It has been a very relaxing and easy holiday this year. DH and I have been working on being more accepting with each other and with events in our lives and the result has been a holiday where we have found ourselves doing very little, but loving every minute of it. We slept a lot. At first this was unnerving, but, seeing as our mantra was acceptance, we just went with it. We found ourselves thinking more carefully about what we actually wanted to do, so when we did go out it was always a pleasure - be it an easy walk, a visit to the cinema, or a trip to a restaurant. It has been an exercise in paying attention.

This got me thinking about exercise.

So often I want to push ahead with exercise because I have goals to meet, but sometimes our body starts getting sore - sore foot, IT band, aching back. I'm learning that rather than look at these things as something stopping me reaching my goals, that they are waking me up to consider something about my training plan. It seems to me that exercise is a constant learning process. I may think I understand my body and I'm doing everything right only to go an injure myself when I move to a new level of intensity. I think injuries are the only way our body can get us to pay attention to it. I'm also beginning to wonder if learning to pay attention is another part of maintaining my goal weight.

I got overweight because I didn't listen to my body telling me it was full. I enjoyed the feeling of eating too much to want to listen to what my body was telling me. Now I find myself sometimes enjoying my run too much to listen to that muscle that's beginning to twinge just a little bit too much and slow down and start walking. There's a similarity there. It's me thinking more about the feelings and the goals as opposed to thinking about what I really need.

So, paying attention. That's going to be my focus this year.