You Create Beauty

View from Telegraph Hill, Jenny Galetti

WEEKEND RECAP

This past weekend proved, once again, how mercurial San Francisco weather can be! Hot, cold, fog and sunshine.

Saturday's training walks were terrific although it was a really hot day which can make walking long distances challenging.

Sandra and Michele led 16 - 3 Day walkers on a great route that featured the Promenade and a walk through Golden Gate Park past the De Young Museum. After the break at Andronico's Market, they continued past Stow Lake and finished their 12 miles by walking UP Linclon Blvd. What a terrific opportunity for 3 Day walkers to connect! Congratulations Warming Hut Hotties for hosting such a terrific walk and thank you Sandra & Michele for leading everyone!

Trina led our other 12 mile training walk with 15 people on a super San Francisco scenic route. They walked UP Chestnut St., down Curvy Lombard and then UP Telegraph Hill.  After breaking at the Ferry Plaza they continued to AT & T Park, SOMA, FiDi and then UP the Broadway Stairs. In a new twist, they continued straight on Broadway until it intersected with the Presidio which involved more UPHILL climbing! Thank you Trina for leading this training walk for me!

Sunday morning was a stark contrast to Saturday's heat. When we met at the Warming Hut the the fog was being whipped in by the howling wind. We did a less challenging route with a walk on Land's End Trail (stopping at the Land's End Visitor's Center) and then back along Lake St. to Mountain Lake Park with an easy stroll back down the Park Trail to the Warming Hut.

THIS WEEK'S MAP QUOTES

See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... we need silence to be able to touch souls. Mother Teresa

We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community. Dorothy Day  

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect. Joan Didion 

The belief that becomes truth for me... is that which allows me the best use of my strength, the best means of putting my virtues into action. Andre Gide  

To approach the stranger is to invite the unexpected, release a new force, let the genie out of the bottle. It is to start a new train of events that is beyond your control. You will change your mind, but you are not free. You made a decision; you set in motion forces in your life and in the lives of others. T.S. Eliot 

The distance isn't important; it is only the first step that is difficult. Marquise du Deffand

WEEKLY INSPIRATION 

One of the things I love most about this group is that our training walks are an incubator of kindness and beauty. Someone shared this Coca Cola commercial with me.

This commercial hearkens back to the very early years when I first started walking when it was the "Avon 3 Day" and the event was produced by Pallotta Teamworks. One slogan they had that has always stuck in my mind: Be Human. Be Kind. Be Both. HumanKindness.

Those words, and my early 3 Day walks, changed the way I live my life. I choose kindness over negativity. Kindness of selfishness. Kindness over intolerance. I choose kindness daily.

There is beauty in choosing kindness in our daily interactions: spontaneous small gestures, encouraging words, thoughtful actions.We are all fragile humans making our way in this world and the ripple of kindness can make a great impact. Let's create beauty. 

If you really want to be inspired, watch the old Palotta videos.

UPCOMING TRAINING WALKS

RSVP here: http://groupspaces.com/InOurLifetime/calendar/ 

The RSVP function closes at 4pm on Friday so I can print maps. Please RSVP before that time!

Saturday 6/23 - 12 miles - 7:00am - Warming Hut

Sunday 6/24 - 12 miles - 7:00am - The Transit Cafe

Saturday 6/30 – 12 Miles – 7:00am

Sunday 7/1 – Approx. 14 Mile Trail Walk – 7:30am

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER

• Mental health benefits.Mental health benefits. Although you probably can’t laugh off depression, one of the many benefits of laughter and a sense of humor is that they buffer you against the negatives of life that could lead to depression. As an added bonus, research shows that people who use humor to fight stress also feel less lonely and more positive about themselves. And one recent study found that humor therapy was as effective as widely used antipsychotic drugs — minus the side effects — in managing agitation in patients with dementia. 
• Physical benefits. Although we can’t yet say that a certain number of laughs every day will keep the doctor away, studies show that people who say they laugh a lot also tend to be in good health and generally feel well. Laughter is also one of the most commonly used complementary therapies among cancer patients, who find that one of the benefits of laughter is an improved quality of life.
• Heart health benefits. Laughter could be healthy for your heart, too. Some research shows that when you laugh, there is an increase in oxygen-rich blood flow in your body, possibly due to the release of endorphins, which create a chemical rush that counters negative feelings and stress. Activities that increase endorphins include a good workout and listening to music you love, and laughter deserves its place on the list with these other stress busters.

Full article here.