Neuroplasticity (huh?)

We have all heard the term "Use it or Lose It" in the fitness world. It is a very true statement. It does not take that long for your body to show the signs of reverting backwards if you stop working out or exercising. When we keep practicing our movement through exercise we create what is called Neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is similar to the plastic coating around a common electrical wire. The thicker the wire the thicker the plastic coating is needed to contain the electricity. When we practice anything over and over again we grow our own Neuroplasticity. Once a connection between the brain and muscles is made we create what we commonly call muscle memory. This is actually Neuroplasticity.

Just as we can create Neuroplasticity through the practice of physical activities, the same can be said for our brains. We have the ability to reshape our brain just as we can reshape our bodies. When we start to really expand our thoughts and activities we start to practice our daily mindfulness. The same Neuroplasticity we create when we practice a physical activity can be created when we practice our daily mindfulness. When we practice these mindful behaviors our world around us opens up to create more possibilities and awareness. When we stop practicing these behaviors we start to slowly shut off the world around us and our ability to see the forest through the trees becomes more and more difficult.

The mind and body are created to work together as one. If we only develop one part, we can never consider ourselves whole. When we practice our mindful behaviors we create the resiliency and desire to shape our whole body. When this happens a clearer path and vision of where you want to go and where you want to be in life becomes possible. Which ultimately leads us to a healthy mind, body and soul.

React and then Control

One of the most important powers that we possess within ourself is " We can control how we feel.'' When life's events happen, whether they are the small things or a big life event, we ultimately have control over how we feel and react. The event can not be blamed or praised on how we feel. The event is just a part of life that we typically have no control over, but we must confront and deal with these events on a daily basis. The way we choose to react or feel is the only thing we control.

Quite often we let our first reaction dictate how we will feel and react through out these events. This is what we don't want to happen. The hard part is how fast can you let go of our initial reaction so it does not control how we will feel and behave as we are confronting life's events. When we can gain the control we want to have in order to deal with these life events, we will always have a much healthier experience.

We must also realize that we typically have no control over the out come of these events. The only control that we truly have is how we come out of it in the end. Do we let ourselves come out of it in a worse place than before? Or do we stop and take a moment and confront our feelings and emotions and gain control of them so we can find ourselves in a better space and time as we go through these life events.

This is hard work. We must respect the power of not just these life events, but also the power of our emotions and where they can take us to. In order to gain the control we are looking for we must practice these controls. You can do this by making sure you practice them daily. We have plenty of small things that happen to us every day. The saying goes "don't sweat the small stuff". A lot easier said than done, but extremely true. This is how we can practice this daily so that we are prepared when life really comes at us.

Remember as long as we have air coming in and out of our lungs, life gives us the opportunity for a new everyday. Make sure you make each day worth it to the best of your abilities.

Leader or Follower?

How often do you just go with the flow or have the follow the herd mentality vs challenging conventional wisdom and creating your own mindset and attitude towards what you have been taught?

Admittedly the going with the flow is a hell of a lot easier. It requires less physical effort. It requires way less mental and emotional effort as well. You don't need to question anything. It's all there in black and white on the pages of what we have been taught all our lives.

Challenging conventional wisdom is the exact opposite. It requires more then just effort. It requires convictions and resiliency. It requires not caring what other people think and what the herd is trying to tell you to do. It requires you to want to think for yourself.

Challenging conventional wisdom has helped propel us as a society and as individuals. We found out the world was not flat. We can actually fly a plane and even go to the moon and back. I found out I could do 200 burpee's in a workout. I found out that I did not need to get my protein needs from animal products. Gym members found out they could get stronger by lifting weights into their 60's and beyond.

Just because we are told by this group and that group that this is bad for you and that's bad for you doesn't mean we have to listen to them and fall lock step into their guidelines. We all have a brain to think with for ourselves. Most importantly, we are all different and we don't always check off all the same boxes.

So, Wake up, Kick Ass, Be Kind and Repeat.

Analysis Paralysis

Have you ever heard the phrase "Analysis through Paralysis"? Sometimes we can get stuck in this mindset. When this happens nothing gets done. We feel like we are just spinning are wheels and going nowhere. It feels like such a waste of energy. When we waste our energy we lose all momentum. This is usually followed by negative feelings, which can lead to bouts of depression and anxiety. You start hearing yourself say "I just can't get in going lately". This is not a fun place to be in life.

