How Do You Relate To Your Imagination? - #63

I was tickled to receive a second message from Scott Forrester,  author of The Aware Athlete. He seemed pleased that we are exploring the multiple ways to be in relationship with the environment. Because of my decades long focus on posture, I appreciated this sentence in his message: "We interact with the world around us through our carriage and movement in the field of gravity."

As we move to exploring the next chapter, please keep in mind Scott's thesis: Fitness is the ability to survive in whatever environment you find yourself.

Here's an insight from Chapter 2: "Our imagination is the most powerful, most basic, gentle, creative, and universal entry point into the process of fitness." 

I've got to tell you that I didn't expect that! The idea that you can use your imagination to start, shape, and nurture true fitness was a surprise.

My mother did not read fables or fairy tales to me. She chose stories that gave preference to what we could see. But, as I searched my memory about the role of imagination in my life, I suddenly remembered Mom describing my two imaginary playmates, Chi-chi and Moo-kah. She reported that she set the table for them!  

It feels as if I received mixed messages. I have been puzzled about the role of imagination in my life. I must have been in touch as a small girl, but what happened?  To discover that Scott suggests imagination as a gateway to fitness is intriguing. I can't wait to read more.

Tell me what your relationship is with imagination! How did your parents deal with imagination? How do you understand fitness enhanced by imagination? Do you use your imagination? Do you feel comfortable with it?  

CLUE: Pay attention to what you think or feel when someone uses their imagination to create something unique. Better yet, create something unique with your imagination! Then tell me about it or send us an image!  

The next post will be on December 21. I am off to test my fitness  in New Zealand, a totally new environment for me. I will be attending a shamanic retreat in the southern Alps led by John Broomfield, the husband of my dear friend Jo, who left us in 2014.  I am excited that I will be accompanied by Dr. Matthew Mendenhall who you see in the image below. Ryan, my tallest grandson also in image, will not be with us though he says he will cheer us on. I hope you will join him and send us good energy for this adventure!

I will be in email contact until late afternoon, Monday, December 3, then will be off the net until December 14th.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Do You Notice Your Environment? - #62

The ambiance, or to underscore the point of this post,  the environment of my inbox was enriched by a message from Scott Forrester, author of The Aware Athlete. 

Scott wrote that his entire book answers the question I posed last week: What is the difference between exercise and fitness?  

He then offered a definition: Fitness is when an organism is able to adapt to circumstances the environment presents. 

This reminded me how the instructors in the active adults exercise classes we attend, target exercises that mimic the physical demands we face in our everyday environment. One instructor labels these  functional exercises: Pulling across the body to mimic putting on seat belts. Bending down to rescue a dropped sock. Reaching for a vase on the top shelf.

When I'm not exercising, I am working on a memoir describing my experience as a patient in Freudian psychoanalysis. I discovered, while researching the history of analysis, that Freud believed what  psychoanalytic treatment offered was a healthy environment.   He believed that if a patient developed a dynamic relationship with an analyst, this would provide the type of healthy interactions they had missed. In other words, analysis wasn't a set of exotic maneuvers but merely supplied the appropriate environment.

The idea that fitness is related to the environment is an important point in the book. I was intrigued by an idea in Chapter 1 that suggested posture originates, and is conditioned by, our interaction with the environment. When others slouch, we slouch. 

CLUE: Pay attention to how the environment affects your day to day feelings. Which part of your environment is the most influential for you? Sun? Clouds? Cold? Heat? Light? Darkness? Stillness? Order? Mess? Let me know - I'm curious. I'm feeling affected by the sudden cold here in Iowa.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall


The image was received before the Guardian received her necklace.

Do you read newspapers or books? - #61

The daily newspaper becomes thinner every day. The quality of articles seems to be following suit. Today the breaking news on the Today section was: New exercise guidelines: Move more, Sit less.  Who doesn't know that? Rolling my eyes in disgust, I turned to the comics.

My extreme reaction to this article may be because, unconsciously of course, I'm worried that you will have a similar reaction to my next series of blog posts I'm thinking of basing on The Aware Athlete by Scott Forrester. I heard Scott interviewed several months ago and was so impressed I had to purchase his book. 

At this point that is all I have accomplished. But I want to remember why I got this far by actually opening the book and I decided that I would more likely follow through on reading it, since it isn't devoted to writing or psychoanalysis, the books I'm glued to these days, if I read parts for each week's post and then wrote a post because any help I can get to stay healthy, and I assume it's the same for you, is worth it.

So far I haven't made it past the Forward by Alimine Barton, a Certified Fitness Trainer who must also be a good writer because while I usually skip Forwards when they are not by the author, I read this in its entirety. 

One question I was left with, and the question I want to pass on to you, is this: How is fitness different from exercise?

