Simple…Uncomplicated Greatness

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Why do I love Simple? Shouldn’t be difficult to understand. Because Simple is easy. By it’s very nature, Simple does not pretend or enlarge itself. Simple is beautiful of its own accord. Simple does not require knowledge or wisdom to be enjoyed. In fact, Simple is often overlooked and underappreciated by those whom are highly trained, experienced or educated.

The satisfaction of Simple is in its accessibility to all. Babes and elders alike comprehend the triumph of Simple, wherever it is mindfully encountered. If we consider the realm of beautiful things found in nature or art or science or music or personal relationships, Simple exists  as pure, clean, expression. An appreciation for Simple is easily apprehended because it exists in singular, uncomplicated form.

Think about it. When or where do you discover happiness? Is it found in something Simple or does happiness find you in complexity? Perhaps writing a list of those things which bring a smile to your face and a warmth to your heart will assist you in realizing the beauty and uncomplicated greatness of Simple.

A Few of My Favorite (Simple) Things:

1. Holding hands with someone I love
2. The sight and sound of falling rain or snow
3. Hugs
4. Running
5. Running fast
5. Sunrise…Sunset
6. Listening to beautiful piano music
7. Home grown garden tomatoes
8. Colorful Autumn leaves
9. Cute puppies/kittens
10. Toes dug into warm beach sand

Simple

Ten…You Are Perfect

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A perfect list of things to do or remember: 10

A perfect score to pass any test: 10 out of 10.

A perfect feeling of pain or well-being: 10

A perfect measure for a decade of years: 10

A perfect number of fingers and toes: 10

A perfect base for counting to 100: 10

A perfect first double-digit birthday: 10

A perfect system for decimals: 10

Ten

Devastation

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A wasteland. That’s what immediately comes to mind.

A path of destruction, laid waste by epic force.

Devastation!

Separating marrow from bone, body from spirit, heaven from earth.

Devastation!

How to transverse this monster? Around it, under it, alongside it, please no!

I must turn against the ugly specter, I must rejoin my former situation;

Before this Devastation!

How does living endure a course, through this blight?

Devastation!

With everything of value now smote?

Devastation!

Can beauty or praise or joy arise from your ash heap?

Devastation!

How I wish you were no more.

Devastation!

And yet, each rising of the morning sun,

Casts the shadow of Hope;

Darkness now temporary, soon overcome.

Through fire and flood, cleanse it will.

Devastation!

Lay falsehood to rest, purify any waste.

Devastation!

No truer course towards wakefulness is found,

Than through the wasteland…Devastation.

Devastation

Oversite…It Happens!

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What is this oversight?

A missed cue? A purposeful neglect? A silent nod to simply forget?

What have I managed to overlook today?

But wait, it’s early still, perchance I’ll find myself before I am lost.
In calls and errands, in chores that abound.
Will I oversee my schedule or will it oversee me first?

There is one thing more I must ask:
Is it an oversight to turn the other cheek, look the other way or forgive a glaring offense? Perhaps…

What of it? This quest of simple-minded schemes;
But then, is this not the case made against our failure to see?

An oversight I think, is most of all, the mark of frail humanity
Whose plight it is to stumble and fall.

Oversight whatever it be…it happens!

Oversight

Take Time for Change

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In resistance and strength training, sets of weight bearing repetitions are used to improve muscle endurance, power and size. Repetition, doing the same exercise again and again, is the foundation of every physical fitness and training philosophy. Changing an exercise or the amount of weight used in the exercise is not required, until the desired physical outcome (change) in the muscles and/or body has been achieved. 

At the beginning of every new thing we pursue: new year’s resolution, new relationship, new job, new hobby or body-improving project, we expect to exert ourselves in novel activity(s) to obtain the ‘new’ object(s) of our desire. In regards to improving our bodies, we understand change occurs only after muscles have moved against resistance by many repetitions.

