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Too many mind.

To dig deep, you have to dig deep.


My grandfather told me … 

Yes, not who are you… no, what are you?

My grandfather told me when I was very young that – “You are what you constantly think about every day. “ My grandfather was a bit of a philosopher as I later inferred.

Well, great. I guess, we had better think life-affirming thoughts then, shouldn’t we?

I think so.

Thought has power.

Thought has power.

You’re probably aware of that already… but how do you use that power – consciously?

Thought has energy. What is Energy? One would immediately think of an energy drink. Energy does not vanish., it is never created nor destroyed. It does not disappear. It persists for all of time. All of eternity. Energy transforms from one medium to another or many.

To think, really think .. is probably the hardest thing To do in life

Energy is life.

Energy TRANSMUTES.

Energy transmutes from one moment to another. Energy is the life-blood of life itself. Without energy,  I would cease to exist. You would cease to exist. Life, as we know it, would cease to exist.

So, it could be argued that energy is life and that would make Einstein one of the greatest thinkers that has ever walked this earth.

Why?

Simply, because I think he came up with a formula that fundamentally sums up Life. And what formula would that be, Paul? Well, I’m certain everyone who is reading this knows this following formula:

Energy (E) = Mass (m) x (C x C),    where C = Speed of light

Or, in layman’s speech – E = M C squared.

In the Quantum world the Experimenter becomes part of the experiment.
That is the “hard problem” of the Quantum

Everything is energy, including your thoughts. 

So, if life is Energy, then based on the formula above, everything is energy – all matter, and matter being gas, liquid and solid…. & everything in-between.

Energy is everything and everywhere and omni-present.  It could be said that Energy is God, because God is omnipresent too. The formula above describes that of classical physics but in Quantum Physics, the energy of a particle in its simplest forms (photon, proton etc) within a system is summed up in another famous formula by Physicist – Max Plank:

That Energy (E) = the wave vibration of the particle x Plank’s constant.

Phew, what is that Paul, some of you may ask?

Well, it simply says that everything is energy and that each sub-system of a system, for example, a particle, has a certain wave frequency and oscillates at that wave-length. It should also be noted that Quantum particles can exist in two or more states or locations simultaneously and can be mathematically described by a Quantum wave-function. Interesting findings by science, isn’t it? So, energy is everywhere. Everything is energy, including your thoughts.

So, What does that say? What does that tell us about thought?

Everything has a frequency, everything has a resonance. What is your resonance? What resonates with you?

Are your thoughts … Oscillating in a wavelength that is healthy?

Well, we have got to ask ourselves what frequency of thought we are on and if we are oscillating in a wavelength that is healthy. If we are not, can we and what do we need to do to change our thought operating frequency (from negative to positive) and make the change to a different thought oscillation, making this your default. Your default way of thinking.

So if everything is energy, I also think we have got to devote more thought ( as I’ve established is a form of energy) … devote more thought to energy itself but in particularly, in our management of energy.

Back to my opening statement about thought.

What are you?

You become what you think of, everyday.

It is said that any thought held unwaveringly in mind, or any thought held constantly in mind through focused concentration and brought into the conscious mind often enough, seemingly, attracts to it those qualities of the human mind which it most resembles. Basically, you become what you think, every day.

A thought is like a seed put in the ground, that produces a crop that is of its kind and how healthy it turns out depends on the nutrients and caring it has from its internal and external environment.

Therefore, one must watch one’s thoughts.

It is dangerous to allow the mind to hold any thought which is destructive. Why, because, such thought will manifest itself in the physical sense, sooner or later. Be careful, I say, be careful! Just like the seedling needs constant nutrition and nourishment from the sunlight and healthy soil to keep them alive, so does the qualities of your mind. Without proper nutrition and nourishment, everything that lives and grows, dies.

Everything.

Feel the interconnectedness of everything
Live 4 2day

Nutrition for the mind is as important… than nutrition for the body.

The qualities of the human mind also dies, if one does not nourish it and constantly feed it the nutrition it needs to live and develop. Nutrition for the mind is as important, if not, more important than nutrition for the body. How do you do this, I hear you ask?

Simple. Keep it simple, stupid (The KISS principle I learned from one of my business mentors).

Like, any plant would: learn to become more aware (of your thought/thoughts), concentrate and think about it, making the correct choice and then apply (or use it). My philosophy of the Triple A can be adopted here. Refer to an earlier blog for an elaboration on the first A: Awareness.

Are you a spirit… a soul … a leaf 🍃 of consciousness in the vast seas of consciousness?

No one has ownership of your mind, but YOU.

No one has ownership of your mind, but you.

Yes – YOU!

You do not need anyone else in this world to help you manipulate your mind so it will function as you want it to. You also have control over your mind, no matter where you are in life, which phase you  are in life, but provided you exercise the right rather than allowing others to do so for you.

Better control and ownership of your mind and choosing to exercise these factors will allow you to free you of the curse of all fears and stagnation. And why is this important? Well, because I believe that there is a growing hidden epidemic in mode-day societies (one of many) and that is many are suffering from –

Too many Mind.

We’re all swinging like a pendulum .. continuously moving between two points – activity & non-activity/ entertainment/rest . Creating waves 🌊…in the universe

Clutter to the mind is akin to weeds are in a garden.

Your mind is made up of the hardware and the software.

The software keeps changing, keeps getting updated, every day, every second of the day, for some. What happens when you fill your tummy up with so much crap, when you eat too much ….

Well, you feel like crap, don’t you?!

Well, that is also what happens when your nutrition for the mind is also crap. If you keep feeding it crap, you will think and ultimately act like someone who is physically ill. But like I said earlier, who has ownership and control of your mind?

You, yes – YOU!

Not managing your food for your body well enough, can make you very ill, just like mis-managing your nutrition for your mind. This leads to chaotic thoughts, which ultimately causes increased clutter & “noise” in the mind, which then leads to bad decisions, because of lack of focus, which then causes distress in the physical world.

Clutter to the mind is akin to what weeds are to a beautiful garden. The weeds feed on the limited resources and sometimes overgrow and overtake the area, affecting the proper growth of the desired plants. Even killing them off.

So, watch your thoughts, I say. Be the best gardener you can be for your garden! Thoughts, positive or negative GROW STRONGER when fertilized with CONSTANT REPEITITION. Remember this.

My idol.

Too many thoughts = Too many mind.

Too many thoughts = too many mind. 

Very similar to that age old saying – “too many cooks spoil the soup.” That I heard adults saying when I was a child. If you have too many thoughts … too many mind … running chaotically through your consciousness … you muddle up the soup .. muddle up or clutter up … your most precious resource: your Mind.

Clutter doesn’t do much more than cloud up or congest one’s life. One’s mind. Its like a ship with too many destinations  and being paralysed with motion as it has too many competing travel plans. I’m not sure who said this but some thinker, I think it was Einstein, that taught us a big lesson: he felt it was more important to use your mind to “think” than to use it as a warehouse for facts.

That if you could record the information somewhere, then do so, hence freeing up your mind for more important decisions. So, do just that. Don’t use your brain as a storehouse of information, it will just cause unnecessary clutter. Instead focus on the thinking or thought process behind the intelligence. That is why my kids are amazed that I have over 35,000 unread emails in my gmail inbox. I chose yo filter out unnecessary “stuff” and stopped weed from using up my brain cells and cluttering my mind.

