ageing, body, Energy, life, mind, muscles, needs, Strength training, time, Vitality, you

My meditation hour

We all need to relax. True.

Some people, some cultures, some countries do it better than others, just like there are some animals that do it better too. We all need to relax. That much is true.

And physical relaxation is important but I think it is second to mental relaxation. A relaxed mind is a relaxed body. Not necessarily the other way round. You see it when you watch elite sportsperson in competition and you hear them talk about their mental state being the difference between winning and not. The mind is intricately connected to the body, you all know that.

What I mean is that mental relaxation and peace of mind is one of the most important ways each and every one of us need in our lives to truly relax because it helps boost our sense of vitality. The quantity of hours of sleep is not as important as the quality of sleep but sleep in and of itself is not enough to attaining a relaxed mental state. Your mind being at rest. A quiet mind. You know the type, the people who sleep more than the recommended 8 hours a day and still seem more restless when they wake. They probably have not quietened their mind, not truly allowed their minds to rest. Slowed their minds.

It is a need, not a want. Remember this.

Everyone is searching for that something, that medium that would allow them to feel relaxed. Some go to a church or mosque, some do yoga, meditation classes, some surf, do gardening or fish. Some turn to alcohol, some to drugs. Some go to the other side of the world in search of a way, of a magical drug to find a way to calm, to rest, to slow their minds. Some find it, most never do.

What if I said that you don’t have to look very far. What if I told you that the essence of meditation can be had in the gym. Yes, your gym down the road.

Apart from all the physical goals you set yourself to achieve by visiting the gym, the most important benefit – NOW, to you is the intangible benefits of mental rest and relaxation. How is that so, you say? Well, I don’t think everyone has the required skill level to truly absorb the full benefits to the mind that working out with weights gives. However, it can be learned just like anything else, with patience and a good teacher.

How do you define a workout? Some of you may say words like “lifting weights, with reps; intensity; hard work, lots of sweating etc ..” All good.

I define a workout as a “continuous progression of 15 to 45 second FOCUSED MOMENTS”.

Now, here’s the thing – what are these ’15 to 45 second focused moments?’ Well, they’re simply what every gym goer calls a ‘set’. A number of sets of exercises comprise a workout. I refer to a set as a ‘focused moment’. Now, how does this allow my mind to relax?

Well, think about it for a second … if you really focus for the 15 to 45 seconds and become one with the weight and perform the set, your mind will be thinking of nothing else but getting through each repetition. All other thoughts are blocked out of your mind just for those focused seconds. Don’t let anything or anyone distract you for those seconds. If you add up all those 15 to 45 seconds for the duration of your workout, you would probably get 30 minutes of ‘quiet time’ or totally ‘relaxed mind’ for that period of time.

Now that is food for the mind.

Each workout is my meditation hour. Make it yours too. I have anywhere between 3 and 5 workouts a week. So that means I get 3 to 5 meditation hours every week. Do you get yours? Do you get to rest your mind through your body? Do you give it the respect it needs? What you get out of it depends on how much effort you put in to it, how well you focus. Learn proper exercise/meditation technique and practise, practise, practise. Set after set after set.

If you don’t already visit a gym, do so and try it. Try this meditation technique. Even if you don’t get it the first few times around, you’re still going to benefit from increased muscle size.

Its a WIN-WIN for you!

See if you feel the essence of your workouts.

Until next time,

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How Fit and Healthy are you?

_MG_9931

Definition of Total Fitness

There is no standard definition of physical fitness.

It means different things to different people. Decide on your own definition but be mindful of your activity. Fitness is relative to the activity performed and not all activities require similar fitness.

For example, someone who is playing as a goalkeeper in soccer may not necessarily be fit for hockey and the fitness for running a marathon may not translate to the fitness for playing rugby.

