Revelations and TMI

I suppose in a blog with expansive boundries--topic-wise--I could be expected to touch on the more personal happenings in my life from time to time. Personal issues however are not what I am always anxious or happy to write about. With that preface in place, I'll just say I have a less-than-pleasant medical proceedure to contend with first thing in the morning. After I have endured this for-now-unnamed proceedure, if there are any comment-worthy thoughts on my mind regarding the experience--and I think them somehow worthy of sharing--I may bring myself to post them here then. We'll see...

Movin' and a-Groovin' in the Social Networking World!

I've just been clicking all kinds of stuff in order to--I think/hope--link this blog to my facebook profile. This here little post is a test of sorts to see if I am going to irritate myself or others by linking things up in this way. As always,  comments are welcomed and appreciated. Now I'm off for my morning walk.

Facebook | Allen Randall

Facebook | Allen Randall

Christian faith: Calvinism is back / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Christian faith: Calvinism is back / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Didn't Know it (the "turbulance") Would Begin so Soon.

Fox News is running the headline, "In the Midwest, The FBI Make Militia Arrests." In light of this new development,  I predict the smearing of the tea party movement will now begin in earnest. All the derisive comments and innuendo up to this point have been nothing compared to what I believe is clearly on the horizon. The administration needs some headlines which will serve both to distract from the deep unpopularity of their newly-minted health takeover and will, at the same time, completely marginalize the tea party movement. Watch for a connection to be soon drawn between these latest arrest and the fact that one of those arrested at some point attended a tea party protest.

Look: this militia group--or whatever it is--did NOT spring up right after the signing of the health care bill. No doubt it has been in existence even before Barrack Obama's election. This militia group has probably been under surveillance for many months--if not for years. The administration was just waiting for the most propagandistically propitious moment to play the be-afraid-of-the-tea-party-crowd card. And now they've played it. Expect a few more cards to be slapped down on the media table for public consumption in the weeks and months ahead. As I said in my last post, "Buckle up--I see turbulence ahead."

We May be Experiencing a Little Turbulance up Ahead--So Please be Advised to Fasten Your Seatbelt

It was the day before the 2,600 page health bill passed. I stood at the corner of Broadway and 3rd in downtown San Diego holding a sign reading, "Stand up for liberty!" I was across the street from the main Tea Party folks who numbered about 120. I waited there, apart from the main group so that my wife, who was on her way, could easily find me when she arrived. As I stood there with my sign,  I was approached by a 20-something man who said, with a sneer, "Who are they? A bunch of tea-baggers?" "Well," I said, "that is the derisive and vulgar term used by their opponents--but I prefer to think of us in terms like, patriots, freedom-lovers, responsible citizens and defenders of the Constitution." This I said in a genuinely calm and pleasant tone. Seeing he'd failed to elicit an angry response from me, he quickly walked away, a bit disappointed I imagined.

Let it be said here that contentious folks are to be found on either side of our country's political divide. My purpose in relating the story above is simply to provide a backdrop for  three points I am anxious to make about the current political climate: First, why the presidency of Mr. Obama is not operating on a non-partisan basis and bringing us together as promised. Second, why political correctness and partisan attacks may soon reach levels heretofore not seen in our lifetimes.  And last, why it is that the political left has a far higher percentage of haters in its ranks than does the right.

It should now be glaringly obvious to even the most hopeful Obama supporter that, rather than us seeing our country being happily brought together by a compromising, conciliating, middle-way, political-peace-making president, we are instead witnessing our political and social fabric being agonizingly torn asunder. This tearing has been brought about as a result of the radical changes to our societal structure passed much too rapidly into law using highly unorthodox and undemocratic means and in a purely partisan fashion. This ram-rod approach has troubled a majority of our citizens and roused very deep concerns on the part of many. Some are even quite angry over what they consider the latest, and largest, of a series of unconstitutional power grabs by an administration they view as bent on fundamentally altering the foundational principles of our governmental and economic system.

Political correctness has always been around in one form or another. In a nutshell is is a prevailing political atmosphere which grows to so dominate civic and cultural life that one who expresses opinions contrary to it  may be subject to social "penalties" ranging anywhere from subtle blacklisting to being--in the current political climate--labeled a racist, sexist or homophobe, or even to facing actual civil--or even criminal--penalties. The major institutions of our culture; education, mainstream news media and government, are all purveyors and enforcers of the current left-dominated political correctness. This has been the case at least since the mid-1980s--and in some respects even prior to then. Now however, it seems that political correctness has reached a critical mass and, rather than those in power feeling secure and sanguine in their newly acquired position of power, they seem instead to feel all the more threatened and defensive. Thus, anyone with strong objections to the current government take-overs of large sectors of the economy are now being labeled as somehow "dangerous' or "anti-government." This is a common tactic of those seeking to marginalize and demonize their opponents. I believe we can expect much more of this. We should be ready for it. As I indicated, this ride may get very bumpy.

In conversation with some of my friends on the political or theological left, they will sometimes make reference to "right wing hate" most often citing Rush Limbaugh as their prime example. Compared to any left-wing counterpoint one might want to name--for example anyone on the former Air America network--Mr. Limbaugh is a gentleman's gentleman when it comes to political discourse. My friends on the left seem genuinely incredulous when I give them my testimony that I have found a wonderfully tolerant attitude among  conservatives and far, far less hatred that I had known--and practiced--in my sojourn with the political left. The reasons for this are numerous, but the plain and main reason for the greater volume of hatred on the left, as compared to the right, is simply that the right views people on the left as essentially like themselves, only people who happen to be in the grip of mistaken or bad ideas. Those on the left however, view those on the right as unlike themselves--and as bad or evil people. Hating and expressing hatred can have a cathartic aspect to it and is, in a perverse way, enjoyable and even--also in a perverse way--self-affirming. I know from personal experience. I used to love to hate the right and all conservatives and conservative institutions: traditional churches, their leaders and members; all political groups to the right of my perspective; the Boy Scouts, the military, police, all corporations, big business and of course greedy capitalism in general--and all the middle class "droids" who helped in any way support these institutions. That was quite a vast number of people for me to hate. Seems though I was quite up to the challenge and felt quite self-righteous in the process.

It may be necessary for me to remind the reader that I am fully aware of the fact of right-wing anger and hatred. My whole point though--my assertion based upon experience--is that, as a percentage of the whole, the haters on the right are by far a much smaller percentage than those on the left. Speaking for myself, there were two big factors which kept me from transferring the hatred I once enjoyed--yes, I did enjoy it!--on the left to the other side of the political avenue. One was my newly-acquired Christian value system and the other was the entrenched conservative tradition of respectful civility I found to be firmly in place when I arrived at my new political home. I must confess that from time to time I have been tempted, especially in times past, to backslide back into a clenched-fist approach to political activism, but each time, before very long, I'd find myself relaxing that inner clenched fist as I am reminded, by my Lord and by respected conservative leaders, that although we may be called to the political ramparts, we are always to fight as happy warriors who are to love even our enemies as we go about subjecting their ideas only, and not their persons, to our assaults. This is the happy warrior tradition I am proud to be associated with, and the one I wish--and will work--to see maintained as we move into this next episode of our country's history.

In Celebration of Spring, an Offering From --e.e. cummings:

in Just-

spring       when the world is mud-

luscious the little lame ballooman

whistles       far       and wee

and eddyandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far       and       wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan       whistles

far

and

wee

Dennis Prager--One of the Leaders in the New Resistance Movement

The Dennis Prager Show

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The ELEM-6 Diet Now Has Its Very Own Blog! And...

The ELEM-6 Diet has taken the blogosphere by storm! That's why I've decided to give this plucky little diet its very own blog site. You can find it here: http://elem-6.blogspot.com/   

And... that's not all: my amazing sister, Lauren, who herself has lost 60 pounds(!) using the ELEM-6 Diet, will be blogging with me and sharing her keen psychological insights about how one gets a grip on one's inner attitudes about food, self-image and many other things, all of which I think you'll find a greatly helpful and very encouraging.Unlike me, Lauren brings to the table some real credentials as a writer and a seasoned professional in the area of behavior modification (and I don't know about you, but my behavior seems ever be in need of yet more modification!) I'll let Lauren tell you more about her professional experience and her personal achievements with weight loss and in many other areas. Together we're going to coach you as you let the ELEM-6 philosophy sink in and begin to practice the many ELEM tips we'll be giving you along the way.

Be sure to bookmark the ELEM-6 blog and visit often as you take the plunge and begin to EL and EM in the weeks and months ahead. Lauren and Iwill be here (well, I suppose I should say, "there") Of course you are more than welcome to continue visiting Random Acts of Intelligence as often as you like. I will continue to blog here as well, on subjects of all sorts.