Let your light bring colour to the world. Focus 🧘🏾‍♂️ your thoughts 💭 on the area you want the rainbow 🌈 to land

The ability to know how to get information is more important than using the mind as a garage for facts.

The ability to know how to ‘get information’ is more important than using the mind as a garage for facts.

What really matters is not how much intelligence you have, but HOW YOU USE what you do have. The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than the quantity of your brainpower. In other words, the thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have.

Does science have the answers?

All the answers to the truth? The answers we may have to harvesting the mind? What truth is this? What is truth? What is science anyway … it could be seen as a makeshift, a means to an end which is never attained?

Could nature be truth? Could the universe be truth? Where is the source of our knowledge? Do we know everything? Do we think we know something? Are we, as human beings, so arrogant to think we know something … our so-called meagre knowledge … and maybe, missing out on the advantages of actual ignorance.

A man’s ignorance may not only be useful, but can be seen as beautiful. Sometimes, knowledge can be worse than useless and worse still – ugly!

A butterfly 🦋 knows when to fly and when to sit and feed.
Timing is everything in their life.

Where and how can you harness your mind?

So, where and how can you harness your mind, de-cluttering it in the process. Well, one way, is to get you dreaming again … to spark your imagination. To do this, you could try to fall in love with nature. Become one with nature. Become one with the universe. Let nature become one with your spirit – your subconscious. This would allow the mind to be fertilized and bear fruit in the garden, the garden of your subconscious, the fruit of which is imagination.

How would you know which of your thoughts is valuable: a clue could be any thought that comes to your mind, that is anything, but what you thought….& resonates with your heart ❤️.

That is imagination. Imagination is key: A key gift to you in your journey through life.

So become more aware of your thoughts, and then, catch that ‘aha’ thought that you weren’t trying so hard to think about. Unthink to think (refer to an earlier blog on this).

Until next time,

P.

Tesla, Einstein’s hero was so “in-tune” with the Energy & understood HOW to harness that Power energy

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Energy

Should you use Force or Power?

Interesting question, isn’t it? What would you choose? Which one would yield a better probability of success, all things being equal? To answer this, lets attempt to try and define what Force is. What Power is. Lets try …. Without googling it.

The first thought that comes to my head when I read or hear the word Force, I think of the definition provided to me years ago, in my Year 11 Physics class in High School. If I remember correctly, Force is the product of a body’s mass multiplied by the acceleration that is acting on it. Put simply, in Physics terminology, the formula is:

Force (N) = Mass (kg) x A (acceleration)

where A is gravity acting on the mass, which is about 9.8m.s.s

That’s a little bit of Classical Physics for you.

There are many more definitions of Force. Maybe, we don’t need to go in to definitions. Maybe, its better if we just chat about it.

What about Power. How would you define it? You can see it when it happens – on the sporting field or arena. I particularly, love the power exhibited by sprinters in the 100 m dash – short, very intense and very powerful. There are people who possess more Power than others in all sorts of ways – economic, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and physical, amongst many others. We see examples of it in action every day – on the roads to work or school, on tv, with our friends and family etc … examples of power-play, every day.

I will make a bold statement to say that the universe favors the latter, Power.

A bold statement indeed.

Do you believe in karma? Do you believe that the universe registers everything? Do you believe the universe never forgets? Do you do unto others you would like to be done on to you? Do you think you would have to accept responsibility for every thought, word, and deed you generate for the entire time you’re physical body graces the earth? Do you think, in this sense, that maybe, just maybe, you or we create our own heaven or hell? Some people call it purgatory. It does not matter if you’re religious or not, you would have heard about heaven or hell by now.

How about if I told you that my bold statement reflects exciting new areas of theoretical Physics, that everything in the universe is connected with everything else. Wow, you’re kidding, right? Nope. Am not. It is now a Scientific fact that every act or decision we make, every ripple we create, generates a magnetic field that either enhances your life and lives or it takes away from it. The ripple we created returns to us, giving off a certain energy pattern. A certain frequency. We all know it as ‘karma’.

You could say, from a religious point of view, that every word, thought is known and recorded forever. There are no secrets; nothing is hidden. Our spirits stand naked in time for all to see – everyone’s life, is accountable to the universe. This is very similar to what I learned in Sunday School growing up as a child, that there is one God. He alone is God. He alone is the judge. Science is now saying that God could be … omnipresent … could be everywhere … could be, just could be … the universe. I don’t know. No one knows yet. This is not meant to discriminate against on-christian believers, it is just a statement of deduction, supported by science.

Now, back to Power.

How does Power arise? It seems that Power arises from meaning or purpose. From the Heart. This is why you need to spend a bit more time thinking about your life, what it represents and the extent of influence you would like to leave behind in this world, when you’re gone. How do you do that? Find your purpose or meaning in life. Search high. Search low. Search everywhere. Search your soul. It could be the most important few minutes/hours/days you spend for the rest of your life. Find your purpose. Do it now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not after Christmas. Do it now.

Does Power have motive? I think it does. Power is probably more appealing to us, as human beings. Why? Because, it just is. Personally, I prefer Power over Force, any day. For example, I prefer the Powerful humming sound of a Harley Davidson motorbike to a small speedster. You hear Power when it comes towards you.

Power does not seem to need justification, does it? Force, on the other hand, must always be justified. Think back to your own life, with your own examples of Force or Power. Let me help you jolt your memory with a few more thoughts.

With Power, it seems, no movement is required. Back to my opening Physics formula, you can see that for a Force to happen, it needs to be moved or move. Essentially, Force is a movement – from point A to point B (or tries to) against opposition. You see, Force, automatically, creates a counter-force. Power, on the other hand, doesn’t do this. It is still. Its constant. Its all encompassing. A good example would be something we’re all familiar with –  gravity. A standing field, that doesn’t move against anything. Its immense Power moves all objects within its field, but the gravity field itself does not move.

So, we can see that Power is complete and total. Gravity, for example, does not need anything from outside. It does not need to be fed. Unlike Force, which is always moving, always moving against something. Force has an insatiable appetite as it needs to be fed all the time.

In Year 11 Physics all those years ago, if I remember correctly, every force produces an equal and opposite force. If this is correct, and it is, as we have millions of examples, happening in our daily lives, then, we could say that its ultimate effect is to polarize. Now, if there is a counter-force which leads to polarization, we then have a situation. And what situation would this be? Well, we would create a situation of conflict and as we all know, conflict spells trouble. Trouble most of us don’t need more of in our lives. Conflicts in life inevitably results in somebody losing out and this leads to enemies being created. Constantly faced with enemies can drain you, can suck the life out of you … as you repeatedly have to defend yourself, cover yourself and ‘watch your back’. As you can see, Force requires constant defense. Defensiveness is very costly, whether in politics, personal affairs or the marketplace. It is quite evident in international affairs and the extent of costs associated with countries in conflict.

Ultimately, a source of power is that it is just, “is”! Plain and simple. It just, is. Nothing added. What do you think? It just, is. No extras with that. Only a week ago, one of the greatest individuals that ever walked the face of this earth, passed away. Mr Nelson Mandela. Now he is a great example of an individual that was just Power Personified. His life was lived with purpose, appeared to be one of which was to raise awareness to the world that all men are created equal and that human rights are intrinsic to human creation. This very concept was the source of power for another great human being exuding power: Mahatma Gandhi. These were men that lived by the native principles of our civilization which were noble and not selfish. You could say the same for others like Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna and Mother Theresa. There are probably many others you could think of.

