Lizard people, consistency, garlic sauce, and Ito
HALT on Hump Day 7/16
Nobody makes good decisions when they feel Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. HALT on Hump day looks at ways I manage those things in my life. Hopefully you’ll find something that will help your life.
HUNGRY
Here’s a 4 ingredient recipe for a delicious garlic sauce to accompany your Mediterranean inspired grill outs this summer. With so few ingredients, it’s also a pretty healthy alternative. So many times we try to eat well but get done in by sauces filled with bad stuff.
1 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt. I like Chobani. Check out the ingredient list: cultured whole milk.
1 minced garlic clove
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Mix it all up until it’s smooth and use it on whatever you got on the grill: chicken, steak, lamb, veggies.
You can also mince some cucumber if you’re looking to freshen it up and use it as a tzatziki substitute.
ANGRY
If you can maintain consistency in your best habits, you will achieve even the loftiest goals. It’s easy to think about, write down, and talk about good habits. It’s much harder to turn them into practices you do like clockwork.
This prompt latches on to times when you’ve been able to harness consistency, reminding you how capable you can be with some consistency. Reminding yourself of the growth you got out of it can be the carrot you need to start (or continue) the habits you know will make you successful.
What’s one thing you’ve been consistent with that you’re proud of? How has it contributed to your growth?
LONELY
Rank each of these on a scale from 1-100.
1 = Easy to forgive
100 = Could never forgive
Infidelity
Bumped into someone at the grocery store
Kick to the groin
A friend crashes your car
Forgetting your spouse’s birthday
Or these:
1 = Would hate to be covered in this
100 = Would love to be covered in this
Jell-O
Honeybees
A magical ward
Beautiful perfume
Lotion
Mud
You could easily assign each a number and rank them worst to first. It gets more complicated when you have to get a group of people to rank them.
It’s time to revisit the game corner as a way to enjoy time with others and build meaningful relationships.
That’s what Ito asks you to do.
It’s a collaborative game where the group must arrange various items in rank order based on a theme card. Each player gets dealt a random number (which they keep secret) and has to think of an answer corresponding to their number.
Then you discuss.
It’s a riot, and harder than you think. I’ve played 15-20 rounds so far and have only seen it done twice.
The ease to explain the game, speedy play, and laughs make it an excellent party game. You’ll learn about your fellow players. You may even learn something for yourself.
Highly recommend. If I’m giving a hoop & a stick a one, then this game gets an 88.
TIRED
I continue to believe the future of fitness will come from the hips. It’s a part of the body I focus on more than I thought I would 20 years ago. Hell, 20 years ago I never even thought about them.
One of my favorite stretches to open them up? Lizard.
I like how this pose will take as much as you want to give it. When I started doing it, I had to stay pretty high up with my arms extended. As I’ve gotten more flexible, proceeded down to blocks. Now I’m all the way down on my forearms.
Here’s the process:
Start in downward dog.
Lift the right leg into the air behind you and then carry it through so it’s up and outside of your right hand.
Now you have options:
Easiest: Keep your toes tucked under, but lower your knees and keep your arms straight while you sink into your hips.
Moderately easy: Keep the left knee off the ground and sink into the hips. Remember to keep the back straight (not hunched)
Deeper: Use a block and drop to your forearms.
Even more: Forearms all the way to the ground, elbows directly under your shoulders. Your shoulder might even get underneath your knee.
Deepest: Start to rotate your right knee open toward the ground.
Hip mobility is the foundation of preventing falls, maintaining independence, and maintaining pain-free movement as we age. It’s especially important in a world where people spend so many hours sitting.
Thank you for reading. If you liked something in here, send it to a friend. There’s a good chance they will smile, I’ll definitely smile, and I bet you will, too. Trifecta!