ELEM-6 Diet, Part-9: ELEM-6 is One-Year Old Today!

And we've now sold over 100,000 copies of the book! Just kidding there, but who knows? If Oprah has me on before she goes off the air...well, then it could happen.

Here are the details in brief: I began to EL/EM-6 on November 20, 2008. Ten months later I had lost 80 pounds. I went from weighing 240 to my present 160. That comes out to 8-lbs per month, or just 2-lbs per week. See? If you only have 40-lbs to lose you can either lose it in 5 months by going for the 2-lbs per week, or--you can lose 1-lb a week for the full 10 months. It's up to you! Get out a calendar and figure out what you want to weigh and how long it will take to get there. That's exactly what I did.

I know, I know--Thanksgiving is just days away. If you decide to wait until after, who am I to give you a hard time about it? No sweat. However, there is one big advantage to starting now: doing so will send a bold message to yourself--and everyone else--that you really are serious about this. And, you will be able to look back and say, "If I can EL/EM on Thanksgiving, why, then I know I can do this!" It'll get you off to a great beginning; and beginnings are important.

Speaking of beginnings; have we picked up a good pair of walking shoes yet? You'll need the shoes, a digital scale, some sweat pants and perhaps a zip-up sweatshirt with a hood. Have you bought some new kind of cereal and other food? Not necessary really, but it helps.

Now I want to get very specific so, if you need it, you will have a clear pattern to follow. It is very important to begin the night before. What I mean is, you need to lay out your sweats, socks, shoes and things by a chair or somewhere easy to get to. You don't want to be rummaging around in drawers at 4:30 in the morning. Did I mention you'd probably have to get up early than you are used to? You do. Live with it!

If you are like me you will come to--I know it seems impossible to believe--absolutely cherish the first couple hours of the day. I wouldn't have believed it myself, but it's turned out to be so true for me. From 5:00a.m. to 6:30a.m. is now my favorite time of day. I think endorphins may play a role. At any rate, you must EM. Starting with 20 minutes is OK at the beginning if you really can't do any more, but just accept that you will need to build up to a full hour before very long. An hour-and-a-half to two hours is ideal if you can get there.

Here is an EM tip: extend your time by extending the route you walk. Add a block or two here and there until the course you set takes about an hour. In my case I use one very wide and long street as my course. Not really a course because I just walk up and back a couple of times and that's that. It takes me 15 minutes up the street and the same time coming back. So I do it twice and there is my hour. Then I walk, stretch and cool down for another 1/2 hour.

Well, I have more details for you but I'm sleepy and it's beddy-bye time for me--I've got to get up at o-dark-thirty!

Hang in there--keep taking in the ELEM-6 principles. Let the motivation arise within you as you think, "I must, I can... I will!" You can do this!

A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours.

The ELEM-6 Diet, Part-8: A Brief Review

wOK--I will assume you have by now done at least some of the things I have suggested in earlier posts. You have, haven't you? I have suggested both mental steps you need to take as well as very practical things you need to do.

Let's review:

1) You learned the meaning of ELEM-6 The diet no one is talking about!

2) You discovered there is no silver-bullet and that your metabolism is not the issue. (If you are still thinking your metabolism is to blame, then you need to pick up the phone and make an appointment with your doctor so you can settle the question once and for all)

3) You got a hint that time management might be one issue to tackle if you are going to add a full hour to an hour-and-a-half to your daily schedule. Yet another bullet to bite. (Perhaps this should be called the Biting Bullets Diet--there seem to be a good number of them needing to be bitten!)

4) You learned that a visit to your doctor could be motivating--especially if said doctor tells you about the likelihood of your developing diabetes or a heart condition as a result of your excess weight. Have you been to your doctor yet? If your doctor doesn't make an issue of your weight, then encourage them to! I mean it. Ask him or her, "Doc, do you think I need to lose some weight? How much should I loose to avoid future health problems? If your doctor is too timid to give you the stern lecture you need, then make your doctor give you one!

5) You found that putting off the day of reckoning would not do. You confronted that simple yet profound three-part statement one needs to say to one's self at some point: "I must, I can, I will."

6) Then I encouraged you to elicit the prayers of a few trusted friends. I hope by now you have told three or four people that you need to--and intend to--lose a significant amount of weight in the near future and have asked them to be praying for you in this regard. Have you?

