Where are you suppressing growth? What life habits/patterns are your chief limiters? How badly do you want to live?

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You are seeking something which is here — right here — inside yourself. You are not seeking something which is alien to you, but rather your own inmost nature, your essence.

Paul Brunton, Discover Yourself

Thoughts for the Week:

* Visualize and imagine what you desire to experience.

* Success: You feel good not because the world is right, but your world is right because you feel good.

* We must erase first. Then, we write with clear wisdom. (Picture yourself erasing a mental blackboard).

* Self-Awareness: We must see our feelings as they actually are, not as we assume they are.

* Identification: We lose our thoughts in these things in an attempt to feel secure:

* Person / Place / Career / Hobby / Personal Viewpoints

* We want to cling to something that seems permanent.

* Identification with excitement is always followed by an unhappy reaction.

* It is strange how human beings seldom inspect the ideas which produce the kind of life they have.

* The products of our processes.

* You are not your collected self-descriptions… when a memorized image of yourself does not interfere with right now, right now is peace and liberty.

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I’ve found this to be one of, if not the, key elements of longevity. Life is full of transitions. Beginning, progressing, achieving, becoming, and then ending.

This episode dives into what that may look like, as well as how it can be planned for and navigated.

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Listen to this while moving, creating energy, or while focused and alert. Absorption depends on optimal environmental conditions.

As a runner, if I’m not doing my long runs or lacking motivation, I need to sign up for races or find a training group that fills that need. If I’m not doing my hill work or speed training, I need to hire a coach, sign up for shorter races, or find a group that is doing the type of training I am avoiding.

You are closer to success than it often seems. Spend time in reflection and journal what comes to mind.

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Becoming the best version of you is what the world desires. It is what your family desires, it is what the group/work/social environments desire, even though they may not consciously know it. Thus, it is your (my) responsibility to define who that person is, what they are capable of, and start living life that way… NOW. Change is always now. There is no ideal time to be the best. Attitude is your friend. Inaction is your foe.

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The attitude of the beginner is one of freshness, wonder, hope, and possibility. Dreams die when our spirit hardens. Remain interested in all things and see how your experience changes.

Create time and space for the experience to flourish.

Set personal boundaries.

Harness the power of the destination, or deadline, to achieve results.

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Musings on the source of our successes in life. What feelings did you attach to them? Have you experimented with changing your mindset or viewpoint on something that is not going well? Do you cling to the negative or do you seek to overcome it?

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Your purpose, your aim, and your consciousness define the path you take.

We all need to re-center and re-frame, no matter how far or devoted we are to the path. Books help. Coaches help. Quotes help. Journaling is paramount.

What we quantify, we can improve. Journal. Write. Think. Let it flow. Address what needs to be addressed and then move on.

Onward and upward.

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People do not value what is easily come by. Therefore the simple solution is not the one employed.

“Setting yourself a voluntary aim and compelling yourself to achieve it, creates magnetism and the ability to do. Magnetism is acquired only through conscious labor and intentional suffering, through doing small things voluntarily.”

G.I. Gurdjieff

Cutting down a tree, splitting, and stacking firewood is a natural (and necessary for survival in many climates) process for heating.

Walking is a way to traverse vast distances in any terrain.

Hunting is a way to feed and clothe yourself. The process of harvesting and processing is simple, yet not easy.

Losing weight and achieving your optimal size is a natural process of reversing the practices which made you overweight. It is not addition but subtraction. It is harder to add than it is to take away. Simple isn’t easy.

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When I talk about lifestyle, fitness and holistic training, I speak from an angle of inclusivity. It is very rare for any one activity to check all the boxes necessary to build a complete, or as close to complete, human being as possible. Therefore multiple modalities should be included in your approach to lifestyle fitness training. Thus balance is the goal. It is not necessary to become an expert in each area only to become competent in each area/modality.

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