A great post shared via a friend on Facebook today, 15 Things you should give up to be happy, enjoy ~ Rev Kane
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. ~ George Sand
For all but the utterly enlightened among us at least part of our happiness is dependent upon how others see and interact with us. First and foremost of course is that we accept ourselves. The closer we are to truly accepting and loving ourselves the less impact others can have upon our happiness. However they do matter to some degree for all of us, so it is important that we surround ourselves with people who are supportive and caring of not just ourselves but of our hearts as well.
Often times it will be when things are at their worst that you will be able to identify those who really care, are truly supportive of you, the ones who really see who you are. See much less important than how you look is how you are seen. Do those around you truly see who you are, what you want and most importantly what you need? When things are hard you’ll be able to figure out pretty quickly who is who. Hang on tightly to the ones who show up, the ones that keep you stable, the ones who find a way to give you what you need. They’ll be the ones who will help keep you happy, as for the ones who don’t, well, show some compassion it’s not always easy to figure out how to help someone. But never be afraid to jettison those who continually bring you down, it’s hard enough to swim through life without anchors on your anchor. So thank those good people, hang your arms around their neck and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
Most people see the first image, decide this will be gross and skip by it, mistake, take a look at the images they are hysterical, The 21 Worst Playgrounds Were Fun Goes to Die
19 Unintentionally Awkward Kid Book Moments
A guy gets a spam text and he replies with pure gold
Happiness is Laughter: Autocorrect Fails
Happiness is Laughter: Kids Explain the World
Happiness is Laughter: Silly Sites
One of the things that has happened since I start about blogging about my experience on the trail has been receiving information requests about thru-hiking. I can answer most, but only having successfully completed 1000 miles before my knees gave out I certainly don’t have all the answers. There are also far more experienced folks out there who can answer questions but I realize they are not always accessible.
Given all of that I’m happy to answer questions for folks and have made a couple of new friends along the way. So today, I figured I’d lay out some of those questions and answers, as well as some web resources on the topic, I also recently did a post on gear lists to handle those questions. If you have any additional questions drop them in the comments or send them along to Happinesskane@aol.com. I’m happy to answer anything I can, the best I can and as always have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
Did you carry a sleeping bag or hammock and if a hammock did you use a pad? How often did you sleep outside of shelters in general?
Tent vs. Hammock. I have both. I like both. Weight wise, they are about the same at like 2lbs total but I’ve become a total hammock guy. I hate sleeping on the ground, out of nearly 90 nights on the trail, 4 in shelters, got no sleep on those nights. I did buy a larger fly for the hammock so that I had extra dry space to hang out, change etc… in the rain but hammock all the way. The real question is do you also carry a pad for the occasional shelter night, I did early on, but later I stopped because I was never going to sleep in a shelter again no matter the conditions. One major upsides to tenting however is that you have more privacy in a tent. You can wake up change all of your clothes etc…without getting out of the tent, that is much harder to accomplish in a hammock, although I didn’t really have any issues.
Did you use a pad in your hammock?
You have to insulate your hammock or you will get cold butt syndrome. I like to be comfortable. I started out with a layered set up as follows: Mylar sheets (sun reflector material), cheap blue foam roll-up, 1.5 in Thermarest pad and a zero degree bag. The first night on the trail it dropped to 18 degrees and I sweat my ass off. I soon adjusted to using the blue foam on the bottom, Mylar next, no Thermarest and a 15 degree bag, that worked really well until things started to warm up, by late spring I was using the Mylar, blue foam, a sheet and my 32 degree bag as a top quilt. Oh, I almost always sleep in just my boxers and sleep socks unless it’s really cold.
The mylar you can get in rolls at home depot, I carried 3 sheets. I cut one to about a five feet sheet trimmed like a mummy bag to lay on top of the blue foam pad. I also cut 2 three-foot sections, one I wrapped around my foot box and one I laid horizontally under my shoulders so that when I rolled over on my side my shoulders didn’t get cold being against the side of the hammock. The last two pads are total comfort, luxury items but they weigh nothing and make the nights more comfortable.
How many miles a day did you average per day?
I averaged over the full 90 days 10.8 miles per day, but that included a lot of slack packing after my injury and some really short days due to my injury. Early on in the spring, in GA, I was averaging between 8 and 10 miles a day. There’s no reason to hurry, I barely averaged 2.0 mph early on, later on in flatter territory I was doing 2.4 to 2.6 mph. Had moments and days of nearly 3 mph but they were rare and lots of climbs early on where we were between 1 and 1.5 mph. Later on in places like VA once you’ve gotten into way better shape, dropped a lot of pack weight, carrying less food, have much longer daylight hours and are on flatter ground you can do some really big days 20+ miles not out of the question in Northern VA (Shenandoah), West Virginia and Maryland.
As a woman, I am planning to hike with a buddy but did you encounter any safety issues that a woman hiking might have some issues with?
No safety issues, especially in the spring you’ll be in the bubble, we all look out for each other, if anyone gets a hard time from anyone, everyone gets on them about it. I checked in with a couple of friends, young women who started out solo. They said they didn’t feel unsafe, particularly because starting out in the bubble in the spring they pretty quickly found people to hike with.
It will be different for everyone, it’s really safe out there, shit happens but it’s rare.
Are you carrying a gun, knife, machete, bear spray, etc….?
The most frequent thing I got asked was about whether I was carrying a gun and how big of a knife I’d be carrying. No gun, no need and illegal in many areas on the trail. I carried a 1/4 inch long folding knife that I used for the following: pick my nails, cut a couple of pieces of string, open some food packages in town and to cut pieces of cheese while eating. The knife was more than sufficient and you could get by with just a razor blade, but my little fold up knife was nearly as light and easier and safer to carry.
What about cell coverage?
As for cell service my first response would be I hope you have Verizon. People who had Verizon as their carrier seemed to have the most consistent cell connection on the trail. I have Sprint and it did ok, most nights I either had minimal data or minimal phone so I could shoot out a message to let folks know I was alive. Some nights I had great reception on one or both and could post to my blog from the trail or make phone calls. It will be spotty, early on in Georgia and NC I did well, there were spots in the Smokies were I was very limited a night or two with nothing. The thing I did note was that during almost every single day there were points with good service, the advantage of going up and down mountains, each day you’ll be on some peak near a town and be able to get some type of a connection.
One question has come up because I am possibly connecting with two high schools for a kindness initiative – they want to be able to Skype with me while on the trail, and track my progress by GPS. The GPS isn’t a problem. I have a Go Spot device for that, but I was wondering about using a solar charger?
The solar charger is a near waste of time, some people tied them to their packs and walked with them. Early in the spring they’ll do alright before the leaves come out but once the green tunnel forms their shit most of the time. A lot of people carried a battery charger, I didn’t carry either and basically except for sending my one message each night, reserving rooms in town and checking the weather, I didn’t use my phone much and always made it into town with a functioning phone. That said, I think the charger is a good idea, it does give you a little bit more freedom and particularly if you are going to Skype from time to time will make that possible. You can always balance out the 12 ounces, you’ll be carrying at least 3 pounds of crap you don’t need, happens to everyone.
What did you eat? What did you cook with?
I’m a big fan of Mountain House, except for the pasta primavera, occasionally when being lazy I will actually fire up a bag of beef stroganoff at home. So I used them and BackPack Pantry meals, etc…for my dinners. I have a hard time choking down breakfast when I first wake up and that fluctuated from cliff bars, granola bars, Belvita breakfast bars, mini-chocolate donuts, basically anything I could get excited enough about to eat. Lunch for me was a lot of pepperoni and cheese on tortillas, peanut butter tortillas, summer sausage and cheese. I carried a lot of Parmesan cheese as it lasted well and worked well with the pepperoni. I rarely cooked for either breakfast or lunch.
