows the instructions given above and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.

In order to receive his own when it is ready to come to him, a person must be in action in a way that causes him to more than fill his present place. He must keep in mind the purpose to get rich through realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every person a use value that is in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life, and he must hold the advancing thought so that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes into contact.

The men and women who practice the forgoing instructions will certainly get rich, and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.


C-Cassia

My daily routine

St Lawrence River

My daily routine:

- Get up at 7:30 a.m.
- Have Aloe Vera jell, rolled oats, raw almonds & Vitamin B for breakfast.
- Go for a walk along the river for an hour or so.
- Open the store at 10:00 a.m.
- Sit in front a mirror and cite my Daily Reminder.
- Take a nap till 12:30 p.m.
- Have lunch (cold meal: salad, cheese/ smoked salmon, bread or soup)
- Mind the store while Richard plays his pool (100 balls).
- Richard takes a nap.
- Have supper at 6:00 p.m. (a hot meal with seafood/fish and vegetables)
- Drink a coffee without sugar (Richard is one step ahead of me, he drinks his coffee black)
- Go for a walk along the river for 2 hours.
- Take a shower.
- Sit around in the garden for an hour or so.
- Go to bed at 12:00 a.m.

I consider not working for other people a form of freedom and privilege. In order to keep my status of having the freedom and privilege, I realize that I have to keep a rigid schedule.

It sounds contradictory that you must discipline yourself in order to have freedom. I always thought that freedom is the ability to act according to one’s own will, which in my younger years was interpreted as to do whatever I liked. I definitely do not like to get up early in the morning. If it is left entirely up to “me”, I like to sleep in till noon and stay up all night until 3:00 a.m. At one time of my life, I literally reversed night with day. I stayed up all night till 7:00 a.m. and slept all day till 4:00 p.m., and realized that nothing good came out of it. Both my mental and physical health deteriorated.

As I grew older, I slowly discovered that there are a few parts of “me” and they do not always think in sync. One part of me would like to stay healthy for sure. The easiest way to stay healthy is to form healthy habits. Habits are formed by repeating a routine day after day.

Hence, the daily routine has started.

Sooner or Later

Richard Mark Didsbury & Ping Chen

I know that my husband and I are in the minority, which is that we do not depend on somebody offering us a job to live. And saying it out loud in this environment when unemployment is high and people are losing money will sound insensitive. Still, it is something everybody has to learn how to do it sooner or later. Most people retire at around age 65. In addition, this blog is to help organize and cultivate my own thoughts.

Even though we do not work for any one else, we do not like to label ourselves retired, not because we are not at the age of retirement. I believe that the concept of retirement can get one in trouble. Retirement means that you no longer work. In my mind, if your whole or partial income derives from savings invested, you still work. You have to work on your money, which involves thinking about, checking on and changing your investment strategy. A lot of people get into trouble, when they let go control of how their retirement savings are invested.

I am not defending criminals who commit fraud and I do sympathize with people who have lost money in this manner. On the other hand, if you have ever hired anybody and the person stole from you, do you ask yourself whether you have made a bad judgment or somehow your system has aided this type of behavior? When it comes to your money, you should ask the same thing.

We know we are on our own; we do not depend on, nor do we wish to be employed for our living. We live on a pool of income – apartment rentals, sales of my artisan beaded jewelry (c-cassia) and dividend from stock equity. We are constantly working on every single source of income. We do not do a perfect job, but all the mistakes are our own. We learn from and improve upon our mistakes. To achieve maximal freedom is to put all the responsibility on our own shoulders, therefore, is to live a self-disciplined life.