Sunday Story...Total Wellness

Sunday Story...Total Wellness…
I have been listening and talking to a lot of people lately about health and what it means to be healthy.
Let’s be honest…health is not just the absence of disease, just like peace is not just the absence of war. Health is much more than just absence of something else. Optimum health is a dynamic process. It includes several parts or your life. Your physical health. Your mental health. Your spiritual health. Your financial health. Your social health.

Physically you need to eat right, exercise often, and feed your body with the proper nutrients (which are not always obtainable from food). If you are a regular reader you know where I stand on food…real natural organic (when possible), mostly plants, prepared carefully with intention and purpose. Diet can be the most simple or the most complicated, it really depends on you and how you want to approach it. For me if I have to read a label it is too complicated. I want to eat food that I can recognize from its source. I want to know that the meat I am eating has been raised the way it would have been in a natural state (if such a thing exists.) Then I am going to prepare the food with love and the intention to nourish myself in body and spirit. In terms of supplementation…do your due diligence and ask around. For my money I use mostly Univera products...the science is right and the products are guaranteed to work. And yes that is a shameless plug! If you want to know more call or email me and we will talk.

Exercise means to get out and sweat. To go 100% all out in your pursuit, increasing balance, flexibility, agility and strength. You can do this at any age but you have to be ready to work, to learn new skills and push your limits…no more sitting on an exercise bike and zoning out…you must be connected to your body as you sweat and strain to improve. It also means to just move. To walk or ride my bike or swim easily and with minimal effort...easily and with joy. Work hard and find that sweet spot where there is only the single activity and effort.

Mentally we need to learn new things, read books that inspire and uplift, think our way through problems. Crossword puzzles and other brain exercises are an excellent way to keep your mind active. Writing letters or blogs or stories will also keep your mind moving and stretching. Having a certain elasticity of mental power will serve you as you age. Remember minds are like parachutes…they work best when they are open.

Spiritually let’s get connected to whatever you consider to be the divine source of the universe. Let’s find our purpose, our reason to be here. I am not here to tell you about religion. But I am going to tell you that finding a way to be connected to the creative source of the universe is vital to your health. When we pray we are talking to that source. When we meditate we are listening to that source. When we give gratitude for the gifts in our life we are connecting to that source. When we do kind things for each other we are expressing divinity in our human forms. Spirit exists if we allow it to infuse our existence.

Financial health is a whole different ball of wax. You get to determine what financial health looks like to you. Maybe working less for more money is your goal. Maybe it’s making more money, having a newer car, or a bigger house. Freedom from your boss, the ability to give more generously to charities, pay for things for your children or maybe just pack up and go on vacation for a day or a week or a month. I don’t know how you will define financial abundance…do you know? Because if you do not know you might want to start defining it now. If you don’t how will you know when you get there? Or what the plan is to get there? We leave in precarious times economically. Many of the old rules have changed and shifted and the new rules are not yet clear. But understand that you need o take charge of this area…start a home based business (I can help you here), find an investment you like, get multiple streams of income coming in. There are more opportunities than ever out there…start looking and find one that inspires passion in you. You will be glad you did.

Your social health is a bit more ethereal. This one includes your personal, intimate relationships as well as the other relationships you have…you dentist, the checkout person at the store, your Facebook friends, your work associates. All of these relationships are different and yet every one of them relies on communication to grow and be fulfilling. In my very close relationships I get so many of my needs met and also can experience the biggest frustrations. Most of these frustrations stem from poor communication…not asking for what I want, not expressing my unmet needs and not being willing to hear from my partner. Communication is both listening and talking and they are both skill we need to work on and get better at…just like learning a new language, a new game or trying out a new puzzle.

Your total wellness depends on all of these areas. If you neglect any one of them you may find your life to be less healthy than you are comfortable with. Optimum health and total wellness, physically, mentally spiritually, financially and socially sounds like a pretty good goal to me…How about you? Care to join me on the road?



