Be the Change no. 5

“Your beliefs are your actions. What you say is just what you think.”

Be the Change.

Ten more doesn’t seem like a lot BUT ten more over a bunch of exercises is a lot. Today I am a little bit out of breath. I haven’t really felt like this since I got started with the whole morning routine of working out and coming over here to tap away. I think it is a good thing BUT I am a bit winded. So, this might be brief today.

I spend a lot of time in mentor mode. I mentor a lot because I care about how we move forward as a people. And if you are in contact with me during my life, then you are part of my community. And I feel an obligation to mentor my community.

I mentor a lot about choices and change. I believe that the choices we make reveal a lot more about who we are than the things we say and post. Matt called it “word vomit” the other day. And he isn’t far off on that metaphor. A lot of us are just regurgitating thoughts from somewhere else. That is kind of how thoughts work. Our ideas do not just magically occur to us. Our thoughts are the work of all the other thoughts we pull into our brain and then its ability to put order to those thoughts and experiences.

My design for a better greenhouse comes from this type of brain activity. I am slowly working on replacing the internal skeleton of aluminum in my greenhouses with a more secure and sturdy wooden frame. And as I have thought about the greenhouse bones and taken measurements and looked around at gardening groups and looked around at my own gardening needs, the idea of how to build the replacement frame and a plan for a bigger and better model keeps my plans changing and growing.

I did not come up with the idea for the greenhouse. The plan was already there. What I did was take the existing plan and make it my own. And in order for any thought to be meaningful to our lives, we have to make them our own. They can’t be what mom told you, what dad told you, what your teacher told you, what the news told you, what the writer told you, what the prophets told you, what God told you . . . They can’t just be the words of someone else. They have to become your words. And the only way that happens is by putting the words into action.

So if that is getting up every morning and choosing to get healthy, then you make it part of you. If that is getting up every morning and meditating and visualizing, then you make it a part of you. If that is getting up every morning and drinking coffee to get through your morning, then you make it a part of you. If that is filling that coffee with a bunch of sugar and fat, then you make it a part of you. Your choices tell the story of what is important to you. So, start acting like your choices today matter. Because the choices you make today impact the choices you make going forward. What are you going to choose?

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange

Be the Change no. 4

"You're not going to get healthy concerning yourself about what other folks are doing. You only get healthy by concern for what you are doing."

Be the Change.

Recently I began seeing these twenty-five push up and sit up challenges for the month of February. At first I was wondering why twenty-five? There are twenty-eight or twenty-nine days in February, so what is up with the twenty-five? And I thought, why not even though I don’t understand the number.

I already do twenty push ups and crunches as part of my routine. So, what’s the big deal in doing five more? And I then took that to the next level. I might as well do thirty if I’m going to twenty-five. And today was the day I just decided to add ten to every part of the routine. Ten more jumping jacks, ten more seconds on the plank, ten more bicep curls . . . ten more of it all.

When you’re ready for the next step in your journey, it seems like life gives you signs. There is something that aligns when you align. I know a lot of folks poo-poo the Secret and Christianity and religion on the whole BUT there is something definitely working for you when you get yourself in alignment. There are always hints and clues and even downright giant billboards on your news feed giving you challenges to step up your game. Giving the road map to the next level.

I don’t know when I would have added ten to my morning routine. I may have never decided to up my game by ten. I have friends making gifs and memes out of me showing a more fit and more active me. I have friends giving me workout advice. I have all the signs . . . I just needed to take the next step.

So, today I can definitely attest that I am sore BUT not as sore as I was when I went from nothing to starting. Getting started is the most difficult part of getting on the change wagon. Once your mind gets used to the idea of changing, it then takes the body along for the ride. It was brutal to try and start this with spending decades not caring about my body or my mind. I mean I thought I was in good shape. I thought I was doing alright BUT all those comparisons were external to folks that were doing even worse. I needed to start worrying about what I was doing. I started that routine a few years ago feeling like a pile of shit. I could barely get through the routine BUT I kept with it despite not having it together. I can say that even though I still don’t have everything together, I at least accept the mess I was and the better mess I am now. I have a responsibility to myself, my family, and my community to be the best me I can be. Anything less would be taking the rights with which I was born and letting them go. I embrace the responsibility that comes with life, liberty, and property. I own myself, my freedom, and my world. I am the caretaker of my body, my liberty, and my world. I am going to make that change for the better even if it is just ten more things, five more things, or one more thing daily. What are you going to add to your life today?

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange