Sunday story...the Question

Sunday Story…the Question

I get the question every week if not every day. It really isn’t the question that someone is asking. Because the question they are asking is rarely the question that needs to be answered.
Usually the question is:
What do I need to do to lose 20 pounds?
How can I get in better shape?
What can I eat to enjoy better health?
How should I work out?
How do I communicate better with my spouse/child/significant other?
What do I need to do to be better at my job/career/school?
How can I make more money?

There is nothing wrong with these questions. They are perfectly valid and they do need to be answered. But almost each one is not asking the question that needs to be answered before the answer to these questions can be validated.

The reason for this is simple. Each of these questions simply does not make sense until we start measuring where you are in the light of how you live your life. And where you are in terms of the commitment to getting where you want to go?

Context Covers a lot of Area
If we look at context, or the availability your life is going to allow you to do the things necessary to get the goal done we start realizing that certain limitations exist.
Want to make a million dollars?
Want to bench press 300 pounds?
Want to date a super model?
How is that going to work in the context of your life? If I live in say, Fernley Nevada, which is not exactly the entertainment capital of the world, nor is it part of the fashion industry in any way shape or form, the likelihood of me even seeing a super model is pretty darn slim, let alone being able to date one. The “context” of my life is such that the possibility of that outcome taking place is just not going to happen. In another (maybe more realistic example) if I want to lose 50 pounds but I work 2 jobs, raise 3 kids by myself, eat crap food from fast food joints every day, don’t sleep well and have never worked out in my life and I think getting up from the couch for a glass of water is real exercise losing weight is simply not in the “context” of my life.

The bottom line on context is that if I have goals or quests that I want to achieve but they do not fit into the context of my life then they are not real and they are not achievable. We call things like this “dreams”. If I want to win the lottery but I never buy a ticket then winning is only a dream and not even a remote possibility. I have not made the changes in the context of my life to win the lottery. So if you want to do certain things you are going to have to shift some element of your life to get them done…you are going to change or shift or transform the context of your life to make room for getting the goal done.

Commitment is Compliance

You are going to hate this one. You must be committed to not just the goal or the quest. You have to be committed to the everyday, to the plan, to the nitty gritty, down and dirty daily work of implementation. You have got to do the work! Every day. Every moment. Unerringly committed to doing what must be done each and every day. If you want to lose 50 pounds but every Sunday you eat a large pepperoni pizza to reward yourself you have lost sight of your commitment. Yes I understand the psychology of rewards and all the rest of that blah blah blah. Guess what? I don’t care. Get a plan. Stay on task. Do the things every day the plan calls on you to do. Don’t cheat. If the plan needs to be modified, modify it but don’t quit, don’t take your eyes off the prize at the end of the quest.

So what’s the question?

If the question you are asking is not the question you should be asking then what is the correct question? Let me put it this way…The magic is not in the plan. It is not in the perfect diet, plastic surgeon or career, or work out plan. There is no magic pill. The magic is in how much you care. The magic is in how much you are willing to do the 2 things you must do to complete your quest…shift your life to make the quest fit into it AND commit to doing what needs to be done to move forward everyday toward the goal.

SO…the question is this: Are you doing or Have you done Everything you can do with what you have already? When you read all the words before this we come down to this: Are you doing enough with what you already have? If you are not then get after it first. Do the research, do the plan you already have. Then if you can say yes, I am doing all I can with what I have then we can start there. That is our jumping off point. When your commitment and your context have shifted to accommodate the quest then we can get to work. Want to lift 300 pounds off your chest? We can make a plan for that if you have the context and the commitment. Date a super model? Same thing. Lose weight? Enjoy better health? Same same.

I can help but only to the degree that you are willing to work. Not to the degree that I am willing to listen to your reasons for not being committed and contextual.
Want help? Call me.


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

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Sunday Story...Couch Potato

Sunday Story…Couch Potato?

The other morning, after kickboxing class several of us were having a conversation about various exercise methods. The fact of the matter is that there are many ways to become more fit, especially if you are starting from zero, or less than zero (yes that is possible). I know of one example of over 100 pounds lost by riding a bicycle. We have all heard of people who lost weight and improved their physical fitness by running, swimming, walking, dancing, p-90x, zumba, crossfit, aerobics, tae-bo, or any of a number of other things. All of these things have one thing in common: they require you to get up and start moving. It is impossible to get fit lying on the couch bemoaning your health and fitness.

But what is fitness, really? How do you define fitness? How do I define fitness? What makes up an athlete or a state of athleticism? Who is an athlete? Is there some independent measure or benchmark that we can say makes someone fit? After all we can say when someone is unfit, or ill, or unhealthy. There are some objective measurements for sickness or disease…blood pressure, pulse rates, blood markers, and more. And, yes, some of those markers would also indicate a fit person as well.

We can look across a spectrum of fitness and find lots of different examples. For example, an Olympic marathoner can run 26 miles in just over 2 hours (120 minutes). That means they are going to average less than 5 minutes per mile. I don’t know about you but I cannot run 1 mile in less than 5 minutes let alone 26 in a row. This is obviously an athlete of some repute. But is he really fit?
How about a Triathlete? One of the folks who can swim 2.4 miles (in the ocean), ride the bike for 112 miles and then run for 26 miles. One after the other and do it in less than 8 hours. This is a feat to be reckoned with.
What about a power lifter. I recently met a man who can squat (put weight on his back and drop his rear down below his knees and stand up with the weight) over 1000 pounds. That is a strength I don’t have but is he fit?
How about the body builders and fitness models…the people who get their body fat so obscenely low so we can see every striation and fiber in their flexed muscles? Must be fit right?

All of these examples are of athletes who can be considered to be in good shape, have a decent cardio vascular response to exercise, and the potential to excel in their sports. But they are each different and they each have made a similar fitness choice…they have specialized in their “thing”. An Olympic marathoner is never going to be a power lifter. He just isn’t made for it. And that power lifter is never going to outrun the marathoner once they get past about 50 yards. His fitness is not going to allow for that.

So how are we going to define fitness? Because the definition we use will determine the method of exercise we choose. And the method will create the level of fitness and health we are trying to achieve.

Most commonly we are looking for the following characteristics: strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, agility, power, accuracy, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance and stamina. The ability to have all of these things is what makes an athlete. Obviously if I am going to be really good at running 26 miles I am going to give up on a few of those fields in favor of my chosen sport. The same holds true for power lifting.

Fitness by my definition requires me to be good at all of those things. I must have power and strength. The other day a man asked me to help him pick up his motorcycle that had fallen over at the gas station. He couldn’t do it. I walked over and lifted it up…this is functional fitness. I must have endurance and stamina to run or swim or bike or row as I choose. Even if that is a 4 or 5 hour hike or walk in the amusement park. I have to have balance and flexibility…too many people as they age can no longer move the way they did years ago and the primary reason is that they aren’t flexible any more. It is a practice to stay flexible and balanced.

If I am going to be an athlete I must work on all those areas without prejudice or specialization. That means I have to do 2 or 3 things frequently…I must train, I must practice, and I must push my body when I practice and train. Doing 45 minutes on the hamster wheel just isn’t going to get it done. Knocking out 3 sets of 10 reps of a specific body part isn’t going to get it done. I have to train which means I am increasing my cardiovascular/respiratory response, strength and flexibility in the activity. Training is an activity that increases performance in a measurable way. I have to practice which means I am improving coordination, balance, accuracy and agility. This activity results in changes in the nervous system…I am getting better at the activity. Power and speed are improved through adaptations in both training and practice.