I also believe that True Power also, ultimately, evolves or springs from consciousness itself. You see it everywhere. I elaborate on the idea of ‘consciousness’ in my previous blog on ‘mindless’. Have a read if you get a chance. True Power, ultimately, rests or resides in YOU. The question you’ve got to ask yourself is “who are YOU?”. More on that one very important question in a later blog, but for now, just be more aware of you, your environment – internal and external. Power is everywhere. What you are seeing is the physical manifestation of the invisible, just like the body is the physical manifestation of the mind.

How do you want to live? Are you living with meaning? With purpose? Do you want to? Why is this important? Would you like to know how you could live your life with more purpose, more meaning? For one thing, you need to live your life by life principles, and not live without intangibles like pride, honor, love, compassion and valor. One needs to align oneself with the search for balance and beauty or aesthetics. Force does not bring you joy, but Power does. People who align themselves with enhancement and embodiment of beauty, with whatever instrument (musical, sculptor, the human body), vitality and longevity. Wouldn’t we all want to strive towards that?

Yes, I think it would be wise to do so.

So, it follows, that it would be wiser to adopt a philosophy of Power than that of Force. You don’t want to learn everything in your short life on this lovely earth – first hand. Life is too short to try and experience everything first hand anyway. I remember certain older family members saying when I was a kid, especially when it came to exotic foods, “Paul, you won’t know until you try it”. Well, I thought that was the case for a long time, for most things in life. Philosophies change and years of experience has taught me that there are things I know I don’t want to try, simply because I know I don’t want it. I don’t need it. Simply because I am more aware of who I am now than I was, say, when I was a fifteen year old teenager. I know the person who lies behind the eyes that I see when I look at myself in the mirror (I have elaborated on this topic in a previous blog). I don’t need to try something to see if I like it.

Knowing you, helps you know what you need and what you want. Differentiating between the two (a need and a want) can be very difficult for some. The philosophy you base your viewpoints and decisions on will aid in this. Choosing to use Power over Force in your life, will ultimately add to your life. Not subtract from it.

Choose Power over Force to enhance and add to your life. Add to your universe. Add to all Life.

Making choices is part of life. Choices have risks. These risks have consequences. These consequences determines the path you head down in life. Do you make your own path in life? One that resonates with your heart, with your dreams, with your imagination. Do you take a path less traveled, like the path of Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, a path of purpose or do you take a well-trodden path, one which appears safer because the majority is doing it – one without a purpose, like a ship floating in the ocean of life, without a rudder and sails, moving aimlessly, where the currents take you?

Choosing Power may help you navigate your ship in the sea of life, better. Getting to your destination a little quicker, and safer, despite the changing currents.

You find purpose when you adopt a philosophy of Power. Not Force.

Choose well. It is your life, after all.

Until next time.

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Energy

Becoming “Mindless” could help YOU.

You = information = knowledge = God

What are you doing at this very moment? As you read this word … this sentence. Are you conscious of it? How do you know you’re conscious of it? What is consciousness anyway?

For hundreds of years, physicists and philosophers have sought to find and understand at least one theory that will give a good description and explanation of our universe. And of our mind. They are still searching.

They prefer to simplify it. To find a theory that have simple principles, an elegant form, balanced, with aesthetics, which, hopefully, makes precise statements. Not possible.

Mathematicians would probably have a better chance at this. Lets just say, its not possible just yet. They are still searching …..

Consciousness could be regarded as the accumulated position of conscious experiences, which is, essentially – the mind. These experiences could be referred to, as one prominent theoretical physicist, Page calls it – sensations. Yep, sensations! Where what we call a “mind”, is nothing but a heap or collection of different perceptions, united together by certain relations.

So, the “self”, or what makes “you”, is nothing more than a bundle or collection of different perceptions. These perceptions, biased or otherwise, formulate from conscious experiences. However, the mind, may also have unique neuronal pathways, whereby the conscious experiences or sensations are arranged in strictly defined sequences, which makes you – YOU.

People ask – “why?” … I /My curiosity continually askS “why not?”
Seek possibilities… always

Your mind makes you, uniquely, you. No one else can be you. Just you.

Your unique mind makes you think certain thoughts, which are conscious responses to not only external but internal stimuli. They happen that way, all the time, unless you, become “mindless”.

What, I hear you say? Mindless? What do you mean? How do you mean?

Mindless.

Ponder on that one for a little while.

A long while, if you prefer. Become increasingly conscious of it, mindless, that is. Become conscious of where your thoughts are taking you. Do you have a few thoughts running through your head at the moment or do you have countless thoughts firing through your mind? Is it in any particular sequence? Is it based on your cumulative conscious experiences to this point in your life? How do you know that? Questions, questions and more questions.

Ponder on that thought for a little while longer: Mindless.

To become mindless, one must firstly, theoretically, understand, true consciousness or ‘presentness’ or what the mind is. Some people refer to “being in the moment”. This is quite difficult to apply in reality, because every individual’s reality is a collection of biased, sequentially, strictly defined, neuronal pathways, unique to the individual or “you”.

So, it follows that, the mind or consciousness could be interpreted in a way to be, a by-product of the functioning of the underlying physical structures of the brain (or hardware), and that mind is confined entirely within the brain’s processes.

Put simply, consciousness could be defined as :“awareness”. You could refer to an earlier blog of mine regarding this topic, on awareness called : “What can you see that lies behind your eyes when you look in the mirror”. Essentially, I tried to elaborate on the first “A” of my philosophy to personal development throughout life – my Tripple A Approach to personal development.

A more complex definition for animals with a brain include: “thoughts, sensations, perceptions, moods, emotions, dreams, and awareness of self”.

Just like life itself, consciousness seems to be one of those things that is easy to recognize but very difficult to define. It has been debated by philosophers in the West since the time of ancient Greek civilization over twenty five hundred years ago.

Eastern culture and philosophers have been wrestling with it for much, much longer and seem to have a better handle on it although still not nearly complete. So, back to being mindless. Knowing what we know now, even though it is of a meagre kind, I will try to simplify the mind in this formula:

Mind = conscious experiences = awareness = sensations = accumulated perceptions

We have some idea, now. Some. Just a snippet of what ‘mind’ is. Lets let the physicians, mathematicians and philosophers continue searching for a more definitive answer.

So, what is mindless and how do we achieve it? You may be thinking you know the answer right now. Well, Paul, its simple, you may be thinking … uhmmm … just ‘not think!’. Yes, that is a plausible position. Matter of fact, I believe, it is a very plausible position. So much so, I have written an earlier blog on it: “Unthink to Think”.

Have a read of it. I give some ideas as to how to unthink. It is obviously not exhaustive, but gives you a pathway to enhance your own thought processes or awareness.

Every day you’re alive, you’re experiencing the 86,400seconds of that day, only YOU can experience, that is uniquely – you. You consciously and unconsciously experience everything that becomes a part of you, of who you are. Everyone has there own joys, their own stresses, their own thoughts. Essentially, their own lives.

True?
Neuroscience is still at the level of where medicine was in the 1700s
A long way to fully understand who we are….
Who “I AM.”

Adopting what I wrote in ‘Unthink to think”, may just get you closer to experiencing what it feels to be mindless. Being mindless, even just for a few seconds, even better for a few minutes could and should, theoretically and practically, help you manage your energies in times of great uncertainty and stress in your life.

Try it. Become mindless. Don’t just think. Do.

