Returning to (Now)
Posted: May 5, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, Commuting, compassion, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, love, lululemon, Lululemon Athletica, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, Omaha, paleo, passion, peace, perspective, pilates, Searching, Soul, trail running, whole foods, yoga 8 CommentsOut beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about–
What is keeping you from being truly happy?!?
Maybe it’s not even the weight itself that you really seek to lose. Maybe what you really want to rid yourself of, is not the extra pounds, but rather the unhappiness you have learned to associate with it?!?
What if you could be happy without having to change or “fix” your body?
…
The kind of happiness I want to discuss, differs dramatically, from the temporary warmth and comfort that comes from getting what you want; stepping on the scale one morning and noticing a few pounds have vanished or a friend noticing you look amazing in your new yoga pants. The happiness I want to passionately share with you, is deeper and more abiding – dude. My definition of happiness is rooted in a sense of peace and well-being that cannot be “gained” nor can it be “lost” …
My kind of happiness? Is already part of your true self. It’s not hidden in the numbers displayed on an antiseptic scale. It’s not in the latest fashion trends from Lululemon, and it is certainly not from a friend.
My kind of happiness is the fruit of repeated acts of daily kindness, compassion, patience, forgiveness, courage, and love towards myself and others.
Daily Meditation:
Cultivating my kind of happiness? True happiness as defined by me? Is a beautiful smile that graces your adoring face walking past a mirror, and practicing peace, with your body.
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!
…
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.
…
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!
A Final Affection
Posted: May 1, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Accomplishment, blogging, compassion, family, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, love, meditation, motivation, musings, nature, Omaha, passion, Paul Zimmer, perspective, Poetry, Power Yoga, Silence, trees, writing, Zen 4 Comments…
I love the accomplishments of trees,
How they try to restrain great storms
And pacify the very worms that eat them.
Even their deaths seem to be considered.
I fear for trees, loving them so much.
I am nervous about each scar on bark,
Each leaf that browns. I want to
Lie in their crotches and sigh,
Whisper of sun and rains to come.
Sometimes on summer evenings I step
Out of my house to look at trees
Propping darkness up to the silence.
When I die I want to slant up
Through those trunks so slowly
I will see each rib of bark, each whorl;
Up through the canopy, the subtle veins
And lobes touching me with final affection;
Then to hover above and look down
One last time on the rich upliftings,
The circle that loves the sun and moon,
To see at last what held the darkness up.
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 …
CultFit 