Act of Kindness

I've been reading...some random reading of blogs I follow and such, but also about a Peace Summit that the Dalai Lama did in September of 2009 in Vancouver themed, "Educating the Heart" that focused on mostly good news and good works.

The Dalai Lama emphasized again and again the need for women to have greater roles in leadership in all fields because, he said, they are "biologically" more nurturing and have a greater sensitivity to suffering. He feels that our educational system is the domain in which ethics and a connection to the totality of life needs to be taught now that there is a worldwide diminishment of the role of churches and the cohesion of families, arenas which once provided more spiritual and ethical sustenance. Following up on a challenge he made in 2006, he implored the educators and scientists attending the conference to introduce emotional and social intelligence in schools and for the media to start concentrating more on "good news," stories that uplift our spirits instead of scaring us to death.

I make a conscious effort to live in that world of empathy and kindness. Why do I not see this attitude more often in my city? Don't get me wrong, Austin is a friendly city and I see kind acts often and have experienced several personally. But I also see a lack of cohesiveness and have experienced a lot of fear and insecurity of people when it comes to being good to other people and forming good relationships.

Why do we think it serves us as humans to not treat each and every person as amazing entities? Every single "stranger" has purpose in this world, someday they may even have direct purpose to you. I think if we all take the time each day to thank one person (or more!) for their act of kindness or to create our own act of kindness that we will better served.

Live from the Heart

No matter what obstacles I may encounter and no matter what life throws at me, I will always stay true to my values and live from my heart.

Listen to what others are saying without being so quick to respond. Absorb and think before speaking.

Be intentional about your choices. The choices you make stay with you for life. Live with good intentions.

Speak the truth about you. Ask for what you want and need to be happy and stay true to your deepest desires and needs.

Love everything and everyone just as they are.

Be grateful for gifts that you may not initially think of as gifts. The speeding ticket as a means to slow down...criticism to help you do a better job...an obstacle that keeps you from your original path.

Here's to a healthy and happy 2010!!

One Step at a Time

An analogy that I read recently really resonated with me. It's about taking that first step to a goal that seems bigger than you, daunting, or unattainable. I believe this is similar to an analogy written in the book, "The Secret".

So, in life we have our goals that we set for ourself. Lose 50 lbs...find the love of my life...start my own business...get that college degree. These are all big goals that take time to attain. Let's say you know your ultimate destination, but can only see what's directly in front of you. The 5 lbs. that dropped off the scale this month, the few dates you've had with interesting people, the good ideas you have for starting your business--you get the picture.

Picture yourself driving in a car from New York to Los Angeles in the dark. You can only see what your headlights light up, perhaps 200 feet of the road in front of you. The only way to see the next 200 feet is to keep moving forward. So, even though your destination is to travel 3,000 miles, having faith in your direction and believing that you'll get there, you'll be fine with just seeing those 200 feet at a time.

With those big goals (that are so worth the risk), we don't get to see the entire path, just a little piece of the destination. So, I encourage us all to take a step even if we can't see anything beyond it.

Here's something I've been guilty of in the past: thinking that not choosing a path and direction will keep my options open. True for the short term. But in the long term it does nothing to put me in the right direction to get to my goals.

On the personal level:

It's almost Turkey Day and I'm really looking forward to it. There will be volleyball, lots of friends, food, and wine. I have many people to be thankful for in life and I have taking a risk two years ago and moving to Austin to be thankful for, too. While it's not been without some hardships, it's been essential to my growth and happiness as a person. I'm really looking forward to starting school soon and putting my nose in the books.

The Vision of Life's Purpose

There's a greater tragedy than dying. It's the feeling of going through life and never having lived. If you're able to find your life's purpose, what you do with your time satisfies your soul and I believe you're at a greater advantage for living a life with meaning.

I have a job that is very meaningful and provides value to the world. In many ways, my job has been great to me. It's allowed me to learn how to build meaningful relationships, establish some "family" members from bonds that have developed through such a personal relationship and it's cultivated a deeper understanding of this very mysterious thing we live in: our body. In a lot of ways I've felt I've come to an end. I've done some amazing things in life athletically and professionally. From playing a sport professionally myself, to helping several people shed hundreds of pounds of excess weight, to helping them with pain issues that doctors couldn't solve.

