Sunday Story…Better Now

I want to be better. I want you to be better. I want you to want me to be better.

There it is in its entirety. There ain’t no more. I want you to be better tomorrow. I want to be better 5 minutes from now. I want you to be better for reading this thing I write every week. I want you to want me to write something that will make you think, say, or be better.

I want all of us to stop embracing mediocrity. I want all of us to want better politicians, journalists, restaurants, coffee joints, hamburgers. I don’t care what side of the stripe you sit on the road…I want you to demand more honesty, more clarity, more truth, more excellence…everywhere, all the time. Not once in a while, not when it is convenient, and certainly not just when it serves your purpose.

Excellence is something we do daily, in everything we do. Excellence is a habit not a happenchance. Demand it and stop allowing mediocrity to pervade our daily life. Do I really need to have the same homogenous stuff as the other 100 million people here? Do we all need to eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same store, or drive the same car. Am I so insecure that I can only find validation when my “like quotient” hits a certain number?

You are special, you are unique. Your experiences and the meanings you have assigned to them are yours. You are not mediocre unless you choose to be. You can choose to be better. You can choose excellence. You can choose the path of individual effort and merit. I want you to be better. I want you to stop swimming in the mud puddle of public mimicry. Average is number best relegated to a math book and not an adjective assigned to you…a unique and special human.

Be better. Demand better from the world around you. Demand better from your friends, family, politicians, role models, sports heroes, celebrities, your world. Define better as integrity in word and deed. Define better as excellence of thought and intent. Define better as a constant and never-ending pursuit of improvement.

Be better. Expect better. Stop settling for something less than excellence.

Better now?

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Don’t do it

CrossFit that is. It’s dangerous. No it is worse than dangerous. It is subversive. That’s right, I am uncovering the deep dark secret of CrossFit…it is the worst possible thing you could do. Just say No!

If CrossFit was only dangerous you could slow down and chip off some intensity and reduce the danger to your physical being. Lots of people will tell you CrossFit is dangerous…you might get hurt…you might do things that you didn’t know you could do…you might ask your body to perform in way it never has before. All of those things could be dangerous, could lead to an injury, and could bring out your inner athlete, previously unknown or comatose.

So what. Any exercise program might do that. You could get hit by a car on your morning walk (like my 98 year old great grandfather); you could pull a muscle playing tennis or end up with golfer’s elbow. You can’t live in a bubble and danger lurks around many corners.

Changing your fitness isn’t hard, especially if you are starting from zero. CrossFit is, on the other hand, subversive. You will start believing differently. You will start to shift your belief system. You may decide to dress differently. You may decide some things are more important and others less so.

CrossFit will subvert the power common culture exerts over you. Eating real food will eliminate the power big pharma and big food marketers have over you. The opinions of other people will matter less and your opinion of yourself will grow. Suddenly the things you thought were important (the number on the scale) will start to look stupid and other things (how your clothes fit) will make more sense.

CrossFit will subvert the power of the sheeple over you. You will need to break out from the herd, stand up and be counted as an individual. Let your own flag fly, not the one that looks like all the rest. How is this possible…after all CrossFit is just an exercise program, like P-90X or Zumba or Pilates, right?

Sure. That’s all it is. Go right ahead and keep thinking that way. Go ahead and give it a try. I won’t tell you the dark dirty subversive secret. I won’t pull the curtain back. Until it’s too late, that is. Until the subversion can’t be turned back or turned off. Individual freedom is intoxicating and addictive.

When you walked in you wanted to work out, sweat a little, smile a lot, shed some calories and have fun. When you walked out you were filled with a sense of accomplishment, knowledge that you are better than you knew, stronger in your mind and spirit than you thought possible. If that isn’t subversive, what is?

Come upset the apple cart of the status quo with me!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…See Me

There are some other parts inside me that need to be fed. I’m not talking about my need for food. I am talking about feeding my other needs. I am a seething unending chasm of needs, so are you. The trick is to feed your needs in ways that are life enhancing instead of hurtful and harmful to our lives and relationships.

This is going to take some honest appraisal of what the need really is. What you think it is on the surface is rarely what it is deep down and the way you think you should meet it is rarely going to meet that deep down yearning. Needs are universal…you and I have the same needs…maybe not in the same hierarchy but everyone on the planet has them in some way shape or form.

Here is a concrete example: the Sunday Story. That’s right the piece you are reading now and I have been writing almost every week for over 5 years is one of the ways I meet some very deep seated needs. On the surface, you might think I write in order to meet the need to provide content for my web site or blog. That is true. Or I am meeting my need to write. But these are not universal needs.

