Short but Funky
Posted: May 8, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: 90's, blogging, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, perspective, pilates, pop culture, quiz, running, simplicity, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 14 CommentsMan is the only creature who refuses to be what he is-
10 “things” that I learned in the 90’s that still resonate, painfully this morning on the mat:
The price is wrong!
There’s no crying in baseball.
In Paris, it’s a Royale with cheese.
You can’t handle the truth.
We are all connected in the Great Circle of life.
The bums lost.
Life finds a way.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
You can’t triple stamp a double stamp.
You need more flair.
Notes:
First response that can correctly name the movie the quotes appear in, wins something. There is consideration for style points and what these quotes are in reference to (Hint: I was the only dude in yoga class). Time to get creative peeps …
(I’m) Reckless
Posted: May 7, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Addiction, blogging, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, intensity, jogging, kettlebell, kindness, life, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, pain, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, simplicity, social media, technology, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 10 CommentsIn this world of numbness and information overload, the ability to feel, my boy, is a rare gift indeed-
You scowl at your running partner(s) for running with headphones in. You can faintly hear ‘1901’ blasting from their ears. They are insistently checking their GPS watch, every ten steps, although 10 miles later during a quick stop to refuel? Out comes a magenta hued insta-message to let the world know you just slammed a gel pack. Don’t they realize how much it annoys you? The anger on your face is plain as day …
Remember when placing an emergency call meant stepping into a phone booth? Today’s electronic do-dad’s and wireless communications gadgets have made it possible for us to handle emergencies in near real-time, help us to find and reconnect with long-lost friends and the best part: Fantasy Sports. Although all of this “convenience” we have at our finger tips comes at a steep price. The incursion of technology into our lives both at home and while out for an evening run, means less down time and we become ungrounded from our true spirit (tomorrows post). FaceTube and iThings rip into and tear apart relationships and thwart leisure pursuits. I often lament about leisure/life balance, oddly the term “Balance” seems to be a thing of the past.
What in the world is the meaning of balance anymore?
Steeping back from the running story, we as families are feeling this pain at home as well. Social experiment for the day: Engage a teenager in an eye to eye conversation. Let me know how that works out for you. Today’s teens have booth feet, wading chest deep in a technology sinkhole, sad.
Notes:
Know what? It’s rather easy to blame social media and technology, I should know, I am rather adept at it. Over the past fortnight I have been thinking about this issue ad nauseam, what “balance” truly means, the mixed blessing and danger of technology and many other things (NHL Playoffs). Even though social media and technology have placed the world at our feet, the 24/7 access impedes our spiritual health and quality of life.
Ask yourself today: Has the convenience been worth it?
Prosa before Plantear
Posted: May 3, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Apple Pie, blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, life, love, marathon, meditation, natural, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, Pie it forward, Poetry, Pose Running, Prose, running, Spirituality, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 9 CommentsThe young student sits with his head bent over his books, and his mind straying in youth’s dreamland; where prose is prowling on the desk and poetry hiding in the heart-
Never in a million years would I have envisioned that poetry and prose would be at the forefront of helping me heal: Knee surgery, back surgery, fractured neck, shattered orbital bone and too many other injuries to bore you with before the weekend begins. Although, injuries and rehabilitation are places where the human spirit is most vulnerable. It’s within these planes of vulnerability that literature and the arts have the greatest resonance.
Everyone reading today, is at some point touched ever so gently by an injury, either personally or through the experiences of a close friend or family member. None of us, NONE of us, are immune to the frailties and limitations of the human body. The burgeoning of the Inter-Webz, FaceTube and YouBook has shoved down our throat a wealth of information. However, the excessive amounts of “facts” at our disposal do not necessarily make it easier to cope with the fears and unknowns of illness, injury and loss. This, I believe, is where the Arts and Humanities fit in. *Long time readers have noticed the changes around here.*
When I started this blog over two years ago, I had no idea that my life would veer toward literature and the healing arts. Poetry, prose, the arts have reminded me that healing is a multi-dimensional process, being spiritually healthy is far more important to me now.
Notes:
The arts and the humanities are critical elements in our life, and I am truly grateful that they have a home here at CultFit, with you, and our friends. One last thing before you download another running-app … Click on over to the Poetry Foundation and consider downloading their Poetry App. Immerse yourself in new poetry after a cool down run or workout, maybe?
Pie in Omaha?!? Did someone say “Pie in Omaha?!?” Take care and have a beautiful weekend!
Know your Enemy
Posted: April 29, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, Healing arts, health, hipster, hope, intensity, jogging, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 8 CommentsOur wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us-
Today, I ask you to consider a rather different, more personal formula for recreating a healthy and happy life: Embracing the Arts (painting, drawing, prose, poetry, writing etc.).
Embracing the Arts does not entail you picking out a new foam roller to soothe your aching body after a recent run, cancelling another doctors appointment to have your knee locked at, bending and twisting in yoga class beyond your limits in order to express your inner beauty. Embracing the Arts does require you to reclaim your innate curiosity about your own body and its limitations.
Embrace the Arts to reduce the violence we are hopelessly addicted to. Yes, I believe writing or even taking the time to commit to memory a poem you enjoy, is infinitely better than a “recovery run, shake, workout – whatever“. A slight change in perspective, attitude and focus will make a drastic change in your life …
Notes:
We as a culture need to focus on and discover true beauty in nature, to help us heal, smile and generally: Be somewhat tolerable to hang out with.
Be well today and please take care.
¿verdad?
Posted: April 24, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Awareness, balance, blogging, Comfort, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, harmony, joy, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, musings, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, running, Stillness, thoughts, walking, whole foods, yoga 6 CommentsHabit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do)-
It seems that in today’s world we have the freedom to pick and choose form a potpourri basket of interests …
“Check it out! I’m like totally doing this 30 day paleo, meditation, yoga, power walking, green smoothie, smiling at strangers, whole body cleanse thing! Just read about this push up challenge and hill sprint interval thing as well!”
Why do we choose to pursue a wide variety of “things” simultaneously and figure out how to do these “things” in a way and on a level that is average at best?
“My friend and I had a great workout at the box yesterday! 5 rounds of: 15 push ups – 15 jumping jacks – 15 sit ups – 15 walls balls and a 400m run. I still need to work on my push ups though, three years now and they are still pretty sloppy.”
Whatever happened to developing a deep knowledge base, knowing information (not stored on a gadget) and total devotion to the pursuit of mastery in a single field?
“I forget what my split times are in the pool but I’m thinking if I can work on my transition more it should make up for my poor swimming performance … Maybe?!?”
Are we afraid as a society to endure the intense work, discipline and willingness it takes to master a selected discipline? Are we afraid to embrace the risk needed to walk away from merely being “average” in the name of becoming extraordinary at one?
“It’s the same during every century ride: Chum it up with the guys for the first few miles, then I ride alone for the remainder of the time, lost in my thoughts, worried about “something”? I suppose it’s the 8am yoga class tomorrow and the 5k at noon?!?”
…
Yearn for the sense of intensity, focus and intrinsic reward that comes from the single-minded quest to master a particular body of knowledge: Yoga, mediation, martial arts, relationship(s), life etc. Radiate the pure energy and passionate spirit that comes not only from having attained mastery, but from simply being in the process of mastery. The secret Dear Reader lies here in the process of seeking mastery, this is where we find awareness, comfort, stillness, joy, harmony and balance.
Notes:
Do you, deep down inside, feel satisfied knowing that you are merely pretty decent at a bunch of “things”, but not exceptional at any?
Pensamientos?
CultFit 