Inspiring You #3

🌅 Sunday, March 15, 2026 🌅

Inspiring you, #3

Studies suggest our minds process 50,000 - 70,000 thoughts per day.
If each thought were a word, that means our minds are
generating enough content to produce a book.
Every. Single. Day.

Ryder Carroll

With so much going on in our minds, repetition is one way to sharpen our focus, especially when initiating a change in routine or habit, like prioritizing the fitness of your feet.

When some of you read about foot form and function in my second issue, you may have entertained a few thoughts that began with Ya or But.

Nothing wrong with being analytical when considering the value of research, so long as it doesn’t diminish an opportunity to fine tune your wellness practice.

When you are considering something new with an awareness of your realities, you can create another thought pattern that begins with So.

For example:

You think:
“Ya, I’d like to weave my fingers between my toes but I had a surgical procedure that makes that impossible. “
Your new thought pattern:
“So, I will mobilize the toes that move and massage the toes that are restricted.”
Your so analysis is based on an understanding of and respect for your own physical self: not so much, “I know my body”; more like “I’m paying attention” 🤔

I call this reinforcing your foundation.

Creating a foundation based on paying attention enables you to filter the interesting, but not relevant, content for your foot fitness practice or any other aspect of your wellbeing. Once filtered, you practice only what works for you.

If you have a lot going on, commit to adding one or two elements to your foot practice each day at a naturally, occurring, consistent time:

After a bath or shower
Before putting on socks, slippers or shoes
While watching TV

Then, when the opportunity presents, refresh or enrich your foot fitness practice by reframing the details related to form, function & foundation.

Speaking of enrichment opportunities, here is a link for an interesting podcast on feet featuring a functional podiatrist, Dr. Emily Splichal: Foot Health is the Gateway to Improved Performance and Cognitive Function.

Confession…I haven’t developed the patience to enjoy podcasts so I usually listen to the good ones in sections, over several days.
Then, I read the transcript, take notes that are of significance and wait until the next podcast captures my attention: I’m drawn to outliers not radicals, AKA individuals using research and practice to refresh outdated understandings.
If you don’t have a listen, but want to try Dr. Splichal’s recommended morning-brushing-your-teeth routine, cue up the audio or transcript to 36:11 of the podcast.
I’ve been doing this for the last three weeks; it’s simple and easy to integrate into my tooth brushing routine. To help me remember, I have an elastic band wrapped around my toothpaste to remind myself!
This is a great simple foot practice to wake up 7000-200,000 nerve endings, 26 bones, 33 joints and 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments in each foot!

Inspiring you to coach yourself…

Let me make a generalization by saying the majority of you reading my messages are over the age of 40. While health and wellness have long been a focus for you all, longevity is now a focal point.

There are numerous studies being conducted to determine key factors for living independently well into the senior years. While subjects, funding and geography may differ, the most common indicator of longevity is strength: mind and muscle.

To highlight why muscle strength, muscles you see and muscles you don’t, matter, here is a short list of benefits:

Improved metabolic health.
Reduced inflammation.
Better immune function.
Better recovery from injury or illness.

So, how do you stay strong or improve your overall strength? Now that’s where things get really interesting!

There are plenty of recipes out there recommending types of exercise, levels of intensity and frequency, but I like to think that every weekly fitness practice should be three dimensional:

Movement
Muscle
Mobility

When you review your weekly fitness practices, you should see these three dimensions on a consistent and regular basis; the details will be as unique as you are!

While we all have preferences, the exercises we enjoy or those we don’t, the indicators that your fitness habits and routines are working for you might be:

Quality of sleep.
Ease of digestion and elimination.
Energy and ability to do what you need and want to do!

Inspiring myself…

I monitor fitness trends and last summer I noticed an increased number of individuals wearing weighted vests while walking or running.

The concept is called rucking and it has long been used by militaries as a strength and conditioning exercise to build endurance and stamina.

These specially designed vests or packs are currently being promoted as a way to burn more calories or fat which appeals to many looking to do just that.

What caught my attention was a study suggesting that rucking could positively load the axial spine with the potential for bone building at locations where osteopenia and osteoporosis most commonly occur.

Note: I also came across recommendations for those with osteopenia or osteoporosis to consult with a physician before trying as the extra weight might have a more negative than positive outcome.

Before investing in a rucking vest, I followed the suggestion to give this a try by putting a few plate weights in my backpack and head out for a walk. It was amazing how a small load made a familiar, flat path seem more challenging!

Honestly, I didn’t love how the pack felt on my shoulders or my spine. Instead, it felt like it was reinforcing that which I’ve been working to avoid: the aging posture!

Still curious, I decided to purchase an inexpensive, soft vest with removable weights and walked the same path. Ya, this vest was much more comfortable, but walking with a weighted vest didn’t align with my walking goals.

So, I decided to find a specific way to integrate the rucking vest into my already existing habit of walking backwards on my treadmill to warm-up!

Specifically, I added the weighted vest to one component of my Monday circuit called Body Weight + Cardio Intervals: I walk backwards on the treadmill with an incline. I still haven’t added all the available weights and likely won’t need to do so.

This new weekly component feels good, it challenges me to focus on:

Form: I continually check my core and posture
Function: I’m aware of hip extension, balance and stability
Foundation: My brain understands a new foot pattern, walking in reverse: toes to heels

Perhaps, more importantly, exploring something new added freshness to an already established routine.

On Writing…

I have taken my Inspired by Time, 2026 and Inspired by Intention books temporarily out of circulation. This was a most interesting process to design such a product to sell, but it isn’t my final vision.

The next designs will be ready by September, 2026.

If you did purchase Inspired by Time, 2026, thank you 💕

I would like to invite you to give me feedback on the following details:

How are you finding the space between the headings: Reminders, Appointments, Focus?
Are there enough dot pages at the beginning of the year, end of the year and beginning of each month for reflection, planning or notes?

Gratitude…

If you read to the end of this issue, thank you.

This writing practice builds my confidence to be less private about my writing.

It also satisfies a need to continue coaching while winding down my class schedule; my business mission has always been to inspire you to coach yourself!

The happiest of people don’t have the best of everything…
they make the best out of everything.