You might say these stories meet my need to express my self creatively. Creation is a universal need. Every human needs to be creative to some degree. Procreation is something we are all driven to do. It is a biological imperative. But when I drill down a little deeper it isn’t just my need to express creativity.

The truth of the matter is I write the Sunday Story so you may “see” me. And when I say “see” I mean the deeper dark parts of who I really am. The parts I would prefer to keep hidden under the rocks. The parts I don’t always like to admit are there. The parts of myself that are a little scared, or mean, or not so likeable. Some weeks are harder to tear off the façade than others. Some weeks I just can’t do it. I write anyway. I write so I can feed this need, so it doesn’t eat me alive. I write so I don’t tear off all my clothes in the public square metaphorically speaking. This outlet affords me a way to feed my need to be seen.

There you have it. The question to you is simple: Are you feeding your real needs? Those deep down needs you don’t like to look at? And what are you doing to keep those little monsters fed in a life enhancing way? Because if you don’t they are going to get fed in some inopportune moments and ways.

Feed the need.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Stupid is

As stupid does. What I mean by that is that stupid is related to doing not being. All too often we label people (being) as stupid. This is an insult to their being. What we should be doing is labeling behavior (doing) as stupid.

We all have done stupid things. Stupidity knows no bounds. It does behoove us to define some of the common ways we do stupid stuff:
Bad analysis is stupid. It is clear that based on the information you made a bad decision.

Willful ignorance is stupid. You chose to ignore information that was readily available should you have chosen to seek it out.

Distraction is stupid. We didn’t pay attention because there were other things pulling our attention away and we made an unfocused decision.

Self destruction is stupid. We don’t choose ourselves as worthy of good decisions and thus do things that harm ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.

I am sure we could break out several more definitions if we wanted to. Fear comes to mind. Fear is stupid because it isn’t real or reasonable. Any way I know I have been guilty of all of these forms of stupidity. And I am sure if you looked inside you might find you have also committed some stupidity in public as well.

None of this means my being is stupid. Far from it. It just means I have done some stupid things. The idea is to recognize stupid actions and fix them. Or at least not keep going down the same stupid road. Stupidity is fixable.

When stupid happens (and it is going to happen) figure out why or what was at the root of the stupidity. What did you miss? What was the blind spot? What can you do to eliminate the blind spot and what information sources can you dig up to stop stupidity in its tracks?

Stupidity can be slowed. Stupidity can be stopped. Stupidity does not have to happen over and over and over again. You need to be aware and vigilant but you can cure stupidity just as we cured childhood diseases…inoculate, be smart and be aware.

Stupidity…it isn’t a death sentence.

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Sorry

Doesn’t cut it. I teach children just saying “Sorry” is not good enough. Yes, you need to apologize, to say you are sorry. But you also need to acknowledge what you did, what happened. Then you need to take responsibility for what happened and take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

But to move forward whether to begin anew or to build something new requires another step. This step may not only be the hardest but it is the most misunderstood. That step is Forgiveness.

This is misunderstood because we think Forgiveness has something to do with the other person. I don’t need you to forgive me. You really can’t, you know, just like you can’t make me mad. Being mad is a choice I make, a feeling I am having about your behavior or words. Forgiveness is similar…there is no bucket of forgiveness you can pour upon my head. You can’t make me feel forgiven.

The only person who can forgive me is me. The only person forgiveness works for is me. Even if I say, I forgive you your trespasses, what I am really saying is that your trespasses are no longer part of my issue. And if I am the trespasser I need to forgive myself those transgressions. Failure to do so will result in my repeating those things until I learn the lessons contained in those actions.

The mistake many of us make is waiting for the other person to somehow forgive us. If I say I forgive you, what happens? Do the skies open and trumpets blare? I think not. If you forgive me, how does that change anything about me? The answers are obvious and self evident. I must forgive myself first and foremost. In order to effect real change in myself, in order to effect my actions, my words, in order to move forward in my life, I must first forgive myself.

I must forgive myself for taking wrong action, or wrong speech, or wrong thought. I must forgive myself for harming you. I must forgive myself for the desire that led to my wrongs. I must forgive myself.

I can stop being mad at you. I can stop feeling hurt by your words or actions. I can stop feeling that you somehow owe me something. And what I really need to do is forgive myself for feeling that way, for thinking those thoughts, for wanting something that isn’t yours to give.

First forgive yourself. Then forge ahead and find a fundamentally new position. You will be glad you did.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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