I hope all of you are having a great week and doing well. I hope everyone who has kids that have gone back to school are staying safe and enjoying the start of the new school year. I know that my twins Quinn and Sarah are truly enjoying being back in school and seeing all their friends. As well as participating in Fall sports (Cross Country and Volleyball). They are starting to feel a sense of normalcy in their lives again.

Yesterday I posted a video on my Instagram page about "The Joy of Movement" book that I am reading by Dr. Kelly McGonigal, PhD. I spoke about how physical movement such as trail running or really any kind of exercise increases a happier state of mind. More importantly, how movement helps lower anxiety and helps with levels of depression. This feeling of happiness you get from movement does not take the problems away that can cause anxiety or forms of depression, but what movement really does is allows us to get our mental and emotional states of mind in a better place to deal with and confront these problems that can plague our everyday life. Any of us who exercise on a regular basis and have had a rough day or even a rough patch of life can always look back and say "That workout made me feel so much better". Right there is the joy of movement. We know it, we see it and we feel it.

Too often though I see so many people who know that physical movement equals happiness to be true, but still will not recognize it when they need it most in their lives. As soon as something in life gets in the way or causes a slight disruption in their lives, the first thing they do is cancel their gym class time or whatever exercise was in the plans for that day. I think it has to do with the idea that every time this happens we feel we just don't have the energy to put forth and completely forget that every time we put forth this needed energy we create an amazing amount of positive energy that allows us to really deal with the problems of daily life in a much more productive and positive manner. Our problem solving outcomes are so much better when we come at them from a happier state of mind. So the lesson here is. You want to be happy and deal with life's daily obstacles? Then don't cancel or walk away from the one medicine we know for certain that works. Find a way to make your body move and exert energy that makes you sweat and release the negative to gain the positive. We all deserve to be happy and movement makes that happen.

As always your thoughts and comments are always welcome