A great thinker once said that “Knowledge is Power”. With all due respect, I don’t fully agree. Knowledge is not Power. Knowledge is potential Power. APPLIED KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

I think it was Bruce Lee, the philosopher, who once said that “Knowing is not enough. One must do. Willing is not enough. One must Apply”.

So, apply.

Experience what transpires. Experience the sensations. Experience Mindlessness. Experience, you.

Until next time.

Allow your mind to ”connect’ with infinite intelligence.
With consciousness.
It is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.
The subconscious mind is part of the ‘mind’
Question is: what does the conscious mind do that the subconscious mind doesn’t

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Life is like muscle.

We all fall and fail in life. The main thing to focus on is picking yourself back up and …
Trying again.
That’s how most babies learn how to move from crawling to walking … and then to running …
and beyond.

LIFE, could be likened to being a Juggler .. 

Life is like Muscle: It depends on 2 principles:

  1. Continuity
  2. Simplicity

Let me elaborate ….

Continuity

What is life anyway? How would you describe it? How would you define it? Would you consider life a process or a system?

If it is the latter (a system), does it depend on input, a transformation and an output? Think of your life, this definition may come close? Does it resonate with your definition?

Maybe, one could define Life in terms of physics as ‘lag time’ or a momentary line of stopping in the progression towards death or entropy. This, I think could be dictated by some other laws of the universe.

If it is the former, a process, does it have a beginning? How is this similar to muscle and muscle building?

Well, most of you know that there are many variables that go in to building muscles, some of which are: diet, training, number of sets, number of reps, rest, etc etc. These are all important in developing optimal performance of muscle, depending on what one’s goals are.

How do you define a workout? Sweating with weights? Intensity? Reps? All correct.

I define a workout as a ‘continuous progression of 15-45 seconds of focused moments’, where a focused moment is what you may know as a ‘set’, in gym lingo.

Now, to WORK a muscle, one must apply a force – a push, pull or a twist. To do this, one simply has to shorten (concentric) the muscle and lengthen (eccentric) the muscle. So, to build muscle, one must apply maximum tension or force on the muscle, and maintain constant tension throughout the full range of motion. If you do this often enough, with consistency and persistence, you would increase your chances of muscle hypertrophy (growth).

However, work, work, work and NO REST leads to the exact opposite. You don’t increase your chances of muscle hypertrophy but instead have muscle degradation. A simple case of the old adage: more is not necessarily better or one step forward, two steps back.

Not where we desired.

Don’t despair.

There are many variables that go in to optimizing muscle growth. Just like life. There are many variables in to carving out a successful life and you can define success here in whatever terms you choose.

Life could be likened to being a juggler. A juggler with many balls, each representing an area of life. We juggle many balls and occasionally, we drop one or two.

That’s ok. Tomorrow, wake up. Pick yourself up. Begin again, with all the balls.

The Pendulum of Life.

It is the same as life. Work, work, work and no play leads to ‘burn-out’. Too much activity and no time for re-creation (re-charging of batteries/ rest), tips the ‘balance of life’ within yourself and may lead to other problems. Some of which could have negative implication and impact on your life. Refer to my earlier blog on the ‘Pendulum of Life’.

It is the same for muscle building. Training and working of muscle is the catalyst for stronger and bigger muscles. However, most trainees give training too much importance, compared to two other pivotal components of success –

  1. sufficient and appropriate nutrition and
  2. recuperation and rest from training

What you do in the gym provides only the STIMULUS for muscle growth. Its what you do AWAY from the gym that permits your body to repair the muscle damage, and ‘overcompensate’. The compound effect of overcompensation produces “the little extra tissue” which make up more of the sought-after bigger muscles. If you train too often you won’t give your body enough time to repair the broken-down muscle tissue and build the overcompensation tissue.

This is akin to our own individual ‘pendulum of life’ and how we shift from activity and recreation on a daily basis. Too much activity (paid work or unpaid) and no rest/recovery does not produce an optimal self which leads to unproductive existence and runs us in to the ground. Being away from stress/work environment on a regular basis is necessary and is vital for optimal health as being away from the gym is to building and optimizing muscle growth.

So, recovery time between workouts is necessary but only part of the equation for optimizing the anabolic environment within yourself.

Not only do you need to sleep well each night, you need to rest adequately during the daytime, too. Research shows that grabbing a 20 minute nap during lunch not only helps with re-energising you but also keeps the brain young. Healthy sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important determinant in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise or heredity.

Having regular, routine-like sleep is better than catching up on sleep. This may seem like a little point, like a little mosquito, but be careful. Be careful of not taking care of the little mosquitoes because they may bite (refer to my earlier blog: Elephants don’t bite mosquitoes do) and this may cause more serious issues and higher than tolerable risk level for your existence.

Put simply: continuity is vital to muscle growth. Just like, re-charging your batteries is to your own growth in your life. This brings me to my second principle of muscle and life:

Simplicity

Putting aside everything else, what are the 4 most important elements necessary for life? Yep, that’s right, correct on the chemistry – they are the most abundant elements: H, C, O, N. For those of you not familiar with the periodic table, these letters represent the elements: Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen and Nitrogen.

Is there truth in important things being born out of or resulting from order and chaos? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide. Find out more on this topic. Be more resourceful.

In my 20-plus years of gym experience, I have observed many different styles of training muscle groups. People coming up with many different names for an exercise that had already had an appropriately named name by some bodybuilder, many decades ago. There are some that are so complex, even I have trouble understanding them.

Building muscle needs to be kept simple and you can’t much simpler than my approach to training:

1. Proper Nutrition

2. Adequate Rest (notice I have said “Rest”, not “sleep”)

3. Sufficient and appropriate Training.

All put together with the right mind-set and constant management of one’s “thought-factory”. Simplicity is the key.

Keep it simple, stupid! This is the KISS principle I learned from a wonderful mentor, many years ago. 

This statement is used in many fields and whilst a very simple sentence, is quite difficult to apply in practise. Try it. With the plethora of theories and information on the internet, everyone keeps adding to instead of ‘taking away from’ their bank of exercises that maximizes muscle growth and gain.

Too many people try to complicate things. Complicated solutions are for complicated people. One needs to keep it simple. That is the art of building muscle and more importantly building the right balance of muscles and muscle flow throughout the body towards a more balanced and aesthetically pleasing physique. One that is the epitome’ of physical perfection. One that demonstrates the beauty of the human form, in particular the beauty of the flow of muscle, for example, how the deltoids (shoulders) ‘ties in’ in to the biceps/triceps muscles. Its just simply beautiful. The human form in all its glory.

Back to the topic at hand: Simplicity.

“Stuff’ either ADDS TO or TAKES AWAY from your Life.

Life happens.

Life, is a beautiful gift.

One needs to be kept simple. Too many people clutter their lives with too many ‘stuff’. Stuff that do not add to their lives. Stuff that, instead takes away from their lives. Takes away from their lives because it clutters their most precious asset – their mind. Physical clutter, clutters the mind. Clutters your ‘thought factory’. Not good. Stuff either adds to or takes away from your life.

Why? Well, if a factory’s processes are not operating efficiently and effectively, due to bottlenecks in the processing it produces less output but more importantly, produces less of the desired product, one is working so hard to achieve. Not good, I said! Heard of the computer term”GIGO”. For those of you who don’t, it refers to “Garbage In, Garbage out”.

