Tag Archives: change

body, Body shape, body weight, diet, Fitness, habits, mind, time, you

What percentage of your weekly meals are bad for you?

Relaxed me

We have all heard the saying “you are what you eat”, haven’t we? Well, there is an element of truth there.

You cannot transform your physique from where you are to where you would like to be without getting handle over your nutrition and what you’re actually letting in your mouth. A very important aspect in the success of over 80% of my client’s have had of the years – is managing your diet better.

As we are essentially all creatures of habit, I have found when I look at client’s diets that most people spend their weeks eating the same meals over and over again. That can be good. Let me explain.

Good because if 70 percent of the meals (solids and liquids) you eat is bad or unhealthy for you then it is highly likely that your next meal would be unhealthy, too. Now what is the best way to find out your weekly bad meals ratio? Well, simply keeping a diary of all meals you consume every day. Do this for 7 days and identify all the ‘bad and unhealthy’ meals that you consume. Mark it off on paper. Assess your good/bad meals percentage. What is your daily bad meal percentage and what is your weekly percentage or ratio?

What do you do next? Well, lets keep it simple and take things one step at a time. Try getting rid of just one ‘bad’ meal  per day and replacing it with a ‘new’ healthy meal to your weekly repertoire. Stick to this one change. Try sticking to it for a few weeks and aim for a month or two and observe how this little healthy change can and will have a positive impact on your body, possibly encouraging you to boosting your ratio and percentage of healthy meals even further. One meal at a time.

This positive little step-by-little step approach, gradually becomes a part of your daily life without making you completely conscious of it. This, I think is better than spending more and more time examining  food labels for nutritional information for everything that you eat that you see a lot of people doing these days. It isn’t always the easiest thing to do and maintain. Besides, food labels can be quite confusing, even for the best of us.

Try this method if you’ve been wanting to help yourself but didn’t know where to start as it may just be as effective in keeping your eating habits under control and helping you lose fat and stay healthy, one good meal at a time. It won’t happen overnight but it will happen if you will it to.

There is power in habit. Believe in it.

Become aware. Apply action. Adapt accordingly.

 

Until next time,

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a better life, attitude, authenticness, Beliefs, better choices, change, courage, ego, Energy, examined life, game of life, gratitude, happiness, life, long-term perspective, love, perseverance, responsibility, self love, spiritual balance sheet, spirituality, success, time, truths, you, your life

Is the grass green on the other side?

Greener grass anyone?

Greener grass anyone?

Change your philosophy, change your life.
Vv.

Envy

How much do you earn?

Is it enough for you? Do you wonder if your friends, neighbours or family are earning more than you? Do you secretly covet what your neighbours’ drive; what house they live in? I wonder …. Is the grass greener on the óther side?”

How do they do it? What do they do to make so much money and wealth? How can you learn their secrets, you wonder. Should you change jobs or see if the grass is greener on the other side. What word could sum up this way of thinking, I wondered. I think a good word would be: Envy.

Some argue that envy is the root of all evil.

Some argue that envy is what spurs on economic growth. Well and good in a capitalist society. My question is how much growth is enough? I must admit that I, along with many others have been charmed by “overnight success Rags-to-riches stories” and the wealth of the very rich.  You’re bombarded with examples on social media, on-line and in magazines and papers.

The simple things in life are often the best

The outward display of success seem so appealing that it’s pretty easy to fall for those less-than-subtle advertising ploys touting fancy foreign engineering (like cars) or architectural wonders of some luxury house.

Gee, even in church we sometimes focus on the trappings – lavish sanctuary, fine pipe organs, plush carpeting and so forth.

It seems the advertising industry is the machine that uses this belief as its fuel: Envy. Most in the western world have been have been prisoners in the tyranny of consumer culture. Programmed with advertising, movies, video games, magazines, tv and MTV from the cradle. They say by the time a child in our western world reaches the age of 21, he or she would have watched and/or listened to a million ads.

Now, that is a lot of noise and clutter for the brain, and you wonder why the fastest growing disease is mental disease.

