Exercising inner demons

Exercise is now my saviour.
After a long day of work - too long - it was a massive relief to put on my walking shoes, plug my ears with an audio book, put the dog on the lead and head out into nature.
Instead of collapsing when I got home, I got energised, refreshed and chilled out.
I you could say that I'm exercising my inner demons.
Talked to a friend who owns a clothes shop and she told me that if she doesn't exercise, sleep well and eat well everything goes out of whack. She needs that powerful trio to be whole.
I'd add inner peace into that. Others might call it prayer or meditation, spirituality or being in touch with a greater power.
My peace comes from so many things - laughing with family, talking with friends, doing art, writing, body surfing in our wild Tasman Sea and just being still (this being my greatest challenge).
When I stand in the shower, my thoughts race as fast as the water rushing at me, but when I stop and just hear the water, feel it on my skin, and wash away those tumble weeds of the mind, then peace comes.
Same with lying in bed in the deep night when my chattering monkey brain becomes a cacophony of noisy thoughts; that's when I focus on silence and listen to it like it's a masterpiece of non-sound.
Anyway, I'm succeeding in my quest, but I have walked a tightrope of stress this week.
Best of all my husband Warren's back from five days in Dunedin - bet some of you wondered why I was cooking!
But I enjoyed it. Loved creating with healthy food and nourishing my whanau. So it will continue, even if I have couple of stock standards to make.
Talking of food, yesterday was my greatest challenge of all. Had an In Season session with one of the WITT chefs and he served up a couple of tasty dishes, but one of them wasn't that suitable for my low-fat diet. For those of you wondering about In Season, it's a fortnightly food page that runs in the Taranaki Daily News. For this the WITT chefs choose a fresh vegetable or fruit and cook something delectable and I get to try these dishes and write about them.
Yesterday, it took all my will power, or is that won't power, not to keep eating the delicious pasta dish because it was sooo good. Mmm.
But my walk make me feel virtuous, dispelling any feelings of guilt.
So, for both mind and body, exercise is definitely my saviour.

Yesterday, I didn't do so well in a couple of areas:
Slept for 5 hours
Worked for 13 hours

But succeeded in:
Walking for 30 minutes (Sepulchre is getting good!)
Eating three reasonably healthy meals (no snacks)

Was reminded about:
The importance of sleeping well, eating healthy and exercising reguarly (daily for me!).