Ms Barton answers in this way: Exercise maintains an organism. Fitness increases the potential of an organism, whether it be animal or human. She said that Forrester's book, the one I purchased and haven't read yet, answers this question and hopefully, I think, will explain her answer. 

In the meantime, I'm going to read more and see if I can figure it out. What is fitness? And I've emailed the author so I'm publishing this early just in case he goes to the website. If you have any ideas about how fitness is different from exercise or what it is, please let me know by replying to this email (it works!) or go to comment section on the exploring the mystery blog.

CLUE: When you stand up from reading this or the next time you think of it, take a deep breath and feel it all over your body. Now the  former MD in the house will say that isn't possible, that breath doesn't go all over your body, but try it anyway. 

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Do You Figure Things Out? - #60

You can learn all sorts of things if you listen to yourself. This can take the form of paying attention to what your thoughts are or what your body is trying to tell you.  I've found that working with a psychoanalyst helps me get past old habit patterns that insist there are no acceptable ways of being other than the ones I hold dear.


During our weekly sessions, I have discovered that my usual pattern for dealing with life is to try and figure things out in my mind. In the not too distant past, I felt proud that I had the ability to figure out what to do. I always considered this a positive trait. 

Come to find out - there is a problem with this "trying to figure out life in my mind" strategy.  The figuring out strategy is often related to determining who/what is right and who/what is wrong, With this type of question in my mind, I can go back and forth between two options seemingly forever. 

The better strategy that is suggested subtly by the analyst (that I am trying to learn) is, instead of figuring out with my mind, allow myself to experience what is going on. Let it unfold and see where it leads.  See how it feels in my body. Pay attention to all the options.

My friend Lisa teaches me how to do this. When we plan a lunch date, my preference is always to figure out where we are going to meet and at what time even though the meeting is weeks in advance. Lisa likes to wait and see what we feel like eating that day and what time works best and what our bodies want and need in that moment.

Letting go of my need to control things, which occurs to me is another way of saying figuring it out, makes my life a lot easier. 

I'm trying to think of another example of how I try and figure out things, but I can't seem to discern it now so will ask you. Do you try and control things by figuring them out? Do you have examples of when not figuring out makes things easier?

CLUE: Pick one day and pay attention to when you get hungry. Do you listen to what your body wants or do you go with what someone else wants? Let your body be in control - it's only for one day - of when and what you eat. See if this makes any difference in how you feel when you go to sleep that night. Let me know!

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Final Entry from Leaving A Trace - #59

The last idea we will explore from Leaving a Trace*, is the idea that vital to the process of writing memoir is the decision of what to leave out. Since I'm writing a memoir this caught my attention.

It occurred to me this also may be good advice for the rest of my life. What would enhance the quality of my life if it was not there?

Currently I'm trying to let go of clothes that no longer fit because I've gained weight. Even when they are way too tight when I try them on, I want to save them. I forget that someone else may need them.

In 2016 and 2017, I couldn't gain weight no matter how much I ate. Then I had the procedure (AKA operation) suggested for NPH (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus). After a few months, I started to gain weight. It felt so good to feel healthy again that I kept eating. Now I would like to lose ten or more pounds but only if I can do it and stay healthy. 

Besides clothes that are too tight, I'm trying to let go of the idea that I can eat anything I want. It is a surprisingly difficult attitude to shake. The omnipotent feeling of eating everything I wanted and not suffering any consequences is hard to relinquish. It was like saying, "Look at me - I can eat anything I want and not gain weight. I'm special." Of course I didn't think that consciously but unconsciously that attitude must have been there otherwise this wouldn't be such a struggle.

Letting go of eating anything I want every time I feel like it is sort of difficult. I've started to treat myself to a cup of hot tea when the urge comes to eat. Most of the time it helps.

It is much easier to toss a blouse into the Goodwill bag than it is to convince myself that I might be eating out of habit and not hunger; only eat one Almond Bite instead of fifteen. I try to switch my attention to the question of what are the necessary details I need to include in memoir describing my experience in psychoanalysis? If there are things you would like to know about my time in psychoanalysis, let me know. If you've always been curious about what goes on in an analytical session and wanted to ask questions, here's your chance! I probably won't answer your question here but it might be included in the book!

What do you need to let go of? What is the most difficult for you to shed - material things or attitudes? I'd love to know.

CLUE: Think of the last time you let go of something. Did you give it away or just throw it out? How did you decide to take this action? Then remember the feelings you had after you let go. If they were good feelings, congratulate yourself for a wise move. If you wish you had whatever you took leave of, devise a plan to either get it back or replace it. Then let me know.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Leaving a Trace by Alexandra Johnson (2001)

The image of beautiful fall leaves is completely unfiltered and was received during a walk on Sunday, October 28, 2018. I love it so much that I shared it on Instagram.