It is certainly great for business, because more growth is better for everyone, for the sake of capitalism.

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. Don’t be part of the horribly growing stat

 

Try Harder = more success?

The theory is that if people are unhappy which has resulted because people were envious or jealous, people generally tend to TRY HARDER. Does it work that way with you? Or do you pull others down rather than raise your standards and climb up to theirs? Do you just wrap yourself in self-righteous misery when you cannot complain anymore about the unfairness of life?

If you are a believer in Christ and very wealthy, remember not to leave God our of your life. It is said that – without understanding, you are like the beasts that perish. Your power, influence and wealth won’t carry weight now but will not matter one zilch, in eternity.

I know you know this already.

A neuron example & its network of dentrites

Nature of Wealth

Do you read the annual publications of Rich Lists? Where do you stand? What do your friends make? Do they make more than you? How does it make you feel? Does it make you happy or miserable? I dare say that it must make more people unhappy than happy. The thing is, it shouldn’t be. You see, there is a finite nature to wealth ….

Do you wonder those “what if “ scenarios like the price you may have got in on a certain share/stock or what if you had sold your car or business at a better price by waiting a little longer or if you had not left that job? I’m sure you have thought about certain things in your life this way too. We all have. Does this make your life better or worse?

In this life the wealthy often inspire awe, admiration and praise. Be happy for them, don’t envy. This adulation will be short-lived. The possessions that are the basis of their pride and self-aggrandizement will not serve past ‘six-feet under (the grave)”.

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

Contentment (genuine) brings you closer to the elusive Happiness

Maybe we should resolve not to begrudge others their success or good luck in life. Maybe we should resolve to be happy for them. To genuinely wish them well with it.

Maybe we should see that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not always. Maybe we should not yearn for the grass on the other side.

Maybe.

Maybe it would be easier to sail your ship through the sea of life by looking ‘straight ahead’ instead of looking over your shoulder at the other ships (other people).

Maybe, just maybe you will find contentment and move a little closer to everyone’s elusive ‘happiness’ goal, if you stopped coveting the wealth and treasures of the very wealthy. I believe – being content, genuinely content, is one of the surest ways of moving close to happiness. It is a process by which you also move to another consciousness level. Ask yourself how content (genuinely content) are you with everything in your life?

 

Be content with where you are and what you have achieved to get this far.
Appreciate what I refer to as your ‘reverse bucket list’ and have an attitude of gratitude.
This is a key ingredient to moving towards genuine happiness

Change your colour, change your life

I know one thing for sure: being less envious and accepting that ‘the grass is not always greener on the other side’ would make your life less depressing.

No, I am going to take it further and suggest that maybe, we should trying viewing the colour of grass not as green or greener but viewing it as another colour (another view/philosophy).

Change your colour (philosophy). Find the right colour. Change your life – for the better.

For me, the colour is a combination – black with a touch of red.

What’s your new colour?

Then ….

Ask God to teach you to help you find and guide you with your perspective on life … to learn to live always, not for this life only, but with “ëternity’s values in view.”

One way to know YOU is to understand God.
God is in you.
God is you.

I’ll hopefully, see and chat to you in heaven when our time in this third dimension is done and dusted!

Until next time.

Cheers and a big ahoy to you on your journey through the maize of life!

 

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate … & thoughts on envy, contentment and happiness in life.

Appreciate beauty. Find your truth. Create your beauty if you can. Usually, beauty and truth does not involve wealth, growth, mass and material possessions.
It is counter-intuitive, but to find your beauty, your truth … LESS IS MORE.

 

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

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adaptation, awareness, Beliefs, dreams, Goals, Imagination, life, self-image, you

Don’t give something up – take something on!

About to start a workout in my Old School Gym. Old School training principles with a 'modern twist'. Know the basics. Stick to the basics. Apply the basics. Its the most efficient, effective and safe approach to building a muscular physique in the gym. Paul.

About to start a workout in my Old School Gym. Old School training principles with a ‘modern twist’. Know the basics. Stick to the basics. Apply the basics. Its the most efficient, effective and safe approach to building a muscular physique in the gym. Paul.