I believe it is more appropriate to promote a broader definition of total fitness that should comprise of the following 5 elements:

Strength and the development of lean body mass (muscle).
Flexibility
Cardiovascular conditioning
Ease of general daily activities
Exercise-FREE factors

Elements 1 to 3 is quite self-explanatory but lets talk about 4 and 5.

With element 4, if you go about your daily activities without an ache or pain in the world, then, you must be doing something right with your life. Stop and spare a thought for the millions of people in the world that are not as lucky as you to just jump out of bed bursting with the vitality of a hundred people.

There is a definite ‘mind-muscle’ connection. Train your muscles to train & exercise your brain and help it release all those necessary life-affirming hormones to flood your body … needed nutrition for the cells and soul. Try it.

Consider starting a Fitness Program tailored to you

Many humans struggle just to get through their daily activities, like getting out of bed, doing their shopping etc without some form of pain or discomfort. Some could not get through their day without resorting to more than a handful of drugs.

Not nice. Not the way they had envisioned of living, I suppose.

With element five, this includes variables that make up your lifestyle such as healthy nutrition (for the body and mind), no drug abuse, adequate rest and recuperation (sleep), adequate exposure to sunshine (but don’t get sun-burned), good posture, healthy and fulfilling relationships and an enjoyable and satisfying employment.

Now, for people who make their living being a sportsperson, being talented is not enough. They each need to ensure they hone their skills specific to their sport to be the best they can be to be totally fit for that activity.

However, if you’re thinking of starting a fitness program. Great for you! Consider the elements I have listed when you think about getting ‘fit’. All these elements should be factored in to your program for self improvement before, I believe, anyone can really be said to be healthy and fit.

I have seen them, so perhaps have you, people that are strong and well-built but physically unfit and cannot even run up a small flight of stairs without difficulty. Just all show and some suffer from a world-wide epidemic, very evident on beaches – mostly men who suffer from what I have termed “ILS” or “imaginary lats – syndrome”.

Yep, you’ve seen them! Then you have people who are extremely fit physically and yet not be healthy (very long-distance runners could arguably fall in this boat).

What is your definition of health, strength and fitness? Does it include your TOTAL self – physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, socially?

What is “Fit” to you?

What is ‘Fit” to you?

There is a prevailing mis-perception about what people consider to be ‘fit’ in society as it most probably does not include the 5 elements I have highlighted above. Although it is highly desirable to be physically fit, please bear in mind that there is so much more to total fitness (and health) than just that.

Now, if you’re brave enough to ‘get off the fence’ and help yourself with your physical goals in life and if you’re lucky enough to seek and get help, just do it! (I just love this NIKE slogan). If you feel you want to go about it on your own then consider mapping out a time-frame for your body transformation journey, say a 16-week (4 month) goal with realistic but specific goals.

Obviously, don’t be too ambitious in the early days. Don’t be disappointed if you can’t achieve instantaneous results. Like I have said before, learn patience and persistence.

Take stock of your physical health so far and remember you have had your body since you were born. You have possibly misused it for many, many years.

You have a lot of mending to do, so getting fit won’t happen overnight, but it WILL happen if you TRY.

Be the most UN-Common Man/Woman you can be.
Find the Real YOU and … be YOU

Health, good health is the sum of many parts

Health, good health is the sum of many parts, including how you think, what you eat, read and drink, how you see your body, how you plan your daily activities and how you perform them and how you get on with your internal and external environment.

Like I have said in an earlier blog, you are like a juggler with many balls in the air. If you drop one, that’s fine. Keep going, the others will take up the slack. And then tomorrow, start again with all the balls.

Take a day off occasionally. On those days, sit down for a few minutes and think how you could make your routine more enjoyable.

Notice, I said more enjoyable – NOT EASIER..

Stay focused!

Until next time,

Cheers & Ahoy!

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate Evangelist Muscled Monk … & How fit and healthy are you

Side triceps pose.
Contest: Australian Natural Bodybuilding Titles.
Placing: 2nd.

