Sunday Story…Commit

To consistency.

If there was one trait, one thing that would guarantee your success it may be consistency.
Show up when you say you are going to show, do what you are supposed to do, and do it the way you are supposed to do it. Every. Damn. Time.
In the dictionary next to the definition of the word “consistency” is your picture, right? No? That isn’t your picture? Hmmm. Why not?

Here’s the deal…if I commit to being consistent, if consistent is who I am being, all the things in my life get easier. Want to lose weight? Eat the right food consistently. Want to get more fit? Show up and exercise consistently. Want to learn a new language? Read a book? Be more knowledgeable about just about anything? Work at it consistently.

Whatever your consistency is on any given subject or problem that is your commitment. You will show up and work out 3 times a week. You will study 1 hour a day. Every day. You are honest with yourself and hold yourself to the same standard of integrity you expect of everyone else. And integrity is doing what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it. And that includes the promises and commitments you make to yourself. Especially those.

Commit to consistency. It will change your life.

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

Sunday Story…My World

Is normal to me. In other words, the way and where and how I live makes sense to me and the other people around me. This “default” world is confirmed by the people who share my world.

We often wonder how people live in a war zone or in a jungle without power and running water. Those worlds are normal for those people. Those worlds are confirmed when they look around and see everyone else living in the same manner as everyone else. Where ever you are, there you are.

We define our world as normal. This normality is confirmed by the people around us and the way the world looks. If I live in a religious cult and all of my peers do as well, that becomes my normal, my usual world. If everyone around me speaks Italian and I speak Italian, Italian is what seems normal. When I venture outside my normal world and Italian is not the default, things start getting a little difficult. In many big cities, it is possible to speak a different language than the rest of the city in my little enclave. When it is pointed out that my “default” is not the same as everyone else’s dissatisfaction arises. I want to be normal, I want to fit in, I want to maintain the status quo.

If my anxiety around belonging gets too great I will need to change something. I could change my environment but that is often very difficult. I am stuck in a place, physically. No, what is changeable is me. I can decide that wherever I am is my new normal, my new “default.” And I can count my blessings there and then.

Count. Your. Blessings. Often.

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

Sunday Story...the Critic

And you. The critic is always there, lurking just behind the door, ready to rush out with a bang and then slink away like a stain. He/she is familiar, the voice well known, and you are used to listening.

He knows how to hurt us. She knows where our sore spots are and how to push the buttons of insecurity, insufficiency, doubt. Our inner critic lives in the shadows and gets power from our inability or unwillingness to confront him.

But what if you sat down and looked her in the eye and invited him to talk about being useful. Maybe if we welcomed him to the table there might be some constructive use there. Our sore spots are, well, sore. That can’t be helped. There isn’t anything we can do about that. But maybe if we welcome him to the party instead of running away we can make her impact less painful. Maybe if we befriend the critic we will find that he is quite ordinary and boring.

When we resist, fight, and rail against him we make her bigger and badder than he actually is. When we go to battle the fight is inevitable. If we decide there is no battle to win because there is no battle the critic loses power. The critic loses power when you shine your light upon him/her.

Don’t fight, befriend. Find out how to use, defuse and define your critic. Life is going to go on; wouldn’t it be nice to fight one less battle?

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