What is important here is that you recognize this is happening. Then what is it you need to do? Just one thing. What is that one thing? It doesn't matter. You need to do just one thing, because 1 is 100% more than nothing.

You see it does not matter what you do. It does not matter if it is perfect or not. It doesn't matter what's happened in the past, the past is gone. All that matters is that you are choosing to do something. You have decided that this is not where or what you want to feel like anymore. You are determined to get your momentum started again. All it takes is doing one thing and from that one thing you build, you correct and you build again. Before long you have your momentum back.

Remember, when you can't get it going, 1 is 100% more than zero. Make your 1 happen today.

Culture of Success

Yesterday while I was running I was listening to a podcast and I heard a great thought on personal mindset. "Your culture is set by the worst quality you will tolerate". I thought this is powerful stuff. We all aspire to have this awesome personal culture environment that we live our lives by or run our businesses by. We set our culture based on the highs and successes we create. Like always our successes have to be earned and are not as common as we may think they are. Yes we have mini successes each day, but these mini successes build upon each other in order for us to reach our ultimate goals.

Along the way towards our goals we have to live in our real world. Our real world is filled with highs and lows and our culture is actually defined by our real world reality not our successes. If we want to raise our culture we have to be honest and recognize what are the worst things we are willing to tolerate. In order to make those changes to our culture we have to evaluate and be willing to DO THE WORK to change our personal culture.

To change your culture it will take a ton of practice and dedication. This is a practice that has to be worked on everyday, not just when it feels good or feels right. True culture change happens when you know the work is going to be hard and difficult. Culture change happens when you have to dig deep to find energy needed. Culture change is not easy. It takes a long time to develop and even longer to repair.

Culture change requires you to look inward towards yourself. It requires honesty and humility. It sometimes require a confrontation of wills. When this happens, you must be willing to stand your ground and believe in your convictions. This is where culture changing is the hardest work to do. No one likes confrontation and we will go out of our way to avoid it.

Your personal culture and what you are willing to tolerate defines you as a person. If there is something in your personal culture you do not want to tolerate anymore. Than stand up and believe in your convictions and make the changes. Be willing to do the hard work needed to make the changes. Your personal culture is the foundation you stand on. It is your belief system. It is what the people that you surround yourself with will believe in, about you.

Breaking and Finding Habits

Today we are going to get back into some self reflection subject matter. When we deny ourselves the use of a bad habit without replacing the bad habit with a good habit we are more than likely to fail and revert back to our bad habits.

We are creatures of habit. We humans like to have structure in our lives. For example, we all have a morning ritual that sets our day into motion. When our morning rituals are interrupted or disturbed it usually sets our day off on the wrong foot. We typically eat at the same time everyday. Our meal time habit helps us track our day and break it down into more manageable chunks or blocks of time. Our days and nights are filled with all sorts of these structures and habits. We also have the habits that we fall into when our days are not going quite as planned. These habits sometimes become our destructive habits.

We will at times adjust our daily rituals and habits in order to improve our productivity and efficiency. We view these changes as positives. They allow for more time for other things we want to do or deem important to do. The issue we run into is what do we do to change the bad habits we fall back into when we are going through a rough patch.

Trying to deny our bad habit is a good thing to do to a degree. Like In stated before, if we do not replace a bad habit with a good habit our chances of successfully avoiding the bad habits diminish greatly. Remember we are creatures of habit. If you want to eliminate a bad habit, you must replace it with a good habit. Let's say you have a bad habit of smoking when life is not going as planned or when you get bored and don't know what to do with yourself, but you hate it when you grab for the nervous cigarette habit. Instead of smoking, why not step outside and go walk for the same amount of time that it would take to smoke the cigarette. The fresh air will help clear the mind and offer a refresh on how you are feeling. Not to mention the benefit you get both physically and mentally when you expend that nervous energy.

There are two things that hold us back from making these changes. Number one, you need to respect the power the bad habit has over you. It has been there for awhile and it does not want to let go. Which brings us to the second one. YOU MUST BE WILLING TO DO THE WORK to make these changes happen. When you recognize and accept these two, there is only one thing holding you back and that one thing is you! Don't hold yourself back. Be your own agent of change and start to make it happen today.

