New Body – New World
I’ve been thinking of the people who’ve inspired me on my various paths in life, some are still my teachers, others have moved on. Then I had to look at myself and ask what kind of role I play in the world and what I want for the New Year.Inspiration is really just holding up a mirror of hope, real possibilities and desire to someone else. How we live our lives is what’s on our mirror and we never know how much we affect others through our actions and our lives.
So what’s this got to do with health and fitness? Everything. When we’re inspired, endless possibilities can become real. An inspired possibility comes from an energized brain, and an energized brain is the hottest ticket to any life transformation.
Dumped after 30
A lot of men start to feel old and experience a depressing loss of youth after 30. The media “youth advertising” blitz starts to taper off, hormones change, careers kick into gear, we can’t metabolize the junk food we loved in our 20’s and it’s easy to feel old when we go out to dance on the weekends.
What’s really critical here isn’t the “chronological loss of youth” that implies aging in our culture, it’s the lack of inspiration for, and encouragement of, a healthy life, body and lifestyle. Having ripped abs isn’t a description of having good health or a lack of it; they’re just ripped abs. Put "mind-body" health together with ripped abs and you’ve got something really great. But it’s always your choice of what’s healthy – for you – that is the most important thing.
I noticed that whenever I’ve shifted something in my life, I’ve attracted new people and opportunities. Imagine the magnitude of local and world change that would occur if all of us made ourselves fit (ripped if you want) and healthy from the inside out. Supersized double cheese burgers with fries and diet cokes would disappear, no one would be buying them. Gyms would open in airports, shopping malls and roadside gas stations. Irradiated food would sit unsold on shelves for it’s 100-year extended lifetime and fresh food would be the order of the day.
So for the New Year, make time to take care of yourself at the gym. Eat well. Skip those unfulfilling social events, and go to the ones that are more meaningful. Make a lifestyle plan for yourself. If your friends make fun of your new patterns and eating habits, just love them. No defense necessary. When you’ve taken care of yourself —and really, who else is going to? — You will find your interactions with everyone else to be so much lighter, you’ll have energy for hours and you’ll deep sleep like you used to, regardless of the stress you endure.
If we want to live in a world full of happy, healthy, kind people then Gandhi’s guidance is perfect: “be the change you want to see in the world”. Here’s a 2010 challenge, I hope you’ll join me:
Be the happiest that we can be.
Be the healthiest that we can be.
Be the fittest that we we be.
Go ahead and make this list longer, it’s just a start. What do you really want in the New Year? How do you want to look and feel? What kind of world do you want to live in? If we continually step-out being ourselves, being our best, we’ll feel inspired and we'll inspire someone else. That’s how the world will change, one of us at a time.
Happy New Year!
Train Your Body. Train your Mind. Tame your Tongue.
Information on this site is not a substitute for consulting a licensed medial professional. You should never begin an exercise or nutritional regime without consulting your physician.
Happy New Year to you, too, Rick.
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