If you want to experience a year of new things, you must choose to live not in the repetition of the natural, but in the newness of the supernatural.
The Book of Mysteries ~ Jonathan Cohn

We are beings who thrive on change…even when we don’t. Change is  part and parcel to existence in the natural world. The swirling atoms of this world and of our bodies are in constant flux of change. As we live and breathe, change is our destiny. And change we will for better or worse. To change or effect change is our greatest opportunity every day and perhaps also our greatest difficulty.

Time is valuable. Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.  M. Scott Peck, Psychiatrist

Change is a dynamic force (law) of the natural world. And it works in conjunction with another dynamic force of the natural world: time. These two forces, if you will, depending on our perspective, become either an ally or an enemy. Like a runaway freight train, change and time impact our lives whether we perceive their existence or passage within or upon us.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.  Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

In 2017, let’s take time for change…every day. Because time is the currency paid out to us in minutes. Our future self, our future world is created in the realm of how we spend those minutes. Therefore, let us take time to make time change…today…tomorrow and thereafter. 

 

Peace

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What shall I make of this day? I am awake and desire so much from myself and what lies ahead in the delectable minutes before me. My heart, my mind, my whole being has been so full and overflowing of JOY! For months! What is this…who is this? What have I become? I wish for this to never end…this is almost too much for me to take in. I have become a stranger to myself. There has been a feeling of such quality, and depth and strength; so full and rich and vibrant it must…it needs…it demands to overflow the container of my life. I feel it ooze out of me into the messy world I inhabit.

So here I sit this morning, and it has been far too long since I have enjoyed a moment of this kind of solitude; composed and disposed of a mind to companion with myself; to dialogue on paper so as to perceive…to understand…to comprehend the meaning of this change which has bubbled over my thinking for so very many, many months now. I feel like I have walked into someone else’s life…where is my darkness; my despair; my sadness. What has become of them? They have flown away, carried off to parts unknown. Grateful I am to have lost those traveling companions, I am so full of awe and giddy delight of this new place of thinking and feeling and living; it is sweet; pure; peaceful. What have I done to deserve such recompense? In quite times, before I wander off to sleep I am almost afraid to wake lest my dreamscape vaporize upon morning’s first light; tempted I am, to fear waking and a return of the shadow lands.

Ultimately, what brings joy to any experience isn’t the experience itself but the quality of thinking that we bring to it. Slowing Down to the Speed of Life by Richard Carlson & Joseph Bailey

But no, every morning, every day is new! There is One who travels so closely with me these days and informs me otherwise. Here, now, together we go; there is no fear; no longing for another day; only perfect rest and bliss and love of everything…because everything is as it should be. My prayer, then, if I could form one perfect thought this morning, before the first light of dawn, is for you…the one who has read these words of mine.

Rise up in your solitude, in your quiet place and wait and hope and trust for your Peace to come and rest upon your heart and mind and soul. Today this is my hope and prayer for you. That in quietness you will discover what is most beneficial, most healing and helpful to you. Be patient; faint not; carry on in faithful service whatever and wherever your calling finds or places you. Be the change you want to see: in yourself…in others…in the world.

 

Dancing, Blessing, & Moving For Joy

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I was over 50 years old before I personally connected  with the happy benefits of moving my body to music…in public…in front of other people…with other people. I know that sounds odd in today’s modern, immodest age, but that is just the kind of person I grew into.

Yet as a personal trainer and recreational sportsperson, I am well versed in the feel-good endorphins illicted in the body when it is engaged in moderate physical activities. I just  never considered or experienced the value of participating in a group fitness class  based in music or dance. I assumed such benefits were reserved for those who had a background in dance, and I had no such experience with dance in a social or fitness setting. Thankfully, in the early days of my fitness education training, my mentor (who was also my employer) strongly encouraged me to consider providing a group music-based fitness class to his facility’s program offerings.

