Truly Tender: Monkey-packing with my two-yr-old

I love the smile on my toddler's face when I get out the "monkey-pack."   What am I talking about? 
See my Fitness Blog to find out.

Be Inspired,

Family Friendly: Run in the Water

What memory did you create today?

Be Inspired,

Janelle Joy

Spiritual Gifts

The lessons today at both Sunday School and Relief Society, were about spiritual gifts and talents. The main lesson for me today was to think about the fact that gifts are given to everyone for the purpose of sharing with others and that means they only work in a community, not for just one person alone. We all need to have friends and be friends and then we all can take advantage of the help we each can receive from the use of each others' talents.

I think the reason that is the main part of the lessons that stood out to me is because of my personal experience of depression. I was badly depressed and withdrawn for about three years before I found out about my thyroid problem (Graves Disease) and was able to have treatment and become myself again. During that time it was hard to want to be around other people. I just wanted to be alone. But family encouraged me to still look for friends and force myself to do things with other people. Even the answer to my prayers kept being "find good friends." I am glad that I did.

I found a group of women who met to work out early in the morning. The workout helped me in working through the harder times with my thyroid levels, even after the problem was diagnosed, and gave me a chance to be with friends daily. They also were good listeners and didn't judge me when I was a little "off" and more withdrawn or emotional. I was also able to help care for their children on their turn to go exercise (we all took turns with the kids) and also to listen and be a support for them through their challenges. I know that being with others gave me a chance to benefit from the spiritual gifts of others and to be able to contribute mine as well.

Sunday School Member Study Guide and related scriptures
Parable of the Talents: Matthew 25:14-30

Great "Total Body Workout"

I have a thyroid condition which lends me to easy hormone shifts and mood highs and lows. So now I have finally become fairly stable and functional as long as I don't skip my exercise time. That used to be a goal and sometimes only a dream but is now a necessity.

My favorite workout is "Total Body Workout" aired on BYU Television and KBYUTV http://www.byub.org/totalbodyWorkout/episodes.asp. It can be watched at anytime online (and your choice of the episode of today or from the past six weeks) or at scheduled time on those two TV channels. It is an hour long so sometimes on my more "off" days I can only do half of it but it is still a good workout then too.

The main reason it is my favorite is because it automatically sets up a complete physical fitness program for me including stretching, strength training and aerobics because the episodes are arranged each day to rotate between those focuses for a well rounded routine. If I simply do the program that is on each day, I automatically have worked out all those areas of my body. It is a fun surprise to find out what the focus will be each day. Some other reasons I like it are
1) The music and the dress don't make me uncomfortable or distracted as I workout.
2) The teacher explains things simply and I feel like I am learning new things.
3) They do a lot of yoga which I really love.
4) There are several ages and conditions represented for each workout: older, middle and younger; advanced and beginner; flexible or not; pregnant; both men and women.
5) The equipment can be as simple as I want (for example they use disks sometimes and I don't have them so they recommend a paper plate or I have even used a plain sheet of paper to slide my feet on. . . it is a lot of fun) and they always have someone representing those who don't have the equipment.