R.A.K.E.

Today we are going to go in a different direction to start the week. Last week we spent a lot of time talking about some pretty intense subjects that should have caused some self reflection. Since today is Monday and the start of a new week I feel we should start our new week off with something positive. What is more positive then "Random Acts of Kindness"?

You may not know this, but you probably do more random acts of kindness everyday then you realize. What I would like you to do though is to be more aware and purposeful with these random acts of kindness.

Random acts of kindness are small things that end up meaning a lot to the recipient. Holding the door open for someone who is still a good 25 feet from the door. Telling your spouse or partner they are amazing. Stopping what you are doing and saying hi to the person who you know always could use an act of kindness. Writing a simple note of thanks to someone and leaving it on the desk. There are so many ways to show these random acts of kindness.

The reason I want you to be more aware and more purposeful with your random acts of kindness is because of the positive effect it has on you. It has been proven that when you perform random acts of kindness throughout the day and week your ability to stay in a positive mindset increases exponentially. Because of this increased positive mindset you are able to handle the normal trials and tribulations you experience throughout the week with greater success and ease. Also the feeling you get from performing random acts of kindness becomes such an uplifting experience for yourself that you want to experience this feeling more and more.

So make random acts of kindness part of your daily life. Be purposeful, search out ways that you can perform these acts of kindness. They are everywhere to be found and the people who need them are everywhere to be found.

I'm the captain now

How often in life have we all reacted towards something or someone, only later to regret our reaction and wished we would have been more mindful and thought things through before reacting? How many times have you left feeling like crap because of how your were treated or talked to by someone? Then the question is "Are You the Captain of Your Soul"?

When you are the captain of your soul you are capable of being in control of your emotions and mindset. You are able to realize that you have control over how you react and express yourself. You start to let go of the things that you have NO control over. Whether it is someone else's behavior towards you. The meeting that was cancelled at the last minute. The person who cut you off while driving. Or the boss who decided to take his or her bad day out on you.

The only real control you have is with in yourself. You control how you react and behave to anyone and any situation. Every situation you find yourself involved in has a ton of variables that you can do absolutely nothing about, except how you react. How you choose to react is a direct reflection on yourself and who you are as a person. We can help to influence these situations, but ultimately we have no control over each situation.

When you are the captain of your soul you react in a way that leaves you in control of your emotions. You start to care about the things that bring positive value to your life. You start to leave behind the things and people who bring negative value to your life like they did in the past.

Of course being the captain of your soul is not easy work. We are human beings and we have emotions. Sometimes these emotions are strong and powerful. Sometimes they can become overwhelming. This is where we can start to lose control over our reactions. In order to overcome this overwhelming sensation, you must practice your control daily. You must DO THE WORK needed to be the captain of your soul. Look inward towards yourself, breath. Reach for the self awareness within you and use it to create the positive changes in your life. Become "The Captain of Your Soul"

Journaling Every Day

Every morning when I arrived here at the gym the first thing I do after opening up the gym is pull out the notebook that I am writing in now. I open the notebook and turn to the page where I see yesterday's date written down and the numbers 1, 2, & 3 written under date running down the page. At each of these numbers I write down something that I am grateful for that happened yesterday. Sometimes these things are tangible. Sometimes they are abstract. More like feeling and emotions that were evoked.

The practice of gratitude journaling has many positive qualities and positive outcomes. Gratitudes act as reminders when you are having a bad day. Even on a bad day you can find two or three things to be grateful for. They keep us grounded and in the present moment. They are healing. They show respect for the good karma your life has been given. The things we have to be grateful for are many and varied. This is because we do have so much to be grateful for.

What you choose to write down is up to you. The fact of writing them down is what's important. The practice of gratitude journaling brings an inner peace to help start your day. It is a positive act of kindness to yourself and to whom or what you are thankful for. By consistently starting your day off with a positive morning ritual, you increase your opportunities to remain in a positive focused mindset. You start to create your own positive moment.

