About a month ago, I decided to diet. I had tried a few crazy diet programs before, but never stuck with them, some not even for two days. I remember the only time I did successfully diet, was a diet that I made for myself. I truly believe it's the ONLY way one can diet. It must be a diet you create for yourself, one you know you can stick too. Yes, you must cut down on fat and calories, but if you surround yourself with low fat food and low calories foods of YOUR choice, you can definitely succeed.

Okay, so the other side of cutting down on food intake is to exercise. Let's face it; if you had the energy to do that, you wouldn't need to diet in the first place! I am a firm believer in vitamins, supplements and homeopathy. So the first thing I did was visit Vitacost.com and locate medications that suited MY diet plan and ME. It took only a few days for my pills and green tea to arrive and I started taking them immediately. I ate less, felt better (no more acid reflux) and had the urge to just go do something. Even though I have a little exercise routine that I found online, I really feel that I need to DO something. Something that requires energy and makes sweat AND allows me to Accomplish something. Nothing compares to the euphoria feeling of exercising and accomplishing something when you are on a diet.

I know it's hot this time of year, but you can always go outside early morning or late evening and there's bound to be shade somewhere. Or make a sensible expenditure of a big 'ol umbrella and make your own shade. I've got many little projects to work on outside, but my favorite is working on my little garden. I plan on making many more and even smaller. Not only do I feel the wonderful sensation of accomplishment, but gardening is also therapeutic.

Okay for those of you who can't grow a thing..... I didn't say you had to plant one single thing!!

Your goal is to move around and create; i.e., exercise and accomplish, resulting in euphoria. Then sit back under a shade and sip on tea or water and reflect, enjoy, meditate, and relax. The whole purpose of this, is when you feel Good, you'll want to keep feeling that way. It will become a habit for you; at least it has for me.

So what kind of garden can you make? There are a MILLION ideas. Of course, you could make a rock garden, herb garden, glass bottle garden, and so much more. But I have a few little ideas, which are neat and fun.

Have you ever heard of Fairy Houses? Just do a google search and browse all the websites. You can even find several ideas on how to build your own. If you have a child or grandchild, this can be a project for the both of you. Not only are you accomplishing your goal (of exercising and accomplishing), but also you'll be spending quality time with someone who loves you. If you don't feel like searching, let me just say, you build fairy houses with whatever you find lying around (don't pull or cut anything that's living; fairies don't like that!). Fallen bark off an old tree, twigs, rocks, shells, and birdseeds make a wonderful start to a happy little home.

How about a shadow garden? This is a garden best made at the base of a tree with items that are weather tolerable. First you'll need to clean the ground at the base of your tree, removing all sticks, unwanted rocks, and other debris. Then decide on your items. You can buy tons of little garden decors at your local dollar store, but it's a lot more fun to make your own. Use your imagination. Have some red and black paint? Locate some oval or round rocks. Paint them red and then put black spots, black head and black antennae for an adorable little Ladybug (spray with clear coat or high gloss enamel). A real cute idea it to select three rocks; two large and one small for a Ladybug family. Set these at the base of you tree. You can make them little homes from rocks of various sizes. You can place a terracotta pot plant next to them. At the base of it paint a little door and windows, making it appear as the families home. Take tiny pebbles and incircle the families area, or then entire tree base. Again, use your imagination. (By the way, I create the little bugs mentioned here, but I began by carving the rock, giving is a slight beautiful 3D effect, which also is wonderful stress relief for your fingers. I'll have them available at my store soon (by the time you read this, they might already be listed!)

Another great garden idea is to Plant Yourself! This takes a little more physical labor than the above two, but it is well worth it. You need rocks of all sizes, and one large enough for you caboose. You want to arrange the rocks in a design that is appealing to you. I used a circle; resembling an Indian spirit circle or medicine wheel. I placed a large rock in the middle that can be used to stand on or to sit on. I placed four other rocks inside of the circle to represent to four directions. I placed a very large rock next to the circle; for me to sit on. I created a fairy house next to the circle, and built a large garden on the other side of the circle, so I can sit on my large rock and see the circle, the fairy house and the garden. I create and change this all of the time. So I have a place to plant my butt and just relax and reflect. I feel so wonderful because I exercised in the process, but because I was enjoying myself, I did not notice it.

I hope I have inspired you to create something. Work a little on your creation every other day, or whenever you can grab the time. You will be accomplishing so much for yourself by doing this. You will notice how better you feel in Mind, Spirit and Body. Enjoy your creations and use them as places of relaxation, mediation, prayer, and whatever else you can think of - that You Would enjoy. The reason you started to diet, was to feel better right? Obtain that goal by doing more than just dieting and exercising. You will find that creating little gardens of joy easily fits in with your self-made diet program wonderfully. Enjoy!

I know I do.

Tina http://chick-chatter.blogspot.com
http://creaturesrock.com