I’m lazy where food is concerned and don’t want to deal with a lot of clean up. The tradeoff of course is less interesting food. Lots of folks cook top ramen, pasta, knorr pasta sides, etc… and doctor the hell out of them. Definitely more variety and very tasty but also more fuss and cleanup.
I will say, a Jet Boil and Mountain House made for quick easy dinners, especially early in the spring when it’s cold, rainy and getting dark early it was nice to be able to have quick, efficient food. The meals will taste way better on the trail, it’s a concept I call momentary food, under certain conditions things are amazingly good. Think 2AM drunk food in college, tail-gaiting food, camping food, etc….
What did you do for water?
I carried a 32 oz Nalgene and a 30 oz Gatorade bottle originally, in the warmer and drier times I added a 20 oz Gatorade into the mix. I also have a 44 oz collapsible water bottle. Never needed the collapsible on the trail (ok, 1 day in PA in July) but used it at night in camp. Never ran out of water. I treated with Aqua Mira drops although I did start carrying a sawyer mini so I could drink cold water from streams. Using drops you have to wait 20 minutes so the water would get warm. If you cut your filter or a sawyer mini inline with your bladder you’re golden, I’d carry pills or drops for back up but it’s not critical to have a backup, especially in the spring. I would have a backup in the hotter months. You can dial in how much you want to carry each day depending on water sources but they were very plentiful in the spring.
What about drop boxes?
I’ve really become ambiguous about drop boxes and part of that was that I wasn’t worried about how much I was spending. Drop boxes can definitely save you money and it’s nice to get something from home. My problem was that I set the boxes up before I had been on the trail obviously and I really both overloaded them and sent things I wouldn’t use so more than I would like went into hiker boxes. Another reason to do shakedown hikes and really dial in what you will and won’t eat. Unfortunately I didn’t have that chance due to my mother becoming ill and me having to be with her for a couple of months before I left for the trail.
If I were to do it all over again, I certainly would do some drop boxes, not a lot and I’d really do minimal amounts of food, and focus on basics and really hard to find stuff. Now for people on special diets, vegans, people with allergies drop boxes are probably way more important and maybe some of those folks will chime in, in the comment section.
A note about friends sending boxes, ask them to give you a heads up, they don’t understand that you don’t check every location for boxes unless you know one is coming. It also would help to give them suggested lists and locations. At Fontana I got two surprise boxes from friends as well as a box I had set up. Basically I got about 12 days of food delivered to me there, not a problem, lots of my friends were happy to help lighten the boxes, especially of the cookies. It just would have been nicer to have spread things out a bit more.
Oh and for drop boxes use hostels and outfitters when possible, the post office as little as possible, the reason is availability, it will be very difficult to determine in advance when you’ll hit town and it really, really sucks to hit town on Saturday at 12:15 when the post office closed at noon and won’t be open til Monday and sucks even more when you haul ass to get into town before noon only to find out the info you had was wrong and the post office is no longer open on Saturdays at all.
What about using a bounce box?
Bounce boxes get annoying and expensive, you saved money on the original stuff but once you’ve shipped them 3 times you may as well have bought them in town. The exception of course is for medicines and similar stuff. I knew people who bounced, blood pressure cups, diabetes testers and birth control pills up the trail. One of these folks also had their bounce box get lost for three weeks, there are risks with everything.
What did you wear and how did you care for your feet? Blisters are a problem for me. I’ve developed this system of wearing Injini toe socks which reduce the friction. I do this whole clean regimen at night to be sure my feet are clean, dry and powdered. That seems to work best for me.
