Amendment One

I had not intended that this blog would go beyond things relating to fitness but it is a deep desire on my part to be on record about a subject that is currently hotly discussed in North Carolina.

Amendment One is a proposed constitutional amendment which, if passed, would codify into the constitution of North Carolina that the only legally recognized relationship between two people is a marriage between a man and a woman.

While obviously aimed to enshrine a ban on same-sex marriages (which are not allowed in North Carolina under current law already), the wording of the amendment could possibly exclude any other forms of domestic partnerships and thus even complicate opposite-sex relationships outside of marriages.

There is something about this proposed amendment that is deeply troubling to me. If I turned the clock back just 42 years to the year 1970, my marriage would not have been possible under the laws of North Carolina at that time. My husband is black, and I am white. The first legal interracial marriage did not happen here until October 6, 1971.

If anybody would have proposed then a constitutional amendment to ban interracial marriage, it may have passed with flying colors, supported by the same arguments that are now used to vilify another segment of the population.

I realize that my opinion may be offending to some, and I am sorry for them.

Taxing Times

Today is April 15, the day dreaded by many, if only on principle. That date was established in 1955, and it is hard to imagine that there would be anybody who does not know of it. This brings me to my subject of this blog: time management and its sibling stress management.

Stress is an interesting thing as it is always internal and manifests itself in our response to external circumstances. That’s why I find it strange that people even create the stress-inducing external circumstances by procrastination. This can be tax day or any other deadline which is well known in advance. Yet, there are those who claim that they work the best under pressure.

It is true: stress hormones prepare the body for action and can heighten awareness. But those hormones prepare for PHYSICAL action; the movement of fingers on a keyboard does not count.

Long-term effects of stress impact the entire body: the cardiovascular, digestive and immune system. Sleep becomes an issue thus compromising the body repair and restore function.

People who are chronically late have probably already been told of any time management known to man.

What I want to suggest here is to take a MELT class. MELT quiets the stress reflex and brings the body to a more aligned and natural state. My regular MELTers have been telling me that they also see an improvement in sleep which is the body’s way of restoring health.