Always maintain discipline in all areas of life, at all times, under all conditions … like a great Viking or Pirate of the Seas do.
Become the best Captain of the Seas of Life you can be. …
Cheers & Ahoy!
The old Cap’n Viking Pirate Evangelist Muscled Monk

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14.5 tips for growth and producing more, with care

The old Captain Viking Pirate 🏴‍☠️ ⚔️Enjoying a beer 🍺 in a hot 🥵 spring day here in Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

I’m talking about growth and producing more muscle for you, here.

There is no room for compromise on the components of recuperation and getting adequate rest to building more muscle towards a more healthier, stronger, fitter you. More muscle is hopefully a more satisfied you too with regards to your body transformation goals.

Here are 14.5 tips (the list is not exhaustive) for getting adequate recuperation and rest with the goal of more muscle and to take better care of you:

Building the best physique you hope to does not rely on chance.
It comes down to many variables summed up here –
Imagination + Visualisation + Effort (hard deliberate practice) + Feel (Heart) + Talent (genetics) + Focus (never-say-die Mind-set) …
To create Balance & Symmetry in design.
It does not matter which art medium is used – building architecture, watches, cars etc ..
Beauty = Balance & Symmetry
The only difference between sculpturing your physique and the other types mentioned above is –
the human body is alive and has a mind.
Continue to work on yours.

1. Make sleep a priority.

Make quality the focus, not quantity

2. Eat a little extra calories unless weight loss is your goal.

3. Lifting moderate to heavy weights (for your level) is critical to muscle growth.

Once you’re training hard (referring to your skeletal muscle here), consume 1g of protein per pound of body-weight.

Don’t waste your time with ‘light weights’
Use a weight (depending on the muscle group) that will get you to 10 reps.
But you struggle to get to 8 reps with good form.
Everyone’s limit is different.

4. Stay away from low-fat diets. I can show you how fat can be used to burn fat.

Matter of fact, fat in your diet is essential to stripping unwanted fat off you – especially the stubborn fat a lot of people carry around their waists. Fat is vital for your overall health – mind and body. It helps maintain an anabolic metabolism.

However steer clear from unhealthy fats as best you can.

5. Avoid junk food. Enough said!

6. Don’t get too caught up on sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

Why?

Because what you actually digest and allow your body to assimilate is more important than what you eat and drink.

Meals need to suit you and your physical goals. Understand YOU. Find the most appropriate solution. If you can’t do it yourself, find someone who can help. It may just reduce the risk of disappointment.

7. Try not to go for long periods without food/meals.

Try to avoid getting hungry (believe me, you probably will like me less if you’re around me when I am hungry. You definitely don’t want to be around me when I am both angry … and hungry … ‘Hangry’

Preparation is key – try setting aside some time in the evening for preparing your sandwiches, blender drinks etc for the next day. A little time in the kitchen the night before or on the weekend, will save you tonnes of time during the week, thinking about what you would like to eat for various meals.

Educating a top national sprinter of the importance of proper nutrition for recovery & growth for optimal performance

8. Don’t waste your “window of opportunity”

Within a half hour of finishing your workout, have a liquid easily digested meal (high in protein) and then have a balanced solid-food meal in the next couple of hours.

I call this the ‘window of opportunity’ to infuse your muscle cells with the necessary nutrients to maximise growth and retention.

Now sit, back, rest and say … “Grow baby, grow!”

And it will.

9. Don’t skip breakfast!

10. Supplements are just that – ‘supplements’.

It is meant to supplement a nutritionally sound diet from real food.

That took me to multiple NSW Titles and 2 x World Championships, simply eating good ‘balanced meals’ of REAL FOOD. You can’t beat it. Keep it simple.

Focus on food! Full stop.

11. Drink adequate amounts of liquids.

Too much water is better and less risky than too little.

A good guide is drinking 1L of water per 25kg – 30kg of bodyweight.