I challenge you all to start this practice. If you already are, good for you. Share your experiences of gratitude journaling. Share the benefits you receive from this daily practice. You will probably end up writing it down as one of your gratitudes.

Recognizing and Adding Positive Value

How often do you find yourself feeling like you are slipping into a rut or regressing backwards into old habits? Let's be honest it happens to all of us from time to time. I personally think it's caused by the accumulation of giving a $%&@ about to many things!

When this happens we start to give up our control we have on our own life. Worse is we lose the flow of consistency we have created. Staying consistent is what needs to happen in order to reach the goals that we have set for ourselves. Yes we are going to have a bad day, but when it starts to be a few bad days in a row we start to see the beginnings of a rut. We need to be able to recognize these signs as soon as possible.

When we see these signs starting to emerge what is the first thing you should do? The first thing to do is BREATHE! The second thing is to step back and take a stock count of what is going on in your life. Start to identify the things you are giving too much of a $%&@ about. You need to ask yourself "Is this adding any positive value to my life"? If the answer is NO, then get rid of it. If the answer is YES, then WORK ON IT!

When you start to work on the things you believe add positive value to your life you start to regain your consistency and start getting back into the flow state you lost. This is a great learning and practice tool because I guarantee you will find yourself back here in the same situation at some point in time. The key is how often and how quickly do you recognize it. Do you use your past knowledge and experience and go to work right away to pull yourself out of your rut making attitude and behaviors?

So as always if you want this to work and you want to avoid these ruts that come along throughout life? YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK!! Identify, breathe, take stock and get to work!

Recognizing Negatives

Everyone has them. The friend, family member, Co-worker, you know the ones that roll there eyes or make the backhanded comment because you have decided to make some positive changes to your life. Not just simple positive changes, but life altering changes. You decided living a healthier life style, getting in shape, eating healthier, less drinking and non negotiable gym schedule, etc... was a better place for you to live your life.

They act as if you are boring now. That you aren't as much fun to hang out with. They make comments like "it must be nice to be able to buy new clothes" or "Are you too cool to come out and party with us now". They start to put you in a different category, the boring category. But what is really boring? Is positive change boring? Or is repeating the same party scene every weekend, having the same old mindset day in and day out, sitting on the same couch night after night. watching yourself stay stagnant everyday and complaining about it to your friends who will listen because they are doing the same thing. That is what's boring and it is boring everyday.

You should not let this attitude affect you negatively, but instead use it as motivation. When someone is trying to feed you bad energy it must mean you are doing something right. so use that bad energy as fuel to feed your positive changes.

What you should question though is WHY is this person acting this way towards me? It's because of their own insecurities and the lack of their own personal resiliency. Trust me deep down inside they would love to be doing what you are doing. Should you think less of this person or feel sorry for this person? The answer is NO!! What you should recognize though, is that your new life style is your choice and the only true influence on this new life style is YOU. You can not let their attitude project itself onto you, just as you should not project your attitude onto them. The only real thing you can do is carry on and try to be the best possible influence you can be through you actions and behavior. Try to give them some unconditional love, because they need it really bad. Don't forget you yourself where at this point at one time in your life.

Setting Your Wellness Baseline

What is your wellness base line? Your wellness base line is basically where your normal daily mental and emotional mindset resides. Let's think of it as a scale from 1 to 10. If you our not necessarily positive or negative you would be a 5. If you have a more pessimistic or negative outlook you could be a 4 or lower and visa versa if you have a positive or optimistic outlook.

Our daily wellness base line can fluctuate through out the day or week as positive or negative experiences affect our life, but we always work our way back to our main base line. So say you already have a wellness base line of 4. When something negative happens to you, It could have a huge affect on you due to the low base line and if negative events compound themselves on you, It can be devastating and harder to recover from.

What if your wellness base line is a 6 or 7? when something negative happens to you, your positive resiliency kicks into gear. This causes you to figure out how to get rid of the negative and solve what ever issue has caused these feelings. This way you can get back to you positive 6 to 7 self.

What is so great about our wellness base line is that we can influence it. We can help change our wellness base line through our goals and accomplishment. When we set goals and work towards them we usually end up with a positive result. When you multiply the positive results and start building on them each time, you start to raise your wellness baseline. When your wellness baseline rises so does your resiliency to the negativity that you will run into.

