Currently browsing Mental Strength

I believe that UNPLUGGING yourself from technology and media influence is a very inportant part to any persons life. I do not mean to unplug permanently, but we all need to take a break from our Blackberry, IPhone/Ipod, Android and all the fantastic social media options available to us now. I believe in technology 100%. I have a Blackberry myself and love what I can do with it. It has been a means for Kasia and I to stay connected when she is 3,000 miles away from home and the kids want to tell her something that just happened or just to say I Love You at random. It has also been an incredible option for me to be able to stay connected via email as I am not home very often. But all of that can take over a persons life very quickly. It has been stated in the media the the last thing that most people do is check their social media and it is also the first thing that they do when they get up in the morning. We need to turn this stimuli off once in a while and get ourselves away from the connections so that we can reconnect with the Universe. What I mean by reconnecting with the Universe is that, we all need to get into nature once in awhile, and this is what i mean by plugging ourselves in. Dr. Deepak Chopra states that when we return to nature it is the fastest way for us to recharge our batteries. You cannot however recharge your batteries when you are distracted by oustside stimuli like you iphone or blackberry. Take the time to enjoy your surroundings and REALLY take it all in. Take really deep breaths enjoying what nature smells like. Stop at a lookout or two and enjoy the view. Go with someone you love and take the time to re-connect with them as well. We do this regularily in our family even if we just go to the local nature park not far from our house. I find that I have a much higher more centred level of energy after our walk or hike and its a great way to educate your kids on how to respect nature. I suggest leaving your technology at home or in the car when you go, but if you must carry it with you, TURN IT OFF COMPLETELY, not just on silent mode. I will now use one of my favorite lines from the Comor sports store. “Go Play Outside.”

Many of us have doubt in our minds or maybe just not enough belief in ourselves. I want you to know it’s possible. The dreams you hold in your heart but push to the back of your mind are within your reach. Accept the fact that you can create a better life. This will serve as the springboard of belief you need to succeed.

~Martin Crous

I have been thinking about this comment that was said to me a couple of months ago and I have finally realized that I have been living my life this way for as long as I can remember. I will only reflect on bits and pieces that are the most meaningful to me at this point. Before Kasia and I had our own business I used to work in the hotel industry which in itself is a very demanding field to be in,  but I took it to the next level on several occasions one of which included a 36 hour shift. When we had our own Auto Repair shop I delivered newspapers in the middle of the night to keep the business afloat and keep our children fed and warm. Did I think about myself in these times? I can honestly say, without a shadow of a doubt, I did not. My biggest concern was providing for my family and doing whatever it took to do that.

Even just thinking about my favorite movies, they are all related to doing whatever it takes to get to where you need to be. “Lord of the Rings”, Frodo does what needs to be done to save Middle Earth, The “Jason Bourne Trilogy”, Jason Bourne does whatever it takes to find out who he really is,”Oceans 11,12 and 13″, again the team does whatever it takes to pull off their final goal. Some movies that you may or may not know and are a little more on the edgy side of life are the movie “8 Mile” by Eminem, this one is about Marshal Mathers a.k.a Eminem trying to become a rap star even though he comes from a broken family living in a trailer park with his drug addicted alcoholic mother all the while fighting the negative feedback he is getting for being a caucasion rapper.  And one last one along those lines as well is “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” with 50 Cent as the lead. This is 50 cents life story about being involved in drug dealing and gang relations as a teenager and then trying to break free from that life. He runs into resistance in the streets and eventually gets shot but fights back and eventually he makes it fulfilling his ultimate dream. These may be very extreme examples but they resonate with DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES, because all the characters in those examples did whatever it took to reach their ultimate goal.

Even just a few years back when Kasia came to me telling me very passionately that she needs to give back to the world, that we did not go through our life experience to not give back and teach others that there is a better way. Once again the fighter inside me was fired up and I asked her, what do you need from me. I had very recently started training to be a transit operator and as soon as I could I was working the late evening shift so Kasia could work day shift and do her schooling at night with no distractions. The kids were sleeping and I was at work. Don’t get me wrong they were trying times as well, we always tell people it was like having an affair with your own spouse, only seeing each other a few days a month. But we did it this time knowing there was a very bright light at the end of that tunnel.