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

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Sunday Story...Rest; Not just for the wicked

Sunday Story…Rest; Not just for the wicked

There is an old saying that goes something like this…”You can rest when you are dead.” For a long time that saying was a mantra of sorts for me. Sometimes it still is.

I believe you should be in action. I believe hoping and wishing are wonderful but without action there is no result. Laying on the couching wishing you were a different shape just won’t get the job done. You can’t win the lottery without buying a ticket. Action gets results.

Often, though, we hide behind action. Rather than planning and moving intentionally we are just moving willy-nilly deluding ourselves that action for action’s sake will give us the results we desire. This sort of action generally results in just creating an energy drain. I am guilty of this quite often.

We do this sort of thing with our jobs and careers quite often. We show up every day. It’s what we are supposed to do. Show up at the designated time, do some stuff and go home at the designated time, take a lunch break, repeat day in and day out, year after year. It is what is expected of us. It is what we “do”. Good on you. But are you really getting anything done? Are living, doing, thinking, and acting with intention and purpose?

It is one thing to set goals. It is quite another to create a plan that will have those goal come to fruition. And yet another to actually take the actions that will have that plan be mobilized. Imagine the General of an army about to invade the enemy country. He just can’t say go and hope everyone and everything falls into the right places. And so he makes a plan after setting the goal---invasion! The plan or campaign has different elements and different factions doing different things. The activity is planned out and deliberate. Nothing is left to chance. If things to go as planned there is an alternative. A plan B and a plan C designed to cover the contingencies that can and will occur. Then he will put the plan into action…deliberately and intentionally.

Our General is meticulous in his planning. And he is just a meticulous in his execution of the plan. And he is willing to shift and transform the execution when the situation calls for a shift. The outcome is still on the horizon but the plan can change. What would happen to your life if your actions had the same meticulous planning and execution as that of our General? What would your job and career look like? How about your relationship? How about your education (yes even if you are no longer attending school you are still being educated --- or not!)?

It is said that if you had 8 hours to cut down a tree you should spend 6 hours sharpening your ax. In other words spending the time creating the right plan is time well spent and might actually result in an easier execution than just rushing in and doing anything. The proper plan, properly executed is much more likely to succeed than a flurry of activity whirling around with little intention or purpose.

All of which brings us to rest and restoration. We need to rest. We need time to re-set the set-points. Rest is an activity. Rest is something we do. Rest allows us to find new ways to execute our plans. Rest isn’t just sleep and it isn’t just laying on the couch flipping the channels on the boob-tube.

Sometimes rest is meditation. Meditation is the activity of sitting and listening to the rocks move, the leaves fall and the raindrops form. It is allowing your breath to find its way through your body and into your emotions. It is a way of connecting with all those things greater and more mysterious than yourself.

Sometimes rest is play. You know the kind of play that happens when we allow ourselves to play freely without expectation of outcome. Without a win or a loss or even a critic to say what is right or wrong. When we watch toddlers at play…this is the sort of play that is rest, the kind of play that restores energy even while expending it. When we see the youngster singing and spinning and just living in the very present moment we see a body in motion that is being restored. It is an amazing transformation.

Sometimes rest is doing the thing that pleases you the very most in the world. Those things that, when you do them, have you completely present in the world. There is no time before and no time after. There is only that moment, that sliver of time where you exist in an exact state of perfection. It may be painting, dancing, writing or reading but there is or has been something in your life that creates rest in action for you.

Rest is being in the moment. Restoration can occur when we are at one with the flow of the universe. This is why we often think of sleep as the only time we can rest and recuperate. In sleep there is only that moment. There is no before sleep or after sleep while we sleep … we just sleep. So go get some rest today and restore your energy so you can execute all your world changing plans tomorrow!

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

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Sunday Story...Health, Wealth, and Purpose

Sunday Story....Health, Wealth, and Purpose

This triumvirate can create a life designed by you for you if you will embrace them. I have been
fortunate to have spent some time recently with some highly motivated people who have embraced this trio in all their lives.

