Sunday Story...Human Hamsters

Sunday Story…Human Hamsters

I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day and he was telling me about a party he had attended recently where there were 12 80 year olds still working at their jobs. By choice I might add not necessity. These were federal government workers who at been at their jobs for some time. It was a choice they were making. The next morning I listened to a story on NPR about octogenarians and their active lifestyles. BUT the point of the story was that the children of those 80 year olds (the baby boomers) expected to be every bit as active and vital as their parents if not more.

It turns out that may not be the case. Many of us baby boomers will not enjoy the healthy and active lifestyles we see many of our parents enjoying. How can that be? We work out, we eat right, we monitor our stress levels, and we are doing everything “They” tell us is good for us. Many of us have been jogging for years. We hit the gym and get on the treadmill, or bike, or elliptical for hours every week. We meditate. We eat oatmeal every morning, heart healthy spreads, yogurt, avoid red meat, get lots of fiber.

We are spending tons of time and money on our health. We are doing the research, taking supplements, trying alternative therapies for our owies and boo-boos. And we might not be as healthy as our parents! What! Really? That just isn’t right. That just isn’t fair.

Let’s look back shall we? Our parents were raised on natural foods. Often food they grew themselves or knew who grew it. Even if they lived in a big city the food was more natural. And everyone cooked their own food, even if they did so badly. If they ate fried food, it was natural and home prepared. They worked and when they got home they worked some more. A walk was not a work out but a way to get from one place to another or a means to connect and socialize. You didn’t have a machine to do everything for you. You had to lift things and carry them. Your life was active not passive.

Over the last 50 years so many things have changed from that paradigm. The grocery store has thousands of items in it today. We have machines to do so much for us…I saw one the other day that actually worked you out! The food is homogenized and sterilized. We have pills and potions to fix just about everything. We spend our day with our butt parked and then we get home and park it some more. We avoid doing manual labor. We rarely just walk to walk without an agenda.

Maybe “They” have lied to us. Maybe we just aren’t doing it right. Maybe hopping on the human hamster wheel or knocking out 3 sets of 10 bench presses just isn’t enough. Maybe all that nutrition advice is just wrong. Maybe we have bought the proverbial pig in a poke. What if all the bad choices we made in our younger years can’t be fixed with a pill or a potion? What if we need a complete life style make over? Are you willing to move from your passive lifestyle to an active one?

Think about this…you are an amazing feat of engineering. You are way more complicated than any automobile, space conveyance, or machine. You have spent a ton of money on your car, but then you complain about the price of organic food. You do regular maintenance on your car and begrudge spending the time it is going to take to keep your body in shape. You buy your car new wheels, fancy dashboard tschotkes, wax jobs and cleanings and you won’t buy yourself a coach, or a seminar, or a workshop on cutting edge nutrition, the way humans should move, or a an improvement in your form.

You have been sold a bill of goods. And you have bought it willingly…it looked easy, the promises were, really too good to be true. Just like turning an investment of $10,000 into a million in a year is too good to be true. Are you buying THAT piece of real estate? So why on earth do you think 30 minutes of “chronic cardio” three time a week is going to create a fit, strong and healthy body. How is that working for you? Still pre-diabetic? Still on the high blood pressure meds? Still suffering from the effects of your modern life? What do you say Bunky? Ready to take a look at doing something that might work?

Here it is: Stop eating C.R.A.P. (calorie rich and pathetic) food. Stop exercising (yes you read that right). Stop getting on the Human Hamster Wheel and zoning out on your phone or the People magazine or the boob tube. Stop thinking that there is going to be some magic pill or new machine or exercise video that is going to solve your health and fitness problems.
START: eating natural foods, produced on organic farms (like in your backyard) in a sustainable way.
START: training your body to perform the tasks required everyday…lifting stuff off the ground, over your head, moving around with those things, and expending massive amounts of energy quickly and playing with your children/grandchildren
START: looking at life from a holistic standpoint instead of trying to solve the symptoms that are bothering you. The symptoms are the manifestation of the sickness you are living in.
START: taking responsibility for how your life looks today and how you want it to look tomorrow.

Try this on for size: You can have world class fitness. It is right there waiting for you. It won’t be easy…you WILL have to jettison some bad habits, change your life style and your relationship with food, and generally work your butt off. It won’t take any more time out of your day…as a matter of fact it might take less…but it will be way more intense. You will have to sweat, learn new stuff, hurt a bunch and learn to love physical effort, your kitchen and your food.
Here is the bad news---You might not live longer
Here is the good news---You will live better, stronger, healthier, more joyfully.

Think about it…100 years old and vital, healthy, strong and maybe in the best shape of your life! It is possible, not easy, maybe not simple but certainly possible.


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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