Even now we are both working in Fresh Perspective Family as a team, while I still drive the bus full time and we are doing whatever it takes to get our message and teachings out there. It would be very selfish if we did not share our knowledge of living a better, more fulfilling life as parents with kids that will do whatever it takes, and not take “I can’t do this” for an answer. Kids that march to the beat of their very own drum, with an extremely positive outlook on life and taking responsibility for ALL their actions. We are teaching our kids that if you do something amazing, OWN IT, if you mess something up big time, OWN IT, and of course everything in between as well.

My final thoughts to you all are OWN whatever you do and DO whatever it takes to OWN what you are doing. Please leave your comments. I appreciate all feedback.

Training Your Core

Recently I wrote an article for my Warrior Fitness Training newsletter about “Training the Core -Vector Style”.  Don’t worry; I’m not going to get into the aspects of physical fitness here.  But I did notice something when I was writing this article.

There were a couple of paragraphs that could be applied to personal development and personal empowerment.

Just to give a brief background on the what the core is, from a physiological perspective – “The core is a section of the body roughly defined as the area from the armpits to the knees, and more specifically, as the 29 pairs of muscles that support the lumbo pelvic-hip complex that stabilize the spine, pelvis, and kinetic chain during functional movements.”

OK…that’s it for the anatomy lesson.  Well except one other part… “most movements occur through the core, after beginning somewhere else.”

Let’s think about this from personal empowerment perspective.  What is you ‘core’?  I might offer that your core is your values.  That part of you that give’s you direction in life.  That gut feeling when something is right and something is wrong.

 But in today’s frantic pace many of us have lost track of our core and have let it get weak.  Let’s take a look at another expert from my article about the physical core.  

“If the core lacks strength with balance and stability then energy leakage can occur upon force production or force absorption and the power generated by the limbs and transferred through the core can be lost, resulting in less power generated for a technique or a compromised ability of the body to absorb force properly. During force reduction, the pattern of force reduction compensation can lead to injury due to core weakness and imbalances.”

You probably found this very interesting didn’t you?

Let’s take a closer look…”If the core lacks strength and stability then energy leakage can occur…”  WOW!

Let’s apply this to our values based core.  If we don’t live in alignment with our core values then we can get distracted with other things…this is also energy leakage!  Then we can’t generate any power! 

Can you see how this might be showing up in your life?

By studying the physical core we can learn about our values core.  One word comes to mind when I think about both cores…integrity.  According to dictionary.com one definition of integrity is “a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.” This can be easily applied to our physical core. 

Another definition is “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”  This could be easily applied to our values core.

So, when our core is in integrity we’ll have no leakage and be in perfect condition.

The question is then…how to do you train your “core.”

Since there are so many similarities between our physical core and “invisible” core, let’s look at how one would train the physical.  Again from my article:

“If the core can be trained in these various angles, with a variety of implements, then it will be better prepared to withstand, as well as transfer, the forces needed in preparation, operations and deployment.”

Hum????

So how does this pertain to our values core?   The same way a person trains and develops mental strength….go out look for opportunities of challenges themselves.

This means intentionally exposing oneself to circumstances that will confront your values.  This might be keeping a commitment to friend to meet for lunch instead of canceling because you’re too busy (if friendship is a core value). It could mean telling someone you disagree with them instead of remaining silent.  

Take a look at your top 3 core values and think about the last time you “exercised” them?  I mean really put then to the test. By putting ourselves in a variety of circumstance (training from various angles) we can train our core to become stronger.  We’ll then have no energy leaks.

When we have no energy leaks we will have more energy to accomplish what we want and achieve personal success and peak performance.

If we don’t train our core will be susceptible to injury i.e. disappointment, fear, etc and personal failure.

The choice is yours….train your core or allow it be weakened.  I hope you’ll choose wisely.