No More Rain (In these clouds)
Posted: July 8, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, paleo, running, whole foods, WOD, yoga 7 CommentsPresents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them-
There are many different types of giving. There’s the giving that we do to feel good about ourselves, the giving we do because we expect something in return and the type of giving which comes from a place of kindness. Sadly, the gift of kindness is all but forgotten in today’s world. Does this make us all terribly rotten people? Nope, it’s much better to give a little than not to give at all, no matter what your motivation is.
Although giving kindness does give us cause for reflection. When we give to others and ourselves, is it from a place of insecurity, inner pride, desire? Or is giving kindness from a place of peaceful confidence, of unadulterated kindness which, just like the brilliant blue sky above, is always present, unchanging and limitless in nature.
Notes:
Have a beautiful day today and please be well!
Inside of Clouds
Posted: June 11, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, Bored, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, running, Tim Tebow, Tom Brady, trail running, whole foods, WOD, yoga 10 CommentsSomething more terrible than a hell where one suffers may be imagined, and that is a hell where one is bored-
I’m tired, weary and bored. The quintessential trifecta of re-injuring oneself, or others.
Boredom typically arises from one’s own lack of motivation, conviction and creativity. Each one of us gets bored now and then, for all I know you are already bored with this tedious post? However, the difference between being perpetually bored and seeking “healthy” alternatives is vast. You can become bored with running, cycling and yoga. Showing up and going through the motions, ignoring your body and true spirit. This is the kind of boredom that takes us down a destructive path …
How can anyone be bored in today’s world? Computer do-dad’s, IThingy’s, you name it! There’s even an app for being bored! It seems that one has to look rather hard, actually seek boredom to become bored. Once we are bored, it takes some perseverance to shake off. We can form a habit out of being bored because it presents a degree of comfort and safety. This is the point in the post where I tell you that you can become bored while running or doing yoga in the morning: Comfort and Safety.
Maybe today on the mat we can start in corpse pose? Shake things up a little bit …
Notes:
Today is a brilliant day to get creative, who knows what might happen, especially if we keep an open mind?!?
Lost in Translation
Posted: June 4, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Blame, blogging, crossfit, emotions, fitness, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, relationships, trail running, whole foods, WOD, yoga 4 CommentsSome people’s blameless lives are to blame for a good deal-
Self-blame is pernicious. Self-blame amplifies our perceived inadequacies, the weight we gained over the weekend, coming up short during our last marathon. Whether real or imagined, self-blame paralyzes us before we can even begin to step away from the mirror this morning.
Up until the point you decided to open your email and read this post, we have been taught to extend loving-kindness to others. Although we often fail in first extending loving-kindness to ourselves.
The most significant factor contributing to our tired system of self-blame is our failure to recognize our own humanity. From the day we were born, you, me (maybe) are perfect beings. Let’s think about this for a minute … You alone are enough. However, we are very much human beings: Perfect in spirit, yet as we age and experience the word around us, we often dwell in the illusion of our perfectionism, our need to constantly be right and improve on what already was perfect.
When either we or the world we create around us does not live up to our “dreamt up ideal“? We often take on fault and responsibility that is not ours to own or bear. Our failure to recognize the balance of responsibility in any given situation leads us into the trap of misappropriating this responsibility, which can quickly devolve into self-blame.
When we arrive at a point of self-realization, one that allows us to be our true selves, imperfection is no longer an obstacle, imperfection is an opportunity. We only need to open our eyes, our hearts, our spirit to it.
Notes:
If you walk away from reading today, please – please take note that recognizing you are perfect, just the way you are and that perfection is stunningly imperfect in nature. Matter of fact, perfection is a downright mess, a beautiful mess. Just like your hair when you roll out of bed in the morning.