My apprentice drinking water as I have ‘coaching conversations’ with him

12. Manage your energies.

I’ve always thought that life is about energy management, not time-management.

Do try to spend more of your precious time with people and doing activities that give you energy – real energy and do your best to limit your time doing activities or being with people who drain you of energy.

Recuperation and rest for example is an activity that enhances your energies. Love yourself more. Give yourself more of it. Don’t feel guilty.

13. Keep calm.

Do this by slowing the mind. Quiet the mind. Find a way.

Find your way.

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

14.5 Stay healthy.

We’re all different, all unique.

Appreciate that uniqueness and ask yourself what your idea of ‘healthy’ is and how would you define it, with respect to every area in life – meal composition; amount of rest/sleep; play time; activities that you do; books that you read; visual programs that you watch etc.

Continue to ask yourself ‘what is healthy to you’ and promptly eliminate habits and behaviour that steal away from a more healthy you. Respect and love YOU first to truly respect and love all around you.

Take your health seriously if you want to optimise your ability to recuperate….

And live better …

… now and in to your future.

While you’re still breathing and can do something about it.

Just DO IT! ( I love this NIKE slogan …. my favourite of all time)

All the best!

Until next time,

The Old Cap’n Viking Pirate …. & essential workout Hacks/Lessons … for willing participants

Explaining the fine points of re-engineering the physique and increased self-awareness through enhanced ‘mind-muscle’ connection..

Belief in God has helped me represent Australia at two consecutive World Natural Bodybuilding Championships and achieve those dreams.
Never stop believin’.
Vv.

life, needs

Hap … Happy … Happiness …

Are you happy? Well, are you?

I’m sure every one who reads this and everyone on this planet has thought about this at one point or another in their life. So, are you? How do you know? Well, I guess, you could identify things or events or people that make us happy quite easily but seriously, are you happy?

What is happiness anyway? It’s one of those questions that many philosophers and thinkers have wrestled with for centuries. Is it something that is intrinsic – coming from within, somewhere deep within us, our souls, our spirits maybe or is it something that comes from without – external from us, our environment? Some of you may argue both makes you happy.

Hang on, lets look at it again. Is happiness the same thing as being ‘happy’? I don’t think so but I am not going to try and explain that one in this blog. Investigate that for yourself. See what you find. Someone wise once said something to the effect that the very pursuit of happiness is in itself, futile. Happiness could be said to be something that brings you pleasure, but even this cannot ever be a sufficient enough condition of happiness. Many cannot differentiate between genuine and authentic pleasure and fake or inauthentic pleasure. The former brings about a memory of fulfiment, like, say, the enduring love of a special friend, compared to the fake-pleasure of a drug, for example.

In our society, happiness, may be seen as the desire for and acquisition of material goods and services. However, could this be a ‘happiness party-pauper’? Is wanting too much making everyone feel less happy? Some of the poorest nations of the world have their citizens being the happiest – countries like Fiji, Costa Rica etc. Where does your country sit on the happiness scale? Maybe the western world can learn a thing or two about the beliefs and philosophies of these people, where maybe, in terms of material possessions – less is sometimes more.

Is it possible that, in the more developed countries like ours, happiness is hard to find and keep because of the insatiable desire to buy stuff, yep stuff. All that ‘stuff’ that fills up garages and storerooms, inevitably creating more and more clutter in one’s lives and minds. Stuff we don’t really need, buying them just to make us happy. More and more of everyones’ leisure and ‘family time’ seem to be taken up by the employer, mounting up more hours in meaningless jobs to buy consumer goods. Consumer goods that we are lied to by smart marketers and advertisers, making us buy, buy, buy … brain-washing us to believe that the possession of these goods will ‘bring you happiness’. What a load of you know what! Consumerism itself maybe the golliath that needs to be floored by a brave individual, before happiness is revealed.