The definition of fitness I use says that no matter what I am tasked with…picking up a motorcycle, mowing the lawn, hiking up the mountain, sprinting across the road, sitting down without a chair and getting up without assistance, jumping over the fence, climbing up a tree, or???...I will be able to perform. You see I want to be a life athlete. I want to be an athlete that can do what we wants when he wants and be able to say when it was over I am glad I train and practice hard so I was able to get that done. It’s pretty simple really. But it is definitely not easy. It takes sweat, effort, thought and fortitude to push yourself hard. And then come back tomorrow for more.

Come on and get fit with me. Unleash your inner athlete (and bury your couch potato)…they are just sitting there waiting for you to put them in the game…the game we call life.

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

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Sunday Story...Why I'm Fat

Sunday Story…Why I'm Fat

I am fat. I have to face it…like all 2/3rds of Americans today I am overweight. I am at least 10 pounds overweight and I have no one to blame but myself. I really need to stop kidding myself about this. Sure, I have some abdominal muscle showing which should indicate a particular level of fitness and body composition. But the facts are simple…over 66% of us are overweight and I count myself among them. Even worse…1/3rd or over 33% of us are obese. The world health organization (WHO) defines obesity as a “BMI” (body mass index) of 30+, and overweight is 25+. Mine is 24.8 but I am an athlete and as such my ideal weight would be about 10# lighter and a BMI of closer to 24.

Many years ago all the humans who walked the earth were fit and healthy and lean. They were taller than we are today, had fewer cavities, enjoyed better health and had bigger brains. So what happened? Why are we, today, in the face of having more than enough food to eat getting fatter and fatter as time progresses? You would think, in light of what we know, that we would be able to eat in ways that science tells us will make us even healthier and fitter. But the facts are in…in the last 40 years we have gotten fatter and fatter, our health has gone downhill, new diseases have come about related to diet and we are generally in poorer health. This just doesn’t make sense. Or does it?

Imagine for a moment what a lion living on the savannah of Africa eats. Meat. They eat lots of meat and not much else. We don’t see lions out foraging for a snickers bar or even sitting down to a nice breakfast of leaves and twigs. Nope it is pretty much meat all the way. The lion has developed this way over thousands of years. He is programmed by evolution to eat what it is that he eats. Imagine for a moment that we would try to turn our lion into a vegetarian. I am just guessing but I am willing to say we would probably end up with a pretty sick lion. The thought of him being a vegan is chilling.

On the other hand let’s talk about cows. Our happy cow living her life in a bucolic pasture, munching on green grass, chewing her cud and producing milk for her offspring, all of whom then eat more grass and get fat and happy. Our cow has developed a digestive system that works perfectly when fed grass. She takes grass and turns it into meat and milk. It is a beautiful thing. How about we start feeding her animal parts? How about we ask our cow to start running down a deer for dinner? But she doesn’t have the teeth, the stomach acids, or the digestion to make animal parts into milk and meat. She will get sick (by the way, this is why feedlot cows have to be given a regular diet of antibiotics to keep them alive).

Now let’s turn our attention back to us human animals. What were we meant to eat? How did we evolve to eat the foods we are eating? The fact is we don’t really know. Our pre-historic ancestors left no menus lying around for our anthropologists to decipher. There is a way to get some clues, however. We know they didn’t eat cereal, pizza, or drink milk. All of those things are fairly new developments. And in anthropological terms anything in the last 10,000 years is fairly recent.

We didn’t eat grain or legumes. In order to destroy the toxins the grain (a seed designed for one thing---propagation of the species) produces to protect itself we have to process the grain to make it somewhat palatable to our digestive systems.
We didn’t drink milk or eat dairy products. There were no domesticated critters yet. And if you have ever tried to milk an animal that didn’t want to be milked, well let’s just wish you good lick with that shall we?
We didn’t eat processed fats, sugars…they simply did not exist for those humans.
The tools needed to process those foods did not exist until about 10 thousand years ago. It was here that human civilization really began. We could take seeds, plant them, harvest them, and process them and feed people. And for the last 9,900 years grain has reigned supreme in the human diet. This allowed us to stay in one place because we had a constant food source readily available. Then we could create cities and roads, and have traffic jams and start enjoying all the wonderfulness of the non-hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

At the same time humans began to get shorter, have smaller brains and have more cavities. It’s a small price to pay for a Starbucks on the corner, right? Then about 100 years ago we began to industrialize our food system. We introduced processed oils and sugars into our diets but even into the 1960’s we were still pretty lean. The obesity rate was rising but not alarmingly so. Somewhere about 1970 we were told to avoid fat…that eating fat was making us sick, causing heart disease, and causing havoc with our arteries. So we all went on a carb-binge. It was OK to eat cereal with a 30 gram sugar filled yogurt on top. It wasn’t and our waistlines are expanding every year to prove it. Even worse all those grain based carbs began to work their magic with our immune systems and digestive tracts.

We got sicker and fatter than ever. And today I am fat. I am fat because I swallowed the party line hook line and sinker. And I will continue to be fat until I change my diet. It really is that simple.

Now, those of you who know me already think I am a fringe foodie. I don’t eat grain, sugar, legumes, or dairy. The problem is simple. I am not 100% compliant and that is where my last 10 pounds are hiding…in that glass of wine, shot of tequila, chocolate bar, and piece of cheese. I may be 90% compliant but until I take that last step those stubborn last few pounds will remain with me.

I am going to get 100% compliant. I am not willing to put myself in the overweight category anymore. I will be the lean human machine I was created to be. How about you?

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

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Sunday Story...The Urge to Purge

Sunday Story…The Urge to Purge

About 3 years ago I “down-sized” my life. I moved into a house 1/3rd smaller than the one I was living in. A 1 one car instead of 2, one bedroom less, everything was smaller. I even lost so much stuff I could put the car in the garage (what a concept)! But lately I have been feeling stuck and cramped and just generally weighted down.

When I look around my world today I see a lot of stuff. I seem to have spent a lot of time (and money) acquiring stuff. Some of this stuff is left over from things I used to do. Clothes, food, books, cds, knick knacks and bric a brac are all there.

I have one cupboard in my kitchen filled with food I will no longer eat. Rice, flour, prepared and boxed stuff, loose stuff, it’s all in there. Yet for some time I have resisted getting rid of it. Honestly a great portion of it is probably waaaay past its expiration date. I will never eat any of it. It’s perfectly good but for some reason I have resisted cleaning out that cupboard. Maybe I am thinking of the day the world crashes down and I will need some weird Thai box food to eat? I have friends who would eat this food. I could give it to one of the food pantries. So what is the stop?

Although my closet today is smaller than the one I had 3 years ago, I do have 2 closets full of clothes. And some of those clothes are still bagged up from the move, so I have not worn them in 3+ years! Again I have friends who would wear some of these things. There are shelters that would take them. There is probably a clothing exchange somewhere that would take them. I could sell them. The fact is that many of them don’t fit anymore, others are a style I don’t wear anymore, and others may never have been right but they looked cool and the price was right. So what is the stop?

My garage is the place where all the orphan stuff goes to live. There are 3 boxes of empty mineral water bottles. I saved them because they need to be recycled somewhere and in California they have an actual cash value. There is an old stereo system that is probably 20 years old including a turntable with no needle and a cassette player…yes a cassette player. And somewhere there is probably a box of cassette tapes which haven’t been played in 10+ years. All of it needs to be gone through and trashed, sold, recycled, given up, or burnt. So what is the stop?

Obviously I have the urge to purge yet I don’t. When I look around I feel stifled and stuck. It is almost like being in a closed up room with no air flow in the summer time---really uncomfortable and hard to breathe. The answer is…just do it.

Just throw it out.
Just give it away.
Just recycle it.
Just burn it.
Just get rid of it somehow, someway.
We all know the answer yet we don’t do it.
We all know the lightness that will come when we unburden our life from these things.
We all know that by getting rid of the old we make room for the new…the new experiences, the new, possibilities, the new people that can come into our lives when we make room.
We all know that purging our junk is good for us once in a while.