Put simply, you create rubbish (mind and body) if you eat rubbish (mind and body) or if you have so much clutter that it just creates complexity which leads to unnecessary stress in one’s life which leads to bad decisions and worse results. For everyone. Become better at filtering out what I call “Junk for the Mind”, like you filter out junk for the body. Manage your funnel, better.

Look at what the latter has resulted in – one of the worst epidemics that has afflicted man-kind today: obesity. Just imagine the magnitude of problems we are creating by mis-managing junk food for the mind. Very scary thought, I know. This is a HUGE problem for the future of man-kind. 

Take a breath and know that there is a way. There is a better way to build muscle just like there is a better way to live your life. Find that way. Life is too short, not to.

One word: Simplicity.

Until next time,

All the very best in your decisions … on Life.

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The Pendulum of Life

We’re all swinging like a pendulum .. continuously moving between two points – activity & non-activity/ entertainment/rest

How does “How are you equal Busy?”

“How are you?” someone would ask you during the day.

“Busy” you may find yourself replying.

Busy.

We’re all guilty of that, being ‘busy’, I mean. How busy is that? How busy is busy?

I guess it would seem, that it is better to be busy than not busy. It depends. This isn’t a blog about how busy you are in comparison to everyone else. It isn’t a blog about not being busy. It is, however, about the two things we seem to swing back and forth every day of our life.

These two things are like two points on a line or two points on a pendulum in a clock. I introduced this thought in my most recent blog “Unthink, to think”. Specifically, the two points on a pendulum of life that we swing back and forth on are:

1) Activity

2) Recreation

We swing back and forth between these every day. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Goes the clock. Your clock!

Keep your pendulum swinging … because to be stuck at one end is not life-affirming

The ebb and flow of the tide

I’d also like to think of this pendulum our lives being as similar to the tide of the open sea moving out and then back, in. The ebb and flow of the tide. Repeating and never stopping.

What would happen if the tide stopped? Well, I would think that there may be a serious problem with the earth’s gravitational force, for one, and our time, our life on this lovely earth would be, up. Hmmmmm …. Not a very good ending.

The same would happen if your pendulum got stuck at one end or the other.

What is it that keeps the clock going? Well, it’s the pendulum of course. Just like the gravitational forces that keep the tides of the seas moving, so does the pendulum keep the clock ticking.

We’ve got to be aware of the forces in our lives and it’s impact on our energy and ability to keep our pendulum swinging.

We all need our Re-charge point

So, back to us. To our lives.

You see, if we represent the pendulum, we have to be aware of  how much time we are spending at each end of our clock and not lose ourselves in the busyness of life. We need to keep swinging, ever so skilfully between the two ends – of activity and recreation.

Activity in this context is anything that we do that is not recreation. The most common being paid work, house work and work-related activities – travel, research, meetings etc.

The essential component of recreation, is recreate, which means to refresh by means of relaxation and enjoyment,  and as to restore physically or mentally. Is there a place or activity that you do, that ‘re-creates’ or ‘re-energizes’ or ‘re-charges’ YOU?

One of my re-charge points is my hour of weight-training I do 5-6 days per week. Apart from the myriad of benefits exercising with weights and living a bodybuilding lifestyle does for the body, mind and spirit, I feel a sense of improved vitality and an extra spring in my step, after each workout. At its very essence, life comes down to energy management – everything is energy. Just like our many electronic gadgets need re-charging every day, so do we.

We all need a re-charge point!

Orderly chaos. We need to be better managers if the fusion of chaos & order

Keep swinging…

I also see these benefits with everyone I train at my gym. They may commence their session with low energies, feeling tired or depressed, and they leave feeling 100% better with new determination to take on whatever life has to throw at them. I see this every day. Every day. Don’t leave it to your yearly vacation. You should be doing this every day. Yep, every day. Once a year is not near enough.

It is better to work on managing your energies, instead of your time. We have an energy crisis in the world today. Start by becoming a better manager of your energies and you can avoid your pendulum stopping or getting stuck at one end, before its too late.

Ask yourself, where your ‘re-charge’ point is? Where do you ‘re-create’ yourself? Where do you go to escape the hustle and bustle of life? Where do you go to escape? It could be in the car home from work listening to some soft tunes. For some, it could be the golf-course, or for some, ironically, could be the commuter trains and buses from work. For others still, it could be the garden, the pub or your church.

If you don’t have one, don’t fret, try reaching out, maybe you can use just absorb the beauty of the morning, the quiet of the evening, the touch of friends or the smile from strangers, or may be, just the strength of silence to stop. Yes, that’s right – stop!

Take it all in, including a deep breath, fill your lungs up and then keep pushing on.

Wherever it is, whatever it may be, hang on to it. Hang on to that re-charge point. It is vital to you maintaining your sense of vitality.

It is vital to maintaining that delicate balance between activity and re-creation. It is vital to keeping your pendulum of life swinging.

Keep swinging, I say, keep swinging. Back and forth, back and forth. Don’t stop. Tick, tock, tick, tock!

The alternative: six feet under before your time, is not that attractive.

Thanks

yours in iron, mind, heart 💓 & muscles 💪,

Paul e 💝alentine

Keep your pendulum ticking. It relates to the ticking of your heart 💓. Your life.  

Become better at “being comfortable at being uncomfortable “ to keep your pendulum ticking … & your life, living

 

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Unthink, to think

Eliminate and de-clutter the ‘noise’ that has been uploaded in to your brain since the cradle

 

What are you?

You are many things: you’re human; you’re a girl/boy? You’re male/female. You’re a dad/mum. But who are you. What makes you? Who are you?

Nope, I am not asking you – ‘what are you?‘ or what you do for a job …  you’re not an accountant, not a plumber, not a lawyer. I’m not asking what you do, I’m asking what makes you the real “YOU”.

Hhmmmmmm …?

Feel your emotions.
Think through and with your heart.
Listen to your íntuition

 

Tick, tock, tick, tock!

You could say that you are the accumulated thoughts and choices you have made in your life, thus far. Your are your connectome. You become what you habitually think and do. Maybe, you are like a pendulum; the accumulation of the daily swing between activities and recreation.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Responsible for transmission of critical electrical, chemical & hormonal messages -internal communication

 

The Power of Habit

To assist you in attempting to arrive at your answer to this question, I believe, one needs to un-think to think. How do you unthink? You may need to unlearn what you have learned. You may need to un-school what has been schooled. Maybe just for a few seconds or if you’re brave enough for a few minutes or a few hours.

How do you do that?

Well, like many things you have become an ‘expert’ in, you may need to rack up the necessary hours to become even remotely good at this. One of the keys is to ‘quiet the mind’.  Just like all habits, the POWER rests in the consistent and persistence application of the particular habit. That is the POWER OF HABIT! As a little aside: choose your thoughts and hence, your habits, well.

Try this Unthinking routine 5 minutes before hitting the sack at night:

  1. Lie still in bed
  2. Try to eliminate all unnecessary noise – audible noise.
  3. Clear your mind of all thoughts. Try. Try again.
  4. Quiet the mind: you do this by eliminating ALL THOUGHTS. Try. … Try again.
  5. This isn’t easy. Matter of fact, it is darn hard.
  6. Don’t stress if you cannot quite your mind. Turn the light off and go to sleep.
  7. Try again tomorrow.

To unthink, one needs to get in to a state whereby one ‘quiets or slows the mind’. The essence is to accept that;

    • all thought needs to be eliminated
    • be fully aware of your presence
    • all senses are heightened
    • you are in the present moment – no other place but here – now.

