What a long day!

  I stayed up past 1am last night drawing- Sammy Dog Sugar Skull! 

Which meant that waking up around 5AM- so I could get the coffee and breakfast thing going before I went to the counselor for 7am-  Not so nice. However in my foggy state I managed to make myself another batch of the pancakes from yesterday.. Still yummy :) Though I skipped the syrup in place of chocolate chips and peanut butter.. I got to the office on time and had a great session… I even got a bit of “homework” Which is nice- because I’m ready to work on some of this stuff. So basically for this week I’m going to be working on slowing down during dinner time. Eventually the goal will be that I will do this at each and every meal but we are focusing on one small change at a time. Since I’ll be more likely to have dinner with James or someone else (this will help me take my time eating since we would be having conversation and lingering around the table more than I would eating alone) I will start there. She didn’t really tell me that I had to practice a certain way or technique to slow my eating time.. but gave me a few ideas. 

- Take a deep breath after finishing each and every bite

-Chew each bite until there is nothing left to be chewed

- Out the utensil down between bites (this is the one that I chose to work with tonight and it worked great!)

    Mostly it’s really about becoming more mindful with my eating. Taking my time and noticing when I’m satisfied verses full or over full (which can happen to me often because I have always eaten really quickly) 

   The other thing that I must do during this meal is completely be present.. That means- not longer will I read blogs, watch netflix or any other mind numbing multi-task. This is simple when I have company during a meal- however I know this will be a huge challenge when I eat alone (I hate when there is silence and often times just put something on for the background noise- makes me feel like I’m in a room of people instead of alone.. HATE being alone!)

   I’ll check in and let you know how it goes :)

Anyway- after my appointment I headed straight to work and made it through the day.. from there I ran home to change- and make a protein shake (all I had for lunch at this point was some egg whites w/cheese and a few grapes) Headed to hang out with Paula, then met up with my mom- Ran to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for dinner (I made some kickass veggie tacos!) Went to the house, made dinner and then did the wine and cigar night thing.. I’m beat.. 

    The morning plans are to attempt to get to the gym super early before work so I can get my sweat on (I took today as a rest day- due to the lack of sleep) so I’m headed to bed.. Night!