Yet it is so hard to do. The task is daunting. When I look at that cupboard I cringe. Yet I know in my head that it will take less than an half an hour to clean up. So what is the stop?

The clothes feel worse. It feels like I have to decide that I am never going to wear that again. That I will never be that size again. That the style no longer suits me. Then when we add in the memories of the clothes…where they were last worn, who bought them, the compliments received while wearing them, it feels as if I would be giving away those memories as well.

Then there is the garage. And that feels just impossible. A huge task. And I am not talking about the work; I am talking about putting the memories away. Taking books I have been carrying around for 40 years and doing something with them. It just goes against my training. On the other hand I haven’t even looked at them in over 3 years, let alone read them. They have been sitting in boxes all that time. The same thing goes for cds…I have hundreds yet today I keep all my music on various hard drives and I wouldn’t have room in the house for the 500 gigs or so of music I keep on those drives. Yet there they are in boxes all over the garage.

The stop is not wanting to deal with the memories of all that stuff. If I keep it all locked away I don’t have to deal with it. I don’t have to sort and sift through the experiences and the good and the bad that all that stuff represents.

We all have stuff. We all have more stuff than we really need. I know I do. And I know I am going to get the stop off and get rid of the stuff that no longer serves me. This stuff is holding me back from what I really want, from the things that will really serve me in my life as it is right now.

Anyone want any of this stuff?


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

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Sunday Story...Tribes

Sunday Story…Tribes

A long, long time ago in a place not all that far from here there was a very young man who taught at an early age to like people and make friends. And if someone new came into the school or the neighborhood he went out of his way to make the new person feel like they had a friend in him. It was part of who he was; part of what he thought was expected of him. He brought them into his friends and his groups and treated them like they were important and welcome in the community. It felt like the right thing to do.

Someplace along the way, probably around age 9 or 10 this young man noticed a couple things happening. And these things had him feel sad, lonely, isolated and ostracized. What happened was pretty simple; the new friend left often taking some of the community or group with them, branching off and creating a new group or a sub group that our young man was not welcome into. In other words after bringing the newcomer in, he was forced out by the newcomer.

What this young man made that mean was this: I don’t belong. Even when it looks like I belong I really don’t. And if I befriend someone they will leave after using me to gain access to the people and groups they really need access to. And if I am welcomed into a group or a tribe I will always be the outsider, the interloper who will be expendable once his gifts, skill and talents have been replaced or used up.

Just because you make something mean something it does not make it true or a fact. It is just the meaning you have assigned to those events. Someone else may give those same events a completely different meaning. It is part of our nature as humans…to create meaning.

As I might imagine you have already guessed that the young man in the story is me. As I look out over the past years (and there have been more than a few) the realization has dawned that I have been living out of this “story” for most of my life.

In other words this has been a theme in my life…not belonging. For a long time I have felt like I didn’t have a home. Not a real one…one where people see me and appreciate me. I have spent so long keeping different parts of my life from touching one another that it feels like 4 or 5 jigsaw puzzles that are somehow connected but I am missing the pieces that will connect the puzzle into a cohesive picture. Each puzzle is complete but I know that when they are all hooked together there will be a new and more impactful picture. The question is now: what do you do to find the pieces that will connect the whole picture?

I have been looking for a “tribe” for a long time. I have found many tribes that I fit into at least partially. These are the places and people who seem to welcome me (at least the parts of me that are visible to them). But after awhile I start feeling like I really don’t belong. Like I have missed the “joke”, the inside information that the rest of the group is privy to. Again this is not the truth; it is only the story, or the meaning I have given to the events.

The fact of the matter is until I allow my own truth to be seen and heard I cannot really be present in any place I show up. Until I advocate for myself clearly and with power there is no way to belong anywhere. I would just be floating along, like a piece of flotsam on the tide, showing whatever face needs to be shown at the moment. So that would be the first connecting piece: be my own advocate.

The first piece is closely tied to the second piece: show up fully without fear of approbation. What that means is that instead of a toll bridge between the different elements of my life we are going to bring the borders right up next to each other. My life should be connected not disconnected. When all those disparate pieces become a complete picture it will be easier for the tribe to accept and understand and appreciate me. Or not. Because not all tribes are the right fit.

The last connecting piece is: give up the story. The story that says I don’t belong. The story that says I am not worthy of this or that tribe. That is all that is: a story. This is where we get to change the past. What happened is what happened. What I made that happening mean is all about me. I get to change the story. I get to decide what those events mean to me. And doesn’t it make more sense to tell a story that will serve me in beneficial ways?

So now the end of the story might go something like this: I am a connector. One of the most useful things I do in any group is to connect people in ways that serve them and the greater good. I help people find the places and tribes that will serve them and their chosen vision and goals. I belong and I show up fully and I am accepted for the gifts, skills and talents I bring to the table.

What’s your story? Does your story help you or are you living out of a story a 10 year old told him or her? Wouldn’t it be better if you told yourself a grown up story? A story that has the kind of meaning that will truly serve who you want to be tomorrow?

Go ahead change your past and create the future you choose.

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

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Sunday Story...Get Up, Stand up

Sunday Story…Get Up, Stand Up

Yesterday two of my students were fooling around in class. This is not unusual for these two young men. As a matter of fact it is pretty much the code of the day. However, one of them almost always blames or finds that the other one is causing the disruption. He refuses to take responsibility for what is happening around him. He gets mad and frustrated when the discipline is meted out to both of them. The other one, on the other hand, takes responsibility for what is happening and accepts the consequences. He just would rather goof around than be compliant. So…which position is better?

Personal Responsibility doesn’t mean it’s my fault or I am to blame. Personal responsibility means I am not going to blame circumstances or fear or fate or failure for the way my life looks. Personal responsibility means I am going to stand up and be counted for what is happening in my life.
When I do something wrong, I stand up.
When I do something right I stand up.
When I do something that hurts someone else, I stand up.
When I do something that helps someone else I stand up.
When I do something that hurts me I stand up.
When I do something that is right for me I stand up.
When you choose to live this way the constant is that you stand up…constantly and consistently.

I often write about changing your life and about changing the world. I write about being the person you were put upon this earth to be. I write about being kind, about creating the life you want to lead. I write about living in a way that serves you and serves the people and the world around you. I write about optimum health and fitness. But all of those things take a back seat to personal responsibility.

Personal responsibility is the keystone to living life on your terms. Way too often, way too many of us are just taking what life gives us. We are trying to surf on an ocean of waves with a 2x4 and getting beat up for the effort. I don’t know about you but that just isn’t a lot of fun. I have done this. You have done this. We were just trying to get by, just trying to do what we had to do to get through one more day, month or year, thinking that if we just did x (whatever x is) everything would be ok. Guess what? It isn’t going to be OK. It isn’t going to get any better. Haven’t you noticed that every time we get x life throws us another curve ball? Just when you thought you had it all figured out the game changes? Just when you got all your proverbial ducks in a row someone decided that having your ducks in a row was the wrong thing to do. So what did you do? You chucked the ducks for the next thing it looked like life wanted from you.

How long are you going to continue this way? Aren’t you tired of it yet? I know I am. I can blame the economy for this or that. I can blame this President or the other one. I can look at my life and say I got some bad breaks, that is isn’t my fault, not really, and I can figure that I just need to tough it out a while longer.
OR I can start by standing up. I can stand up and take responsibility for my life, for what has happened to me and for what is going to happen to me in the future. I can stand up and begin to put my life in the order I want it to be rather than allowing life to shove me around like some flotsam in the ocean.

