Give It Away

I was leaning on a railing at my globo where I do personal training, listening to my client tell me about a conversation she had with her friend. One thing had led to another and she ended up showing her friend how to squat, just as I'd shown her. My heart got this warm cuddly feeling then: my student had become a teacher!

To give of yourself is the greatest gift of all. When you are actively teaching something (lecturing, coaching, tutoring) you are giving of yourself; your time, your energy, your knowledge. In our lifetimes we've all had chances to actively teach ("let me show you how to...") and to passively teach (by example).  Have you ever thought about what giving really is and how it impacts the world? Teachers of life lessons come in all shapes and sizes and it is true that not all lessons are easy. It's a magical thing: we've all been given great teachers and in turn so we become.

 Seek to give

Whatever you desire for yourself, desire it for others as well. That will help to take you beyond the constraining influence of your ego.

There is nothing of any value to be gained by taking from others. For anything you take away
from someone else can just as easily be taken from you. Instead, choose to become the living embodiment of that which you wish to have. Give energy and focus and action to your dreams, and those dreams will come to life all around you.

The more people who benefit from your positive thoughts and efforts, the more quickly those efforts will bring valuable results. To experience great abundance be a channel through which that abundance can flow.

Make a positive difference that extends into the lives around you. Create value that goes beyond you. It is by giving that you make room to receive even more. Seek to give what you wish to have, and it will surely become real for you. -- Ralph Marston - 

A couple other quotes about teachers that I just couldn't resist including here are below. They've been sitting at the end of this draft for about a week and I've finally decided to just include them!

In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us. ~Flora Edwards

None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us. ~Thurgood Marshall

Goals Gone Wrong!

Have you ever heard of Vision Boards? The idea is to create a poster using a variety of media; magazine clippings, photos, bold phrases all reflecting the things and feelings we want in our lives. To quote Tristan Loo from SelfGrowth.com:

We attract into our lives anything that we give attention to, regardless whether it be positive or negative. From a psychological view, the law of attraction can be best explained by the information filtering system of the brain known as the reticular activating system (RAS). Vision boards serve the role of programming the RAS to tune into external stimuli that can help us move closer towards our intentions.

Click here to read the whole post.

Here's a quick exercise to show you how your thoughts can, and are, guiding your whole life. Ready?

Picture an "old person" whatever that means to you, of your own gender.

Now, what does "old" look like to you? White hair? Frail? Dowager's hump? Wearing a muu muu & big white velcro-lace sneakers? Unfortunately if this is the case, this is where you are headed. If you believe that image is what old is, that is what your brain is trying daily to achieve! So how can you become a better athlete if every day your brain is thinking, "Uh oh. I'm older today, I can't do this workout well because that will steer me off course! I need to be one step closer to being frail." Scary right?

Go to your local CrossFit and watch the Masters group. Google CrossFit Games Masters and spend time watching what these phenomenal athletes can do. Not "for their age" but period! Scrap your antiquated image of elderly. Create a new future and you will create a new today.