Your are your brain neuro-pathways

 

Becoming a thinker

You will truly be in the present moment if you are able to ‘feel’ someone reach out to touch you whilst having your eyes are closed. That is your test. You are able to see what you’re not physically seeing with your eyes, that’s when you know you have quietened the mind. Then, and only then, can you start to learn to UN-THINK. Just like muscle, you cannot build this over-night but will take many years of concerted deliberate effort.

That is the start of becoming a thinker. Try it.

Seemingly easy, you will find it is a most difficult thing to do: TO THINK!

True?
Neuroscience is still at the level of where medicine was in the 1700s
A long way to fully understand who we are….
Who “I AM.”

 

To Un-Think helps you be the best you can be

Keep trying.

Why?

Because it is one of the most important things you can do for your  life. After receiving the clarity when you un-think, you will think for yourself rather than continue to carry biased, unfounded, prejudiced thinking around with you. The old thoughts may have come from people or experiences that have crossed your path in life thus far, of which that may have influenced your current choices. Pause.

Think.

Think again.

Not thinking may hinder your ability to achieve your goals. To un-think helps you to be the Best you can Be.

Stopping to reflect, is a vital key to adjust your attitude if you need to.

 

Don’t give up

Keep practising. Don’t give up, even when you don’t feel like you’re making any progress.

Learn to do it right.

It’s worthwhile getting a competent mentor. Learn from someone who knows, not from someone who doesn’t. No one can teach you something they do not know.

I have a neighbour and friend who started playing golf as a teenager and he regrets not taking lessons from a professional at the start. He spent 20 years playing less than his best and was constantly frustrated. More recently he had lessons from a competent professional. It took a lot of time to unlearn the bad habits he had learned, he had to re-think everything, re-learn the basics.

He had to un-think what he had previously learned, and learn a better technique. He is now enjoying his golf and has dropped his handicap considerably. He had experience – yes, 20 years of getting his golf wrong, because of whatever reasons that held him back from asking for help from someone who knew the right way.

There is always a ‘right way’. Find it.

Never give up.
I took me 10 years to reach the top of my chosen sport in the world.
Never give up

 

Perfect practise makes perfect

Practice does not make perfect.

A great coach once said that “Perfect practice makes perfect”.

Like I tell my daughter, if you’re going to do something do it right, not some of the time – ALL OF THE TIME. Perfect practise makes perfect. There are many people who practice ‘wrong’ for many years and don’t improve or achieve their goals.

Practise thinking winning thoughts.

 

Think BIG!

We are all, ordinarily – human, most of us, love being so. I know I do. This new habit of unthinking just might make your ordinariness seem extraordinary and might reveal the champion that is inside the REAL YOU.

Bring the Real You – out!

If you are scared, don’t be. There is nothing to fear. Take as much time as you need; it’s your life, your pace. Life is too short to keep hidden from the eyes of the world. And I am not just thinking of ‘your little world’, not just your circle of friends and family. Not just your street, suburb and community.

If you’re going to do this and take the risk to think for yourself you may as well, do it with a vital element in mind and that is to: THINK BIG!

As the great Leader, Nelson Mandela said –

“Being and thinking small serves no one … you must think big”

The whole world is waiting for the Real You. Unleash him/her! Who knows what your actions may have over another fellow human being in the world. There is more that the Real You can offer your World. Get up and give.

Get up and share the Real You. The World is waiting.

Thank you for reading this far.

Until next time,

 

Cheers & ahoy!

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate … & a re-think of thinking

(Paul)

Front double biceps at my favourite beach here in Sydney, Australia.
Enjoying the sun and the creator that it is.
Be not like the moon, be like the sun.
Take time out of ‘work’ to enjoy your surroundings.
Vv.

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What can you “see” that lies behind your eyes when you look in the mirror?

Are you your brain or are you your mind?

The two greatest mysteries of nature

What do you ‘see’ when you look at that person looking back at you when you look in the mirror? When you pick up the comb or brush to set your hair the way you want (lucky you if you have that … because I don’t have much hair to comb, like so many other balding middle-aged men out there in the world).

Specifically, what and who lies behind those eyes that look back at you in the mirror.

Now, this is not a very easy question to answer for many reasons. Why is this question so difficult? Well, because it is one of the two greatest mysteries of nature. And what is that? Well, it is simply –

The MIND.

The other great mystery is – the Universe.

Now, as I see it …. to witness the mystery of our mind, all we have to do is stare at ourselves in the mirror and wonder, What lurks behind our eyes? But, this raises even more questions like: Do we have a soul? What happens to use after we die? Who am “I” anyway?

I believe the universe and the mind intersect in a variety of ways but I won’t go in that here. Suffice to say, there is a connection … between the mind and the universe or consciousness.

True?
Neuroscience is still at the level of where medicine was in the 1700s
A long way to fully understand who we are….
Who “I AM.”

Triple A

In our journey through life, I would like to think each and every one of us are striving, at our own individual pace, to become the best person we can be … the best person we want to be … the best person we know we imagine ourselves to be, in all areas:

  • the very definition of Personal Development.

And if you’re not trying to be better than you were yesterday in whatever form and whichever area of life and you choose to do so, then, I have three words for you: you’re a fool!

Read no further.

But, if you desire to help you, then all I believe we all need is: an open, determined and curious mind. 

Now there are many approaches to personal development but the one I aspire to, as detailed on the face of this blog page, is quite simple. A system I developed summarising this process: my Triple A (AAA) approach to any form of personal development is:

  • Awareness
  • Action
  • Adaptation

Responsible for transmission of critical electrical, chemical & hormonal messages -internal communication

The first A: Awareness

Today I will elaborate on the first of the three A’s: AWARENESS.

What does it mean to be Aware or rather Self-Aware?

Now, we’ve got to be careful here, as there are always two sides to a coin, there is Negative Self-Awareness and there is Positive Self-Awareness, lets focus on the latter.

Positive Self-Awareness is the first and most important step in self-development. It is that “aha” moment one experiences in understanding the potential and abundance we have, and perhaps how little we have done to challenge our minds thus far.

And just how little we know.

Here’s a thought to give you an idea of what it means to be self-Aware: Can you look in the mirror and “see” what you don’t see? Can you look in the mirror and see what lies behind your own eyes? Have you? Is how you think, feel and act consistent? Keep looking in the mirror until you see the real “you”.

Me, some of my quirks (showing off my muscles, posing at every and any opportunity and my desire to ‘over’ dress than to ‘under’ dress. Also, my quirk of love for dogs (and in particular, my pirate dog _ MR Fuzzy/Fussy Cuddles!) and animals in general. I know who “I am”. Do you?

Being Open-minded

I believe, fundamentally, being Positively Self-Aware means being open-minded. Are you open-minded? Or, do you look at life through your parents glasses? Are your prejudices inherited or are they your own?

Or, are you hardened, cold and closed to new ideas and new opportunities and change? This hardness can come in various forms: vulgarity and rudeness, intellectual cynicism, prejudice, stubbornness, lack of empathy etc. Ask yourself this the next time you look at yourself in the mirror, if you’re brave enough.

The Brain 🧠.
The mind.
I AM.
Use this most complex tool every created to become a better medium of communication to …. the universe, to infinite intelligence … to consciousness.
To your GOD.

To Not become narrow-minded

Strive to not become a narrow-minded human being.