Belief
An old mentor once told me –

“As one thinketh in his heart 💓, so is he”

You could use that as a possible definition of the word “belief “. What is your definition?

What do you believe in? Do you have a belief? What philosophy is it based on? What is the foundation of this philosophy? Is it the truth? What truth is this? Who’s truth is this? Do you question those so-called truths?

The most important truth is, do you know YOU? What do YOU stand for? Do you love YOU? Do you, really?

I was raised a catholic and still am. My wife adopted this faith as well as my children. It is our choice. What is your choice? Your choice in religion? Or are you ‘spiritual’, not religious? Maybe you’re an atheist. Maybe an agnostic. It is your choice. Choices have to be respected. No one is better, we are just different. 

Me & a member of my Family Gym. He strives to be his best every day and seeks to help those who need his help, to help them, help themselves.


Lent

I have come to question a lot of things about my chosen faith and about me, just like, I assume, you would have also about yourself. You see, I have always told people who don’t know the sport of bodybuilding very well, that preparing for a contest to ultimately, win or get a podium finish is like an extended period of Lent. Yep, Lent!

To achieve the goal of presenting your very best and improving your chances of winning, I have to go through an extended period of Lent, or in other words, an extended period of self-deprivation.

However, the difference with actual Lent, is that with Lent, you are told to ‘give up’ something you love – it could be chocolate, alcohol, smoking or anything else that makes you ‘feel good’ and somewhat makes you also ‘feel guilty’. As a kid, I remember choosing to give up chocolate during Lent and that was difficult because I loved chocolate.

I still do. One of my many weaknesses.

To pursue your SHIT and never achieving it is far better than never having a go at your SHIT and living with regret forever.

bodybuilding, periods of “self-imposed purity bubble of deprivation”

In the preparation of yourself for a body-building contest, you have to take this philosophy and multiply it and take it to another level. A level that very few are willing to take. You don’t just ‘give up’ one pleasure, you have to ‘give up’ many. And not just for a month (approximately the period of Lent), you have to ‘give up’ almost all the pleasures of life, all the things that make you ‘happy’, for anything up to 20 weeks, give or take. That is 5 months of your life. Five months of self-imposed self-deprivation. Five months of saying ‘no’ to things that make life a little bit more pleasurable, a little bit more happy.

You live in a self-imposed ‘purity bubble’ in a world that is in a continuous state of decadence. That is what you have to do, to achieve a ‘look’ that the judges and fans are looking for when you’re on that stage. That body-building stage. That is why I believe body-building is the toughest sport in the world (others would argue otherwise but I understand differences in perception).

That is what you have to do to get the results. To win. This is what you have to do in this sport, just like a swimmer needs to swim daily for his sport, just like a soccer player has to kick a soccer ball around.

To win!

I dared to be different. I dared to not only dream but … to Dream BIG. I wanted to be one of the best at something I loved to do… not just in my state, my country.. but in the world 🌎. I couldn’t stand being “the same”. I just wanted to strive for an ideal… another vision of what I would like to be . And I did get there … 2 x World Championships- took me 10 years but I got there

Taught to Fear Failure

Got me thinking about Lent and our society’s insatiable desire to win, sometimes to win at all costs. You see it everywhere. On tv reality shows, In relationships. In business, In sporting events, in schools and even in families. To ‘get ahead ‘ in life, we’re taught to fear losing.

Fear failure.

Growing up, I would hear my grandparents and aunties and uncles reminding us kids the point of Lent was self-denial. That by depriving ourselves of something we love, of something that brought us pleasure was a good thing. That it proved that you were strong. What a load of you know what!

Here’s where I am at odds with this way of thinking now. Here’s where I am at odds with my chosen religion. It is the propagation of the whole set of attitudes that implies that being pleased with yourself is somehow wrong. Suspect. That not being the same as everyone else is crazy. That being different is dangerous.

That high standards means lots of losers and that suppressing or ‘putting people down’ is the best way to make them grow, The best way to make them spring up.

