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HABITS are like WATER 💦. Here’s why ….

One ☝️ of my “soul” places…. Where the grass meets the sand meets the water meters the sky … we’re all walking, talking capsules of predominantly water.

I believe habit is like water (I’ll come back to why later).

Have you set your goals for the year? How are you progressing towards it? How are your physical goals?

Right about now, for some, is a “sticking point “ as far as adopting new/good habits towards a healthier & fitter you.

is Your will power 💥challenged?

What is “Will-Power?”

Well, there are various forms of Power – military power, horse power, financial power, political power, wind power etc

The most relevant to each of us is WILL POWER, the strength to do more than we thought we were capable of doing.

The ability to go that extra step, that is what Willpower is and everyone has a personal limit to how far their willpower will be pushed until it breaks.

Remember, to modify a habit, you must DECIDE to change…. and the most important ingredient in creating belief in change is the WILL to BELIEVE.

… so, you’ve got to keep going…. and build a powerful weapon- “momentum”.

We are affected by what we feel, certainly.

You need to start with education not motivation and letting go bad habits in replacing with good habits isn’t necessarily easy or quick.

It isn’t always simple.

Learn not only to ask questions but more importantly… to ask the RIGHT questions. Not to know the answers…. No. Simply because you have a why(s)?

There is Power in Habit.

There is power 💥in habit.

Yes, there is.

How do I know? Well….

Consistent & persistence application of habits took me to two consecutive world natural physique championships.

Being one of the best in the world in my chosen sport (or anything for that matter) requires many inputs and the adoption of relevant habits. Talent alone is not enough.

You must also have DEDICATION to the DELIBERATE PRACTISE of the DISCIPLINE you’re in.

In effect you must be DISCIPLINED WITH DISCIPLINE. This, my readers, is a beautiful definition of “love”.

Now, anyone that lifts weights (grandfathers & mothers to teens), aiming to build muscle, improve strength & health & transform their body is, by definition – a “bodybuilder”.

The competition for this physical activity is “physique contests”.

Representing Australia 🇦🇺, & competing against the best from nations around the world, I made the Finals (the top 5) in the world at natural physique contest) two years in a row. This was staged in NY, USA.

There is Power in Habit.

Feel your emotions. Think through and with your heart. Listen to your íntuition We are not ‘thinking creatures who feel’ … but instead we are ‘Feeling creatures that think”. We need to always remind ourselves of this.

With curiosity & education, I learned the half dozen (6) key habits that make 80% of the difference in reaching body re-engineering goals (for me, being in the top 5 in the world).

Working “with my body” (increasing awareness of how the body/mind/spirit works) and the amazing machine that is the human body allowed me to achieve efficient & effective results, safely.

One of the things I see after almost 3 decades of training with bodybuilding principles is many people “work against their bodies”, instead of WORKING WITH THEIR BODIES.

For example, each individual cell of the 75 million cells that make up your body is made up of 75% water. So, give it more of what it needs. Thirst should never be an indicator to drink (generally too late).

One (out of the 6 key habits) habit that was a key contribution to achieving a world class physique is:

– adequate (1 litre : 25kg of body weight) daily intake of water (h2o)

Try this one habit for 7 days – 1 week!

(Even if you didn’t change any other existing habit). Your body snd brain/mind will love you for it.

Your energy will go through the roof and you will feel fantastic!

Remember this:

The REAL power in habit is the realisation that your habits are what You CHOOSE them to be.

Brings me back to my first point I made in the beginning of this post, that habit is like water.

Water 💦 creates channels, which grows deeper & broader over time… and even when it stops flowing, it begins when it flows again, the channel/path traced by itself before.

These are the new neural pathways in your brain 🧠!

So, even if you haven’t started, that’s ok, it’s never too late to BEGIN. Just decide to begin.

Besides, LIFE is truly a constant BEGINNING. We are all just at different stages of beginnings

All the very best to you … you can do it.

I’ll share with you the other 5 key habits over the next 5 weeks that makes up 80% of your results. (Simply applying one of nature’s principles: the 80-20 principle).

Cheers 🍻!

The old man –

P.

🌺🌴💥

Changing habits – releasing bad eating habits and adopting some good ones is like facing an internal Predator. You need to ‘face the Lion’ within you. Having a conversation with a lion.
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** MATERIALISM or THEOLOGY… on the Conveyor Belt of Birth, Death & Decay **

Enjoying lunch in my beautiful Sydney CBD recently.

Many are living a life of Materialism. 

~ With this philosophy, the individual seem to think 🤔that – if we came from no where … going no where in particular, and are here for no reason, in particular, then all ethics, morality, culture are illusions.

They are led by the idea that … we are simply here on this earth 🌍 to be active and animated, as long as breath flows through us. But, as soon as DEATH comes, that is the end of us – there is nothing more to be expected, nothing more to be hoped for. 

~ What I find quite discouraging is that at the end of life, they have no one to say THANK YOU to, for the Life they had the privilege to Live. 

Many follow this BELIEF, also referred to as the INTELLECTUAL SUPERIOR ATTITUDE. This attitude explains everything by DENYING everything. This is the foundation on which they (the believers) expect to build an enduring culture.

~ To me, This “Materialistic ” point of view is a huge part of the problem / the mess we (the world) finds ourselves in, today. You see, if there are – No PRINCIPLES … No REALITIES (or multiple realities), then each individual just lives for himself. The “selfish-gene” in them is ACTIVATED and is their compass. 