The opposite can happen as well. If you go through life with no real goals or accomplishments in mind. You will either stay stagnant and not grow as a person. Worse yet you put yourself at great risk of lowering your wellness baseline. This lowering of your wellness baseline can lead to very difficult times to overcome and also leaves you vulnerable poor life decisions.

We are always stressing the goals and accomplishment way of life. Yes it is harder to take a high road all the time. There are times we all want to say the hell with it, but we don't. Why is that? Because we know we are a better person, friend, wife, husband, father mother, leader, coach....the list is endless when we choose to live this life style. So set your goals, get after them and change your Wellness Baseline for the positive.

Time for a little Self Care

We all lead what each of us feels is a busy life. We deal with the stresses of everyday life. We also have to deal with the stresses of not everyday life. We get the emergency phone call. We get the totally unexpected family issue. The car break down issue. You name it, the list could be a mile long.

How often do you just stop and take a moment to breath. I don't mean just a moment, but really stop and give yourself an hour or two to decompress and clear the mind. My bet is it does not happen as often as it should. The way our society has taught us is to keep soldiering on and push through everything. Because of this mindset we end up feeling a little guilty for taking some time daily or every other day to decompress and take care of ourselves.

The question then becomes if you don't take the time to take care of yourself, who will? How on earth are you going to be able to give your best to those who need it? The answer is you can't. all that you can give what you have left each day. Which eventually won't be that much.

Now I'm not talking about taking a break by sitting on the couch with a gallon of ice cream or hitting up the local bar for a couple cocktails to relax. I am talking about real decompressing and clearing the mind through mindful and purposeful physical activity. It has been scientifically proven that if you want to relieve stress in your life you need to get out there and purposefully move your body. You see stress is a physical reaction with in the brain that will eventually manifest itself into the body. The physical stress with in your brain needs to be counter acted through physical movement of the body. I.E. EXERCISE. This is a proven fact. There are no short cuts or magic pills to solve this issue. Just like I wrote in yesterdays email, your body is your most prize possession. Well your brain resides with in your body and if it is not able to work and function at optimal levels, your body will not either.

We need to be willing to take care of ourselves and if that means taking and hour or two everyday or every other day for self care... Then do it and do it without hesitation. Because no matter what, everything you are dealing with in life is still going to be there waiting for you. So instead of repeating the same painful mental cycle over and over again. Move your body, relieve your stress and come back at it with a clearer head and a renewed energy.

Remember DO THE WORK.

Finding Ways To Own It

Have you ever heard the phrase " You opened it, close it. You used it, put it away. You broke it, fix it"? Well I am adding one more to it "You own it, take care of it"

This last one has a wide range of implications towards it. It can be used for a vast varieties of ownership.

There are so many things in life that we own. A few of them we take care of as if they are the last possessions we will ever own on this earth. You noticed how a said a few. In most cases it might be only a couple possessions.

There are other items that we own and view as replaceable necessities. We take care of these items to a certain degree. Our attitudes towards these items is that they will need replaced, but if we give them a little TLC and make them last a little longer before replacing.

Then there are the items (a lot of them) that we buy because we think they are the next big thing or next greatest invention that will enhance our lives and make life a little easier. Some how they always end up in the junk drawer or in the spare room and then eventually (about 2 to 3 years later) in the trash. When we look back at these items as we are throwing them away and we usually laugh at ourselves or we think what a waste of money.

What amazes me is that the most important possession we own is our bodies. Our physical body is what enables us to physically do everything we need to do to live and survive everyday here on this earth. So often though we do not treat ourselves with this mindset. We may make it to the gym 3 days per week, but that ends up being the extent of it.

We make excuses not to get up early to get that morning walk or run in on our off days. We make excuses to eat unhealthy foods through justifying it because we workout 3 days a week. We justify that the weekends are meant for relaxation and over indulgence because we made it through another work week. We do this without realizing we are undoing all the good we did during the previous week and come Monday we are back to square one and we wonder why.

Our bodies are an amazing machine. We can treat it like crap for 10 to 15 years and have it on the verge of becoming a pharmaceutical dispensary, but with one decision made with determination we can reverse all this damage in a fraction of the time it took to create it by just choosing to live a healthy life style. We have the ability to undo so much damage, but so many of us only choose to go part way and there are still so many that choose to do nothing at all and never make the changes needed.