7) Next came the revelation that no day is a good day to begin a diet. In fact, there is not a single day in all 365 which is a good day to begin a diet. They are all bad and every single one of them right near some holiday or birthday or some other celebration which will involve lots of food. I'm writing this on November 9th. I know what you might be thinking: "Well, you know, Thanksgiving is coming up real soon--this would be a really bad time to begin. I'll just wait until after Thanksgiving." Then, after Thanksgiving, guess what? It's Christmastime. That too is of course a terrible time to begin a diet. "I know," you may be thinking, "I'll wait until the New Year. Yes, that's it. The newness of the year will give me just the boost I need to get me started." Uh-huh. New Year's Day comes with a special dispensation of will-power, generated by the shining resolutions made the day prior, does it? Never really worked that way for me--at least not as far as dieting is concerned. I had a whole day to spend around the house with all kinds of leftover Christmas cookies, Chex Party Mix and all kinds of goodies. My New Year's dieting resolutions usually lasted until about lunchtime.

8) Next, I encouraged you to go get a few items. Remember what they were? Here is a hint: Bathroom scale (digital); good walking shoes (I like New Balance); sweat pants and hoodie. If you will be walking early in the morning you may also need some gloves. If you want to burn a few extra calories along the way, then pick up a set of hand-weights while you're at the store. Start with the real light ones: 2 or 3 pounds. By buying the things above you will further motivate yourself. Oh, I almost forgot. If you don't already have one, perhaps you should get an i-pod or a little arm-band radio so you can listen to your favorite music as you walk.

9) The last thing you learned about is, for me, a key part of the ELEM-6 Diet Plan. That is the part about giving yourself one day a week off. One day in which you eat whatever you feel like in any quantity your heart desires. I call it my "free day." Some people tell me it couldn't work for them or didn't. Perhaps. Still, I find it to be a great incentive each week during the preceding six days. I'll may write more about my "free day" in the future.

Well, that is enough review. My next post will be my attempt to get you to at least approach the starting line (if you haven't already done so) and set a goal, and set a date on the calendar for arriving at your goal. I'll get the starter's pistol ready. I can't wait! On your mark...

PS-- For me, this will be the start of ELEM-6 Year II Wow, how time flies! :-)

The ELEM-6 Diet, Part-7: Why the "6"

Dear Struggling One,

Don't be deceived, dieting--especially the ELEM-6 diet--is hard work. Now, I ask you (those who follow the Hebrew scriptures) In this life, how many days is one to work? Yes, six. Blessedly, our heavenly Father has ordained a day of rest. One day out of the seven of our week. I have been trying to put this principle in practice in my life for a good ten years or so. Dennis Prager, one of my main hero's inspired me in this. After these ten years, I'm still trying, but I have a long ways to go until I get it right. Here is the deal: First, establish a Sabbath Day in your work week. After you lay that marker down, everything else seems to fall into place. Don't worry about becoming a Seventh Day Adventist. Just get hold of the Sabbath Principle and you'll soon get the hang of it.

Yes, I know it is as inconvenient as can be. Most of us get two full days, "off the clock," to spend however we please. The trouble is, many fill both of these days with activity galore. I know--I used to do that too. Going here and there. Shopping; car in for LOF or repairs; paying the bills; laundry, repairs around the home, vacuuming, shopping, more bills--soon we are part of the Rat Race without even knowing how we entered it. We don't quite know how, but we find we have a little tank-top with a number pinned on it and we're huffing and puffing our way down the race course that seems to have no end. That's because we did not set the Sabbath apart as holy to the Lord. We though we'd use the "free" time to take care of business and get stuff done. Makes sense, but not in God's economy.

All this is to say that you need to work very hard at dieting and exercise (EL,EM) SIX DAYS A WEEK only. Get it? I can't tell you what a difference the "6" in my dieting plan has made for me. When my seventh day comes up, I put all the work of dieting aside and eat to my hearts content. I usually don't "pig out" , but I know I can if I want to. Wheat Thins and Triscuits in abundance! Cookies! Bread of all kinds! Hot dogs, frozen pizza, wine--whatever! Ahhh... All worth waiting 6 days for.