The bible says that we need to love thy neighbours as thyself. Lovely philosophy but flawed! Back to my earlier question: do you really love YOU? I think there are more people than not that do not really love themselves.

Think about it.

The Brain 🧠. The Real Power rests within this living organism… between the billions of neuronal network… Great thinkers know that thoughts 💭 change the world. Guard and work on your thoughts … every single day. Your most important investment.
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.

Taught to feel like losers

Too much of our society and its teachings are designed to make most of us feel like LOSERS MOST OF THE TIME.

Gee, they have even got one of the most popular reality tv programs, with that very word in it. To make us feel like LOSERS MOST OF THE TIME. Like I said, its everywhere – in the media, on tv programs, in gaming shows, in our examination system, in our organizations. Its everywhere.

So, I now question that very belief of ‘loving thy neighbour as you love yourself’ and the philosophy it stands on. If machinery of today’s society, is designed to make most of us FEEL LIKE LOSERS MOST OF THE TIME, then, if we really did love our neighbours as ourselves, most of our neighbours would get the short end of the stick. They would get a raw deal. They would lose out.

My biggest competitor is ME

The up-coming Winter Olympics is a celebration of elite talent and what I am talking about will be on show there. The podium finishers: first, second and third are celebrated. Whole countries are judged on their medal tally and haul.

What will be on show during these games, is it is as if we were governed by the philosophy that only the top three count and the rest are ALSO-RANS. This philosophy is flawed! I’ll tell you why.

When I started my body-building competitive career (over 20 years ago), I always felt my biggest competitor was ME. That no matter who I came up against in contests and no matter what result I got, I would not lose sight of the fact that I am competing against ME. I was setting my own standards for ME. My goal was to set my own targets. My goal was to be better than I was yesterday and the week before that and the month before that and the year before that.

Even though winning or being in the top three was a goal of mine, it never defined who I was as my performance was not tied to the result, but it was tied to the effort I had put in to it. I dreamed of being a better ME. I dreamed of bettering myself at each contest, compared to prior contests. To prior years. Not to others That’s comparing apples with apples.

Amongst other things … I am a “Physique Artist”
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.

Biggest obstacle: don’t be different, it’s too dangerous 

However, most of what we’re taught in life is to win and sometimes to win at all costs. With that comes the dreadful mind-set of the fear of failure (refer to my earlier blog on this topic and how everyone should love the ‘f’ word more). This is a direct consequence of the idea that winning is very important, even though it is so difficult.

So, fear of failing becomes more paramount. A disease of the mind. The best strategy in this case would be to avoid losing. To avoid failing. So, everyone effectively accept the ‘status quo’.

Everyone be the same. Don’t be different. Its too dangerous.

I. AM.
GOD?

If you fail, you escape responsibility 

So, if the best strategy is to avoid losing, its best to lower your sights, lower your standards, lower your goals, dream small – not big. Keep your head down, don’t try to stand out but above all, don’t try too hard. Nope! Don’t try too hard. That way, if you fail, god forbid, you can always blame your laziness, not your lack of ability. You can continue to fear failure and stay the same. That is what society wants. For everyone to stay the same.

If you fail, you escape responsibility for your actions and explain your failure by claiming that the particular challenge/contest/business venture/ relationship you were in did not justify the energy needed to sustain it.

What a load of rubbish!

I think it was the recently deceased Nelson Mandela that said that ‘being small, serves no one’. I agree. However, much of what society and religion has been founded on is the philosophy of being humble or in other words – being and thinking/dreaming SMALL.

Thinking too big, dreaming big, is not encouraged and dangerous as it leads to being ‘different’. Being different can be very costly to you, the individual, and the society, as we are taught to believe.

What Mr Mandela was trying to say, I believe is that being ‘small’ or being ‘humble’ for the sake of being humble serves no one: it does not serve the person giving it nor the person receiving it. It does not serve humanity.