I am not saying this is easy by the way. Because it is not easy. It may sound simple but it isn’t easy. It is going to require a shift in how you view the world and your place in it. You must begin to believe that you are the captain of your ship. You must begin to believe that life is an ocean and if you don’t sail on it with purpose and direction you will end up wherever the currents and prevailing winds push you. And honestly, unless you are very lucky, that is probably not where you want to go.

The direction personal responsibility will send you will be one of your choosing. And just like sailing on the ocean you will need to make course corrections from time to time. You will need to check your compass, recalibrate where you are in reference to where you want to be and make adjustments. You might even have to change destinations to achieve what you really want. But the keyword in all of those sentences is you, I, me…the personal pronouns of personal responsibility.
I am responsible for my life.
I decide where I want to go and how I am going to get there.
I stand up for me.
I stand up for what is right and what is wrong in my life.
I do the work to fix it.
I am powerful because I am the captain of the ship that is my life.

It is never too late to take your power. No matter where you are today. No matter how old you are, no matter how poor, or rich, no matter the state of your health, unless you are dead and in a box, you can take the helm of your ship and start piloting it. So go ahead, decide that your life belongs to you and take the wheel.

Get up and Stand up.

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

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Sunday Story...Sweetness

Sunday Story…Sweetness

There is a drug so powerful that it addicts almost 100% of the people who use it. It is so insidious that the effects can only be seen over time. Yet the short term effects are immediate and noticeable in almost 100% of users. Long term it has been linked to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, neurological disorders, digestive issues, high blood pressure, lever disease, dementia, depression, and epilepsy.

This substance is so innocuous that it is virtually everywhere in our modern world. It appears as a dangerous and addictive white powder. It is available virtually anywhere and it is cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it is used in great quantities throughout our country. We manufacture tons of it and it does not occur naturally in nature.

It is everywhere. It is in our schools, our homes, our workplaces and our recreational centers. And it is killing us. We allow the schools to give it to our children as a reward. We give it to our children without thinking. I grew up on it and so did virtually everyone we know.

Most of us are addicted to it. We crave it and will ruin our health for it without thinking. The cravings are so powerful we will ruin our health before we try and quit. If we try to quit we will have withdrawal symptoms just like a crack or a heroin addict. It may be the hardest addiction to leave behind because we have been brainwashed to believe that it really isn’t ”that” bad.

The drug in question, the white powder I am talking about is sugar...the stuff that sits in the bowl on your kitchen table. You probably have a whole container of it somewhere in your house. Right now your children may have a whole bag of it stashed somewhere in the house. Of course their bag isn’t just pure sugar; no, their bag is worse. Brightly colored wrappers, fascinating logos and combined with other things to make it even more appealing and addictive they went out and begged on the streets for it just the other evening. And we, the adults, the grownups encouraged them to go. And some of us even shared in the spoils when it got home.

You may think this is radical thinking. How can a food be addictive? How can something that we thought was so good be so bad? There are lots of studies and books and articles that prove this out. And it isn’t just excess consumption, although excess consumption is very harmful. It appears that even a bit of consumption can have far reaching effects. And it is in almost everything you eat, if you eat any kind of processed food. For the record processed food is pretty much anything that isn’t meat, vegetables, fruit, seeds, or nuts. Bread, pasta, yogurt, chips, or pancake batter all have sugar.

And yes, fruit does have naturally occurring fructose (a monosaccharide sugar). This is one of the reasons fruit intake should be limited and fruit juice should not be ingested. Fruit juice has had the mitigating fiber and “food” removed from it and results in a pretty plain drink of sugar and liquid.

You have been conditioned to eat sugar your whole life. If you don’t believe me, if you think I am full of it just try to stop eating sugar for 30 days. All of it. 100% clean. After all if I am wrong you can always go back to eating it again on the 31st day. Oh and artificial sweeteners are probably worse. They act the same way in the body, they affect the same beta sites and they create the same insulin reaction as sugar. Except there isn’t any calories, no sugar for the insulin to act upon so there is a large probability that your insulin resistance is going to get worse (this is what helps create type II diabetes by the way)

You will experience withdrawals. You will have headaches, fatigue, cravings, and generally feel bad. Yet if you stick it out you will feel better in just a few days. It is going to be way too easy to fall back into the sugar abyss. Sugar is ubiquitous…it is everywhere. And the real challenge will be over the next 2 months.

This Monday marked the start. Not the start of winter, although winter is certainly trying to arrive. Monday was Halloween and the start of “treat” season. The next 2 months will be filled with candy, irresistible deserts, favorite comfort foods, and a wink and a nod to overeating. Guilt and pressure to “try everything” will be paramount. So much of the food we associate with comfort, and home, and the holidays are sugar laden bombs just waiting to go off to the detriment of your health.

Is your health important enough to you to stop eating sugar? Or have you dismissed me as some kind of crazy, a fruitcake who has fallen into the soup of crazy nutrition advice? You don’t have to believe me. You can do the same research I have done. Go ahead and Google it…sugar addiction. Or just about anything with sugar…sugar and diabetes, sugar and obesity, sugar and hyperinsulinemia, sugar and depression the information is readily available.

Or you can stick your head in the sugar bowl and say it just isn’t true. After all the government and the major food companies only have your health interests at heart. The only person who is going to suffer is you not the FDA or the USDA or Monsanto, or Pepsi, or Coca Cola. And really you have nothing to lose by stopping for 30 days. Just 30 days of no added sugar. C’mon you can do it!

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

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Sunday Story...Wonder If

Sunday Story…Wonder If

How would life be if we took a blank slate and wondered if…
We couldn’t fail
We could love without worry
We could be the person we really wanted to be
We could learn all the things we have always wanted to learn
We danced in the moonlight with the fireflies

What would happen? How would life be different for you if you just wonder if?
What if you took that wonder and put it into action?
Wonder if I just packed it all in and started on a walking tour of the country…the world?
Then what?

Wonder if we all just quit one day and started living out of out possibilities instead of our expectations.
Then what?
Wonder if I could get up tomorrow with no agenda, no to do list, no cat to feed, no children to herd, no job to go to.
Then what?

Looking back and wondering if is easy. As I look back on my life I can wonder if…
What might have happened if I married so and so instead of so and so
What would life had been had I gone to this school instead of that one
Had taken the other job
Hadn’t had the affair
Hadn’t yelled at my boss
Had gone to the Caribbean instead of Hawaii
These questions you have probably already played in your head. I play I wonder if with my past every once in a while. It is an interesting little fantasy game that whiles away a few minutes I may not be using at the moment. But really, it is pretty non-productive. Of course things would have been different if this or that had happened differently. Would my core be any different, though? Would who I am very deeply be any differently than who I am right now? I suspect not, at least not if your core values and ethics are strong and powerful.

When we play wonder if into the future the game shifts dramatically. I am going to operate out of my core values. I am going to stand tall in who I am, in whom I am being. That part is not going to change. But when I play wonder if…

Wonder if I can re-invent myself
Wonder if I can change the world
Wonder if I can be the parent I wanted to be
Wonder if I can be financially successful
Wonder if I can write the _______ (fill in the blank)
Wonder if I can create or invent _______ (fill in the blank)

The problem comes when we start answering the question…YES, of course I can.
Then the doubts and the other questions begin…
Then what?
What will I do then?
How can I do that?
I’m not this or that enough to get that done.
What will everyone think of me if I do______ (fill in the blank again)
What will my family say?
How will I live?
What about _______ (pick something)
These are the fears coming up and destroying your wonder if.
This is what happens when our blank slate isn’t really blank. If I truly have a “tabula rasa” none of those things should ever come up. I don’t know about you but even when I try to erase the slate there are still impressions left. This morning I erased my white board and started to write something new. What I erased was still there…I could still see it and could still read it without much trouble. I wiped it cleaner and it was still there, hidden but there.