Here is my take on it!

Health
If you don't have your health you have a serious problem. All the money in the world won't fix bad health. Whether you caused poor health through poor life style choices, it was foisted upon by genetics, or you were in the wrong place at the wrong time you will realize the value of it once it has been gone for a moment or two.

You can't fix bad genes. You can mitigate some of the effects through proper diet and nutrition. You can work on having the “bad” genes not express themselves but only if you are aware of them. Fortunately this is only about 35% or your aging process. Granted it is an important 35% but it is still only 35%.

Finding yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time is an unfortunate accident. Sort of. On one hand if you ascribe to the radical responsibility theory (as I do) then you are responsible. But that theory is at the upper reaches of consciousness. So lets assume a very small percentage of your health woes may be accidental...an environmental exposure, an automobile accident, or some other unforeseen occurrence.

So the bad news or the good news, depending on how you look at it is that your health is largely in your hands. You can choose to exercise...or not. You can choose to eat healthy...or not. You can choose how you experience the aging process. Because no matter how old you are today, you will be older tomorrow. You will create 300 billion new cells in the next 24 hours whether you like it or not. How healthy those cells are is really up to you. And do not doubt that those cells will affect, whether you like it or not, how you experience life.

So let me give you the simple formulas:

Move. Often. Slowly and deliberately. Move heavy weight long distances quickly. Work on your balance and flexibilty daily. Maintain a strong core by using highly varied functional movements. Regularly learn and play new sports and physical games.

Eat natural food...mostly plants. Avoid processed foods, drinks, and other edible non-food products. Eat lean meat and green vegetatables, seeds and nuts, some fruit, littlie starch and no sugar. Eat in quantities that will support exerces, movement and work, but won't contribute to fat storage.

If you are over 30 years old, you may need supplementation to achieve optimum fitness and health. Your body has already peaked and now you need to re-achieve those optimumcellular and hormonal levels you enjoyed in your mid-twenties.

Your health is paramount...get to work on it now.

Wealth
Wealth means different things to different people. Maybe it's monetary for you...a million dollars or 100k a year in income, or just the ability to spend your time how and where you choose. Maybe you measure wealth in your relationships with the people around you. You get to decide what and how much. For the sake of this article I am going to say wealth is related to money...having enough to do what you want when you want...whatever those things are...to live life on your own terms rather than be dictated by your financial circumstances.

Your wealth is necessary to help relieve the stress of this modern life. Your wealth needs to be controlled by you and not outside influences and should have a number of ways of making it to you. Your monetary wealth will help you be healthier...since you can eat in certain ways with money that you will be unable to without money.

You need to be able to generate and improve your financial situation based upon your own efforts and not rely on others to do it for you. Get to work on this...open your own business, get some passive income and some residual income. Find multiple streams of income.

Purpose

Once we have taken care of health and wealth we can look for purpose. What drives you. What creates passion inside of you. For many of us the concept of service or “seva” is closely tied to purpose. We have talked about this a number of times...finding your purpose. Creating a vision for your life, a mission for you to act upon.


Working for something greater than yourself, helping others with their lives is part and parcel of who we are as humans. It is one of the reasons we become parents, teachers, volunteers. We feel better when we give.


Here is the cement that will hold this building up...Gratitude. Gratitude is the glue that we can put our health wealth and purpose together with. Gratitude exists for us when and where we want it to because we choose gratitude.

You should have gratitude for your health no matter how good or how bad it may be...if you are reading this t could be worse. Be grateful for the health you have today. Be grateful for the ability to improve it even if it is just a little, a small bit of improvement.

You should be grateful for the wealth you have today. It could be worse, much much worse. Start living in a land of abundance, not scarcity. You have much. And be grateful for the ability to do something about it...even if it is as simple as changing your attitude.

You should be grateful that you can look for purpose. What will give your life meaning? What are you doing right now on purpose? Are you living with passion? If you don't know try some gratitude that you can ask the questions and start you search for the answers.


