Sunday Story…Peak Experiences

I have been fortunate in my life to have had many “Peak experiences”. I define a peak experience as a high point in life where I have felt ecstatic and more alive and whole than is usual. Jumping out of an airplane comes to mind…that moment when you step out 10,000 feet above the ground is unparalleled.

These moments sometimes need to be looked for and cultivated. Other times they just need to be noticed. Obviously skydiving is an experience that I planned and went out of my way to experience. But that sunset the other night, or the moment when you spy the mountain lake at the end of a long hike? Those things require you to be present and notice them.

What happen when the peak becomes mundane, everyday? What happens after you jump from the plane 100 times? Is it still a peak experience? Could it or should it be? Is there every a time when we should be immune to the experience of wholeness when the moon rises full again?

You get to decide. You get to minimize those amazing experiences or exalt in them. Your choice. Remember when a small child sees something amazing for the first time? Those squeals of delight and amazement, the wide eyes, breath taking jumping up and down excitement. You could have that same depth of feeling if you choose to allow it in. But you will need to set aside your adult indifference and apathy in order to find it again.

Are you living without peak experiences? Why? Those experiences are all around you. Are you too old, too tough, too hard, and too grown up to see life, all of your life through the lens of child like amazement? Why would you rob your psyche of that joy?

I am going to suggest you start looking for those moments when you find that ecstasy, that alive-ness, that whole-ness in your daily life. Let’s be honest, you might not find it on your daily commute but isn’t it possible it is there several times a day and you just aren’t focused on finding it. What we look for we find. Ever buy a new car and then see all the cars on the road just like yours? Same thing.

Look for those moments…they are everywhere. We live in an amazing natural world, populated by amazing people who do amazing things.

So be amazed!

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

There is a phone call I can’t make today. Over the years my Father and I had a good relationship. I never felt judged by him for doing some of the odd stupid things I have done. I am fortunate I got to say all the things that I needed to say to him before he passed from this world. Not everyone gets that opportunity.

Everything I learned about being a man I learned from my father. All credit goes to him for the good things I know and do. The responsibility for all the stupid screwed up things I have done are on me. He inspired me to be the best at anything I tried my hand at. He taught me hard work is always worthy. He taught me that a day’s work is valuable no matter what work you were doing…sweeping floors, picking fruit, teaching a child…all work is important.

He taught me that people were to be valued. That each person in the world has gifts and we should look for and find those gifts. Don’t judge a person’s worth by the color of his skin, his occupation or his standing. Look for and find the good in each person. Get an education.

If it’s worth doing then do it well. If you take a man’s money, do the job he paid you for. You don’t have to win every time you play but you have to play to win every time. Practice hard. Enjoy yourself. Eat good food. Stay connected to the earth. Be kind to animals but don’t let them live in the house (didn’t take that one to heart, Dad).

My father was a good man. He raised 4 sons who turned out pretty well. I felt loved by my father. I was very fortunate.

If there are things you need to say to your father, do it today. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to any of us and you don’t want to spend the rest of your time needing to say something you could have said easily today.

I love you Dad. I think of you every day and when I am faced with a decision I always ask myself what my dad would do. Thanks for all your love and guidance over the last 57 years. I wish you were still here.

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Active Recovery

We know to eat right, get lots of sleep, and work out. You are on your way to being more, to being the person you were designed to be. There is another element that is too often neglected on our way to being a better athlete: Recovery

Although recovery is considered part of rest it should be treated as thing in and of itself. The purpose of recovery is to allow the muscle to repair itself and to use muscles that are tired or sore from a previous day or period or hard training. In general, active recovery is defined by feeling better after exercising than before you started.

When we talk about active recovery we are talking about engaging in low intensity exercise after workouts. There are two different things here: one is immediately after you finish a cool down phase after a hard effort. The second is in the days after a competition or workout, a day of “rest”.

This is not the rest where we lay on the couch, watch TV and eat chips. This is the rest we call active recovery. Here are 5 things you can and should do regularly to recover.

Self-Myofascial release (SMR)---Foam rolling is one form, using a lacrosse ball or other specialty tools in an effort to massage the muscles. We are trying to increase our range of motion, decrease tone in over-active muscles, and release adhesions in the muscle tissues. Hit all the major muscle groups, avoid joints and bony areas. If you find a trouble spot hang out with those areas a little longer. You should feel better after doing this.

Walking---burn some calories, get outside and connect with the world around you. There is something else besides the gym!

Hiking, Swimming, Biking---all 3 of these should be tempered by your current fitness level. Keep it slow and keep it enjoyable.

Yoga---moving slowly through a range of motion, being in connection with your body and breathing deeply is very restorative.

Play---get out and play a game for fun. No keeping score, no going all out, no intensity, just play.

A large part of this is the mental recovery from hard, intense training. Letting your mind reconnect to your body in a non-competitive atmosphere and being around people and places that are different than your usual will re-energize your training time.

Active rest will allow you to recover and maintain your fitness level. Just like when we eat dessert without guilt we need to walk or ride or relax without a clock or set outcome…just being human from time to time will allow you to be a better, faster, stronger athlete both physically and mentally.

So get out and rest…Do it now!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Your Abs

Are waiting. They are lurking right there…just below the surface. Sometimes when the lighting is just right, you’ve done just the right amount of work and you have eaten the right stuff they show up for just a fleeting minute. But that’s all…just a brief moment and then poof! Gone again.

The conversation goes on all the time…the bikini body…the beach body…the elusive smooth and flat midriff. It’s a bench mark that is easy for the world to see especially this time of year. I have the answer for you and you aren’t going to like it, not one little bit.