Plan sounds great, I wore my old hiking boots through the Smokies, mostly because they were super comfortable and on their last legs. I went to Merrell Moabs with the green Super Feet insoles after that and I loved them, got about 500 miles out of each pair before they start to wear out and cause a little heal pain, but they were great. On really soupy days I put bread bags over my socks and into the shoes, Merrell’s get soaked and the bags kept my feet dry without much overheating since those days were cold. Your foot care regime will save your feet! In the summer months I didn’t do the bread bags, I just let my feet get wet, the Merrell’s held up fine.
Rain Gear/Umbrella. So I’m trying to reduce some weight and am thinking I might keep my gaiters, rain pants and rain jacket even though I’ve heard a lot of people scrap them. I’ve also heard some people carry an umbrella, but I can’t imagine doing that in the woods with a pack. As for my gear, I have the rain cover for pack plus the old trash bag liner inside my pack as well as ultralight stuff sacks for my clothes and sleeping bag. Anything I should be considering beyond this?
Never understood the umbrella thing. I sprang big money for a really good, really light rain jacket from Outdoor Research, I also used a rain skirt, super light, way better than rain pants in my opinion, I talked about it in more detail in my gear list post. Here’s the one I used, worked great except for one day when a 40 mph wind suddenly went 180 degrees on me. I hate pack covers, they never fit, you get a puddle in the bottom which inevitably you dump down your ass at some point. I did the trash compactor liner in my bag, worked really well, only a time or do did my pack get soaked through and usually we were heading for town that day or the next so I got things dried out. You’ve got sacks for your sleeping bag and anything that really can’t get wet, that’s enough.
Bear bag or no bear bag? I have an Ursack bear bag but it’s cumbersome and heavy.
Absolutely carry a bear bag, I used a cuban fiber bag from zpack, it was light and worked great. There is one small section that requires a bear canister if you camp in it. But everyone holds up at the edge the night before and pushes through the 12 miles to the other side so they don’t have to carry one. It’s Justus Mountain area in GA if I remember correctly.
I like the cuban fiber because it’s a bitch to cut open and slippery but it’s personal preference I saw lots of variety in food bag choice on the trail. Also, I highly recommend before you hit the trail you learn how to do a PCT style bear hang, super easy once you get the hang of the one not and unbeatable by bears, I also used slick Dynema chord with the set up as it’s said squirrels and raccoons can’t grip it and hang on, so far that’s been true for me. It’s also super light and really strong and untangles fairly easily.
Trekking poles, yes or no?
For me, absolutely YES. I’m a terrible descender and trekking poles make that so much easier. I first starting using poles on a Himalayan Everest Base Camp Trek and I will no longer hike without them. Particularly for someone with bad knees they reduce some of the wear and tear on my knees. Besides, one of my trekking poles is actually a transdimensional being named Bob who has come to our world to explore and to do so took the form of a trekking pole, so how could I leave home without him?
I tend to do overkill on the gear first aid and first aid kit. Any thoughts?
Just bring a whistle 🙂 Honestly I’m the same way and I sent most of it home fast. Some bandages, antibiotic cream, gauze, tape, although duct tape will double for med tape. You’ll be in towns every 3-5 days, there are a ton of people on the trail with you in the spring. So in my opinion you can go way minimal on the kit, in the spring you’ll rarely be on your own enough to need a good kit.
Other FAQ sections from the web, I did not edit for overlap, sorry in advance but it’s good to get other perspectives.
It is worth mentioning that AWOL’s book, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, has a lot of good information in it. I would also suggest going through 2015 trail journals, you’ll get both a sense of what it’s like on the trail and get some questions answered while you’re reading. The links below are stacked in what I feel are order of usefulness.
The first place you should always go is White Blaze, Whiteblaze.net has a forum section that really has a lot of great information.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has a pretty good AT FAQ section
A really nice FAQ from the Appalachian Mountain Club about hiking the White Mountains on the AT.
Frequently asked questions about thru-hiking, from Appalachian Trials very general stuff although the piece on cost is pretty good
A nice combination of bigger and more detailed questions from a Cathy Bell.