The soul is seen when it reaches out in love. Blessing is done by the soul.
Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another.
We must think it, and feel it, and will it.
We communicate it with our bodies.
Blessing is kind of like an ancient dance of the Hokey-Pokey;
Before you finish you have to ‘put your whole self in.’
Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You ~ John Ortberg

Now fast forward 8 years and I have had the privilege of leading as many as 7 group movement classes per week in addition to a roster full of personal training clients. Half of those group classes involve moving to music; and I like to think of these music-based classes as synchronized movement therapy. I still don’t think of myself as a dancer, but in the six years of leading these group music-based movement classes I have witnessed over and over again, the transformative and healthful benefits produced upon the lives of those who regularly attend these physical activity classes.

Changing your personal meaning of exercise and physical activity from a chore into a gift will transform your relationship with movement.
No Sweat ~ Michelle Segar

And be assured, the only requirement necessary to receive a health benefit from moving is to simply choose a mindset of being a blessing…to yourself. When you attend to your body’s need for movement with the intentional purpose of having fun (read: joy), you practically guarantee a blessing upon yourself, your soul. Additionally, such a mindset (job one = fun) quickly displaces feelings of competition or uncomfortable self-awareness you might otherwise experience in a group setting.

As the instructor of these music-movement classes, I have discovered I am not immune to this soul blessing phenomenon which takes place during and after the classes I lead.  It is a mystical effect, of which I cannot easily explain. But many times during a class period this blessing energy is not only visible on the radiant, gleaming faces of group participants, but I also sense the invisible yet nearly tangible presence of joy (love?) mixing and moving in our midst…the likes of which make me feel like a silly, awestruck five year old child.

Always remember this: Most of our aging is just decay, and decay is optional; it’s  under your control. Some of life’s changes are not under your control, but this one
is. Taking charge of your life, physically and emotionally, is the best possible antidote to standard aging.  And it all starts with exercise.
Younger Next Year ~ Chris Crowley & Henry S Lodge, M.D.

Wherever I go and with whomever I talk, I preach the blessing-benefits available for the taking when we discover a physical activity which brings playful joyfulness into our lives. There is not a one-size-fits-all list of sanctioned activities which constitutes ‘real exercise’. No, the most vital part of soul/body blessing is in bringing and moving one’s self purposefully to each and every activity which brings joyful feelings to one’s heart and puts beaming smiles on one’s face.

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.
Jean Shinoda Bolen

Which One Am I Feeding?

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Okay, I’ll admit it…I’d like to lose a lousy 5 pounds. No more, no less. Honestly, that’s it. I know better than to be fixated on the numbers on my scale. I’m a personal trainer and health coach. And I’m always telling my clients how those scale numbers are not nearly as important as their body composition (% of fat and muscle) numbers. I say these things so often they are now cliché training-speak. I am not proud to admit these things, I am no different, no better than any one else I train. I have a love/hate relationship with numbers; they attack my logical brain and leave no room for reason.

Imagine my surprise on the day I contemplated my 5-pound conundrum, when a thought  occurred to me:  How can I help my clients to eat mindfully when I don’t always manage my own mindless eating? I only want to lose 5 pounds, I don’t need to lose 5 pounds, I just want to. And I have a hunch (okay, I KNOW) these last 5 pounds are not going to budge unless I make some changes in my way of eating. Why? Because I have a cheat. I have caloric wiggle room because I exercise a lot…every day…it’s my job and I love it. But it does not exempt me from the law of calories in = calories out.

I don’t know why I had this thought the other day, but that’s the nature of thoughts after all. Thoughts are like feathers blowing in the breeze, floating here and there waiting for us to give them a place to loft so as to entertain our attention. Once we attend to a thought, it may grow upon us and in us.

Now some thoughts are more entertaining than others. And depending on our current state of mind, we may or may attend to any given thought. But one thing is true, certain thoughts are better left for dead. Unattended if you will. Intuitively we know which thoughts make us feel happy or sad or encouraged or angry or defeated or motivated or lazy. So maybe this is why I gave that thought some attention the other day; because it made me think.

