This blog post is entitled "Twofer" because today, Twosday, you are getting two blog posts for the price of one my friend. It is a good day for you.
1. "ESCAPE."
While writing a travel article today, I found myself using the word "escape" several times to describe a vacation. I found this so interesting. My thought was, why do we need to "escape" our normal lives? In Western society, there is an underlying notion that you should work hard and achieve your goals, and toil in pursuit of these goals is not only acceptable but almost... to be expected. Well... I don't like this. But I'm trained by years of studying Law of Attraction principles to talk about what I DO like, not what I don't. So how about this: new paradigm to replace rat race paradigm is that we create a life for ourselves where every day brings the type of joy you would find on "vacation." The type of life you don't want to escape. The type of life that thrills you, so that each morning you wake up happy and excited to live it. To each person, of course, this kind of life would look different. But it's my wish that we could all have this, and it is my aim to have this for myself. Here I must give a ton of gratitude because my life is already pretty close to this, and I am so thankful. In the ways that it is not yet, I simply have more growth and creation to do, and I am excited for that to happen.
2. Health and Happiness
All of my adult life, I have been interested in "health and fitness." Having been a professional athlete, a student, a personal trainer, and a yoga teacher at various stages in my life, I have continually researched and experimented with the subject. The pattern is this: learn something, apply it to my life, see the results, question where and why results fell short of expectation, then expand my knowledge by learning something new, and then the cycle repeats. The result? I have tried so many things... the "watch your caloric intake" thing, the various schools of thought on how one should eat as far as proteins / fats / carbs, etc, and countless other ways. But, what I keep coming back to over the last few years is this:
WHEN I AM HAPPY IN MY MIND, MY BODY IS HAPPY!
Not how much did I eat, of what type of food, how much did I exercise, or any of that.
IF I AM HAPPY, MY BODY IS HAPPY
Stress! Stress people. Finally Western world is understanding that stress has a major impact on the body. Your body is a vessel that enables you to carry out your purpose of joy and full-living on this Earth, and it seeks only to serve you, and enable you to bring your desires to fruition. If you have scary bad thoughts, your body just wants to protect you by adding fat layers, or by "falling ill" to force you to take a rest or say HEY! pay attention to what is not going right in your life, in your mind... and attend to your needs!
If I live my life by this principle--by making first priority my happiness in every given moment and every given day, and by paying acute attention to my body's symptoms as a way of telling me to pay attention to some area of my life--then I will exude health and "fitness" in my body. It happens every time, without fail: the happier I am, the more my body radiates health in all the ways I desire.
Of course, our bodies respond to what we truly believe. So what works for me may not work for you... I respect and honor that. But it is always my sincere desire that something I share from my life will bring about some added happiness and enjoyment in your own... in any way, shape or form :)