Very basic FAQ section from the Appalachian Mountain Club
Appalachian Trail Happiness: Precious Moments
Appalachian Trail Happiness: Quitting the Appalachian Trail
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. ~ Khalil Gibran
Tonight another look at a wonderful poet, one I must admit I’ve not made my self incredibly familiar with, yet one whose works are certainly worthy of admiration, read, enjoy and have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
A Prayer in Spring
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.
**************
A Considerable Speck
(Microscopic)
A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink
When something strange about it made me think,
This was no dust speck by my breathing blown,
But unmistakably a living mite
With inclinations it could call its own.
It paused as with suspicion of my pen,
And then came racing wildly on again
To where my manuscript was not yet dry;
Then paused again and either drank or smelt–
With loathing, for again it turned to fly.
Plainly with an intelligence I dealt.
It seemed too tiny to have room for feet,
Yet must have had a set of them complete
To express how much it didn’t want to die.
It ran with terror and with cunning crept.
It faltered: I could see it hesitate;
Then in the middle of the open sheet
Cower down in desperation to accept
Whatever I accorded it of fate.
I have none of the tenderer-than-thou
Collectivistic regimenting love
With which the modern world is being swept.
But this poor microscopic item now!
Since it was nothing I knew evil of
I let it lie there till I hope it slept.
I have a mind myself and recognize
Mind when I meet with it in any guise
No one can know how glad I am to find
On any sheet the least display of mind.
***************
Acquainted with the Night
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain — and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
A luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
Photo by Shaggy Hobo
So today on the trail at a point where the trail crossed a little stream over a footbridge, a tall, pretty younger, blonde woman came down the hill. There she found 4 older sweaty hikers taking a break by the stream. She smiled and said, “look four trolls on a bridge.”
It was said in good humor and we laughed. She stopped and chatted for a second, she lived nearby and was out for a day hike. Of course after a month on the trail, almost anything she said would have been charming.
As she walked by I found myself slightly enchanted. I began to think about the river scene from Brother Where Art Though. I wondered if she was a land siren and if I followed her up the trail, would she perhaps turn me into a toad? Such is life on a hot sunny day on the Appalachian Trail. Rev Kane
Please forgive my shameless plug tonight but I wanted to provide all of the purchasing information for my book in one place ~ Rev Kane
Come take a thousand mile walk with me on the Appalachian Trail.
When I wrote the book I had originally included a glossary, but I incorporated it in the text, a book club I recently met with said it would be helpful so here’s the glossary.
Also, I thought it would beneficial to include some photos from the book here.
What I hope you can get out of this book is a feeling for the Appalachian Trail Community: thru-hikers, hostel owners, trail towns and trail angels who all conspire to make hiking the AT an amazing experience. I knew the community existed, but the positive impact it had on me—the power of this community—completely caught me by surprise, a really pleasant surprise. Sure, there will be a good bit about the trail, the geography, the weather and the mountains, but it’s mostly about the people, the culture and my own twisted brain. The book is drawn out of three things: my journal entries, descriptions and definitions of trail terms, and the writings I undertook while hiking the trail. I also answered three questions every day; what was the most beautiful thing I encountered, what did I learn, what made me happy today?
Amazon & Kindle – You can find both the paperback ($9.99) and ebook ($2.99) at Amazon, if you buy the paperback you get the ebook as a bonus for 99 cents if you are so inclined.
Signed Copy – If you would like a signed copy please contact me directly at happinesskane@aol.com. For these I have to order a copy from Createspace, then sign it and ship it to you directly, due to the double shipping I charge $15 for this option.
No matter how you buy the book, I’m thankful that you have and thank you very much for supporting my work and I hope you enjoy it. A quick synopsis is below. ~ Rev Kane
Please check out my blog the Ministry of Happiness
Find us on our Facebook Pages, Appalachian Trail Happiness or The Ministry of Happiness
Checkout my photos on Instagram at @reverendmichaelkane
Find us on Twitter at @ministryofhappy
The AARP gang, me, Backtrack, Kingfisher and Awesome
One of the first questions I was always asked before starting the trail was, who are you hiking with on the AT? Whenever I would answer I was solo hiking people would become concerned.