The same thing happens with us. We wipe things out. We think we are “over” it. We think we have worked it out. We have erased the fears, the conditioning, the expectations but they may still be operating underneath. They may be lurking under the rocks in my subconscious. The belief systems I have put into place over the course of my life continue to operate whether I know it or not. This is a black board that is really hard to erase. It is going to take some bit of work to shift and change a lifetime of beliefs, fears, and expectations.

Is it work worth doing? Because this work is not going to be easy. This isn’t like changing your socks or doing the dishes. This is monumental life changing world shifting work. It is going to hurt. It is going to create some cracks in your armor.

But what if doing the work could open up the world of wonder if? What if all of a sudden you could love like you have never been hurt (even though you have been), dance like no one was watching (even though they are), work like you don’t need the money (even though you really do), sing like no one is listening (even though they may be), and live like its heaven on earth (even though it isn’t).

Would you do the work now? Would it be worth the struggle, the pain, and the hurt? If not, why not? What is going to be enough to have you do the work?

I’ll bet about now you are wondering but how am I going to do the work? I have no idea what he is talking about. I have no idea how to get started. I have no way to access this crazy work he is talking about.
Yes you do. If you are getting this you have a computer. If you have a computer you have a world at your fingertips. There are blogs, ebooks, forums and much more to get started on. There are people out there who can help you (including me).

Start wondering if
Do the work
Wonder if some more
Do more work
It’s never too late for you to be who you were meant to be.


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

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Sunday Story...Wish in One Hand

Sunday Story…Wish in One Hand

There are a million excuses for you to use for whatever you are not doing, or supposed to be doing but aren’t, or for your shortcomings. One of the most common is I wish I could___________ (fill in whatever you wish you could be doing).
I wish I could get into shape but __________
I wish I could eat better but___________
I wish I could get my blood pressure down but____________
I wish I could, I wish I could I wish I could. This is not the sound of anyone who is going to get anything done. I am sure the reasoning you are applying to the things that you aren’t doing is sound and reasonable. I am sure it makes sense. I am sure that logic works. FOR YOU.

The facts are simple. If you are wishing in one hand and finding a whole lot of stuff after the but you are simply letting the world run you on whatever terms it finds timely. You are not in charge of your life. You are not being proactive in running your life.

I’ll bet you wish you could change that outlook. But it’s too hard isn’t it. But my spouse just won’t let me. But I have so many responsibilities. But I don’t have any time to plan my life. But the world just handed me a bad hand of cards. But there just isn’t anything I can do about it.

Fine. Stop reading now. You have gone far enough. There is nothing for you here.

Still reading? Good. Look quit wishing for stuff. There is no fairy godmother coming around to grant you 3 wishes, no genie coming out of the bottle, no magic beans. Your wishes just aren’t going to come true. I feel really bad about putting it so bluntly but there it is. Think back to when you found out about whatever childhood icon you believed in (Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny) wasn’t real. Remember the confusion, the devastation this brought to your world view? Or maybe you had some idea before it was confirmed but you wanted to play along with the game a little longer. You wanted to believe in the magic longer because it kept things simple and easy in the little world you were living in.
If you want to be in better shape you can be. If you want to eat healthier you can. If you want to live a life of wonder and splendor you can. It really isn’t that hard.

First you better decide what definition you are going to use for the thing you want. What does healthier really look like to you? I know what it looks like to me but what does it look like to you. The more clear your definition the easier the process of getting is going to be. You need a clearly defined idea of the thing you want. I want to be rich. OK…what does that look like in the world you are living in because compared to many parts of the world (where they live on less than $3.00 per day) you already are rich. I want to lose some weight…OK how much?

Wishing just won’t make things so. You need to define what it is you want. You need to start defining how you want your life to look. This is the stop for many people. What if I’m wrong? What if I say I want this that and the other thing and I get it and then I don’t really want it? One question comes to mind…if you haven’t designed the life you are living and you really aren’t happy with it, how will getting something you design but don’t want be any different than what you have today? Just asking.

It seems to me I would be better off designing a life and then realizing I would rather have designed it differently than living on accident. If I don’t like what I create I can always make some adjustments and create something else. I mean can’t you shift and change more than once? I have had several careers over the years. I loved them all and thought they were the exact right things at the exact right times. Was I wrong? Was I building sand castles just waiting for the tide to come in and tear them down? No these were solid things, good things but I changed and shifted and then built something different. Not better perhaps, but certainly more relevant to who and what I wanted to be doing.

Just defining what it is isn’t going to be enough though. You are going to have to figure out how and when you are going to get what it is you really want. Then you are going to have to make a plan to go out and get it. It won’t happen in the face of inaction. It won’t happen in the ill defined, poorly planed environment your life has been up to this point. If you want it you are going to have to go and get it. If you want to win the lottery you had better go out and buy a ticket.

This isn’t rocket science. This isn’t brain surgery. It really is very simple. But it is going to require effort. It is going to require you to get up off your duff and do something. It is going to require some struggle; you might get frustrated and maybe even sidetracked but in the end it will be your life. The life you want, the body you want, the world you want. Sitting around and wishing just won’t make it so.

If you wish in one hand and put mud in the other, when you put them together you get a handful of mud. If you put goals and plans in one hand and mud in the other at least you still have goals and plans when you put them together.

Stop wishing and start working.

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

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Sunday Story...Resistance is Futile

Sunday Story…Resistance is Futile

Resistance training is important. Usually when we talk about resistance training we are talking about moving some amount of weight over a particular plane of movement a certain number of times. The weight resists the movement and we get stronger, our bones get stronger (more dense), our joints become more limber. That is the theory anyway. And for the most part it is true. And for the most part it is something we should all be doing.

But that isn’t the kind of resistance training I am talking about today. The resistance training I am talking about today is training yourself to do the things you really don’t want to do. To do the things that show up as hard or challenging. We all have those things. You know the ones I am talking about. The ones that if you do them will result in amazing personal growth and will move your life forward in ways you have always dreamed about but have never quite gotten to.

There really isn’t a training school for this sort of thing, at least not one I have found. There is a process or two that may be helpful in getting there but at the bottom line it will end up being all about you and your will to plow through the muck, the mud, and the sludge to get stronger in your character, more solid in your being, more grounded in your “who you are”.

Just like when we go to the gym everyday in the face of not wanting to go. When we pick up that heavier weight because we know the results will be there. When we continue to drive for one more repetition because in that last one is the success we have been striving for. We are training ourselves to fight against the not wanting to, the desire to quit, to give up to remain mediocre.

Maybe your “thing” isn’t the weights. Maybe your “thing” is something else…some other thing that requires you to push the edge of your comfort zone, the edge of your envelope. There is a mental toughness in that push, that requirement to get the last morsel, the last nugget of growth and effort. We are applying this attitude and mental fortitude to the thing we know, the thing we have committed to, the thing that is going to pay us the dividends we desire.

BUT (you knew that was coming) there are places where you are not practicing your resistance training. Places in your life that you are playing not to lose, perfectly happy with the envelope being the size that it is, perfectly perfect in your comfort zone. This is not how to win in life. This is not how you grow and become the amazing human you were put upon this earth to become.

For me nutrition is pretty easy. I eat in a way that is consistent with my fitness and health goals, I don’t find it difficult. Of course, I am an outstanding cook (Thanks Mom). The same with fitness…pretty easy for me to train hard, keep going in the face of defeat, injury, exhaustion, or simple laziness. I have no problem pushing the edges of fitness. I love the feeling of muscle straining, sweat pouring, limbs shaking training. I feel alive, centered, and focused.

