Sunday Story…Tribes

We are all born into a certain tribe. It wasn’t a choice, it just happened that way. Then we are forced by circumstance to be in other tribes…school, work, church. At some point we may realize that those tribes are not really the ones we want to belong to.

As you grow up you get to make some choices about the tribes you belong to. You can change your church affiliation if you decide the one you were defaulted into doesn’t serve your purpose. You can switch jobs or schools. You probably can’t get a different family but you can distance yourself from the one you were born into in order to create some distance.

More importantly you get to decide which tribes and what level of engagement you are going to have with your new tribes. You also get to create a new tribe if you can’t find one that works for you. That’s right, you are authorized to create a new tribe and invite the folks you want to join you. Invite the people who “get” you and who you “get”. Grab the ones that have been through things with you. Find the people who truly “see” you.

Your life has been a series of tribes. The best ones are the ones you connect with deeply and truly. These tribes demand the best of you, they raise the expectations you have of yourself and provide a base for what comes next.

If you are reading this, Thanks for being part of this tribe. I appreciate your presence and input. Let’s do more better.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Outside the Box

We all have limits. Some of them are real and inviolable, others are made up. You can’t deadlift 3000 pounds. You can’t breathe underwater without assistance. These things are real. You can’t change them no matter how hard you try. Most of them are pretty obvious and easy to find.

False limits, however, are a bit more complicated. Those limits are often habitual puts upon us by well-meaning people. They are just trying to save us from experiencing some sort of pain. Pain is part of the price we pay for wisdom. If I don’t get out of my box and expand my horizons I won’t be able to experience anything new.

Will you fall? Will you fail? Will it hurt? Will you quit? Yes, yes, yes, and I hope not. These limits don’t define you unless you let them. All they are is a story about what some thought was possible. They aren’t real unless you let them become real.

It won’t always work but it’s possible. You are capable of bringing your best self to the issue…not a self-defined by other people’s limitations. Make your own limits then surpass them.

Color outside the lines or make new lines…do not accept someone else’s limitations as your own.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Fitness

One of the greatest gifts CrossFit has given to the Fitness industry is an actual definition of fitness. That definition is measurable, observable, and repeatable…it isn’t just the state of being “fit”. Move a load over a certain distance…then do it again and move more weight faster, further. We all know this by now.

But physical fitness is only one aspect of your fitness. What about your mental/intellectual fitness? What about your spiritual fitness? What about your relationship fitness?

How will define those? How will you know you are more fit in those areas? Have you ever even thought about what it would take? After all, we all know if I lose weight, lift more, run faster, look better naked I am more physically fit.

How will I know my intellectual fitness is improving? Am I reading more? Am I doing things that will expand my thinking? Or am I closing myself in…only reading and thinking the things I already know? What am I learning new this week?

Your spiritual fitness? What did you do every day to connect with spirit? What practices are you using? How can you improve those practices?

Are you finding new relationship tools to improve All of your relationships...with your significant other, your kids, and your colleagues?

Just like your physical fitness, you ignore these other areas at your own peril. As we grow and age we can grow and improve or we can begin that long slow trek into a closed off and dark corner until the light goes out.

If you aren’t growing you’re dying.
John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Enlightenment

There is an old saying that goes something like this:
If you think you are enlightened go spend the holidays with your family.
It isn’t that there is something wrong with Your family; it’s that your family knows what buttons to push on your console. Your family knows what will and won’t light you up. Your family has a dynamic that you have been trying to navigate (both successfully and unsuccessfully) for the last few decades.

It’s easy to maintain your calm and considered demeanor in your daily life. You get to set your life up in ways that fuel your highest aspirations. You keep people around you who inspire and help you find your highest and best.

You don’t get to pick your family though. You don’t get to kick out the ones who are way less than inspiring or who are actually people you would never choose to hang out with. You are stuck with them; they are the ones who are here to really challenge your aspirations.

In those stressful moments with our families is when we can find true peace and contentment. In those moments we can find peace when we are no longer resisting any feeling or thought no matter if it is positive or negative. My family is my family, it is up to me to decide how I will react and find the peace no matter what they do.

Enlightenment is found in my every day not just in the quiet moments of self reflection.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Wakey, wakey

Way too often we are not 100% awake. Maybe we are dazed, or sleepy, or zoned out but we are not awake. When we are awake, fully aware of our surroundings, present to the moment, hearing for the first time, seeing with new eyes, approaching life with a beginners mind, it is a gift to ourselves and the universe.

This is the dilemma of our life. Awake feels good. Awake honors us and the people around us. Awake is the currency we use to pay for the change we want to see. Yet, Awake is fleeting and hard to hold.

The world we live in is conspiring to keep us asleep. Bored, distracted, over-occupied, busy all excuse us from our true nature. Our true nature is awake and fully present in the moment. When you are awake and I am awake we can move mountains.

All too often we find it easier to not be awake. Sleep walking through life is easy. Awake is hard to get there, harder to stay there, and nearly impossible to share with others. Getting there is a quest. Remaining there is a labor of love. Awake is a state to be cherished and reveled in.

Wakey, wakey.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Insanity

Is often defined as doing the same things and expecting a different result. For most of us, this is an obvious principle. It is not always obvious when we are talking about the stories that run our lives.

Shifting those stories may be one of the hardest things to do. We built those stories piece by piece over our entire lives. They are comfortable, like a favorite blanket. They feel good to us. They validate our worldview. They create a cocoon for us to feel comfortable in. But from the outside, they look tattered and worn.

Putting those stories away and creating new ones that serve you where you are today is difficult and scary. After all, if the old story isn’t really serving, isn’t really representing who and where you are; what good is it anyway?

Find a useful story will serve you better in the long run. A story that will help us do the things we desire make the changes we want to make in ourselves and the world and feel happy and satisfied. Now that's a worthwhile pursuit.

If you can’t do it yourself…get some help creating and placing that new story. It will be worth it.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Mindful Moments

Many years ago before you could go to kindergarten you had to be able to do a couple things; you needed to be able to tie your shoes and you had to know your name, address, and phone number. Considering there were no Velcro fastening shoes at that time you might be able to see why tying your shoes would be important. That address and phone number have long escaped me but I can still tie my shoes (well, sort of, right now).

When I turned 18 a couple things happened then as well…I registered to vote and for the selective service---the draft. I have no idea what my draft number was in 1974 but I’m still voting all these years later.

We can often guess what is going to be important many years later. We will be right about some of the big things that become unconscious…walking, tying shoes, driving, and things like that. But we are often wrong about the little things…the chance encounter, the thing that gave you momentary pause and a hmmm, or a simple choice of an a over a b.

It’s the little things going on around you that are going to make the difference down the road. Little things you may not remember when their import becomes apparent.

Be mindful of your moments.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot .com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com