Two utterly amazing and interesting folks, Patches and Airborne.
I would try to explain trail culture and the moving community that exists on the AT. In reality I didn’t even fully understand how close hundreds of solo hikers could become.
Damn Yankee (grew up 20 minutes from me in NY) and Backtrack
First off, pace becomes a sorting mechanism and those who are on a similar pace see each other again and again at camping areas, shelters and resupply towns.
Michael Kane and John Stewart head for the AT
Second, only if you have done this can you really understand how hard it is and what people are going through and this creates compassion and solidarity.
Me and Tough Cookie (she’s back on the trail after appendicitis surgery 6 weeks ago)
Finally we come to depend on each other, this community, to stay safe and informed. There is an incredible grapevine on the trail that passes on weather information, resupply info, news about friends, trail magic info as well as safety concerns. We look out for each other, although of course this grapevine includes its share of trail gossip as well.
Backtrack and Shaggy Hobo
Here’s a recent example, Lucky Strike lost his phone. Another hiker, Jedi picked it up. These two have never met, but Jedi took the phone, called the last number and found a way to intercept a resupply package and get the phone to Lucky Strike.
Me and the Mad Hatter
It is common for someone to leave something behind on the trail and turn around to retrieve it only to find someone carrying it up the trail to them. That may not sound like much until you consider that we actually actively try to reduce our pack weight by ounces and we’re often heading uphill over mountains. We lookout for each other.
Me and Cliffhanger
All of this has led to trail friends quickly becoming selected family, in three weeks I’ve already made what I expect will be lifelong friends, many are in the pictures in this piece and have provided many happy days my friends – Rev Kane
Appalachian Trail Happiness: Readers’ Favorite Posts
Appalachian Trail Happiness: Precious Moments
Favorite AT Trail Photos for 2015
The easiest diet is, you know, eat vegetables, eat fresh food. Just a really sensible healthy diet like you read about all of the time. ~ Drew Carey
Well if you have read this blog regularly you know that I struggle with blood sugar regulation and at times lose that battle and end up in the range of being categorized as a Type 2 diabetic. Over my last year traveling I quite frankly ignored this reality. I ate what I wanted, I drank Coca Cola’s with abandoned and even though I was still quite active it meant my blood sugar was thoroughly unregulated. I paid the price in that my numbers when I finally got back to paying attention were higher in June than they have ever been. This is of course is a problem for a number of reasons, the most pressing for me of course is that I have a heart condition and diabetes, along with my genetically driven high blood pressure increases the risk of a heart attack.
Now for me I have two conditions that are beyond my control. First off I have a congenital birth defect, a bifurcated aortic valve, that has led to an aortic aneurysm and eventually will lead to open heart surgery within the next 5 years. The second is the fact that my high blood pressure is primarily a result of a genetic condition inherited through my mother’s side of the family. Happily modern medicine has done lots of research on this and there are medications, because my grandfather died of this condition in 1969.
However that leaves my diabetes, the predisposition also runs in the family, this time a gift from my father’s side of the hereditary tree. But a pre-disposition is just that, it makes it easier me for to become a diabetic but it still needs my help. The fact is three things more than anything else contribute to me having poor blood sugar, my eating habits, my weight and my level of activity.
I’ve always been a fairly active person, even at my least healthy point in life. A point in which I wasn’t working out regularly and weighed 250 pounds, 60 pounds heavier than I currently am, I was still active. I remember a really awesome winter hike in the Smokies back than with my friend Andrew. We pounded a 14 mile round trip up to the summit of Mt. Leconte with about 8 inches of snow on the ground. That was around 1998, and in the subsequent twenty years a lot of things have changed. In a couple of successive step downs I got my weight from 250 to 230, about 5 years later from 230 to 215 and two years ago from 215 to 200. Since coming to my new home and job I’ve dropped to 190 and my goal is to be at 175 by the end of this year.