On the other hand…I hate having to look at my failed relationships. I hate having to take responsibility for those relationships. This is an envelope I am very happy staying inside of. Yet if I don’t do some work I am doomed to repeat my past failures. It is the way of the world. If we don’t learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it over and over and over. I am resisting this training. I am dragging my feet, skipping workouts (metaphorically) and not putting a full 100% effort into the training. What is that about? What belief system is operating on this front?

SO…here is the exercise for those of you who want push the edge of your relationship envelope:
Write a love letter to your past lover. Pick the one that you are still most lit up, mad at, or can’t get out of your mind. The idea is to begin with fear, or anger, or sadness and end up with love.
I am so angry that you______________(fill in the blank)
I am scared because ____________________ (fill in the blank)
I am afraid because_____________________ (fill in the blank)
I love you because _______________________ (fill in the blank)
Naturally it may take a while to get to the love part. And you will need to dig very deep to discover what has you all bent out of shape about this particular relationship. You may need to do this process more than once with more than one person. The idea is to figure out the how and why you feel the way you do and then get over it and move on so that you can have a healthy relationship of this type.

This seems to be a pretty simple process. Yet I have been resisting it for several weeks. I have written a paragraph or 2 and I seem to be stuck. I just don’t want to do it.
Here is the fix (Thanks Francesca) and this is a fix you can use anywhere you are stuck…nutrition, quitting a habit, working out, personal growth or even the love letter process:

Write this sentence down:
I don’t want to write this letter (in my case) because____________ (fill in the blank). Keep writing sentence after sentence until you have exhausted all the reasons (real or imagined) for not doing whatever it is that you really know you should be doing.
Then write this sentence down:
The gift I will receive from this activity is ____________________ (fill in the blank). Keep writing sentence after sentence until you have exhausted all the gifts you could possible derive from doing the activity.

At this point you should be ready to tackle the activity. In my case…the love letter. In your case?

What are you resisting? Why are you resisting it? What are you getting, how are you winning by not growing? Why are playing small in this area of your life? Do you want to stop? There’s one small little exercise you might try …if you dare. Watch out though you might end up being great!

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

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Sunday Story...Harmonic Health

Sunday Story…Harmonic Health

As many of you know I am on a mission to find, live, and help you be optimally fit. Unfortunately there is no recipe for this. There is no blueprint, no one right and true way. And it seems that there are so many conflicting opinions, gurus, and information that we should just throw up our hands and sit down to a really bad cheeseburger and fries.

NOOO! Don’t do it. As Winston Churchill is reported to have said…”Never Give Up”. Part of this process is trial and error. What works really well for me may only work partly well for you. And yes there are those anomalies out there that can smoke and drink and eat bad food and live to a healthy 80 years old. That isn’t me and it probably isn’t you and really do you want to risk it?

So let’s step back a bit and focus on a much bigger picture. Is nutrition important? Is exercise important? Absolutely but too often we get so obsessed with one factor that we miss the big picture…in other words you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Let’s divide this harmonic health idea into 3 parts. #1 Recovery---nutrition, sleep, and other practices. # 2 Physical Stress---exercise, disease, injury, and labor. #3 Mental misfiring---losses (job, spouse child), money, trauma, self esteem. If all three of these areas are in harmony life is good. If we get out of balance life can start getting bad in a hurry.

On the Recovery side of things we find nutrition, sleep, and other practices. These are generally on the plus side of the ledger. Some sleep is better than no sleep. 9 hours is optimal. I rarely get 9 but often get 7 or 8. If you think about it this way…9 hours would be a score of 100, 8 might be 90, and on down until you get to maybe 5 and then the number starts going into negative territory. In other words it starts costing you points and might increase your other stressors as well if I end up diabetic and overweight.

The same goes for nutrition. If I am eating very clean and organic and in the perfect portions I get 100 points. And it goes down from there. When I get most of my nutrition from a box or from a fast food joint or worse it will start costing me points. If I drink alcohol I will lose points.
If I am conscientious about getting massages, taking ice baths, meditating daily, doing mobility workouts with lacrosse balls and the like I get positive points. If it is hit and miss the points go down. If I don’t have regular practices the points get a lot less. It is hard to end up with negative points in this category.

The Recovery part of the equation is the easiest place to get positive points. The other two…more difficult but not impossible.

Physical Stress…disease, exercise, injury and labor. Labor is your job, what you do every day to make a living. Do you sit at a desk all day? Negative points. Do you throw cement sacks all day or some other repetitive physical task? Negative points. In a perfect world you would have a mix of sitting, and hard work and a constantly varied routine to alleviate mental boredom and physical wasting. Injury…injury free is neutral points, injured is negative points and the severity of the injury will determine how deep in the hole you are going to be. The same thing with disease. There is a big difference between diseases and their impact on your ability to maintain optimal health and fitness. Exercise is much more difficult. Any exercise causes stress. But no exercise causes worse effects. How intense is your exercise? Are doing long slow repetitive movement? All of these factors increase or decrease the physical stress. There will be times when this will be more out of harmony than others…when training for a specific event for instance. And certain types of training are more stressful than others.

Mental misfiring…trauma, loss, money, self esteem. If you are carrying around abusive events from your childhood that you have never processed and integrated your points are going to be negative. If you just got fired, divorced or lost your 401k your points are going to be negative. If you beat yourself up every day over all the stuff in life that isn’t right (the weather, your parents, etc.) more negative points. If you are all good in this area you probably still don’t get many positive points but the negative points in this neighborhood will add up fast.

Your job is to get as many points as possible. The more points you get the closer you will be to living in harmonic health, to optimal health and fitness. We can look around us and see bad examples all the time…the body builder using steroids, the nutrition guru whose personal life is a mess, the successful business man who is overweight and diabetic, or the relationship coach who can’t get out of bed in the morning because of (pick one) depression, disease, or addiction.

What are you going to do to get more points? I highly recommend you start with the easiest things first…Recovery. How much are you sleeping? How good is your sleep? Start working on that one because the positive points add up very quickly. Do some nice things for yourself…get a massage weekly, meditate daily, get out into nature and just be. Again these things add up very quickly. Start looking into your diet…start eliminating processed foods, soda, and alcohol and increasing your vegetable and organic food intake. More positive points.

Harmonic health takes some work. It takes keeping an eye on the big picture as well as the smaller pieces. It takes doing some internal work on your psyche. It means using your brain and not doing stupid stuff. It means being conscious and integrated. It means using your brain to create the feedback loop to know what works for you in the face of lots of information.

Harmonic Health…pretty simple really, just not easy.

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

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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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Sunday Story...Burn the Ships

Sunday Story…Burn the Ships

I have heard this story so many times and to be honest I have no idea if it is true or not but it does serve to illustrate the point of today’s missal: Hernando Cortez, in 1519, after landing on the Yucatan peninsula in what is now Mexico commanded his men to “Burn the ships.” This decision sealed the fate of the Aztec people and their empire and probably altered the course of history throughout South and Central America. His army was stunned and one man asked “how will we get back home to our families?” Cortez said, “We will conquer the Aztec army and sail home in their ships.” Simply put…Cortez created a point of no return. Win or Die.

Cortez crossed the Rubicon...the River of no return. Once I have crossed the Rubicon, I can’t turn back. I can’t decide this is a bad idea. I can’t turn around. This is a commitment rarely seen in today’s world. Yet we love the people who represent this ideal. It is the Jobs and Wozniak in their garage creating Apple Computer having dropped out of college. The image of Michael Jordan, after being cut from his freshman basketball team shooting free throw after free throw to create what, arguably, became the greatest basketball player to play the game. Remember our founding fathers? They all knew that failure was going to result in their own deaths, imprisonment or enslavement of their families and continued tyranny for their countrymen. Over and over we hear these stories of dedication, drive, and determination and we get inspired. It brings tears to our eyes.

