Sunday Story…The Last Day

Years ago I had a poster (probably black light!) that went like this:

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Mine had a little flower next to it.

The idea was that you get to start everyday fresh and the decisions you make today should be based on your present and what you want in the future not your past. Blah, blah, blah

Maybe it should have said:

Today is the last day of the rest of your life.

If, at the end of today, you can say you fulfilled your purpose, that you told the people in your life the things you needed to tell them, that you did the things that really needed doing (probably not the laundry), then you might be able to say OKAY.

Have you told your stories? Have you cleaned up the “stuff” that’s holding you back? Have you moved closer to your goal(s)?

The question is simple:

Why not?

Death may be the greatest invention of life. There is an end here. We will all meet it. There is no escaping.

So why are you living like you are going to live forever?

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story...Personal Growth

Is a ride that never stops. We keep peeling back the layers of the onion to reveal more and more of what makes us tick. And then adding more authenticity to our existence.


I am writing this a week before I immerse myself in Landmark Education’s Advanced Course. As you read this I will be mid way through the 3rd of three days of intense personal introspection, the tearing off of masks and facades, and the soul searing work of revealing secrets, fears and deep seated desires. Hopefully, by the time Sunday is done there will be a resolution and a new path to the same goals, or a old path to new goals, or something new will arise.


Any time you get ready to do this kind work, as soon as you commit (pay the money and sign up) the work starts. Things start roiling, demons raise their heads, old scars throb, movement begins as the commencement of the work begins. Even knowing this in advance (it’s not my first rodeo) it always hits me in unexpected places.


If you aren’t familiar with the work of Landmark Education go here: http://www.landmarkworldwide.com/ Start with the forum and see where that leads you. I have friends who are “all in” with Landmark and others who weren’t called. Either way I am sure you will find it a revealing and confronting 3 days.


See you on the other side.


John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Pay It

Forward. This is something we talk about doing. Buying a coffee for the next person in line or paying the bridge toll for the car behind you all seems to be really kind and, truth be told, feels like it contributes to my “good” karma.


But what about when some idiot cuts you off in traffic, or some stranger takes advantage of you, or treats you badly? What do you do? Do you pay that bad behavior forward? Do you then use that as an excuse to treat every stranger or homeless person or ___________(fill in the blank) badly yourself?


Making the “other” into a demon to be punished is a key strategy in divisiveness. Doing that hurts me as much as it will ever hurt them; that loss of humanity pulls and tugs at the fabric of my being. It is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.


People will do horrible things of that there is no doubt. But just because one person does horrible things does not condemn all people to the dustbin. One person is not the sum of humanity.


Nor can you condemn every person because of the action of one. I am the “other”. I have seen the enemy and he is me.


John Mariotti
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
www.crossfitodyssey.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Hero’s

Journey is not a straight line. It is a circle from being called to returning home changed and renewed. Along the way we encounter challenges, defeats, revelations, death and rebirth, transformation after atonement. If you are called and choose to start the journey you will return (If you return) a changed person.

We humans are messy, confused and confusing beings. I am messy confused and confusing to myself and the people around me. I do not have it all figured out. I have things living in my shadow I don’t like, things that scare me, things that hurt me and the people around me. When I see my shadow I want to run and hide. When I peer into the abyss, into the deep dark parts of myself I want to die. And I have no choice but to step into that abyss. In the abyss I will die. When I emerge on the other side I will be reborn.

That rebirth is transforming. The emergence from the abyss of the cocoon, from the grey mush of death requires atonement for true transformation to occur. I must do better, be better and get better to really atone for my errors and my mistakes. And even then the razor’s edge is sharp and narrow.

I will atone for my errors. I will do better, be better. I will transform. I will return from the abyss, complete the journey and return. Each of you can as well.

See you in light.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412