Thoughts From Pilar Gerasimo
LATEST STORIES
Muck Raking
Every spring, as soon as the mornings get warm enough for me to venture outside, I have this little sunrise routine: Still groggy from bed, I grab a cup of coffee and head out into the backyard.
Healthy Is as Healthy Does
My first glimpse into the connection between personal health and planetary health came when I was a little kid, maybe 8 years old.
Walking My Talk
It’s a funny thing. When you work for a “healthy way of life” company, people tend to presume that you do, in fact, have a healthy way of life.
Connecting the Dots
Over the three years that I’ve been editing this magazine, I’ve been developing my own little mental image of how this whole health and fitness thing works.
Analyze This
Not a month goes by that I don’t hear from at least one friend or relative who says: “I had the weirdest dream last night; listen to this …” People call me to tell me their dreams because I am, seriously, the queen of amateur dream analysis.
Mission Possible
Ever get to the point when you’ve read so much depressing news that your brain and heart reach some kind of maximum density and you just feel defeated by it all? I must admit that despite my usually relentless optimism, I was there last month.
Mother Knows Best
Not long ago, I came across a quote from an unknown source that read: “Sound really does travel slower than light. The advice parents give to their 18-year-olds doesn’t reach them until they’re about 40.”
Workout Wisdom
“Get yourself an exercise buddy.” That’s some of the best exercise advice I’ve ever heard. But I swear, no health and fitness idea (except perhaps “eat more vegetables”) has been so completely overexposed, yet so totally underutilized.
Walk in the Park
Once, a long time ago, someone gave me a sensible piece of outdoors advice: If you’re out on a hike and aren’t sure whether your trail loops back on itself, turn around whenever your water is half gone.
Turn of Phrase
“Lighten up” is one of those funky little phrase that can mean many different things.
Off and Running
I’ve been running for a few years now. I like it, mostly. Except when I hate it.
Making Connections and Taking Action
Zowie! Ever since the last issue lit a fire under me (Jan./Feb., Action Plan 2004), I’ve been on kind of an action rampage.
Getting It Done
“Is this supposed to press down on my nose so much,” I asked Ryan, the trainer administering my metabolic and VO2 max test. “Yeah, it needs to be snug enough so air doesn’t get in through the sides,” he explained, adjusting the straps and checking the seal of the mask.
Non-Instant Gratification
This marks the end of my second full year editing Experience Life. Two years of reading and writing about wellness, fitness and quality of life.
Coming Up for Air
Hey, did we get an abridged-version of summer this year? I swear it was July before I even got my garden in, and then it seemed like the next time I looked, all my plants were already going to seed.
Doing Something Rash
Maybe it’s my imagination, but I’ve begun to notice this weird phenomenon in my editing work. If I start working on an interesting story, or I get into researching a new topic, I’ll often have some sort of direct personal experience with the subject matter. Some of these serendipitous encounters are quite pleasant. Others, not so much.
Watching for Signs
For the past few months, my neighborhood has been slowly filling with signs. Lawn signs, mostly – signs about war and peace, signs rallying support for different points of view. One morning last week, I went out for my morning run and noticed that all the signs belonging to one camp had disappeared. Overnight, I presume, one side took down the other side’s signs – an effort that would have required both trespassing and stealing.
Permission Granted
In the game of Scrabble, there’s a very handy rule that allows you to exchange some (or even all) of your letter tiles for brand new ones. In my experience, this rule is chronically underemployed. People often forget about it altogether – until they find themselves looking at the board and their available letters, and discovering that about all they can spell is plfhxt.
Control Issues
This being the Take Charge issue and all, it’s tempting to claim that when we relaunched Experience Life magazine a little over a year ago, we knew exactly what we were doing – that we planned it out and made it happen just so.
Will and Grace
It starts when some nice clerk ma’ams you at the supermarket. Then you notice waitresses aren’t asking to see your ID quite so often. Next thing you know, you’re saying things like, “When I was younger,” and it no longer sounds even a little bit silly.
Title Search
I confess, when I first began editing Experience Life, I thought the magazine’s name was a little odd. Perplexing, actually.