Faithful Lover

The moon came to me last night

With a sweet question.


She said,


“The sun has been my faithful lover

For millions of years.


Whenever I offer my body to him

Brilliant light pours from his heart.


Thousands then notice my happiness

And delight in pointing

Toward my beauty.


Hafiz,

Is it true that our destiny

Is to turn into Light

Itself?”


And I replied,


Dear moon,

Now that your love is maturing,

We need to sit together

Close like this more often


So I might instruct you

How to become

Who you

Are!

CultFit Moon


Next Lifetime

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience-

Surrounding us is an odd “thing“, one that we rarely take time to notice and more often than not, have come to take for granted: This little thing called “Life.” Many of us search the entire span of our existence for peace, zen, bliss, the perfect pose, best 5k time, serenity and yet? These same things can be found in places that we overlook each and everyday. Even in a quiet summer field, life continues to flourish and live, eat and exist in a natural way, adapting and overcoming the world we merely “exist” in

A small doe emerges from the cracks of a wheat field and wanders up to the man-made nature trail, alongside the many busy feet and tires that tread next to her, encroaching on her survival. Interesting, this stunning animal, living, overcoming and flourishing despite our encroachment upon her natural environment; oblivious to our presence, just as we are to our own presence.

What if we paused for a second to take notice of this natural beauty? Is this an annoyance to you, throwing your pace off, adding seconds to your precious run time? One can only wonder…

For it is in these fleeting moments of wonder, where we can begin to understand how truly beautiful life is, nuanced, rich with “little surprises” that cause us to pause, even for a few unexpected seconds.

Notes:

Have we lost focus on the true purpose, the true use of our senses? How can we become self-aware when all we do is tune out our own beating heart and the beautiful world we live in?

CultFit Life


Lost in Translation

Some 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.

CultFit Heart


Slowly Surely

The problem with introspection is that it has no end-

Happiness, true happiness? Lies inside each of us, yet we often look to other people and “things” to raise our spirits and to bring a smile to our face. This endless search for happiness outside of ourselves can be contributed to a void within us.

Show of hands: Have you ever purchased a nifty yoga or running accessory to make you happy? If we pause for a moment and reflect on our actions (as noble as they may be) they show us that we have yet to fully embrace the self-love that is necessary to feel whole on a daily basis. If your passion is running, yoga, working out, whatever etc. Do you have a parasitic relationship with it?

The conversation I really want to explore over the next few posts: Is your outward passion for other “things” driving down your self-love and leaving a void within you?

Notes:

An unbalanced relationship will cause many things in life to fall apart, and it happens all too often. Cultivating happiness within yourself, true happiness, lies hidden inside each one of us.

CultFit Help


Roll If (ya) Fall

There 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.

CultFit Off