The reason you don’t have the abs you want? You have really good excuses.

You read that right. You know what to do. I have told you, other people have told you. You keep coming up with excuses why you aren’t doing what needs to be done. You don’t want abs more than you want that next cocktail, or the next TV show, or the next piece of chocolate cake.

You want the visible washboard abs? Quit drinking alcohol, get more sleep, and fix your diet. That is all there is to it. You will never out-work a bad diet and the older you get the harder it is going to be.

I can hear you already…what about_________ (fill in the blank)? All alcohol. Quit all alcohol consumption. But_______ (insert famous person here) drinks a glass of fermented rattlesnake wine every day and look at them! I don’t care. Want abs? Quit drinking. Period, end of conversation.

I know you NEED to watch Game of Thrones or the Late Show or whatever mindless pabulum shows up on your idiot box at night. Turn it off and go to bed. Early. Get 8 hours of sleep tonight. Don’t tell me you can’t. You can, you just won’t. Want abs? Sleep more.

I get that you don’t like to eat vegetables or that cooking your own food is too hard, or too expensive. Get over it. Diet is simple…eat real food that you shop for and cook. Eat meat and vegetables, maybe some starch once in awhile, some seeds and nuts, a little fruit. Restaurant food is never as healthy as food you prepare. Want abs? Eat real food.

Quit making excuses and start making abs! By the way this is true in a bunch of places…You can have results or excuses, not both!

See you (and your abs) on the beach!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Get Discomfortable

Once upon a time, not so long ago, in a place not so very far away I used to smoke and drink (a lot) and eat lots of not so good food. I was in my middle thirties, had the standard extra 25 pounds and thought I was in OK shape since I could still move a few bales of hay around (if there weren’t too many and they weren’t too heavy) to feed the critters.

Somewhere around this time I started TaeKwon-Do training and then into the gym. This started the journey that has had lots of pit stops on the way including a 6th place finish at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit games. The journey isn’t over. But my point today isn’t the training. My point today is change…transformation.

You can change. You can transform. Your future does not have to be the same as your past. But you can’t change or transform without discomfort. You can’t do the same thing and expect different results. If you are perfectly happy where you are you can just keep on keeping on. But if you want to make change you are going to get comfortable with discomfort.

If you want to be in better physical condition doing 20 minutes on the treadmill at 60% of your maximum heart rate is only a start if you haven’t done anything at all. After about 3 months of that something is going to have to shift if you want more results. You will need to get your heart rate up higher. You will need to run faster or longer. If you want to get stronger you are going to have to pick up heavier weights. You will never get stronger using the same light weights week in and week out. You don’t have to believe me…just look at some of your friends who have been going to the gym for years with little to no change. Still overweight, still on medication, still sick and tired, still no change…they aren’t going backwards but they aren’t moving forward just like that treadmill or stationary bike isn’t going anywhere. They aren’t showing up to work out with a goal in mind…an endpoint.

When I start a workout I have a place I want to end up…and yes, that is usually on the floor in a puddle of my own sweat. After a year of training I want to be better than I was a year ago…stronger, faster, and fitter than when I started. Maybe there is a point where the gains are harder to get, the personal records are further apart and fitness gets measured in smaller increments but there is no reason I can’t be better tomorrow than I am today.

Change is hard. Change is uncomfortable. If it was easy everyone would do it. Most people are not willing to get discomfortable enough or long enough to get what they truly want and deserve.

Embrace discomfort, enjoy the journey!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…What Matters

Most to you? Stop and ask yourself this question. Do it now and do it often. Is what you are doing right now what you should be doing according to what you think will matter?

What we do on a day to day basis is rarely what will really matter. The time we spend away from our purpose, away from our true calling is time we can never get back. And it is easy to get off track. There are so many distractions in our modern world. It’s time to set those things aside and decide what is meaningful to you and your life. There are so many things you could choose…Family, Friends, Health, leaving a legacy, or ? Write those things down as they come to your mind and let’s focus on those things.

The fact of the matter is it will all come to an end and maybe sooner than you think. There is no guarantee on the number of your days you have left. I will leave you with this quote from Michael Josephson of the Josephson Institute:

“What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories,
but the memories that live in those who loved you.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.”

It’s up to you to determine what matters most to you. Figure it out and then get after it!

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story...Make your Bed

As a child my mother insisted we make our beds. It was a chore we were expected to do every day. My young self thought it was stupid…after all, you are just going to get back in it in a few hours, right? It turns out my mother was right (wasn’t she always!) But I never really figured out why until recently.

Today, every morning, I make my bed. It is one of the first things I do after arising. You should as well. Here’s why.

It isn’t an “I told you so thing”. Making your bed serves several purposes:

1. You make sure you accomplish at least one thing every day. The bed is made. You can check that one off your list. No matter what else happens the rest of the day you got at least one thing done.

2. You have taken control of your environment. We can’t do anything about the weather or climate change or the seasons but this part of my environment I can control. No matter how old you are you can make your bed.

3. It tells your inner self that you are important and valued. This is the most important reason. You got something done, you took control, but most importantly you say to yourself: “I am important and having my inner sanctum, the place where I spend so many hours of my life, the place where I expect my body to heal and rejuvenate, is important enough to keep neat and orderly. This place deserves my respect and I honor it in this simplest of ways."

Let’s be honest how long does making your bed really take? If it takes me 5 minutes, I probably wasted 3 of them. It never takes me very long. It is a task I can’t fail at unless I just don’t do it. And, when I go to bed in the evening, my space is neat and orderly. My sleep can be deep and restful as my inner self has been respected and honored.

Make your bed. It’s important.

Namaste

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