Health, Wealth and Purpose with an Attitude of Gratitude. Sounds like a life I want to be part of...Care to join me?

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com
 
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Sunday Story...Happy New Year

Sunday Story…Happy New Year

January. Again. 2011. Who would have thought?

I was born the year before the old Soviet Russian Republic launched a thing called the sputnik into space and set off the race to the moon. Yes the moon. A dozen years later 2 men walked on the moon and returned to earth.
Today I have more computing power parked under my desk than there existed to put those two guys on the moon. But I am not pursuing anything so grand as manned lunar flights.
It is amazing to me when I think how far we have travelled in the last 50 years. Or even 100! 100 years ago flight was a novelty and a mystery.

The amount of knowledge is expanding exponentially. The speed in which the world appears to be changing is going faster and faster.
But are we changing? Are we evolving with the same rapidity that the knowledge base is expanding?

We know that eating sugar causes health problems galore from diabetes to obesity to cancer to?? Yet I talk everyday to people who ingest the equivalent of 64 teaspoons of sugar in the form of sodas and energy drinks.

We know that not exercising and moving our bodies will shorten our lives, reduce the quality of those years and create a host of problems. Yet most of us don’t bother to get off the couch and out into the world to move.


We know that being overweight will kill us before our time and that we will be uncomfortable throughout our lives both physically and psychologically yet we choose unhealthy food on a daily basis.

We know that stress is creating a huge hole in our lives, having us feel sad, depressed, and angry. Yet we don’t do the few things that would help lessen our stress on a daily basis. Things like meditation, prayer, exercise, proper diet, an attitude of gratitude, smiling.

So what good is all this knowledge doing us? To know and not to do is to not yet know.
I know what I should be eating but I don’t eat it.
I know I should be exercising but I don’t
I know I should be……but I don’t.
Why not? Why don’t you? You are a smart person. You want to be healthy and happy and fit. Yet you don’t do it. You say you want to but you really don’t want to. You really don’t want to put forth the effort that it is going to take.

Here is my guess…and that is all it is…a guess:
You do not have a compelling reason why you should. If you know you would drop dead form your next cigarette would you quit right now? If you knew that your next soda would land you in the hospital to be hooked up to some machine for the next 20 years or so would you drink it? I suspect some of you would. That you are so beaten up and so addicted to your habits that even if the consequences were death or a life sentence in a hospital you would still do it. These are fear based reasons…they work but are only sustainable for so long.
So why should you? What is your compelling, do or die reason? Don’t have one…do you? Because if you did your life would look so very different. Your life would look like a fairy tale…made up and ending exactly as you planned.

So how are you going to get that reason? What do you need to do, read, buy, or find to get you that one reason? Is it another book? Another electronic device? Another workshop or seminar? Is it me sitting behind this desk yelling at you to find your reason, to find your why, to find your place? What is it going to take?
Look deep inside my friends. Look way past all the trappings and accoutrements of this modern life…the computers, flat screens, game consoles, cell phones, cars, houses, jobs, or 401ks. Look deep into the scary place, that deep abyss of your heart and soul. There you will find your compelling reason. Somewhere deep inside of you is that purpose, the fire that will have you eat right, get fit, write that book, start that business, or just start loving yourself.
You buried the reason. You took it and covered it up in the expectations, in all the things you were “supposed’ to do, the things that were “next” in your life. All of those things are distractions. All of those things are diversionary tactics put in front of you to get you off track. And they worked. You are distracted and off track.
And the only way you are going to get back on track is to explore the depths of your burial ground. Where you put all those things that were scary and a little bit hard, the place you decided to hide you from yourself. Start digging, like a miner searching for gold, the explorer looking for the city of gold, the fountain of youth. It is there just waiting for you to find it.

It isn’t going to be easy. But once you have the reason, once you have the compelling why, you will have purpose. And once you have purpose you can get anything and everything you want or desire.

Believe It. Achieve It.