What Mr Mandela was saying was probably that if humility is the mode, then apathy is the mood. Inaction and indecisiveness is exactly what society wants. Inaction or apathy is the fuel of all fears. And we wonder why the fear of the ‘f’ word – failure, is so rampant in our society. Its because, the firewood that strokes these flames is everywhere, in the very fiber of society and religion.

Know YOU.
It’s ok to Love 💓 YOU… it’s ok to be YOU…it’s ok to be different

It’s ok to be different 

Its sad, but true, it seems that most people need to be stroked like a pet cat. Frozen with fear, people need to be stroked emotionally and psychologically in a positive manner, by someone for something, almost every day. If they are not stroked, they are a heap of mess. If that is for one person, then it must be for many more.

it seems, Energies are low. Belief in self is low. Depression and diseases of the mind are rising exponentially around the developed world. The obesity epidemic that has been gripping the world in recent times is only a symptom of a bigger problem caused by the machinery of society and religion. The obesity epidemic is a symptom of the ‘obesity of the minds’ of people ( I will talk more on a later blog).

Its okay to be different.

Yes, being different does come at a cost. But it is ok. Be brave. Know yourself more. Love yourself more. It is okay to love yourself more. We are each meant to be different and to celebrate and appreciate each other’s differences. That is what makes the world go round, right?

Become a somebody 

You have been blessed with a bunch of talents or gifts and you have a responsibility to use and improve your bit of YOU. Your bit of creation. In turn, if possible, you should also help improve the talents and gifts of others. To not allow yourself to dream big, to not allow yourself to imagine a better, more improved you. To ignore these god-gifted talents yourselves and take it to new heights, new standards is to deny yourself and others a most beautiful thing.

It gives humanity the short end of the stick, the raw deal. This is the ultimate disrespect to your creator, whoever, whatever religion that you follow.

So, get up and love yourself!

Why not love yourself a little today and then love others. Make a commitment to love yourself, even more, tomorrow and continue for as long as you live. Love YOU. This is not soft. This is not wrong or bad.  Now, your neighbours will not get a raw deal, when you adopt that saying “love your neighbours as yourself”.

They will get the BEST OF YOU.

That is what I have taught my daughter to say as her prayer every night: “God, help me be the best I can be, for ME and for everyone else.” Notice, it is for her first and foremost, not for mum or dad. And so, if she hypothetically came last or out of the top 3 in a contest, but if she tells me she gave it her best, then, in my eyes, she won.

In my eyes, her effort and her participation tells me she won. And that is exactly what she will believe in. That will hopefully, instill a belief that will lower the risk of her fear of failure and allow her to just ‘have a go’.

Participate. Just do it!

It is okay to be an ‘ALSO-RAN’ and also feel like you’re a winner. You’re a winner because you didn’t believe in apathy or inaction. You’re a winner because you tried. You gave it your best. You gave it a go. You’re a winner because you came in fourth, exhausted and encouraged – because last time you came in fifth.

You’re a winner because winning is also – giving yourself to others freely; winning is also never whining; it is also picking up a beer can you didn’t throw on the beach; it is becoming that dream of yourself that would fulfill you as a person with high self-esteem; it is being glad you are you,; it is unconditional love; it is a way of thinking – a way of living; it is a habit (so is losing – be careful).

Winning is all in the attitude, an attitude of the mind. Your attitude toward your potential is either the key to or the lock on your door of personal fulfilment. Action squashes all fear.

Now, consider an alternative definition of Lent: don’t give something up, take something on. Dream big. Dare to be different. Don’t fear failure. Set higher standards for yourself.

Love yourself. Love yourself more. Love others. Give more of YOU to the world. Exercise your attitude of mind.

Become a somebody!

All the best in your journey in the sea of life.

Until next time,

My gritty Viking Pirate 🏴‍☠️ Princess 👸

 

Building muscle, one rep at a time with relevant tools like a dumbell. In my Old School, no frills gym. Just the way I like it.

Building muscle, one rep at a time with relevant tools like a dumbell. In my Old School, no frills gym. Just the way I like it.

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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,

P.

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

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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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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 80th 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 80th 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..

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