In the movie “Facing the Giants” there is a scene where one player, after buying into a defeatist attitude carries another player on his back for 100 yards…a seemingly impossible feat. Failure was not an option. He was not given a choice he was only given the option of moving forward. If you aren’t giving your absolute best you aren’t giving enough. It you want to see the clip go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0dLpQPVjh8&feature=related
What is your Rubicon? What is your river of no return? When are you going to decide to cross it? When are you going to burn your ships?

There is always a point of no return. The place where you have gone so far that turning around is no longer an option. There is only forward. There is only through to the end. You might have to alter the route, alter the plan but there is no longer the ability to stop and go back. There is no re-set button. There is no Plan B…there is only success.

Too often we want a Plan B. We want a way out if Plan A doesn’t work. But how often do you really have a Plan B? Plan B is almost always some ill-conceived vague notion of doing something else if what we really want doesn’t work. Just imagine walking into a dark room and taking 3 steps forward when someone behind you pulls the door shut. You don’t know how to go forward and you can’t go back. The ships are burnt. It is a little late for Plan B. You better find a way out, through or get to the light switch or prepare to be stuck in that dark room for a while…until someone rescues you or you succeed. Is that your Plan B? Wait to get rescued? Is your mama going to show up and pull you out of trouble? Bad Plan. How about this one…Succeed or die trying. When I want to succeed as much as I want to breathe I will be successful.

Plan B is an excuse to fail. I mean if you have a Plan B and it is so good why don’t you just do Plan B? Maybe Plan B should be Plan A! What’s your Plan B if you wake up and you aren’t breathing? There isn’t one right? You aren’t breathing. I am not doing what I should be doing. When I want to succeed as much as I want my next breath I will be successful. What do you want as much as you want your next breath? Do you even know?

Therein lays the problem. You don’t even know where your Rubicon is. You have no idea. Losing some weight sounds like a good idea. Getting in shape sounds like a good idea. Living a healthy life style sounds like a good idea. The world is full of good ideas. The world has good ideas by the bushel. What the world needs is for you to decide that your weight loss, your physical condition, your mental or emotional state, your substance addiction, your poor relationship with your (pick one—spouse, child, parent) is so important, so critical, so integral to your being that you would rather die than fail, you would rather stop breathing than not be successful. At that point “Burn the Ships” is a reality. There is no Plan B. There is only the Plan and there is only the execution of the plan.

Maybe you need to hire a trainer, a nutritionist, a counselor, a confidante, a something to get you up and off the cabana chair to burn those boats. Maybe you need to make a wager, tell the world in a public declaration or make some grand gesture that will prove to yourself that your journey is one so highly committed, so dedicated that failure is off the table.

I don’t know what will get you that committed. I do know that without crossing the Rubicon ultimate success will elude you and me. It is in the act of crossing the river, burning the ships, creating a do or die mentality that truly amazing and powerful things will come into being.

Go ahead…Burn the Ships…end a life of putting one toe in and pulling out…Burn the Ships

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

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Sunday Story...My House

Sunday Story…My House

is a very nice house. I have been building it for years. I know where everything is because I put it there. I built the places to put things in and the rooms for them to go into. It is my house.

I also populated it with people. The people living in my house are there because I let them be there. I asked them in, or I at least allowed them to stay for a while. Some of them are not very good house guests; others are great to have around. And still others are in hiding. They are hiding in places I have forgotten or don’t want to go into any longer.

I built this house. I created it to look the way I wanted it to look. I did it. Now way too often I was just building something without knowing what it was that I was building. It may have started out one way but then I changed my mind in mid-build and turned the garage into a bathroom or vice versa. When I look around my house it feels pretty good…after all I have been living here for my entire life.

You might look at my house and see some sort of M.C. Escher-esque creation but it doesn’t look that way to me. See it functions for me no matter what you think of it. Maybe it doesn’t quite work that way I would really like but I built and it is good enough.

You might ask, however, “what about all those rooms that you built and sealed off? What about the people living in those rooms …the ones you have forgotten about?” You might also wonder about the stairs that go nowhere, the garage that is too small for a car or the bathroom big enough for a tank. It just doesn’t appear to have much rhyme or reason.

So…the people living in all the rooms of my house are all me. After all it is my house and I am the only one living in it. There are parts of me that I tucked away for various reasons. Maybe when I was little I needed to hide and be kept safe. So I crawled into the closet under that stairs that don’t go anywhere and stayed there. The rest of me grew up and that little guy stayed in that closet, forgotten for all this time. This is especially easy to do when I don’t have to walk up those stairs and wonder what is in that closet.

That little guy in that closet got left behind. He is still there, he is still safe. But he can’t come out until I go and get him. I have to re-discover that part of the house…the part I built and then left for a variety of reasons. Then I have to coax him out of hiding. And it isn’t going to be easy. It isn’t just open the door and out he jumps. He has been in there a very long time. He doesn’t trust me or anyone else. So I am going to have to convince him it is time to come out and it is safe to come out, that I am going to take care of him now because I can and it is my adult job to do it.

This is not an easy process. It requires a huge amount of work on your interior landscape. A huge shift in the way you are building your house for the future. It is also going to require some remodeling of what you have already built. After all, how many closets did you build and then forget? How many pieces of yourself have you left behind in those little rooms?

When we speak of integration this is what we are talking about…the process of bringing the pieces of you home to live in the main house with the rest of the family. This is a life of integrity…to live in a way that is whole and in alignment with who you are today and with the vision of who you are going to be tomorrow.

What does your house look like? I am sure it is a very nice house but how many blind hallways are there? How many staircases that lead nowhere? How many rooms are there that no longer serve any purpose. How many people have you left behind to keep them safe and secure? Do you have any idea at all? Have you ever tried to step out of your house and looked back at it to see what the casual viewer from the street might see?

I know it is easy not to do this. I know that even thinking of this stuff might make your brain hurt. I know you think you have done your “work”. I know you think you are OK, that you have “worked through all your stuff”. But are you really? Or did you just close off that wing of your house. Why go down those hallways that lead nowhere anyway?

Why, indeed. It is very simple really…your life is incomplete. It is missing vital pieces that will enrich and create an integrated person driven with purpose and vision. This is the work that will inspire you and your people to become the powerful and amazing humans you were created to be.

Or you can just leave it alone and hope those doors never get opened. That those people hiding in those closets never get stirred up and decide to start making trouble in those funny little rooms. That is when life gets way past a little funky. That is when the house starts falling down on its own and has us wondering why and what did I do to deserve this and why is it happening to me.

Because you didn’t do your work. You didn’t finish your work. I know I haven’t. I keep at it. I keep finding those rooms and fixing them up, re-claiming those parts that I tucked away so long ago knowing I get back to them someday when I have better tools to get the job done.

The time is now. You and I have the tools. Let’s go to work. It is time now.

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

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Sunday Story...Good Things

Sunday Story…Good Things

Come to those who wait. Delayed gratification is a skill and virtue over looked in our modern world. We are so conditioned to getting everything right now that when we have to wait, or worse yet we have to plan to wait that the idea is as foreign as eating insects.

I get my email (which is immediate) on my cell phone which is even more immediate. I get messages on my phone and the phone tells me right now. I no longer have to wait to get home and check the “answering machine”. If I want a cherry pie at 2AM in January I am probably only 10 or 20 minutes away from one. Strawberries in February? Mangoes and bananas so far from the tropics? We are conditioned to want things and conditioned to get them now.

It wasn’t always this way. It used to be we ate the food that was in season. If asparagus wasn’t being picked nearby we weren’t getting any and certainly not out of season. If we wanted to buy something we saved the money for it…we didn’t buy it today and pay for it tomorrow.