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

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Sunday Story...Day One

Sunday Story....Day One

New years day. Why do we put such stock in the passing of this particular 24 hours? Is there some magical property that midnight of December 31st holds that allows us to begin anew, the promise of an unblemished future, dreams and goals put up for review and reshaping.

Probably not. There is no magic here, at least none that you could not conjure up tomorrow as well.

On the other hand...maybe there is just a little magic today. After all you get to say I haven't done ___ (fill in the blank) since last year. I haven't done ______(fill in the blank) yet this year. The slate is wiped clean...the chalk board has been erased...you have “tabula rasa”...a blank slate.

So what are you going to do? What does this magical moment hold for you? What are you willing to create today that was not possible yesterday?

Maybe this is the year you finally learn that foreign language you have always wanted to learn. Maybe this year that 30 pounds will finally disappear. Maybe you will get to the gym more than the first two week of the year. Maybe you will learn the new skills that get you a raise, or a new job. Maybe this year you will _____(fill in this blank too!)

Maybe not.

What has this January 1st be any different than the last one or the one before that?

I mean really...last year has come and gone...did you do anything you set out to do?

Did you do anything different this past year than the year before or the year before or the year before?

Really? REALLY? Then why aren't you in a different place than where you are?

Why are you still overweight?

Why are you still smoking?

Why are still out of shape?

Why are you not doing the things you KNOW you should /want/need to do to create the life you know you should be living?

Why indeed?

Lets face it. Change is scary. Transformation is unknown. You really don't know what will happen if you do the things that will need to do to change your life. And what you are doing is known. What you are doing is comfortable, what you are doing is easy. If you keep doing it you will keep getting what you have always done and is that really all that bad? After all you have been doing it for so very long.

I know what I need to do to make the shifts in my life. I have an accountability coach that reminds me of this waaaaay too often. Yet I don't always take my own advice. Why not? Why not (as Nike says) Just Do It? It really isn't that hard. As a matter of fact it is really simple. Not easy, just simple.

Set a goal
Make a plan to achieve the goal
Execute the plan.
Simple

So what's the stop?

For myself and for many others the stop isn't the goal. The stop isn't seeing what we want.

Oh no...the stop is knowing the reason why. Why do you want to … lose 30 pounds … learn a new language … get in shape … ????? I know the obvious reasons....they haven't changed over the last few years have they?

Unfortunately they are all fear based. You are afraid that you will be sick if you don’t lose the weight. You are afraid you will get passed over for a promotion if you don’t learn new skills. You are afraid you will die before your time if you don’t get in shape. Fear is a powerful motivator but it isn't working. It can only work so far. We see people every day who are told by their M.D. that if they don’t lose weight they are going to die young. Yet they don't do it. And yes they are afraid of death? Maybe they think their Dr. is lying? Maybe they think it just won't happen to them?

So what is the answer? For me it is a compelling vision of what I want my life to look like, to be. It is a vision that gets me up in the morning, jumping out of bed, running to the shower, in a rush to get the things done to get that vision fulfilled.

So what is the vision...because a promotion isn't it. A few pounds isn't it. New skills...nope. It is what those things will give you, get you. You must discover a compelling, my hair is on fire, vision of who and what you want your future to look like. It must excite you like a 5 year old at Christmas. You have to be on fire to get this done, to become this new person.

So what is it? What is the reason you are going to do the really hard work to get where you have never been before? It isn't going to be easy you know. It may be simple but it is never easy. And this first step may be the hardest. You need to find the thing that will light a fire under your behind, that will catapult you out of bed in the morning, that will have you continue in the face of failure and adversity. What is this amazing goal/reason/dream that you must fulfill or die?

And are you strong enough to really look inside and figure it out? For most of us (myself included) this is the stop. This is the place where I just don't get off the line. Maybe I am afraid of really facing what I want because then I will have to go do it. I don't know.

What I know is that I must do this. I must find the compelling, set my hair on fire, get out of my way, reason to achieve the change I want to achieve. Or just continue to live this life of quiet desperation.