They selfishly just live for themselves and only think about what he/she can get. They think that … One day he/she will go to sleep forever, that there is very little MEANING to EXISTENCE. To them, There is no HOPE, no PURPOSE… no OUTLET into the FUTURE… no FAITH in the FULFILMENT of DREAMS or ASPIRATIONS. 

~ There is only a conveyor belt of BIRTH, DEATH & DECAY.

The (very ) weird thing is that many in modern day societies (almost the whole world 🌍, with the internet) … view this as an somewhat ELEGANT ATTITUDE.

Now … 

~ The alternative viewpoint in life is one of THEOLOGY. Generally BELIEVE that you, me, us (Mankind) have a REASON for EXISTENCE. We believe that Man was Created by a DIVINE POWER💥. We believe in a GOD… that Man is here to live a DEFINED DESTINY. 

And when we leave here … we will be punished or rewarded according to HOW we lived our life. Our Spiritual Balance Sheet of our time on this earth, 🌍 is reviewed and we are held to account.

~ So … which view/ boat are you in? How are you Captaining your sailing ⛵️ through the Oceans of Life… doing it with the 1st view/philosophy or one based on THEOLOGY?

ME?

I’m without a doubt… in the latter boat. I don’t “Believe “ in a God. After 3 NDEs (Near Death Experiences), I KNOW there is a GOD. 

May God continue to give you STRENGTH, COURAGE & WISDOM in all the decisions you make.”

~ Paul 💝alentine ~

I wrote something along these lines back in 2015 . Here it is if you are interested: http://i
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Dying to Live.

Die to Live. Vv.

Die to Live.
Vv.

Life is a gift. 

One of the most precious things to me is that first breath I take when I wake in the morning. It reminds me that I am alive and that life is a gift. A gift from God.

I breathe that first breath and silently say a thank you to God for giving me an extra day and then hop out of bed thinking “now, who am I going to help today?!”.

And off I go.

I will die someday, and so will you. And that is a good thing.

My son. A gift 💝 from Life.

Knock on your doorstep.

You see everyone dies but not everyone lives, really lives. Everyone should be dying to live. Yes, that’s right – DYING TO LIVE!

Knowing that we will die someday should allow you to live each and every day as if it were your last because you never know when that last day will knock on your doorstep.

My biological mum died in 2011.

She had a tough life, partly of her own doing and I remember seeing her in her last days, her body laced with cancer, laying in her hospital bed, waiting to die ….

A truly sad but life-affirming sight for a courageous human being.

I sat by her bed-side and asked her many questions, questions I had never asked before. I asked her about death and whether she was afraid of dying. She said “no’, that she was in God’s hands.

Strange, but a month before she died, my son, Zachary was born. Aaaahhh … the “Circle of Life”. Life gives and … life takes.

My daughter . A gift 💝 from life.

The most contented person I’ve ever known.

When I reflect on that experience I realize that she knew God. She had seen the first and the last, the beginning and the end. She knew and believed who had made her and who had redeemed (and saved her). She also knew who was going to take her back (her soul/spirit), back to himself – her broken body notwithstanding.

My mum didn’t die alone in a room. No, she had a room filled with close church-goers to keep her company every day and set her off to God. She was in constant physical pain. I felt real pain seeing and hearing her suffer – in person and on the phone.

But, you know what the strange thing was (and I still find it quite odd) that by world’s standards and every day standards, this woman who was my mum, who was in such great pain – this woman was the most contented person I had ever known.

I teach my kids many things and they teach me too. Two things they’ve taught me is:
1) be more patient
2) never giving up (when they try to get chocolate for example … with all sorts of ways until they get it)

The beauty of life.

Some people may have said that she had lost touch with reality at that time in order to protect herself against the pain of cancer. I believe, however, that she had got in touch with reality in a way that few of us ever do, and had seen it’s beauty… The beauty of life.

So, what does this say about dying?

I’m not sure.

There are so many views of dying but my experience with my mum’s taught me something. If we turned life around, I think that dying (and the realising that we will all die some day) is one of the things that help us understand what living is.

I watched quite a few extended family members die over the years. I saw their’s and others’ pain (including mine). From this I learned one thing about death and that is that dying hurts. Dying hurts both those who die and those who are left behind, who will also die when their turn comes.

I witnessed this hurt in my wife’s eyes and words at her grandmother’s funeral late last year. She was very close to her and I loved her dear grandmother too. I particularly miss her grandfather, who I had a great relationship with. You could say – everything comes to an end … eventually, I guess.

But, I also like to believe that dying may be the beginning of something rather than the end….

The last time I communicated with my mum, she could only murmur sounds, nothing that I could understand. I told her that she shouldn’t worry and that I will join her someday soon. She just had to wait a little longer.

So, project yourself forward to when you are taking your last few breaths and you reflect on your life. Understand that you, we – all die because we have lived. So, choose to live, to have really lived.

To think 🤔 is the most difficult thing to do. Exercise for the brain 🧠 is as important for the brain as it is for the body.

We live in order to know and love the God who made us.

To die is, to some extent, to become more real in this sorrowful world.

You, me, every one of us should be dying to live.

So, grab life with both hands, give it a little shake, say thank you and choose to LIVE IT!

Choose well.

 

Until next time,

Having fun with a star jump! Live each day like you are dying to live. Vv.

Having fun with a star jump!
Live each day like you are dying to live.
Vv.

Her heart ❤️ belongs to me … for now.

 

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