The smell of garlic cooking permeated my house last night. The tomatoes were roasting in the oven with copious amounts of garlic, basil, zucchini and eggplant. All the ingredients (except the garlic) had been harvested from the garden in the back yard. There will be so much that the freezer will be accepting some and next spring we will celebrate our 4th fundraiser by enjoying it with our friends and loved ones.

This meal was nearly 3 years in the making. Not literally but metaphorically. Some 3 years ago the germination of an idea began. The idea that we could grow food in a back yard and have enough to feed lots of people maybe even a community. When I moved into the house the back yard was non-existent. Weeds, weeds and more weeds, a non-functional watering system 10+ years old and a broken down fence. It was a blank slate waiting for a vision.

The vision was simple…a community garden run by the people who would benefit from it. No government interference, no strange rules governing the who, what, where and when, just people who saw the vision, aligned with the vision and were willing to work to see the vision come to life.
Frankly it hasn’t happened quite that way. The vision was to have people who are “food insecure” learn how to grow food in the garden and take that knowledge with them as well as fresh produce they helped to produce. They would begin to understand the concept of reaping what you sow, planning for the future, and setting goals and working toward them in small incremental steps. Has not come to pass.

But what has come to pass is pretty cool. The vision has modified and shifted somewhat and has become what may be a more workable model, at least for me. What has transpired is a small community of people…a core of 4 or 5, a number of other willing volunteers (10 or 20), and a interested host of observers…have dedicated hours of labor in the heat and the cold, have donated money to pay for seeds, plants, water and supplies, and have built a 2800’ foot garden in the middle of a town. A garden where the gate is open to anyone. A garden that has produced over the last 3 years almost 2000 pounds of food. A garden that has donated almost all that food to community members without regard to need or participation. A garden that has given wheel barrows of food to the food pantry.

Here may be the most special part…it is a garden where over 2 dozen children have learned how to handle tools, how plants grow, how to appreciate bugs, bees, and spiders, where soil comes from, and the value of work for the sake of work. These kids have sweated, laughed, killed bugs, burnt stuff, figured out how things work and just generally got some lessons you can only get in a garden. They have inspired the people around them to try new things (okra, eggplant), plant their own gardens and be more connected to the earth. And yesterday they expressed gratitude for the bounty they took with them.

From this single garden at least 3 new gardens are here that were not around 2 years ago. From this single garden a group of children now understand that you have to plan things if you want stuff in the future. From this single garden the awareness of eating healthy, natural food is now in the front of over 100 people minds where before it was in the rear. From this single garden hundreds of people have gotten physical sustenance, emotional nurturing and spiritual inspiration.

We sow then we reap. It doesn’t work the other way around. When we find a vision, set a goal, make a plan, and take action, good things happen. Look at all the good that happened…was the original vision fulfilled? Not yet. But having the flexibility to go with the vision that was shifting and changing, staying in action and being open to what the universe was creating in the absence of rigidity and judgment allowed a huge shift, a massive transformation to take place.

The number of people who need to be thanked for seeing the craziness through to this point is myriad. Each of you knows who you are. This amazing project could never have become real in the world without your freely given time, energy and money. I have so much gratitude for each of you and I have learned so much about this process in our work together that I am unable to express properly my gratitude. So I will just say, deeply, and with appreciation:
THANK YOU.

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

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Sunday Story...Wasting Away

Sunday Story…Wasting away


Are you wasting your life away? Like Jimmy Buffet sang? Wasting away in Margaritaville? Did you wake up this morning in an alcohol induce haze; grab some greasy food in an attempt to stave off the effects of the hangover? Or did you get up and get your rear to the gym, on the road for a little quick run or ride, or a nice long stretch and mobility workout?


Did you spend last week worrying over your increasing waistline? It’s not going to get any better if you don’t take action. You are going to get fatter and fatter and more de-conditioned as you get older. You can’t stop the getting older thing. You have been doing that since the day you took your first breath. You can do something about the rest of it though.


Yes you can. No matter where you are, no matter how bad you think it is you can do something about it.


You can be Great.
You can be everything you want to be.
You can be part of the 5%. The 5% that is great, the 5% that lives life the way it was meant to be lived.

You can’t do it from the couch though.
You can’t do it sitting at your desk.
You can’t do it by talking about doing it.

You have to get up, stand up, and get going.
You have to decide you are going to be great, that you are going to join the 5% of the world that is eating right, working out their physical bodies, exercising their minds, expanding their spirituality, growing their compassion.
You have the power to do this.


Or not. Let’s be brutally honest…95% of the people in the world are never going to do anything. They are fat dumb and happy. Like the cows in a feedlot, contentedly chewing their cuds waiting for the day they are led to the killing room to be whacked between the eyes on the way to becoming just another piece of hamburger. No consciousness, no awareness of something better, no desire, no discipline, no desire for anything but comfort and ease.


Really? Is that who you want to be? Shall we just give you the remote, a crappy cheap beer and some generic chips, sit your butt in front of the 50” big screen and fatten you up for the slaughter big pharma and the crappy food industry are going to lead you into?

If you are reading this (still) you are not that person. Well, maybe you were 10 minutes ago. This is the clarion call to get off your butt and do something. What you have been doing is not working…unless you are already in the 5%. And if you are in the 5% maybe you should work toward the 3%. Or get into the 5% in ALL areas of your life. I know I am not in all areas of my life. BUT I am doing something about it.


Decide. Today. Now. At least if you aren’t going to get to doing the work then make a conscious choice to be in the 95% that is just waiting to be sacrificed at the altar. Yep, John, that’s me…no shut up and leave me to my mediocre existence. I’m happy here, I like being fat, dumb, and happy. I want the blue pill. The red pill is just too hard; it looks like work, struggle, suffering and sacrifice.


The red pill is going to require you change. It is going to require you do lung burning, stomach heaving, and body suffering workouts…daily, weekly, and stretching into the rest of your life. It is going to hurt sometimes. It is going to be painful. It is going to be glorious when you can do things you couldn’t do last week, last month or maybe never in your life. It is going to be amazing when you walk by a mirror and do a double take while you are wondering whose body you are looking at in the mirror. You are going to be stronger, fitter, and healthier.


The red pill is going to change your eating habits. Your taste buds are going to awaken. You are going to learn about new vegetables and how to cook them. You are going to find joy in food again. The unmitigated delight of fresh food prepared simply with love and care. You are going to learn your way around the kitchen. Your bodily functions are going to improve. You mind is going to clear. Clarity and focus and thought are found in the kitchen.


The red pill is going to force you to stretch your intellect. Learning didn’t stop when you left school. Your brain is going to hurt. Your mind is going to suffer with new information overloads. Your intellect is going to grow and be more powerful. You are going to stave off aging diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. You are going to learn the things you have always wanted to learn…Geometry, Spanish, Art History. You are going to discover the joy to be found in a well written book, the mystery of a poem penned with care.


The red pill is going to create consciousness you thought was the province of saints and saddhus. Your world is going to grow larger. You are going to be the person we have all been waiting for. Yes you…complete, whole, integrated, compassionate, passionate, understanding and connected. Your beliefs are going to be even greater than yesterday as you begin to understand the true mysteries that exist underneath the thin veneer we all think reality is.


Decide to embrace self discipline. Decide to join the 5% of the world who are really up to something. Decide to be the physical specimen you are meant to be. Decide to be the intellectual power you were supposed to be. Decide to join the world of connectivity and spirituality.


Decide then act. Then keep on acting…in the face of ridicule, in the face of difficulty, in the face of being different, in the face of weakness and fear, in the face of base instincts and craven desires. You are Great. You are Powerful beyond imagining. You are the one we have been waiting for. You. Now get off your butt and go do it.


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

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