The Non-Negotiables ARE Non-Negotiable.

Today, turned out to be a pretty great day.

Last night, I had set out an article that I wanted to read this morning. It was a critical piece for my Aboriginal curriculum leadership research. So, I wanted to take time for deep reading and note taking. That called for a fresh pot of coffee, a seat beside an open window in the morning sunlight, a new page in my note book, and a funky brown pen, pink highlighter, and sticky notes. It was an excellent article and the author quoted many other pieces of research in the same area that I will need to locate and read, as well. It made for an enjoyable morning.

I stopped at 11:30 and made a salad for lunch so that I was prepared to talk to Dr. Bev at noon. We had a great call. I was glad to hear that she had read my blog and she suggested that I should tweet it out to my Twitter followers. So, there might be more people reading it soon! The other thing that we talked about today was my goal list that I had completed for homework in the last week. She brought up an excellent point about how some of the things on the list were non-negotiable - adequate sleep, a nutritious diet, daily exercise, and relaxation. That's a hard lesson to learn. I know that I'm not alone in that struggle. I talk to others on an almost daily basis who are challenged by similar obstacles. We work too hard and sleep too little. We eat too much and exercise too little. It's a classic. We - read I - need to learn that the non-negotiables are non-negotiable. Period.

With that in mind, I set off for the rest of my day. First, I met with the rep from the publishing company. It wasn't what I hoped that it would be. He wanted me to write a text for my undergraduate course. I want to write one for my graduate course. He is probably right to believe that there isn't a wide enough audience for the graduate level text. I agreed to consider the undergraduate text as I teach my class next winter. It might be a possibility.

For the last two weeks, I have been waiting anxiously for the snow drift to disappear from my deck. I have been making a deal with myself that I was going to celebrate by rolling out the BBQ the day the drift was gone. Today was the day. So, I fired up the BBQ, prepared a package with carrots, potatoes, and fresh dill, and headed to Sobey's for the key ingredients to create the perfect burger.

The first backyard burger of the season? Delicious!

The only thing left to do at that point was exercise...and that's non-negotiable, so I did.