Letter to a wimpy client from your personal trainer.

Dear wimpy and annoying client,

My job as your personal trainer is to get you to your goal. I will do everything in my power to get you to your goal. However, you have to meet me in the middle. You stated on this little sheet of paper that you wanted to lose weight. You specifically said you wanted to lose 20 pounds. This is totally doable, but it will take some effort on your part. I assumed you knew that, but I was wrong.

You have asked me to write you a simple routine that you can follow at the gym to get you to your goal. I find this really amusing. You're an attorney right? Would you write me a simple formula that I can follow everyday because I'm thinking about dabbling in a law practice.

These stretches that I've shown you are not just for "young people". They are recommended by the National Association for Sports Medicine for people with postural deviations. I'm sorry that because you have either been sitting in a chair or a car for most of your adult life you have tight hip flexors, but you need to take 2 minutes out of your day and stretch those bad boys out.

I understand that you feel really comfortable on the stationary bike, but it is wasting your time. Why don't I get you a remote control and some ice tea so you can relax as you peddle? If you want to burn calories you might try doing the elliptical, the stairmaster or the treadmill--any machine that requires you to hold up your own body weight.

You are going to have to get your heart rate up past 90 bpm. You will have to sweat. You are going to have to lift weights and build muscle because muscle will burn fat. No, you will not get bulky. You are going to have to watch what you eat and realize that the crap you put in your mouth is making you fat, not your metabolism or your genes.

I cannot help you if you do not want to learn anything new. I cannot help you if you want to schedule your sessions a few weeks apart. I cannot help you if you are a wimp and afraid to work hard. Sure, you can try it out on your own, but wouldn't you have succeeded already?

In life, the amount of effort you put in matches the results you get. So, whenever you are ready to get to that goal you wrote down, give me a call and I can help you.

Words of Encouragement

"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be. You are a child of God; your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God/the Divine within us. It is not in just some of us. It is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others." ~ Marianne Williamson

From Buddhism Plain and Simply by Steve Hagen

Our job is to see where things don't make sense, when things aren't working out, where life is utterly baffling. We must note what a profound ache in the heart we feel and realize what it is we don't know. We must see our ignorance and confusion.

There isn't anything "out there" that ultimately satisfies. There isn't anything "out there" that we must acquire or repel. In fact, there isn't any "out there" at all. Nothing enters or leaves the Mind.

The angel in running shorts.

I was on my way to work one morning when I was living in Austin. There's a Starbucks on 5th Street going towards town that I always pass and sometimes stop. I stopped this particular morning because I had been feeling the weight of the world and it seemed particularly heavy at the moment. Caffeine, I reasoned, would give me the energy to carry it. I park. Buy drink. Wait. Receive drink. Stir in Splenda. Then a voice behind me, "You are worrying too much." I turn around and see a petite man in running shorts and a tank. "You may think you have problems, but you really don't. They are very small. Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff." Knowing that this particular being was absolutely right and recognized my all-too-common plight instantly, I reply sincerely, "Thank you." He smiled and said, "Have a glorious day," as he walked out the door.

Thank you, angel in running shorts, for the start of my awakening. "This is not the end, this is the final beginning."

Untitled

Are we destined to live happily
the basic nature of human mentality
or fated to wander wailing
torn from needed nurturing
but then what rare luxury
to walk with no responsibility
would the soul rather submit and connect
or speak freely a derived dialect

Some strange awake...

All of us were on a scavenger hunt out in the jungle. It was night and very hard to see. We were divided up evenly into teams and given numbered instructions on an ancient piece of parchment. Funny, though, that the instructions were in a strange code. Each team had to interpret the instructions before gathering what was on the list. There were disagreements between team members about what the symbols meant. There was competitive animosity between the teams as they scrambled to collect items. Sometimes teams were unsure what the symbols meant and sometimes they knew what to do and were proud. We placed our items in a coarse burlap sack and the sacks were collected before any of the teams could finish. A great fire appeared and the burlap sacks with all the items were thrown into the fire. As we watched our pain and labor consumed in flames, we realized that neither the interpretations, the tasks or the items mattered one bit. The important part was the journey.