Only If For (a) Night

ما قيمة الأسماء عندما لا تختلف عن أي واحد آخر ؟

I often talk with close friends, those who are open and honest about their bodies and spirituality about “something” that I have found to be very important to me personally. The concept I would like to share with you this morning is: Don’t Try Harder, Try Different.

Many of us are hopelessly stuck doing the same thing over and over again, hoping that the next time we try, if we just try a bit harder, push a little bit more, all will be well in the end. Trying harder at “something” that is already not working (yoga and running are classic examples) is only going to lead to more injury, more stress, more pain compounded over time.

So why not try to do something different for a change?

Notes:

Easy, right!?! One of the most often asked questions I receive here is: “My 5k time is 30 minutes and I want it to be 19 minutes. What do I need to do?” My answer, quite likely, may very well be the most difficult thing that this person will ever do: Think and consider what you could do differently compared to what you are currently doing.

Don’t Try Harder, Try Different.

CultFit Dif


A Dude’s Musings On Mother’s Day

I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy-

I wanted Mother’s Day to be different this year. I wanted to continue my climb upward on the Mother’s Day Classiness Gift Giving Scale. Last year was pretty pathetic, a cheap card from Target and a box of Govida Truffle’s. This year? I wandered into our local Lululemon bodega (our Lulu store is right next to a wine shop = Awesome!). What could possibly go wrong?

For us dudes, a few steps into a Lululemon store is a highly visual, sensual and erotic experience! We are greeted by provocatively attired mannequins, I mean staff … and, further back in the store, just beyond the camel toe concealing yoga pants, women are exiting fitting rooms attired in raiment that often do not seem to fit—literally, and with no pun intended, figuratively.

This sight started my mind wandering on this sultry weekend afternoon, with my lovely wife’s purse in one hand and a strawberry banana smoothie in the other: How damaging can a woman’s relationship with her body be? Damaging enough to result in pain of both a psychological and physical nature?

Throughout their lives, women of all ages must deal with idealized, societal norms and how they “measure up” in life. There are different stereotypes spanning the entire spectrum of a woman’s shape: A girl or woman with large breasts, thick hips may have to contend with unsavory assumptions about her sexuality. From a different angle, this same girl or woman may feel inadequate should she have smaller breasts and no hips. Both are patently absurd.

It is therefore not surprising to see women this afternoon squeezing into garments that don’t quite seem to fit, as they struggle daily with how they confront societal myths, that don’t quite fit.

So, I thought: “Maybe I won’t buy anything in this store? Maybe a bottle of dark chocolate wine from next door would be the better option?

Happy Mother’s Day!

*Back by popular demand – The most viewed pic in the history of CultFit*

CultFit Mothers Day

CultFit


Lately

I can’t help wanting us
to be like other people.
For example, if I were a smoker,

you’d lift a match to the cigarette
just as I put it between my lips.
It’s never been like that

between us: none of that
easy chemistry, no quick, half automatic
flares. Everything between us

had to be learned.
Saturday finds me brooding
behind my book, all my fantasies

of seduction run up
against the rocks.
Tell me again

why you don’t like
sex in the afternoon?
No, don’t tell me–

I’ll never understand you
never understand us, America’s strangest
loving couple: they never

drink a bottle of wine together
and rarely look at each other.
Into each other’s eyes, I mean.

Deborah Garrison A Working Girl Can’t Win

Notes:

How hard is it to put down the gadgets, pull your lover close, eye to eye, heart to heart, open a bottle of wine, chill?!?

CultFit Embrace


Short but Funky

Man 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 …

CultFit Pooh


(I’m) Reckless

In 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?

CultFit Grounded