Our bodies have a finite amount of time here on this earth. Our bodies should be the most important possession we own. We need to have the mindset that helps us realize the importance of this attitude. But like always "YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK" Your life, your body and the people around you are depending on it. Make this attitude a priority in your life. You must become a non negotiable to yourself. Make it happen and do the work.

Defeated By Negative Mindset

Have you had days where the simplest problems snow ball your day into total chaos? By the end of the day you are totally frustrated and exhausted. You are ready to throw in the towel. By mid day you are saying to yourself " I am just going to get through this day and start over tomorrow". But by the end of the day you start looking back and you realize that the few simple problems could have easily been fixed or solved and you would have created a a better outcome to your day. Now you are really annoyed because you know all of this was avoidable if you would have changed your mindset or pivoted your way of thinking. How do you do this?

Yesterday was exactly one of those days for me. The morning threw a bunch of unexpected set backs at me. I was well on my way to having a day dominated by a negative outlook. Instead of succumbing to this negative mindset I pivoted and told myself " All of this is a test and what do you need to do to pass this test"?

#1 - Change my mindset and tell myself "You just need to roll with it for right now"

#2 - Get into problem solving mode. All these issues can be solved or fixed through time and patience.

#3 - BREATHE!!!!

#4 - What can I do to decompress at some point in time today? Go for a run at lunch time.

It was these four steps that saved my day. None of these step where or are complicated, but that does not mean they are easy to do. Negativity is a strong enemy that is not easily defeated. It takes determination, dedication and humility to pivot away from a negative mindset. We all have the ability to do this, but it takes practice. In other words "YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK"

So next time you are going through a day like this. Remember you hold the power to change the out come. You may not be able to control the issues and problems, but you do control how you react to them.

The Power of Will

Have you ever tried to accomplish a big goal on will power alone? My guess is, yes you have and I am willing to bet that has not always been very successful. That's because shear will power can only take you so far. Will power is actually a finite resource of energy on its own. Your will power needs to be strengthened by working it.

What do I mean, example. If you have a goal to run a marathon, will power is not going to get you to cross the finish line on its own. First you need to practice and complete a mile run. From there you race in a 5k. Then you advance to a 10k race and then it is on to the half marathon. Your will power is running sky high right now, but then you realize that there are not any races between the half marathon and the full marathon. @#$%^& what am I going to do?

This is where will power becomes a key mindset. Not to go from the half marathon to the full marathon in one fell swoop. Instead you use the your will power to continue training to run farther each time out. to build your abilities through practice and training. The amazing thing that happens is that your will power won't run out as you practice. It will actually grow and get stronger. Yes there will be hard days you will go through , but because you have fed and nurtured your will power through practice and mindfulness you now have a greater ability to push through though the rough times. You can actually see yourself crossing the finish line.

Remember no matter what you are trying to accomplish or achieve, your will power alone is only going to take you so far. Like with everything we discuss, you have to do the work. the work creates the momentum so your will power can work for you, not against you.

Will You Ever Be Happy?

"I Will be Happy When". How many times have we all used this phrase? I know I have. As a matter of fact I know I used it last week here in the gym. We use this phrase all the time when we are trying to reach a goal or accomplish something in our lives. It is a phrase that does not make much sense when you think about it. Why would we want to put stipulations on happiness. Stipulations are meant for rewards not happiness. Your happiness should never be considered a reward for achieving or reach a goal.

When we achieve a goal we are definitely happy, but we should also find happiness in the work we are doing along the way. We should find happiness in the effort we are putting in towards our goals. We should find happiness in the attitude we get when we decide to take back control over something that has been controlling us in one form or another. Other wise what is it truly worth to go after a goal if you can't have happiness along the way.

These are the places we find a real happiness. Not just at the end. At the end of the journey towards a goal the emotions are many, not just happiness. Happiness is an emotion we should feel and experience everyday. One of the unique things about happiness is that it can be experienced easily with just oner thought, "Think Peter Pan". All it takes is one happy thought. This is such a true statement. I bet you if you try it you will be smiling in a matter of seconds. So go out and feel and experience some happiness today and take to the sky's and fly.

