Dear Friend,

Happy summer from warm (yet, still snow-capped!) Colorado. Welcome back to Sip of Soup, my free bi-monthly E-sip offering a taste of insight and lessons to help you keep caring for yourself while caring for others.

Sip of Soup - May/June 2008

Positivity TM Power For the first time in 3 years, I washed my car. No, it hasn't been filthy for that long. When I fill it with gas I usually pay a few extra bucks and drive through the car wash. But this was the first time in years that I filled a bucket with sudsy water, turned on the hose, and washed my own car. Last week (take a deep breath) I washed my own windows! (Yes, it did rain the next day.) Tomorrow I will mow my lawn. Often these are tasks many of us delegate to others, yet doing them ourselves is a great way to get exercise. Consider these other great exercise-induced calorie burners: To burn 100 calories, you can vacuum for 26 minutes, wash windows for 29 minutes, or scrub a floor for 18 minutes. Want to have fun instead? You can burn 200 calories by playing badminton for 40 minutes or miniature golf for 60. For more excitement, dance cheek to cheek for 60 minutes or chase a toddler on the beach for 30 to burn another 200 calories. Exercise not only lowers your risk of heart attacks, diabetes, bone cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, backaches, high blood pressure, depression and stress, it can increase your family's health and happiness, too.

Lessons from LeAnn Summer is a great time to incorporate exercise into our daily lives, and a good time to combine it with living our priorities. Ask someone you love to take a walk with you. Dig out your swimsuit and swim a few laps or just play in the water. (No, you don't have to lose a few pounds first. An afternoon at the beach will prove that truth!) Play catch with a child in the backyard. As a grownup, you will rediscover the joy of tag and other childhood games. You are sure to feel young again after a rousing game of duck duck goose.

Soup for the Day; a healthy quote: Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness. - Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719) To order a personalized copy of LeAnn's new book detailing these lessons, Balancing Life in Your "War Zones": A Guide to Physical, Mental and Spiritual Health, click here ... Order LeAnn's Books Here

Positively yours,

* to have LeAnn speak at your hospital or organization, to recruit, recharge and retain your nurses, see her website at www.NurseRecruitmentandRetention.com or call her toll-free at 877-THIEMAN (877-844-3626). Nurse Recruitment and Retention

A Sip of Soup is written by LeAnn Thieman; nurse, certified speaking professional and co-author of the New York Times bestseller Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul, and also Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul, Second Dose, Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Father and Daughter Soul, Chicken Soup for the Grandma's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul 2, Chicken Soup for the Mother and Son Soul, and Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul.