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Ritual de lo Habitual

New morning, new attitude...

I have successfully kicked caffeine to the curb. I haven't even had tea. This was the one addictive vice I had and I kicked it. I gave all my coffee to my Mom yesterday and all the headaches, dizziness, foggy brain stuff- it's over. I had to find something to replace my morning coffee ritual though. I like to sit here and check my emails while I drank my only cup of the day. Now I just go straight to the blender and make either fruit smoothies or almond milk/banana shakes first thing. Caffeine is bad for me on all levels, one it promotes an environment for cysts- which I have and am trying to shrink. Two, it is bad for my stomach lining -which I'm trying to heal and rejuvenate. My next step is to radically eradicate sweets from my life. Heartbreaking. I've done this before so I know I can still eat healthy sweet stuff (bananas, fried bananas, frozen bananas, coconut, apple, etc) I just need to learn to cook differently. 
I'm going to make banana frozen yogurt at some point and flourless chocolate cake again. It's all good, it's just retraining your brain and doing things differently. Convenience food is no longer in my vocabulary. It's all chopping, sauteeing, prepping and pureeing around here! But anyway- I'm feeling much better and much more normal today. My sleep has even improved and I'm not taking melatonin anymore. So along with all these changes I'm also going out first thing and getting 30 minutes of whatever in- running, walking, moving in some form or fashion. Every day. It helps when you're self employed to have little rituals to make your day whole and get you focused for your work. I need to add stretching to the routine and I'm going to practice my bass guitar at least 20 minutes a day. It's something that's been gnawing away at me for a long time. I basically put music away when my Dad passed away. Something he loved and passed on to me. It was painful and I couldn't do it but now I feel the need to reconnect with that. It is part of me as much as painting.
New painting is in the works and I'm trying to get my stamina for standing back- in the event I get to work on that mural at the hospital soon I will want to be in shape for it. I know this is an "art blog" and I've rambled on about health- well it's very connected my friend. If you don't have your health you suffer, your art suffers, work doesn't get done and bills don't get paid. I've been struggling a long time, all the doctors bills have bled me dry and now I'm in the "bills don't get paid" phase and it's not a good place to be. Health. Preventative care - takes PRIORITY over all. Listen to your body, it's telling you things. Take care of yourselves!

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