Being open and able to see the many alternatives in every situation is being Positively self-Aware. Try looking at “relative” rather than “absolute” facts in a situation.

I’ve always asked my kids when they tell me something from School, like “Dad, this was my best day ever!” I would tell them that that was great but “compared to what?”. Everything is relative.

Being self-Aware is accepting that skin colour, birthplace, religious beliefs, sex, financial status, and intelligence are not measures of worth. It is realizing that each human being on earth is a person with equal rights to fulfill his or her own potential in life.

Allow your mind to ”connect’ with infinite intelligence.
With consciousness.
It is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.

We’re not on the same wavelength

Each of us are unique, unique in our fingerprints, unique in our footprints, unique even in our lip-prints. We also speak and think on different frequencies. Haven’t we all found ourselves saying “we’re not on the same wave length or page!”

We don’t have to look very far for examples of this, just give the nightly TV news 5 minutes and you will see the result of people on different frequencies illustrated in many ways …. discord in family, social and international life. Everyone is looking through a different set of lens. Looking at different mirrors.

Empathy

What it means to be positively self-Aware is to have empathy.

How is your ability to be empathetic? Ask yourself “how would I like to have a husband like me if I were my wife?” or “how would I like to have a father like me if I were my children?” or “how would I like to have a manager like me if I were my employees?”

Like what the great modern-day thinker, Mr Seth Godin says … work on your ‘emotional labour’ to help others, help themselves. Become more in touch with elements of trust, care and compassion.

Or as I would like to say – “become more human”.

Love your ‘feminine side’ … appreciate beauty in all it’s forms … like cars, watches, beautiful architecture … beautiful women.
Embrace the “Real Man” in YOU … men!

Know your limits

Being self-Aware, we must all strive to find our own healthy stress level in life and to operate within that range or level. A domestic cat would not be able to handle the stress levels that which a tiger would be able to handle out it’s environment.

Know yourself. Know your limits. The truth is some never do.

Being self-Aware also understands that the person who does not read is no better than the person who cannot read – and, that a person who does not continue to learn, to adapt and grow, is not better than one who cannot grow.

We’re all truly unique individuals with unique strengths and weaknesses. Understand your uniqueness and appreciate the differences in others. It is a beautiful world indeed.

De-clutter your brain of all that noise built up from early childhood clouding your thoughts.
Delete and stop contributing to the bottom-line of ‘bullshit’
Work on managing your funnel better.
Know your limits.
Seek help before it is too late.
As a great book says –
“Seek and ye shall find;
Ask and ye shall receive”
Now do.

Like a dog chasing it’s tail

So, I leave you with these thoughts:

  • by knowing who you are, where you’re at and where you’re going allows you to see the possibilities and alternatives available in your life. If you leave things up to chance you may miss opportunities as you muddle around in circles, like a dog chasing its tail.

Alternatives only exist if you know which way you are going.

Change your philosophy on life. Change your environment. Change your life.

A change of philosophy follows a better Awareness of self.

The altar of worship.
Some find their beauty, their truth in Religion of choice.
Their search for beauty is being ONE with the ONE.
Keep searching for your beauty. Your truth.
No one else can take your journey for you, but you.
Be brave. Slay your Goliath.Make believe and imagination is key to improved self-awareness

Here’s one idea to increase your sense of self-Awareness you may want to try: Try imagining being someone else that you know for a day: your wife; your husband; your parents, your children, your workmate.

Make believe and imagination is key to improved self-awareness. Try seeing life through their eyes and how you imagine them to ‘see’ you. What would each of them be thinking about you. Why?

I’ll leave you with a little prayer that I’ve got my lovely daughter to say every night as I tuck her in to bed. She says “Lord, help me be the best I can be…. for me, … and for everyone else”. and I also get my kids to say … Ïf I can dream it … and believe it … I can achieve it!”

The key phrase is: ” and I believe it” . Belief is everything. Without it, you achieve nothing. I’ve always believed – “No belief, no nothing!” . Do you think I got to 2 x World Championships without unwavering belief in me, my God and my team … to win? All the way to the Top?

No, I didn’t think so.

So, dream …and imagine … and believe. With your whole heart and soul. Believe it so.

Believe or not believe.
Get your ass off the pole of the fence (stop sitting on the fence!)
Choose.

The best you can be. For YOU. First.

Understand that person who is behind those eyes when you look in the mirror.

Strive to become more self-Aware, more positively self-aware. Your destiny in life hinges on it.

All the very best!

 

Cheers & Ahoy!

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate … & thoughts on ‘seeing’ beyond what you look at, when you look in the mirror.

Achieving a well-balanced physique should be understood for what it is: a masterful fusion of art and science.
One should improve once’s “BODY Smart”knowledge. this takes time and deliberate practise.
Top 5 in the world, two years in a row at a sport I love ain’t too shaby for an city boy from the beautiful paradise islands of Fiji
If YOU think you can and you BELIEVE YOU CAN … YOU CAN.

Beauty comes in the human form.
It is a living masterpiece.
On display, from a masterful poser/artist, the human body exemplifies beauty and truth rolled in to vibrating ball of flow of muscle.
The hard part is to CREATE beauty. We all have the ability within us.
To create a beauty through the human form is genius.
Providing the scaffolding for your childs(ren) character building towards a ‘beautiful character’ is like sculpturing a great physique.
Everything matters, however, small it is.
GIGO for their minds:
If you want to create champions and leaders , feed them daily champion & leadership thoughts.

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The End. In Foresight.

Like an FM station, just one point off gives you an irritating “shhhh…”

Ever wondered what the mongoose or squirrel was thinking as it crossed the highway and got hit by a car, its body laying splattered there on the road?

No?

Me neither.

However, it got me thinking about something. About Life.

The roadkill’s life had come to an abrupt end. Its purpose in life was over. It probably wasn’t thinking of the risk of crossing a busy road, with other fast, big, road users.

You see, we’ve all been given 4 key inter-related things/gifts in life:

  1.  Our Mind – to allow us to think and make choices based on our assessment of RISK
  2. Our Body – to execute the wishes of the mind based on our choices
  3. Our Spirit – to help you “see” what the mirror does not reflect
  4. Our Life – determined by how we utilize the other gifts (1,2 and 3).

They say, goals are very important to your success in any area in life.

Goals: Set them. Plan your work. Work your plan.

Probability of realizing the goals are improved. Its true. It works, if you follow it through. There is a difference though, between wishful thinking and goal-setting.

In addition, however, I say: have the End in Mind. Develop your FORE-SIGHT. Improved Foresight enhances INSIGHT.

I leave you with a little formula that might shed a little light in to finding your Purpose in Life:

FOCUS + FORESIGHT = INSIGHT.

No End. No Purpose. No Life.

See YOUR END (Foresight).

Find YOUR PURPOSE (Insight).

Live YOUR LIFE (Focus).

You only have one life. Its no dress rehearsal. Don’t live it like that road-kill. Find your purpose, before its too late…. Before your daily 86,400 seconds stop ticking.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. Its your life. Write your story the best way you can: with purpose.

Become increasingly aware … take actions (sufficient & appropriate) and adapt accordingly.
My Triple A to self – development.

Find YOU.
Find clarity.
Find Life.

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A special kind of blindness.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I was once the proud owner and manager of a gym for about 7 years. It was the first gym I ever stepped foot in when I was in my late teens. I used to stand at the doorway as I left the gym, turn around to look at the owner (then) and say –

“One day I’m going to own this gym or something like this Tony!”