Finding a Flow State

How many of you have heard the term "The Flow State"? Flow State is defined as being totally in the present moment. Not being aware of distractions around you. Flow State can be achieved in many different ways and can last for various periods of time. In order to get into a Flow State of mind you have to allow yourself to be totally in the present moment. If you allow thing to become a distraction the Flow state will end or you will never be able to enter into a Flow State. The key here is " If You Allow Distractions".

Here is an example. I love to mountain bike through the woods. When you mountain bike in the woods you have all sorts of obstacles to deal with. There are the trees that line the trails, The fast down hills that turn into quick uphills, The bends and high bank dirt turns in the trails. The table top jumps, All of these can easily be distractions and cause you to slow down dramatically or worse yet....WRECK!. But what if didn't allow them to be distractions. Instead you allowed them to be part of the experience of the ride. They would start to bend and blur. they would fly by without you noticing them. Your mind and body are completely in the moment. All you notice is the sounds, the wind, your breath, the way the bike feels underneath you, and your emotions. You are in the Flow State and WOW does it feel awesome.

Another one of my favorite Flow States is when I am coaching in the gym and the energy level is perfect. The music is spot on, the sounds of the weights hitting each other, the laughter, the intensity in the eyes on the final rep of a set, the sweat and the heat and humidity. When this happens the whole gym is in a Flow State and everyone experiences it.

Every thing i described in these two examples have one thing in common. the awareness of life's details at that moment. Being in the present allows you to notice all the details. You are aware, your senses are heightened in a positive way. The Flow state is an energy that is capable of flooding our memory banks. We use these memories to search deeper with in ourselves to find more of this type of energy. The Flow State is fuel for our souls.

If It's Endurable

" If It Is Endurable Then Endure It And Stop Complaining" Marcus Aurelius.  So often we choose the complete opposite of this quote. Why? When you think about it this quote is the foundation to creating anything great in your life, but so many times we choose to forego enduring through an obstacle. Instead of embracing the chance to prove to ourselves and others that obstacles are opportunities to foe fill our potential to be great. We choose instead to complain, blame, take the short cut or we ignore the obstacle in hopes that it will go away and worse yet we come up upon the obstacle and we choose to walk away before even trying. We all have the ability to endure. Those of us who choose to embrace this ability create the examples around us that help lead and shape the future for the ones that follow, mainly our children and the younger generations. We as individual have been given a great honor and responsibility to practice and live by the meaning of this quote. If you are, then thank you. If you are not, START and start now. don't go after the big issues right away. Start small and build your resiliency and your momentum, but get started. It is our duty and our calling. " If It Is Endurable Then Endure It And Stop Complaining"

Workout Psychology vs Physical

Never in my workout life have I been given a workout or created a workout that I was physically unable to complete. That is not saying there is no workout that I would not be able to do or complete. There are definitely workouts that elite athletes do that I was struggle mightily with on my very best day. However, there is not one of us who has not struggle and sometimes fail when it comes to the psychological part of a workout or workouts. I know that there are plenty of days where my heart and soul wants to destroy a workout, but my mind tries everything it can do to put a stop to what it perceives as nonsense. This is why I believe the hardest part about this lifestyle is the psychology part of strength and conditioning training. It is so easy to come up with excuses. Our brains and thought processes of been trained over the years to find the easier way, to look for the magic pill. In the average humans life , we have been told the word NO on the average of 150,000 times by the time we are the age 21 to 23 years old. Yet we have been told YES on the average of only 5,000 time. When you think about it that is a really crappy negative ratio. We have had it re-enforced into us to think negatively about what is possible for all of us to accomplish and more importantly that the hard work is worth it and the feeling we get from doing the hard work is worth it. Not everyday is supposed to be unicorns and rainbows, if that where the case nothing great would ever happen. Greatness only comes when you are willing to fight, sweat, grind and claw your way through the tough psychological parts of life. Start saying YES i can do this, I can get accomplish this goal, I can take its chance and push myself further then before. Start saying NO to excuses and to the word NO itself. We all have the ability to be GREAT and we all have the ability to create a positive life to share with everyone around us.