: The Night Has a Thousand Eyes :
Posted: October 31, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Boo!!!!, Candy, halloween, kindness, life, Mindfulness, Omaha, passion, Reality, social media, Trick or Treak, yoga 12 CommentsWe all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will-
This evening when we find ourselves handing out treats to all the little ghouls and turds that inhabit our neighborhood – Pause for a moment, and gently turn your gaze away from the harsh glow of the warm gadget in your hand (Halloween Instagram pics can wait …). What is the reality that you see unfolding around you? Can you describe the nuance in each costume that knocks at your door? Their color, the story behind each superhero costume? Are the kids smiling and excited, or are they still with nervous anticipation of scoring a large amount candy?
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This reality that we are witnessing first hand is the world as it is right here, right now. It may seem that we live life outside of “reality“, warm gadget in hand and simply observing the bundled up joy standing right in front of us as we snap a series of pics. The “reality” we capture on our gadgets only exists in our mind(s) eye, and we view it through our own unique magenta or black and white lens, filtered outside of our senses.
Daily Meditation:
After we finish dinner tonight and ready the goodies to hand out, imagine for a second that you are a different person, a different ghoul. Set down your gadget, choosing to capture life from a new perspective instead. Life is not a series of pictures we share on the inter-webz. Life is a series of remarkable photos occurring right before our eyes.
Moon
Posted: October 30, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, Frederick Smock, gratitude, happiness, kindness, life, love, Moon, Poetry, writing, yoga, Zen 2 Comments…
The day lengthens,
the old earth tips its hat
to the moon.
The changeful moon
goes through many phases,
even in a single night,
though it is the same
moon as ever, we know this.
We are the changes.
: Higher & Higher :
Posted: October 29, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, Canada, compassion, cycling, Cyclocross, exercise, Fall, family, free range, freshly pressed, Gratefulness, happiness, hipster, kindness, love, lululemon, Media, meditation, Mindfulness, motivation, musings, natural, nature, nebraska, Omaha, passion, pilates, simplicity, social media, Star City CX, time, Twin Six, whole foods, Winnipeg, writing, yoga, Zen 6 CommentsYou are — your life, and nothing else-
A little over two years ago I stopped planting myself on the couch and turning the TV on for no good reason. Very seldom do I pay attention to the pathetic, dreadful “news”. I am picky with whom I choose to spend time with. Something happened in my life that I fail to put a finger on, and even now its hard to put into words to share with you. I realized there was a deep-rooted issue with my soul, my true-self. It was as if my soul, was raw, torn, ripped wide open. As if my true-self needed a “special” kind of time. We often think of time as a linear aspect of our lives … 0400 in the morning – Time to rise and eat breakfast , 0900 – Second breakfast, 1200 – Workout over lunch … As the cadence of time marches on, we fall prey to time – Time truly dictates our life.
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Bringing balance to body, mind, and spirit has never been more important to me. With this intention, I packed my bags last Tuesday and set off for a long weekend of cyclocross racing in Winnipeg – A beautiful city nestled near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Winnipeg is an idyllic oasis on the eastern edge of the Canadian Prairies, the spirit of Winnipeg perfectly aligns with its inspiring surroundings. A city, simply being …
This exhilarating excursion nine hours north of Omaha, NE included boundless adventure at every turn. Between the company of close friend(s), practicing at Public Yoga, an endless amount of delicious food, the support of a large, cheerful crowd, laid back fellow competitors and the great outdoors; only served to deepen my connection to simply being. My weekend transformed into an eye-opening experience that both heartened and challenged me.
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Do you recall when you last fell prey to marching in step with time? Maybe it’s when you stopped looking at your iThingy every fifteen seconds, or better yet, when you fully surrender to a state of flow during your morning yoga practice or whilst training for your next big event? A moment in which you stop counting breaths and checking Strava for a little bit as you exercised your creative muscle(s) – that “thing” between your ears.
This is when time stops pedantically chugging along, and being begins. May you take a moment to bathe in the beauty of simply being this morning.
Daily Meditation:
This beautiful “thing” called life presents to us the opportunity to slow down and savor the concept of being. Even when counting the miles away driving from Omaha to Winnipeg (642 … ).
Polka Dots and Moonbeams
Posted: October 15, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, Cyclocross, family, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, health, hope, Influence, kindness, love, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, running, simplicity, trail running, Twin Six, walking, yoga, Zen 6 CommentsIf I saw you hitchhiking, I’d smile and return your thumb’s up, just for you doing such a great job of being a positive roadside influence-
Each of us has the keen ability to notice when “things” in life are starting to get in the way, that is of course – If we pay close enough attention to them.
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Personally, it was thinking I had to excel at everything. Life, work, play, pilates, yoga, cycling and making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich – everything. When I felt as though I had come up short, or when I felt as though the sandwich I had just made was underwhelming and missed my expectations, it’s incredibly frustrating and discouraging to say the least. Its taken quite some time, although, I’m peaceful knowing there are going to be areas in my life which I do not have the upper hand.
Daily Meditation:
There’s something intrinsically freeing knowing, and owning any potential pitfalls that come our way … And once we notice this? “Things” cease to be a surprise anymore, and more like relief.
In – Tention
Posted: October 8, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, Cyclocross, exercise, family, freshly pressed, gluten free, Greed, happiness, health, hope, Intention, karma, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Racing, running, simplicity, social media, trail running, walking, whole foods, yoga, Zen 6 CommentsIt is more Important to be of pure intention than of perfect action-
I spend a fair amount of time ruminating why I’m struggling with my “performance” when others, clearly are not. I tend to think my poor “performance” is karmic retribution (whatever this is) for some bad deed in the past, and this bad deed is the sole reason why I stink, suck – Why I am continuously sore and injured – Why I had a bad race, or whatever we say after stinking up the joint! When I look outward for answers, I view karma through a stained prism, as a spiritual judicial system, where I am forced to suffer based on some bad deed I can’t even remember that happened 24 years ago … Or maybe it was ten minutes … Pardon me as I look it up on my phone.
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As loosely defined by yours truly: Karma is about the nature of our intentions, our intention(s) in this beautiful, inspiring moment. To explore a tad deeper, think of our actions as having two distinct attributes. Let’s use riding a bike as an example: Pure Behavior and our Intention behind said behavior. What matters to forming our true-self is not the “pure behavior” that makes up our action but our intention in engaging in that action. It pays to remember, as the Buddha said: Intention is Karma.
Consider for a moment taking your bike out for a spin early one brisk, Fall morning. Our “pure behavior” equals throwing a leg over the top tube and smiling, not necessarily in that order. However, the intention behind this action could be to simply surrender to the moment, being compassionate and generous to those we encounter during our travels – or – It could be to show ill-will toward others on the trail, cruelty to your body for training too hard, or being greedy … Chasing down another podium finish.
Daily Meditation:
Some Dude (Buddha) once said many moons ago, “Intending, one does karma” … My intention Dear Reader(s) Is to return to my true self: To show more compassion, to be generous and most importantly (to me): To be kind.
CultFit 