Roll If (ya) Fall
Posted: May 31, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, courage, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, Musing, musings, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, Risk, running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 5 CommentsThere is no intensity of love or feeling that does not involve the risk of crippling hurt. It is a duty to take this risk, to love and feel without defense or reserve-
Avoidance of any kind of risk, big or small, is a byproduct of our fear of the unknown and needless to say: This avoidance of fear will lead to a very bland, uneventful life. Bangers and mash anyone, anyone? If we never took risks, you can rest assured that the blog posts we are reading this morning would not be Draconian in nature. No “second thoughts” before the big event tomorrow morning or lamenting nauseously about getting injured, again. By taking a risk, we embrace the courage of doing something we have never done before, even if it makes us look goofy, takes us out of our normal comfort zone and pushes back the boundaries society has firmly placed on us. Exploring the unknown, the sense of accomplishment and determination to push harder are all “things” that come as a direct result of having courage, taking risks in our daily life.
Courage generously gives us the willingness to explore and deal with the changes and challenges that will come our way. Having read this little bit, I implore you to go back and re-read the post from Wednesday, in a new light.
Notes:
If you take the time to look around yourself this weekend, noticing what others have attained and wishing that you had the same? This mental foreplay you are experiencing provocatively shows you that you can create this same reality for yourself. Each one of us has the incredible ability, deep inside us, to create real lasting change in our lives. It takes infinite amounts of courage and determination, its hard although once we embrace these driving forces? We can change and we will change.
During your weekend run, bike ride, yoga class or even your 6am TRX class. Chase away the doubts in your mind and live the life, as you have created, as you imagined.
Rat Race (Pro)
Posted: May 29, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, crossfit, exercise, family, fitness, free range, Freinds, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 16 CommentsThe truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits-
Feel free to file this post under the “Stopped over, liked and promptly forgot what I read ten minutes later” category.
You, me, the dude shaving in the car next to you during the morning commute, we are our own worst enemies. Especially so when we start talking about cultivating and living a “authentic” life, full of true and unbridled happiness. We make excuses, hourly, as to why we can’t overcome something or we are too busy surfing the webz, checking our work email during a Saturday morning group ride. To stop and realize just how destructive our growth-inhibiting patterns of behavior really are.
What follows is a series of blunt and prickly questions. I suppose we could call them the “Stinging Nettles” series of questions?!? I want these to irritate you, making you look inward to find a solution rather than applying aloe-vera gel to cover up the stinging pain …
Do you constantly put “things” off? We make excuses at every turn as to why we put off doing “things” that will markedly change our lives for the better. How many times will we hear or read this today: “I know meditation and yoga can help me BUT … I’m experiencing (Insert anything here) right now and I haven’t been doing them lately.” Seriously folks, If you know a life-enhancing practice like meditation and yoga will help you make a problem disappear? Why then put it off?
Are you a pecksniffian varietal of toad stool? Our minds tend to veer towards the negative side of life, completely normal. We look at all the “things” we don’t have and feel worse as a result. Dear Reader: There is always going to be something you will not have and embracing life in this way will leave you forever unsatisfied, a Toad Stool of high moral arrogance. Looking up and seeing the sun rise, taking a deep relaxing breath of morning air or even the very experience of rolling out of bed – Alive? Something not Nothing.
Do you fell like playing the “Blame Game”? “I could had run a personal best BUT … This amateur yoga mom b!tch was in my way!” Gosh does it feel good putting blame on someone other than ourselves?!? Blaming others is like having good sex: Awesome. How about we entertain the thought of taking responsibility for having some degree of responsibility for what happened and look to how we can turn the situation around, rather than blaming all the yoga mom runners of the world?!?
Saving the best for last …
Are you hopelessly a perfectionist? Perfectionists will be displeased no matter what, anything that isn’t perfect or doesn’t meet their extremely high standards? Weak sauce! Breaking News: Achieving a state of perfection within any walk of life is an impossible goal. Perfectionism turns us into pawns of success, by narrowing our focus on failure which then kindly results in a lifetime of self-doubt, pity and dare I mention? Depression. We might as well say then that perfectionism allows us to be more efficient at finding the best deals online, keeping an organized and tidy inbox or prepared for anything that may come walking through the door. However, having high standards and goals will help us achieve “things” in life, these standards can get in the way of the pure happiness of doing something we enjoy and yes, perfectionism can and will impair our enjoyment of this thing called life.
Notes:
Today marks a day of change here, a day of change in tone and added clarity. A day of asking questions instead of “Liking” and walking away.
CultFit 