Comfort : Zone :
Posted: May 2, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, Commuting, compassion, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, NBA, NHL, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, walking, writing, yoga, Zen 13 CommentsA good traveller is one who knows how to travel with the mind–
What a jerk! I know, I just know that he cut me off in the pace line, on purpose none the less! Here I am, falling off the back of the pack … The race is over 20km in! Or is it?!?
Like you, I am an expert in regards to mind-reading. I used to walk through life ass-uming that if another person’s behavior caused me distress in any way, they must have intended to make me feel this way. Those filthy bastards!
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I was addicted to attributing my negative motives and thoughts to someone else and their behavior. Why not – their actions did sting a little bit and they kinda pissed me off. My subjective (and biased) interpretation of other folks, rather than their behavior, finally made me lose my, cool.
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Then something truly cool started to happen. It started with a deep breath, and then gently changing my inner dialog, slowly, patiently – I subdued the thoughts of starting a confrontation, replacing them with – “I won’t assume anything; These thoughts will pass” … “No mind-reading today, not now.”
Daily Meditation:
Tuning into myself, rather than magnifying the stress when I was beginning to get upset, needing to address the other person, eyebrows furled, sweaty fists clenched … “It’s Saturday afternoon dude, the NHL and NBA playoffs are on, the sun is up! We’ll get ’em next time around!”
Have a beautiful weekend friends and please take care!
Hard to : Resit :
Posted: April 30, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, change, compassion, crossfit, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, health, hipster, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, National Bike Challenge, natural, nature, Omaha, Omaha Commuter Challenge, passion, pilates, Power Yoga, running, trail running, yoga 6 CommentsEveryone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself-
A quick show of hands: Have you ever held onto the belief that you could change someone else’s behavior, if you were persistent and dedicated enough?
I witness this quite often with friends going to yoga class, working out together and the awesome folks I help out. Sadly, I have arrived at the conclusion that people only change when it’s rewarding for them to do so, and when they’re capable of it.
Rewarding and Capable – Interesting.
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Daily Meditation:
I have lived many years shrouded in the fallacy that “peer” pressure, being a “caring” friend pressure, will make those close to me change. I’m writing this morning to share with you these following thoughts – People only change when they’re ready to. If I want my friend to change, I have to figure out how they would be motivated to change, how change would benefit them.
On the subject of motivation and change – I offer up to you these two links. Have a beautiful day, and please take care!
Up(rising)
Posted: April 29, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, Compitition, crossfit, cycling, exercise, Fairness, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, nebraska, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, walking, WOD, writing, yoga 5 CommentsThe world isn’t fair, Calvin.”
“I know Dad, but why isn’t it ever unfair in my favor?–
I want to go back and touch on “should” thoughts for a moment before we move onto today’s post. Contemplative thought is truly a brilliant tool to exploring your true potential, just not when its time to perform. I like to call these – trigger happy thoughts or reactive thoughts. Let’s dive a little deeper and to maintain some clarity, I’m relating the post today to competitive outings and more specifically: Running.
What are your initial thoughts and feelings when I tell you that “Fairness” – Is a fallacy? Fairness is rubbish and compete utter nonsense?
Many of us (maybe this hits close to home for you) … Cloak ourselves with the falsehood that there exists only a single standard of fairness and – SPOILER ALERT! – It’s our very own! What we consciously choose to ignore, and this is when we start our “should” thinking, is that fairness is a completely subjective concept, based on our individual needs, expectations, and values. The big boy truth, is that your definition of what’s fair? Is completely self-serving (mine included).
If your buttons have been pushed in the past, or even right now because you thought you were being treated unjustly? Let me share a classic example most runners have lamented about: “I should not be in the 30-39 year old age bracket! It’s too competitive! If only the race organizers would change the ages – my time in a different bracket would get me on the podium!”
Daily Meditation:
The next time you find yourself questioning fairness, your mind clouded with “should” thoughts? Try this on for size at the starting line – What I see as fair? Is a direct reflection of my own deeply held personal preferences. Then proceed to run the race of your life!
Passing “by”
Posted: April 28, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, Should, Trail, trail running, walking, whole foods, writing, yoga 8 CommentsWe are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking-
We have been discussing “intention(s)” of late, and I personally want to thank each one of you who have commented during this time. Your kind words and thoughts help me, immensely! Keeping with the theme of intention, I would like to introduce – performance – “Umm what dude?”
Yup! We are going to talk about intention/performance as they relate to yoga, cycling, trail running and whatever really. Heck even making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Anything … There is another word hidden craftily in-between intention and performance though. A tedious, dirty little word that will completely mess up your best intentions and suck the very essence from your performance. What is this evil little word?!?
Should
Our minds logical fallacy is that our “should(s)” are universal, no matter what we choose to do. That what is intelligent, reasonable, or “good” for myself ought to be for others as well, from one activity to another.
Should I push a little harder during class? Should I listen to the cramps gripping my legs? Should I use extra peanut butter? Should I put bananas on my sandwich as well? Should I step up to the starting line, knowing I belong with the best runners here?
Daily Meditation:
Hopefully, by better understanding the “should(s)” in our lives, we can bring about meaningful performance <– Whatever that means …
Azules Día de la Tierra
Posted: April 22, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, Cheap Wine, compassion, cycling, Earth Day, exercise, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, life, love, lululemon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, perspective, pilates, Power Yoga, running, trail running, Tuesday, whole foods, Winnie the Pooh, writing 4 CommentsIt’s Earth day I wonder if we can plant more trees than people for a change?–
Big friggin’ deal! Its Earth Day! Awesome! It’s also the day after Monday! Who cares about Earth Day anyways …
Today is Earth Day, which means it’s time for our annual Earth Day social media blitz, lamenting about the benefits of “green living“. Whatever that may be. Drive a Prius, plant a tree, hug a butterfly, recycle coconut water bottles, think about how fitly you are, buy an Earth-friendly yoga mat, read green-themed blogs, chew on some kale, grow your own while you are at it, and lets not forget to change the old energy sapping – ozone layer killing light-bulbs, for “energy – efficient” ones, that will pay off their $$$ price twenty years down the road.
Don’t worry! Tomorrow is Wednesday, not Earth Day, and it’s back to business as usual.
Earth Day was once dedicated to organizing mass action to radically change public policy, largely inspired by the movement that brought an end to the American War in Vietnam. Today, “Earth Day” hype is almost entirely based on individual responsibility, and the “look at me I’m kissing a malnourished toad and planting heirloom tomatoes” crowd.
My question for Earth Day advocate(s) is this: Why should I – some poor dude – bear the brunt of environmental responsibility for Earth Day? Is it because it’s easier for companies, friends, media and governments to brow beat and shame me into action?
Daily Meditation:
Is it too much to ask, to put in a little extra green work the rest of the year? To create a culture of sustainability, to live in a world devoted everyday to the well-being of the Earth? Even if it means taking a little time away from the inter-webz? Most of us don’t mind turning off the lights for an hour— lighting a candle to read, playing a board game, and some other low-wattage activities. Like I don’t know – Hopping off the treadmill, playing tag, yoga and Cycling outdoors?!?
Don’t get me wrong – Earth Day is pretty damn cool! Thank goodness we can still drink organic wine on Earth Day or is that frowned upon as well? Who cares – Cheers!
CultFit 