Imagine that, a young teenage boy still completing High School audaciously believing and saying out loud that he would own “this’ gym or something like it … one day? But I knew that I loved it and I didn’t know how then, but I knew that I desired it strongly. I had many dreams … this was one of the many. It lay dormant for a number of years.

He would say – ‘yep, but not this one … I’m not ready yet.”

Fifteen years later, I receive a call from him … saying “Remember me … remember what you said when you still in High School … well, I’m ready now, would you like to buy this gym?”

I said .. .”What took you so long?”

The rest is history.

I ran it like a family. A gym like no other. My little young family was intricately connected with hundreds of other families, making it one large huge extended family in this phase of our lives. I loved all the hundreds of relationships I had with the members along with the wider community. We won the Best Small Business Award for the Northern Beaches in one year and was a Finalist for many years.

I knew instantly that I wasn’t in the business of running gyms … no, I was in the business of managing relationships and I just happened to sell health, vitality and life-enhancing products and services. People would say “what?!” including my wife who would, after a few months, realise the truth in my statement.

Friends that workout together … stay together?
Some of the family of gym members that called my gym ….. our gym .. their gym.
Lovely people in a lovely phase of life.

Stories … ahh … this is one of the things I miss – listening to the hundreds of individuals’ stories over the years. Was fascinating and I feel very blessed that I was able to listen to and help the members write chapters of their life stories. I also feel very blessed to experience life through other peoples’ experiences.

Our gym was a place of social interaction where everyone knew one another’s names and we were always happy they came to the gym. Our gym was a ‘home away from home‘ for all the family of members. Just the way I envisioned it to be, the way gyms used to be.

I loved it. I lived and breathed it. I never took leave for 7 years because I loved what I did in serving the community the gym was in and all that came from afar (some driving past up to 15 gyms before they got to my gym). I helped serve people increased awareness, through increasing their knowledge of possibilities that would take them from where they were to where they would want to be. Using programs tailored specifically for each individual that was based on the framework that took me to 2 x World Championships and place in the Top 5 of both.

This blog is about one particular member. Her name was Margaret. She was an amazing woman.

The Family of Male Friends that bonded and developed great friendships in my gym … our gym.

She had been frequenting the gym 3 times per week for about 8 years. Rain, hail, dust storm, heat-wave. You name it. No extreme weather pattern stopped her from walking the 2km walk from her home to the gym. And Back. She does so with so much enthusiasm. I don’t think I have ever heard her whinge in the time I knew her.

Ever.

What’s special about her is that she is accompanied by her friend – Desarae. You see wherever Margaret goes, her friend is by her side. Her friend knew each corner of the gym now and each machine. Her friend never utters a word but observes her very intently. Her friend watches and observes Margaret’s every move and never lets her out of her sight. Her friend even knows the order in which Margaret has to move from one machine to the other when she is executing one of her daily ‘work-outs’ specially tailored to her goals and needs.

Her friend listens to everything Margaret says but also most of what she does not say. A possible definition of a very good friend. But Desarae has not lifted one piece of weights equipment. You know why? Well, you see, Margaret’s friend is a guide dog and Margaret is blind.

Now, I know we read and see a lot of things and people that can be classed as “Inspiring” almost every day of our lives. You see and hear many grand, over-the-top stories that people class as inspirational. Well and good.

With Margaret and her guide dog. She was such a lovely human being. Never said never.
I trained her daughter (who was also partially blind) to represent Australia at the Paralympics.
She was one tough school girl with a lot of GRIT. Just like her mum.

However, each individual’s idea of what is or who is “inspiring” could differ and vary quite greatly. It’s all a matter of perspective. What someone may find inspirational may not be to another. If anyone asks me what or who I would consider inspiring, apart from my beautiful wife, Margaret would be another that would readily come to mind.

I’ve mentioned it countless times since I have known Margaret that everyone – men, women and boys and girls – everyone, could ‘take a page out of her book’.

Why?

Well, in a world; where there is a dwindling of personal responsibility and accountability; where reasons are only too readily replaced with excuses; where mediocrity is celebrated; where instant gratification dwarfs delayed satisfaction and patience … We have a no nonsense and unassuming, visually-impaired lady “working” on herself. Without fan-fare. Just going about what is part of her ‘daily-routine’.

She is physically blind, not emotionally or spiritually.

It seems like she has turned this apparent weakness into a strength. I see the strength in this woman every time I see her. Not only when she lifts weights and goes through her workouts but the strength in the way she walks, talks and laughs. In the way she relates to the other members of the gym. It’s in her air of quiet confidence as she goes about her business.

Some of the members that came and enjoyed being part of my big ‘extended family’

Although she is blind in one sense, she seemingly has a special kind of blindness for a lot of the ‘other’ things in life that tends to affect us. Those of us who are fortunate enough to see.

So, I leave you with one thought: try to block out some of the clutter of life and don’t let anything or anyone prevent you from carrying out certain daily habits if they contribute to you being a better person – physically, spiritually, emotionally or intellectually.

When you find reasons to give in, think of Margaret. Work on developing your special kind of blindness. There is a champion in every single one of us, including YOU. Believe it so. Never stop dreaming, dreams do come true and dreamers change the world. Listen to your intuition. The combination of these two important ways of thinking ….  is the beginning of taking the “I-M” out of “IMpossible”

All the very best!

 

Until next time,

Yours in muscles & iron,

 

The Old Captain Viking Pirate Fiji-Island born Muscle Monk

Some of the older female family members showing ‘how it’s done!”
Branka and Karen were two ladies that had very positive outlooks on life and did everything they could to maintain the discipline and privilege of staying strong, healthy and wise.
It was a way of life for them … and all the family of gym members.

Gym Extended Family Members enjoying a day of Lawn Bowls.
We had some great lawn bowls events over the 7 years.

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Energy

Valentine – YOU

There are many meanings of the word “Valentine”. Lets name a few: well, first up, my surname is Valentine (thanks to my Welsh ancestry, but I’ll elaborate on that – maybe, in the future). My beautiful wife says she would only change her name when she got married if she liked her husbands surname, but you can’t go too wrong with Valentine. There is the very popular “Valentine’s Day”; some celebrate this day, some don’t. Chocolates are named after this word. Movies have Valentine in their titles. Marriage vows are said on this day. You could probably think of a few others off the top of your head.

What I mainly want to talk about today is to Valentine YOU is to  Love – YOU!

All the other traits we all desire to have amount to zilch, if one does not have love and one does not love another. The answer to this lies, within. To truly know how to love another human being, one needs to be able to love oneself. 

How do you love yourself? I’m not saying one needs to love his own image (according to Greek Mythology) as Narcissus did when he loved his own reflection in the pool of water. No, I am talking about love in its true essence. What would that be, I hear you say? Well, in my limited view of the world, it would boil down to: unconditional love.

In my opinion, the essence to this is this: YOU have to love yourself, unconditionally.

Love, without a doubt, is the basis of everything. Not some abstract, hard-to-fathom kind of love but the day-to-day kind of love that everyone knows. The kind of love that is not jealous or selfish. The kind of love that we feel when we look at our spouse or partner or children. That kind of love. Next time you are looking in the mirror ask yourself this question: do you love that person looking back at you?

I am convinced that this is not only the most important emotional truth in the universe, it is a spiritual truth too.

For now, I leave you with this message:

Valentine, YOU … Unconditionally!

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