Sneak Attack--Monthly Goals

Photo: byron chin

So, we're a month away from that most amusing time of year, New Years Resolution Season!

Hope springs eternal, eh?

I know not everyone is a fan of the annual Resolution Ritual.  Each year, millions of earnest folks set lofty goals and then, for the most part, totally blow 'em off a few weeks or days or even hours later.

Getting healthier and/or more productive generally involves willpower, self-discipline, and deprivation--and dressing it up in a party hat, alas, doesn't make it suck any less.

Portion control? Nooooooo!!!

photo: tambako

But, if you, like me, can't help but join in the annual Failure Festivities... what if we give ourselves a fighting chance this year?

Here's my sneaky plan, if anyone else wants to play along.

Brainwave Biofeedback at Home? ReLax, it's Cheap and Cool!

photo: glogger

So this is a review of the ReLax Kit by OP Innovations, which (fear not), looks nothing like the photo above. It's quite a bit less scary.

The ReLax Kit costs less than $50, and promises to monitor your brainwaves, posture, and muscle tension using advanced bio-signal tracking.

It comes with a smallish TrueSense biosensor you wear on your forehead, no gel or anything required.  And it has a little controller thing that flashes colored lights based on how stressed you are.

Or, if you want to get fancier, the controller plugs into a PC to show you your actual brainwaves and muscle tension in real time on your screen.

Pretty amazing for less than $50, right?

I've actually checked out brainwave biofeedback before, because I've always been kind of a nutball curious, but home kits are insanely expensive and look terribly cumbersome and complicated to use.  So, when I got an offer to get the ReLax Science Kit for free to review, I was psyched!

Wanna hear how it went?

Change Your Life in 10 Minutes

Are there things in your life that could stand improvement but you just don't seem to be getting around to them?

Whether it's one room of your house or your whole life that's a mess, you may have noticed that logic and emotions sometimes disagree on the best approach.

Logic:  "Just get off your ass and DEAL WITH IT and you will feel so much better!"

Emotion: "You're right, logic, that's exactly what I should do! But f--k off willya, I just don't want to!"

There is a a simple trick, that you already know, that is incredibly helpful in fixing this problem.

However... there are tricks to the trick! Which is probably why you are not using it nearly as often as you should.

Note: this post is mainly a reminder to myself, because I forget all the time. Or I remember in some areas of life and blow it off in others.  But feel free to eavesdrop if you could use reminding as well.

The simple trick:  Set aside TEN MINUTES to deal with an unwanted task or activity even if ten minutes isn't enough time to do anything remotely useful. Getting started is 98% of the battle.

The Tricks to the Trick:

Have Phone, Will Travel

Happy Veterans' Day! We are all totally grateful and everything to any of you out there who have served, even though this post is not really about that.

Instead it's time for one of those "I've been on the road" camera-phone dumps, yay! (With perhaps a token nod towards health and fitness along the way).

But how about I skip the usual apology paragraph? We've already established I'm an unskilled photographer using sub-par equipment and this is just a meandering blog, not a slick fitness magazine.  Let's pretend it's all on purpose and it's "gritty" or "authentic" or something. Like back when they first started using weird angles and shaky handheld cameras in art films. The fact you couldn't make out what was happening very well was part of the atmosphere, right?

And speaking of gratuitous weird angles...  how about an awkward segue to the first part of our journey?

Comfort Zones, November Goals, and "My Yoga Online" Review

(Logo by Crispin Lefay)

We all know, because it's gospel in the self improvement world, that we're supposed to keep pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones as often as we possibly can.  Right?

Well, I have some thoughts about that. Shocking thoughts! Be forewarned.

Plus we've got a review of the My Yoga Online subscription I've been enjoying, and a giveaway winner to announce from last month.  And I can't wait to read what everyone is up to as the holiday season looms menacingly approaches!