You could try these 3 things to help you get closer to happiness:

Find your ‘authentic self’
Don’t fill your time on weekends maintaining a carpet of grass or renovating kitchens and bathrooms or the like
Do spend your time ‘filling your mind’ with mental nutrition

Firstly, I would suggest, you try to be more self-aware. Then, of course, do your very best to meet all your needs and then with whatever resources you have, you may seek to get some of your wants satisfied. Not the other way ‘round. We all allow and see the goods we have as an extension of ourselves like the car you drive, and watch you wear. We then commit more and more hours to the drudgery of work to pay for it all. But how much is enough? Will having more ‘bling’ than your neighbours bring you closer to being happier? Does the acquisition of these stuff make you feel more successful as a human being and less of a failure?

Let me ask you a question: Do you think the very rich are the happiest? I would argue that may be they aren’t. Why? Well, one of the reasons maybe because, they’re always trying to be the richest. Its like a bodybuilder trying to be the guy with the biggest muscles – almost impossible, because, just around the corner, there is always someone bigger, or soon-to-be bigger, rising up the ranks. Everywhere you turn, there is somebody bigger. Endlessly disappointing. It can drive people crazy!

Someone once told me that ‘bigger isn’t necessarily better’ and I think the same can be said about richness.

However, here’s a little secret: try viewing your finite life, each of the 86,400 seconds in a day from now on, from your death-bed’s view. I think you would come to conclude ‘happiness’ would include most if not all those ‘moments’ – points in time, that are free from the trappings of money or status and filled with authenticity.

Capture and treasure those ‘moments’ forever.

Here’s to you finding your authentic self: to hap … happy … happiness.

Until next time …

a better life, action, adaptation, awareness, balance, beauty, Beliefs, better choices, brain, change, Change Agent, choices, consciousness, courage, decisions, diet, dreams, Energy, examined life, game of life, God, gratitude, habits, Imagination, life, long-term perspective, love, muscles, needs, perspective, responsibility, risk, self discipline, self improvement, success, trust, truth, Vitality, you, your life

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,

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

a better life, action, adaptation, ageing, asking questions, awareness, Beliefs, better choices, change, choices, Energy, examined life, game of life, habits, Imagination, life, long-term perspective, needs, risk, self, self discipline, self improvement, self-respect, truths, Vitality, you, your life

Managing your funnel better

Less abdominal fat is not only poses less health risks for you, it gives you a more aesthetically pleasing physique. Knowing what ‘to leave out’ in your diet is vital to achieving a tight mid-section

Friends for life.

I’ve met a lot of intelligent people in my life, the smartest person (Intelligent and wise) I have met (thus far) passed away earlier this year at 82.

We were friends for about four and half years or so. I considered a friend for life. You know the type, I hope you’ve got a few friends that you can honestly look at and say, yes, you are a friend for life.

Our friendship lasted for just over four years.

We had all the characteristics of good friendship – honesty, trust, care, inter-dependence, willingness to provide a shoulder to lean on when one needs help, forgiveness and a genuine desire to help the other become a better person.

I miss my friend. A lot.

One of my good old friends at the gym

Opportunities disguised as challenges

He taught me much and I, him. We shared. Stories. I was fascinated with his stories of life. Not necessarily his life, but life in general, in particular where he saw ‘opportunities’ and others saw ‘challenges’.

Guess who got the rewards? Yep, “nothing risked, nothing gained”, he would tell me. Made me realise that life was a big exercise in “Risk Management” … but I won’t go in to that right now, it can be a topic for later.

Retired Ex-Australian Wallaby & Waratah’s Captain – Phil Waugh doing triceps press-downs and “feeling the essence” with perfectly performed repetitions.
A great example of a human being striving to be the BEST he can be – for himself, first and then, everyone else. All day. Every day.
If he can, so can you using my framework.

Work hard at adding life in to your years, not just life to your years

Back to my dear friend … I saw him 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays) between 10:30 & 12 noon, in my gym – for our usual chats and his exercise. We had an arrangement: he listens and follows everything I say to keep him alive and I get an hour coffee and mentorship every Friday morning after his session with me.