What I am encouraging you to do--however you can do it--is to only do the strict dieting for six days. Give yourself one "free" day. It is something to look forward to. When you are denying yourself something really yummy, you can say to yourself, "Hang in there, it won't be but a very few days until I can enjoy whatever my heart desires. So, to recap: Eat-Less-Exercise-More-SIX-Days-a-week. Got it?

Well, that will have to be all for today. Hang in there and, if you haven't yet begun, prepare to do so.

--Allen

PS--Have you got your walking shoes and digital scale yet? Well, get ready because we're starting real soon!

The ELEM Diet, Part-6: Getting Started

There is never a good day to begin a diet. Last year, as I walked out of my doctor's office on the twentieth of November, determining within myself that, "I can do this, I must do this--I will do this," I was so focused on the immediate task of starting to lose weight I didn't stop to think that Thanksgiving was exactly one week away. What timing! Not only that, but I had just been grocery shopping a few days before and our fridge and cupboards were brimming with all my favorite comfort foods: flour tortillas (I'd toss one right on the burner of the stove, flip it a few times, then slather it with butter and salt--mmmm, good!). I had hot dogs, cream cheese, p-nut butter, canned chili, chocolate bars, cookies--you name it. It was easily $120.00 worth of food. I am such a penny pincher, looking at all this food I'd just bought tempted me to put off starting to ELEM for a few weeks. But I knew I could not do that. The day of reckoning had come and putting things off yet again would just not do. As inconvenient as the timing was, I had to begin now--even if all this food went to waste.

There are always holidays just around the corner. There are always birthdays or other celebrations a day or two away. From that standpoint, it is never a "good time" to begin to ELEM. Just accept that fact, pick a day, and get to it.

Oh, have you bought your new walking shoes and new bathroom scale yet? Just do it! More to follow...

The ELEM-6 Diet, Part-5: Haven't Got a Prayer?

[Please excuse the rough-draft nature of this post. I'll come back to it in the next few days and clean it up. I just wanted to get it to you ASAP] --Allen

My dear still struggling friends. In the psychological /spiritual battle regarding weight, one needs every tool possible. For folks of faith, this means, among other things, prayer. Now don't go thinking (as us overweight folks so often do) that this will make things effortless or so easy one need not work very hard. No--prayer is not some spiritual magic diet pill that will enable you to lose weight while you sleep. Yet--yet, there is something to earnest prayer which connects us to God in a way which leads to victory when previous efforts--even valiant ones--have failed.

Let me tall you about how prayer was a significant element in my beginning to get real about losing weight. I work at my church and our ministry team holds a weekly staff meeting. Besides the church issues we discuss, staff members will often ask for prayer regarding someone or something in their area of ministry. Also, staff members will ask for prayer for a family member who is ill or for some other personal issue. I'm a fairly private person and do not readily share my personal problems and struggles. Last year though, in April or may, at one particular staff meeting, I felt like I should illicit the help of others with my struggle to lose weight (or, perhaps I should say, my lack of being willing to really struggle meaningfully about my weight). So when it came my turn to ask for prayers, I told them how much my excess weight bothered me and how I had failed time and again to control my eating. I confessed that it was an embarrassment to me and a further embarrassment to tell them this. At any rate, no one made a big deal of it or commented much. nonetheless, I now believe that my prayer request to my co-workers that day somehow played a vital role in my eventual success. For all I know, it was the prayers and faith of one of them which really made the difference--and not so much my own.

I should mention here that this happened a full six months before I began to get serious about my weight. However, having asked people to pray for me made me all the more aware that something had to happen and it needed to happen sooner rather than later. One great thing which came of my confession to my co-workers is that one of them, our church's youth leader, would pop into my office every week or two and ask me how my dieting was going. This made me feel guilty when I had to tell him I wasn't yet making much--or any--progress. I was walking a bit (EM), but had not begun to EL yet.

My suggestion: Either in person or perhaps by email, select a handful of people who care about you and tell them how frustrated you are with trying to lose weight. Tell them you know you really must find a way and need all the help you can get. Ask them to remember you in their prayers in this regard. If you are really brave, you might invite them to ask you form time to time how it's going.

O.K. I have now revealed you one of the secret strategies of the ELEM-6 diet which is not contained in the acronym. Perhaps I should have called it ELEM-6+P.

That's all for now. Keep checking back in the weeks ahead as I share more and get into some real detail about how I began in earnest and what that was like.

PS-- You CAN do this! You must, you can, you will!

--Allen