What we say and do is based on what we have already built into our minds.
Dr. Caroline Leaf

Actually the thought made me question…myself. And the question it asked was this: What is your intention regarding the food in your hand or on your plate? Are you feeding  yourself in response to bodily hunger or emotional hunger? What would your diet look like if you only ate with an intention to nourish your physical body rather than your emotional body?

Okay, so that was 3 questions. But the initial thought surprised and intrigued. Have I really been so un-intentional, so question-less in my eating? Yes, more often than I would care to admit. Yet here’s the irony of my thinking and believing: I say (I believe) my goal is to train my body for health and physical performance, and yet I eat food which I know will make my body (head and/or stomach) hurt. Really? Really!

Should I expect to reach my  fitness goals when I eat without intention? If I eat because it’s a reflex and not an answer to a question, then I may not be nourishing my body after all but rather my emotions.  So tell me something I don’t know…duh! And this double mindedness intrigues me…

Now that you have more information about me than you needed, bare with me one moment longer. Because I’m just going to put one little question on the table, before you and before me. For the next few weeks (until the end of September), before I put food in my mouth, every time, I will ask myself a question: Is this food you are about to eat for your body or for your emotion? Then I’ll wait for the answer. And if the answer is the one which will help me towards my goal…I will eat…and if it is not…???

So here’s to a half month of research. I’d love to have you join my little research project…if you feel so inclined. I’ll report the results in a post around the first week of October. Here’s to our thoughtful eating…cheers.

 

 

Words, Words, Words

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So many Words! Our words…their words! They are mighty weapons, indeed. They cut or heal ~ to the core, to the center, to the soul of Being. Whether Being is our own or another or that of a Nation, the words we speak or compose with pen, spawn either life or death wherever…whenever they are formed.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa

Be careful then, diligent and mindful then, what words to speak, what words to listen, what words to ingest and feed upon. For once a word takes root, it has life, it has strength, it has power to go to center, to soul, to Being.

The soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on. J.G. Holland

Those words believed ~  left on their own, nourish Source; then what was broadcast, what was sown, will indeed be grown, when it is eaten, taken, believed in whole.  Whether peace or conflict depends, upon the Being who receives or rejects, those words cast so easily upon the waves of the wind.

If then, a harvest of sorrows grows sturdy in our midst, broadcast Words of forgiveness and compassion to subdue the errant words unto death.

Change…You Gotta Love It

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Nothing ever stays the same, ever. In nature, in life, in our bodies. Change is one of those immutable laws of the universe. It informs us with great constancy that all things are simply on a continuum: of birth and death; of growth and decay; of youth and age; of static and dynamic; of forward and backward. There is no place to shelter ourselves from change; it is the essence and life force of every atom and molecule found in the created world. To not love change, is to not love reality.

The problem with change for people though, is that we often do not perceive its arrival until its presence is most obvious and unwelcome. Like the proverbial elephant in the room, we often resist change wherever and whenever we encounter it. Like sleep walkers who are suddenly awakened from our slumber, change interjects clarity and reality into our once fantastical thinking. This may explain why weight gain of 5, 10, or more pounds on our bodies is so imperceptible to us at first, until it is not.  

Is it not also interesting how we try to manage and comprehend change by employing superlatives to describe its effects upon us (gain or loss, most or least, best or worst). But what if we were to consider change not in terms of either/or, but rather in terms of ONE. What if we were to relate to change in simplicity, realizing that its power transforms all things in the singularity of its ONE-ness, ad infinitum: one moment, one day, one inch, one pound after the other.  

Perhaps then we would become lovers of change. Perhaps then we would live our lives  with ONE purposeful step after another and another and another. And then perhaps we would love change, because we would know and believe and witness that each ONE step, each ONE action, each ONE belief accumulates; and this accumulation, whether we perceive it moving us along or not, soon works a change through us.

This is the law and nature and beauty of change. With our each and every thought or movement, change works on our behalf to move us along infinity’s continuum: closer to strength or weakness, closer to health or illness, closer to happiness or sadness, closer to failure or success.

Change…you gotta love it. The power of ONE. Embrace it, or not…