Doesn't seem like much of a choice to me. How about you?

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com
 
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Sunday Story...Home Sweet Home

Sunday Story...Home Sweet Home

Where is “home”?
...Home is where the heart is
...You can never go home again
...The chickens come home to roost


There are so many aphorisms about home. Yet when we look up home in the dictionary, most of the definitions are in reference to a physical dwelling, a place to live, or an abode.
But for most of us that is a house.


I live in a house.
I dwell in an an abode.
I make my house a home.


The deeper meaning for many of us has to do with the reference to hearth. The hearth in times gone by was the heart of a house...the fireplace where the cooking was done, where warmth emanated from, where the people gathered to commune and join together. When I think of home this is what I think of...the community where I am accepted, the people who love me.


Home is not necessarily a physical spot on the globe. I have never lived in my parent's house, yet when I go there I am home. When I return to my house, I am home. Yes it is possible to have more than one home. When I sit with my brothers I am home. When I meet with my martial arts friends to work out and sweat and bleed I am home. When I return to the meditation hall I am home. All of these places have something in common...they are all places I can be the authentic self I am called to be. They are all places where I can just be.


We often talk about the “homeless” as a group, a category of people. What we should say is “house-less”. Just like each of us have a mother and a father, yet can be orphans, so, too, can we be house-less and not be homeless. Home does not have to be a physical destination. Home does not have to exist between 4 walls.


Home could be a cave or a tent. Home could be a barracks in a foreign land. Home could be an imaginary place you only get to in the silence of the night. Home may only exist in the residence of your mind.

Home really is where your heart is. Are you home yet?

This is the last story of 2010. Next Sunday will be 2011.

To all of you who have found the time, the strength, or the desire to comment on these stories, I thank you. I read every comment with relish and gratitude. As a rule I do not respond to the comments, there isn't always time, and often a response would be gratuitous anyway. Please continue to comment and let me know if what I have written has touched you in some way. Over the years of writing these stories I have been excoriated, lauded, punished, kicked, made fun of, and complimented. Some of you know I am writing directly to you (I am). Some of you are sure that somehow I know just the right thing to write to you this particular week (I do). These are your stories. These are the channeling from each of you into the universal energy that flows through my fingers onto these pages. So, yes I am talking to you. I am writing to you, about you, for you. I am writing to challenge you. I am writing to excite you. I am writing to get you to feel, to think, to get out of your ennui, out of your torpor, off of the couch and into the world, out of complaint and into action...any action is better than the “quiet desperation” most of the world is living in these days.

I want to make you mad. I want to have you feel something, anything. Our world needs your passion, your heart, your soul to get up and get counted. You were not placed on this earth at this time to do nothing. You are here for a purpose. Not finding your purpose is a crime against nature, like a chicken with no wings, or a horse with a pig nose. Not living on purpose is a crime as well. I want to help you find your purpose and start living into your purpose.

4 questions for you:
How am I making a difference?
Is what you are doing, right now, on purpose?
Is this what I really want to do?
Am I following my passion?

How will you answer?

As some of you know I do private life coaching, personally designed to help you create the life you want to be living. We can work on purpose, vision, diet, exercise or any number of areas that will enrich and encourage and challenge you to create a life you want to live.

If you are interested in exploring that sort of relationship email me at:
jmariotti1@gmail.com

But understand this: My mission is to teach focus and inspire transformation. In you. If you are ready I am willing. No excuses, no maybes, sort ofs, kindas...just the hard and rewarding work of transformation.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com
 
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PS.
Some of you have asked about my knee from last week. I am very fortunate to know an outstanding healer. Her name is Dr. Laura Harmon. She has an office in Fallon NV. She is a chiropractor, a massage therapist, an acu-pressure specialist, a Reiki healer, and, most of all, an energetic healer. She spent 2 hours working on my knee and got me back on my feet. Her office number is: 775-423-7000 and her business is called Fallon Family Chiropractic. She comes with my highest recommendation.

Sunday Story...To Die For

Sunday Story…To Die For

2008
Silver state 50 mile race. We are going to run from Rancho San Rafael Park over Peavine to Verdi. And back. I am trying to finish in less than 12 hours in order to have a qualifying time for the Western States 100 miler. I did this race for the first time last year in 13 hours. I ran 50 miles around a track (200 laps) in 11 hours and 30 minutes the summer before today. I ran a 50 kilometer race about 8 weeks before this day and a ½ marathon about 3 weeks before this day. It is a beautiful day a little warm for this early in May but the sun is out and it is most pleasant.

Around 10 miles in I realize I am not feeling great. My nutrition plan isn’t working quite right and I just don’t feel on. But I press on…it is too early to tell how the race is going to go. Somewhere around 25 or so miles I know this is not going to be my best day but I am ½ way and I don’t want to quit yet, besides I have a pacer going to join me in Verdi at the turn around point and that should improve things. Up to this point I have been alone.

At about 31 or 32 miles I pick up Katie R. my pacer. She immediately notices that I am not drinking enough water and starts in on the mantra…drink, drink, drink. My right knee is starting to act funny and I definitely feel like something left on the road dead. But I hate to quit. Absolutely hate to quit when I have anything left to give. So I press on, besides Katie is ready to go. The last 11 miles are all downhill. This really really really sucks. My knee is throbbing, my gait is off my body is starved and I am barely staying hydrated. With about 3 miles left they try to pull me off the course as the 13 hour time limit has passed. I refuse to come off the course. I am basically out of my mind at this point but I don’t run 47 miles out of 50. So we finish, every step is agony and suffering. The knee is shredded. Surgery takes place about 6 months later. I finished dead last.

Last Thursday
My left knee has been troublesome for 3 or 4 months. I have been trying to not push it too hard but I also refuse to stop. While doing box jumps (jumping up on to a platform and down) I feel something in the left knee give out. I still have several sets of jumps to finish. Do I quit? Slow Down? No and no. I complete the entire 150 jumps. The next day I can barely walk. This morning I can walk even less. Now there aren’t any jumps in my near future.

What is it that has us continue in the face of pain and injury? Maybe even in the face of permanent and long term pain. In my two examples above there was no 8” high trophy, no $25,000 check, no date with a super model. Nothing to gain but the satisfaction of finishing something that I started. It has been said that men will die for points. Why is that? Why will we continue just to say we finished?

I believe it is part of our make up to continue in the face of adversity; that there is something within us that wants to be able to say I Did It. I finished the task. I decided to do it and I have done it. Mission accomplished. Yet not everyone does it. And honestly I would be better off today if I had made a different choice in both of those examples. I probably could have avoided surgery on the one knee in the first example and I certainly would be walking better today in the other example.

It was clear to me in the second example that I should stop yet I did not. I considered stopping yet I did not. I work out enough that calling a halt to that activity was not going to jeopardize my fitness level. Yet it did jeopardize my overall health. Maybe I have a wish to be hurt so I can stop? Unlikely. Maybe I just want to beat everyone else doing the work out? More likely. Once again a man dying for points.

I am not going to let someone else beat me if I can help it. I am not going to put up less than a 100% effort for any endeavor. If it is worth doing it is worth doing with my entire being, my entire heart and soul. Too often in our world today, too many people are just going through the motions. They show up, clock in and go back to their stupor. They bring no passion, no energy, no chi to the game. The game just plays them not the other way around.

The game is life folks. Life includes your workout, your 50 mile race, your job, your family, your personal growth, your evolution as a human on the planet. Will you die in pursuit of your life, or would you prefer to die quietly, going out without a whimper?

For me I want to go completely used up. I want to have done all there was to do, jumped every jump, ran every race, tried everything…leaving nothing on table but crumbs. Don’t carry me quietly, get out of the way as I slide into the grave screaming woo hoo what a ride!

How about you? What will you die for? What will you live for?

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

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