I could easily say I love my job, but still feel unfulfilled. There's something greater out there for me and I can feel it. I've felt that way for awhile, but I think that disenchantment is a feeling that many of us get and don't really follow or oblige. We just think, no no, keep treading along, the water is just fine.

One of the first realizations I had was when I was noticing that when friends, peers, strangers on the street, whoever, ask me questions like, "hey, how can i get bigger arms, flatter abs, rid of my love handles?" You know, typical questions, my response is always to first roll my eyes, second is to scoff, and third is to talk about injury prevention. Injury prevention? Ummm, the person just asked about working out, they don't have pain! But, in the very forefront of my mind, I think about all the little stresses that add up when people exercise and how if they don't do therapy to release the stress they will have pain soon enough! Stress...therapy...this is going somewhere. Take that same "whoever" and have them tell me that they have pain somewhere...their knee, back, shoulder and I immediately drop everything and ask to feel it, see it, I ask questions to offer healing advice. I'm engaged, time doesn't exist, speak w/ passion, have feelings of intense value, it's honest, I'm very much myself, it's so...easy. Just the other day, a client casually mentioned her amazement at whenever she has pain, how easily I just "know" exactly what she means and how to fix it. And I think, I'm happy to help!

So, going back to disenchantment, it's one thing to realize a passion and life purpose, and it's one thing to accept the rigors of what it takes to be able to get to that level. To do that thing that you love to do! I have recently accepted that I'm willing to do what it takes to reach that doctorate goal that I've set for myself. I see a very clear purpose and vision.

My vision is bigger than my current abilities. My vision is to be able to heal all pain that is brought to me. I want to be able to fix what the medical doctor cannot see, what the xray does not show, what the MRI says will require surgery, what science cannot prove. I want to teach every individual how to move their body with a better functional purpose and how to eradicate their pain through a better lifestyle.

Assessing Core Values

We are all entitled to our own belief system. It's essential to discovering the person you currently are and the person you want to be. There are times in life I've felt disconnected from myself and it was perhaps in these times that I wasn't living in accordance with my values.

I took some time to assess my own values and write them down. It makes it easier for me to come back to these beliefs in times of change and challenge and make sure that I'm not doing anything to affect my belief system. What are your core values and how do they help you combat the challenges you face in the world? How do they enable you to help the world around you?

Some of my core values:

I will always be honest with myself, for that is what helps me be honest with others.

I will always speak my mind and speak the truth.

I will give love to everyone in my life.

I will forgive, let go, and not hold any ill will to anyone in the world.

I will take responsibility for my actions and words.

I will have compassion for all living things.

I will maintain the ability to laugh at myself.

I will step outside of my comfort zone and challenge my mind and body with new adventures.

Think about some of your values...how do your relationships, lifestyle, and work fulfill them?

Control

"Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness, to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another." R. Bach

Second Chance for Opportunity

How do you feel about second chances? Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt someone deserved a second chance with you? Have you ever needed that second chance yourself? I hope if you found yourself on the latter end of that question, that you were afforded the opportunity and took advantage of it.
I'm constantly reminding myself to take advantage of opportunities I see around me everyday. Think about how many decisions we make everyday. Many of them are automatic: Take shower, brush teeth. Wear black pants. Eat eggs. Drink water. And then there are the decisions and paths we take that have a little more meaning and require much more attention. Like friendships and other relationships, taking a certain job, investing in a certain stock, choosing a specific job in life, etc. What if we wrote down all the decisions that we've made throughout our entire life to get us to where we are today? Even the decisions we've made in the last year...wow...how many would you kick yourself over or feel very proud of?
We sometimes find ourselves in a position where a decision we made leads us to a place where we feel the need for a "do over" or, as I mentioned before, a second chance. A second chance at something we may have previously had an opportunity to do before and never took advantage of because the situation or timing wasn't right.
I've had the same job for over eight years and have always enjoyed what I do. I started personal training at age 23 and never took the opportunity to go to college. I felt I had found my career for life and if I one day tired of it, I could find a similar profession or maybe just stay at home to run a household and manage children. But over the last year as I've seen the world we live in change and the way I want to live change with it, I've decided to take advantage of a second chance afforded to me. I'm going to go back to school and get a degree. I'm truly excited for this adventure. While it's hard to imagine now, I can see this in my future, "Sorry, can't go out tonight, I have a chemistry test in the morning." Whoa.