Key to the Highway
Posted: March 8, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, meditation, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, smile, Smiling, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 13 CommentsHope, Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering ‘it will be happier’…-
Did you happen to know that your gorgeous smile is actually contagious? Not my smile mind you, yours! The little nugget of your brain that is responsible for facial expressions, smiling when happy or mimicking another persons smile resides in the cingulate cortex (this is but one part of that squishy thing between your ears). Smile at someone today or with someone today, it’s likely they can’t help but smile back. If they don’t? Their either preoccupied taking a pic of their feet, a Detroit Red Wings supporter or they’re making a conscious effort not to smile back at you.
Looking at the bigger picture, each time you smile at a person, their brain triggers them to return the favour. You are creating a symbiotic relationship with a complete stranger that allows both of you to release mood enhancing chemicals in your brain. These very same chemicals activate reward centers and help you live a brighter, healthier life. WOW! All of this from a simple smile 🙂
Here’s the deal peeps: This kind of information is fleeting and falls on deaf ears far too often. No one wants to read a bloated self-serving book about smiling and magazines don’t fly off the shelf informing readers to smile. We can’t always control what happens to us, however I will guarantee (with complete confidence) that gracing your picturesque face today with a smile can seriously change your internal and external experiences in life. Your smile is something that should be worn at every available opportunity. Less Lululemon and more smiling!
*Science content has been removed due to it being boring and tedious.
The Workout-
A gentle early morning Walk, whilst Smiling and enjoy the company of a Friend.
Notes:
Quick reminder that tonight is your chance to get a sneak peek behind the CultFit curtain. A dashing group of us will be attending the Buddhist Boot Camp book signing and Q&A session at The Bookworm in Omaha, NE this evening. I’m curious to ask Timber Hawkeye his thoughts about smiling?!?
Also over the weekend I will be putting together the annual CultFit Meetup calendar. Sadly, there will be only a handful of running events this summer although all the cool kids these days ride on two wheels … If you know of an event in the Midwest you would like us to attend? Please email me at: cultfit@gmail.com
The Greatest
Posted: March 7, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: appearances, Atisa, Awareness, blogging, Buddhism, Buddist Boot Camp, everything, exercise, fitness, happiness, health, hipster, hope, Humility, life, love, lululemon, meditation, non-attachment, paleo, passion, peace, Peaceful mind, self-mastery, Selflessness, serving others, walking, WOD, worlds way, yoga, Zen 2 Comments… achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
― Atisa
Notes:
Be inspired today, in whatever you choose to do.
Daytime Dilemma
Posted: March 6, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, Gratefulness, gratitude, happiness, health, hipster, Humility, intensity, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 9 CommentsFinally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind-
We’re going to talk about courage, mindfulness and being vulnerable, again for what seems like the millionth time. Scurry along if you like although it would be nice if you stuck around for a minute or two.
Going out on a fragile, weathered limb, chances are you’re not perfect. Big deal, you are vulnerable to the whims of the world. What makes you courageous is that upon waking up each morning, you are willing to step into a wide-open space, without a care in the world.
Here’s the bit I hoped you stuck around for: Authentic folks really do not want to see perfection; We want to feel and share connections with others. When we try to present ourselves as the perfect version we can possibly be (like all of your Facetube friends)? We leave little to no room for creativity, failure, humility and error. Seriously Dear Readers, look around yourself this morning at the yoga studio or at the starting line this coming weekend. It’s in the effort of trying without the fear of failure that we know what works and what does not, it’s a process that we begin every morning. Each day, each moment is unique.
If we feared failure, we’d never roll out of bed, show up at yoga class and step out into the world. Life is more interesting when it is risky, rich and served messy. Life is not a box of hand dipped artesian truffles.
Notes:
I would like to leave you today with the following thought: Take the time to present yourselves with a wide open, pure heart today. Display your inner kindness in such a way as to actually move other folks to bare, pure emotions.
Fool in the Rain
Posted: March 5, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, Giving thanks, gluten free, gratitude, happiness, health, Hesitation, hipster, hope, intensity, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, nebraska, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, running, star wars, technology, trail running, walking, weather, WOD, yoga 10 CommentsThe most wasted of all days is one without laughter-
There is a glitch in the system. Being grateful, humble and full of joy is inherently easy when the sun is shining, when the kids are being good (for once) when our dreams start to come true, when the world seems to be for our taking. There’s always a “but” and today’s but is a biggie, like Sir Mix A-Lot big! But … Gratitude is a glitzy system. Are you grateful when you step on a Lego at 5am? When your perfect treadmill trot goes sideways? When you quite can’t find stillness, awareness and comfort in your daily yoga practice. Every door seems to be slamming us in the face? F! Gratitude!!!
“This is the last time I step on a mother bleeping Lego …” Like any system, the system of gratitude relies on triggers. Sometimes it takes a smack in the head, a Lego, someone saying “Hello and Good Morning” with a genuine smile. Some may find an early morning run a rather pleasant trigger, a cup of coffee or snuggling with a loved one before going to work. Small, grateful triggers to set the tone for the day.
The Workout-
Open the door to happiness in your life, step outside, begin your day with a smile, join a friend for a workout – walk – run – yoga … whatever.
Notes:
What was your grateful trigger this morning? What small moment changed your outlook on the day and brought a smile to your face? For me, I simply stepped on a Star Wars Lego piece, I think it was a Light saber?!?
Artificial Life
Posted: February 27, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, fitness, free range, happiness, health, hipster, jogging, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, natural, pain, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Risk, running, Suffering, trail running, walking, weight loss, whole foods, WOD, yoga, Yoga Goddess 11 CommentsThat’s sad. How plastic and artificial life has become. It gets harder and harder to find something…real.” Nin interlocked his fingers, and stretched out his arms. “Real love, real friends, real body parts…”-
Life, each and every day is a risky undertaking. Each of us have our own choices to make each day, minute-to-minute, conveniently wrapped with the many mysteries of life. The weight loss plan we planned out over a nice Merlot in January may help us reach a goal we value and then again, it very well may not.
What exactly makes sense as we negotiate this perilous journey of life?
The balance between too much risk and too much safety is an altogether different equation for different folks. There is no right answer.
The rule book for our life is written well before we are born and we are taught those rules from the day of our birth. The rules are full of do this and don’t do that and awful consequences (you’ll shoot your eye out kid) and great rewards (a cheap medal for finishing a 5k). No two of you reading today share the same rule book as mine, not even remotely close. This is one of the main reasons why we sometimes become so hostile, so polarized, unwavering in our thoughts when facing off against an opponent who feels equally so. Don’t believe me? Tell the yoga goddess in your 9am class that her breathing and focus, suck. She’s following the rules for herself (matching Lululemon pants with a revealing top).
Living deeply is looking closely at your rule book and deciding, for ourselves, what our true nature is. What exactly is your true nature and how can you live authentically? The answers don’t come as easy as say a one-time blog post or a witty self-help e-book. They come as feelings of intuition and as a sense of purpose, guiding us one way or another. The answers we seek will come as clarity, focus, a genuine sense of purpose. Sometimes the answers are crystal clear, sometimes they are barely discernible nudges; a fleeting thought or feeling; a sweetness on your lips; a resonance in your heart … Do you hear these today?
The Workout-
A simple Walk sprinkled with some Inversions to make life interesting.
Notes:
Step outside the familiar this afternoon, the comfortable, the place where you think you are safe, take a risk (wear jammies to yoga class). Take a risk against the old you … This is a risk worth taking.
CultFit 