Having only six months to live (as told to him by his doctors), my good old friend lived for another four years. He took care of the little mosquitoes, the daily habits and this along with other factors helped him live longer.

I got him to work on his breathing, sense of balance, strength, agility and keeping the ‘whole body’ in mind. The usual services that a typical gym owner and manager would provide.

Basically, make him exert enough effort to his skeletal and smooth muscles, to help make his daily activities just that little bit easier and more pleasant – like walking, walking up stairs, carrying shopping bags, doing a little gardening and breathing better.

He certainly lived a long life, but he was more interested in adding “Life to his years”, in the years I had known him.

Choose what to leave out – choose wisely

He was so diligent in his approach to exercise that he came in for a workout on his 80^th birthday. He sat on the reclining stationary bike to warm up and I got everyone in the gym to sing ‘happy birthday’ and cheered ‘Hip hip, hooray!!’.

I think he enjoyed the attention.

One of my favourites – the Most Muscular pose.
Circa 2007.

After the singing, we started our chat and I thought I’d ask him in honour of his 80^th birthday what was the one thing he could share with me that he learned in his last 40 years that he hadn’t known in his first 40 years. He stopped pedalling for a few seconds, looked up to the gym ceiling and said …

“Work on being a master of your funnel, Paul!”, he yelled whilst catching his breath.

“Don’t stop cycling, mate, keep those legs pumping!” I said

“Don’t think, answering my question gives you permission to stop moving.”

He smiled, gave me a look, and happily continued.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What funnel?”

He called out, over the music in the gym, “I learned how to cut out more bul#@it in my life, Paul!”

This was very interesting, coming from a man who had a huge part of his career in advertising and strategy, advising large companies on selling. Matter of fact he ran a company that employed 200+ people, which he successfully sold along with another business he started after that.

He had also acted as adviser to some of the most prominent businessmen Australia had ever seen. One such high wealth individual he advised for more than thirty years was Australia’s Richest Man at one stage – Mr Kerry Packer.

This retired friend of mine did alright for himself.

Attitude is key at winning in the Game of Life.

Rid your life of ‘stuff’

He then proceeded to say that in life, we get bombarded with so much ‘stuff’, and now more than ever, due to the proliferation of the various media types, one has to be more diligent in ‘policing’ the many sensory stimulants entering our minds through what we see, hear, who we talk to and the groups we mix with.

We have to exercise vigilance in self-regulating behaviour, in particular, with regards to the impact exposure to all this modern-day living ‘stuff’ (or in his words “bul#$@it”) has on you.

A lot of this ‘stuff’ does not really have any place in your life, and really does not in the whole scope of life. We have 86,400 seconds in a day. Use those seconds wisely.

Try this suggestion; Limit your television viewing to stimulating, special shows. If you make television watching a habit, you can become narrow-minded, tunnel vision sets in and creative imagination will vanish. All the better if you can record or download them and watch when it fits your schedule instead of someone else’s.

See how you feel in 1 week.

A famous company slogan goes something like this …. “Life is short”… we could all heed the advice from my wise friend and assess how well you are using your own funnels in sieving out the irrelevant ‘crap’ from your lives NOW … not 40 years from now.

Maybe, just maybe, we will not only add years to our life … but more importantly, LIFE TO OUR YEARS!

Choose wisely … & have fun,

Cheers & ahoy!

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate … & cutting out more bullshit from your life

Learning from the best at something, to be your best is the quickest way to get to where you’re going.
No one can teach you what they don’t know.

Explaining the fine points of re-engineering the physique and increased self-awareness through enhanced ‘mind-muscle’ connection..

Changing lives. Empowering people. One life at a time.

Triple A to Life: Awareness. Action. Adaptation.

Category Archives: needs

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Managing your funnel better