At the Everest Rock Bar after the white knuckle flight to Lukla on the trail to Everest
So I’ve been steadily improving my weight and starting in 2010 as part of my preparation for hiking to Base Camp at Mt. Everest, I began working out regularly at the gym, not just walking and hiking like I did previously. But the simple fact for me is that my eating habits have always been my weakness. I love Coca Cola, just about the worst thing I could drink for me. I love pizza, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes all which are not exactly things found on a low carb diet. I know I’ll get at least one comment of how all it really takes is just to eat these things in moderation and I’ll be fine. Unfortunately for me, that’s just not reality, but is a fallacy I’ve been willing to accept for a long time. I often say that humans have two superpowers, rationalization and denial and I have certainly employed both when it comes to eating.
So all of this has led to where I find myself now, pretty much up against the wall in terms of my blood sugar. If I’m not able to get this under control in the next couple of months I’m going to end up adding one more medication into my life. And given I’m already on five related to the conditions I can’t change, I really don’t want to add a sixth for something that is essentially within my control. So it means it’s time to get very, very serious about this.
So I’m being a bit militant about my diet right now. This has meant adding more vegetables but not starchy vegetables like potatoes or corn. It’s meant mirroring some aspects of a Ketogenic Diet, but not going full Keto, adding some fat, but adding a lot of fat is not the best idea for someone with a heart condition. I’m also actually cutting down on my meat consumption a little, I eat meat most days but not everyday, and not a lot of red meat, but I’m cutting back a little. So this means more vegetable fats, more leafy vegetables including salads and completely avoiding the high carb foods I love. For the meantime I’m even forgoing my normal cheat day. Finally the plan also includes intensifying my cardio workouts. I typically workout 4-5 days a week but I’ve added two days of running into the mix. I am not, nor do I enjoy running, but it’s the easiest way to up that intensity. And finally to make that stick I’ve set a goal and actually running a 5k, so on April 11th I’ll be doing the Big Bunny 2020 5K in Cupertino. I figure no matter how slow I am I should be able to outrun the children. For those of you who know me well, I’m sure this little announcement is a shock. I’ve always said I only run with a ball in front of me or a dog behind me.
One of the necessary and fun parts of this little journey has been looking for new things to cook. I’ve really become enamored with Delish.com they have some great recipes and I’ve been experimenting. I love to cook and always doctor and personalize recipes to my own taste but I’ve tried to the following in the last week and have been really happy with them.
Spaghetti Squash with homemade sauce
spaghetti squash
I’ve also been playing with some new ingredients like Shirataki Noodles, and used them with shrimp scampi.
So you may be asking what does this have to do with happiness? The thing is that we have things in our life that reduce our happiness and poor health is one of those for me. So what’s important in this process is the idea of constantly getting a little bit better, whether it’s your health or your happiness. First, you have to figure out what the issue you is you want to address, you have to decide it’s something important enough to change so that you have the desire to do so. Then you have to make a plan and work the plan, all with the goal of just doing a little better today than you did yesterday and very importantly, forgiving yourself if you don’t and then recommitting and getting better tomorrow. If you can do that my friends you’ll have happy days. ~ Rev Kane
Happiness and the words of Thich Nhat Hanh
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese born Buddhist monk with a long history of peace activism and has brought Buddhist teachings to a wide Western audience. I link below to a piece in the Ecologist by Thich Nhat Hanh entitled, Thich Nhat Hanh: happiness is possible without simply consuming all the time. In the piece he discusses how our western consumer based lifestyle can be an impediment to happiness and how changing this can help, give it a read. As always, have a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
The Ministry of Happiness 