WAKE UP EVERYBODY in 2011!

Friday, December 31, 2010

I've always loved this R&B classic, Wake Up Everybody, and used to listen incessantly to the original rendition from 1975 with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, featuring Teddy Pendergrass as lead singer (swoon).



KarmaTube, my favorite repository of inspiring online videos has done it again, showcasing this terrific 2010 remake of the classic song with John Legend & The Roots.


So...LISTEN UP!
www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2166





...and the message is every bit as relevant today as it was in 1975:

WAKE UP EVERYBODY
(Original lyrics by Carstarphen, McFadden, and Whitehead, update by John Legend)

Wake up everybody
No more sleepin' in bed
No more backward thinkin'
Time for thinkin' ahead

The world has changed
So very much
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred
War and poverty, whoa, oh

Wake up, all the teachers
Time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen
To what'cha have to say

'Cause they're the ones who's coming up
And the world is in their hands
When you teach the children
Teach 'em the very best you can

The world won't get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

Wake up, all the doctors
Make the old people well
They're the ones who suffer
And who catch all the hell

But they don't have so very long
Before the Judgment Day
So wont'cha make them happy
Before they pass away

Wake up, all the builders
Time to build a new land
I know we can do it
If we all lend a hand

The only thing we have to do
Is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out
They do it every time

The world won't get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me

It's the god hour
The morning I wake up
Just for the breath of life I thank my maker
My mom say I come from hustlers and shakers
My mom built it on skyscrapers and acres
He said take us back to where we belong
I try to write a song
As sweet as these arms the one the type to bare arms
And wear my heart on my sleeve
Even when I fell in God I believe
Read the days that weave through the maze
The seasons so amazing
Feed them and raised them
Seasons are aging
Earthquakes, wars, and rumors
I want us to get by but
We're more than consumers
We more than shooters, more than looters
Created in this image so God live through us
And even in this generation, living through computers
Only love love love can reboot u

Wake up, everybody
Wake up, everybody
Need a little help, y'all
Yes I do, need a little help

Need a little help, y'all ay
Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Melvin_
%26_the_Blue_Notes
AND
John Legend:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Legend

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MAKING IT HAPPEN: Week 5 -- 6 days until 2011

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Well, I only got in 2/7 days of strength training done and 4/7 days of cardio done last week. In spite of messing up on exercise, I finished the fourth week of the challenge yesterday 1.3 pounds down, at 140.9. I began the challenge at 145. With caution I continue to be encouraged. I'm once again back into the 140's --

I must remember and consistently practice my WOW Formula:
(CE+CM=WOW)
Consistent Movement + Conscious Eating = Whee! Optimal Wellness

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Some musings at this point in the challenge --

@ I continue to find the postponing of SparkTime ACTION challenge difficult and have had varying success with cutting back.

@ I somehow feel like there's a tie-in between my ACTION to "BE HERE NOW" and lightening up on computer time, but I can't quite articulate it yet.

@ I have been very consistent about my ACTION to use the trackers, particularly the Nutrition Tracker, and this is the definitive reason, I'm convinced, why the scale is moving in the right direction.

@ I'm frustrated about my lack of consistency in exercise, both cardio and strength training, particularly because I'm deeply aware of its tie-in to my over-all good health, not to mention reaching my goal weight.

@ Like other Sparkers, the cold weather is daunting for me. If I can't jump on my Trek (bicycle), my options are the fitness center that I belong to (about a 15-minute drive) or use one of my cardio DVD's. I have no exercise machines in my mini-space. My primary goal is to continue to work on better exercise habits this week.

Here again then is my end-of-year challenge to build habits that will last. By December 31, 2010 I will~~

~ do daily sadhana (spiritual practice)
~ do cardio minimum of 5X/wk. and strength training minimum of 3X/wk. and track my exercise
~ eat more consciously and track my food
~ moving toward my goal weight of 128 pounds
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

AND THE BEAT GOES ON:

6 DAYS, Sun Dec 26

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ Strength training -- DONE
~ 175 sit-ups -- DONE
~ 40 minutes bicycle ride -- DONE
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE

~ 5 DAYS, Mon Dec 27

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ 20 minutes, Kathy Smith DVD, cardio -- DONE
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE

4 DAYS, Tues Dec 28

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ Strength training -- DONE
~ 175 sit-ups -- DONE
~ 20 minutes, minimum, of cardio -- BUST
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE

3 DAYS, Wed Dec 29

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ 20 minutes, Kathy Smith DVD, cardio -- DONE
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE

2 DAYS, Thurs Dec 30

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ 30 minutes of ARC interval cardio -- DONE
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE

1 DAYS, Fri Dec 31

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ 20 minutes, minimum, of cardio -- BUST
~ Strength training -- DONE
~ 175 sit-ups -- DONE
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE

Sat January 1, 2011, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

~ 30 minutes of meditation -- DONE
~ 20 minutes, minimum, of cardio -- BUST
~ Tracked food and exercise -- DONE
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The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. --Frank Loyd Wright

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The 12th Day of Christmas

Saturday, December 25, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX7pHu88hm8&
feature=channel


Today I leave you with Yo Yo Ma (and other exotic instrumentation) accompanying Alison Krauss singing a stunningly beautiful version of The Wexford Carol, a beloved traditional Irish Christmas carol. The lyrics date back to the 12th century.



The Wexford Carol

Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved son
With Mary holy we should pray,
To God with love this Christmas Day
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was a blessed Messiah born

The night before that happy tide
The noble Virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town
But mark right well what came to pass
From every door repelled, alas
As was foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble ox's stall

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
To whom God's angel did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear
Arise and go, the angels said
To Bethlehem, be not afraid
For there you'll find, this happy morn
A princely babe, sweet Jesus, born

With thankful heart and joyful mind
The shepherds went the babe to find
And as God's angel had foretold
They did our Saviour Christ behold
Within a manger he was laid
And by his side a virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of Life
Who came on earth to end all strife

There were three wise men from afar
Directed by a glorious star
And on they wandered night and day
Until they came where Jesus lay
And when they came unto that place
Where our beloved Messiah lay
They humbly cast them at his feet
With gifts of gold and incense sweet.

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...not great things, but small things with great love!

Friday, December 24, 2010

We can do no great things
Only small things
With great love
-- Mother Teresa



Karma Tube does it again: The Dalai Lama once said that the most generous act there is, compassion, is actually a selfish act: "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."

What does generosity mean to you? Why do you give? What can you give? Here are some thoughts from a group of volunteers for CharityFocus, an organization that focuses on the practice of selfless generosity and small acts of kindness. How would you answer these questions for yourself?

www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2185

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The 12 Days of Christmas, 11

Friday, December 24, 2010

Notre Dame Cathedral

Though they were not as angelic as these Monks of the Abbey of Montserrat which I share with you on this Christmas eve, they still remind me of the High Mass I used to attend every year as a child with my mom on Christmas eve at midnight -- with the incense, the chanting the Latin mass. Precious memories.


THE 11TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRLIz897DzY

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