David Kanigan: Inspiration, Ideas & Information
Running shoes worn in the last Boston marathon were used to create this image. Learn more on how this image was created at: Boston Magazine.
“When we’re in high-drama mode, everything is a crisis. But that’s often because we need the adrenalin or we’re bored…
…The hardest thing about perspective is it means we need to grow up. Or maybe we don’t. One way to have good perspective is to see the world through the eyes of a child. We innocently report. We accept how others think and feel. If something is had or sad, or we’re scared, we say that. We say how we feel and what we want and need. We know that when we’re tired, we see things out of focus. And when things get too difficult, we either go play in the park or we take a nap. Somehow we know that everything will work out.”
Image source: Justbesplendid. Quote Source: Melody Beattie
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Leo Babauta at Zenhabits asked his one million followers for tips on “how they formed exercise habits and made it stick.” What works for me? (When it works.) Four strategies:
ZenHabits shares “38 Best Methods of Successful Exercisers.” Here are five of my favorites: [Read more...]
I share exercise inspirations on Saturday mornings to get me off the couch and out the door. This share by Steve Layman may be the most powerful story and research that I’ve read on this topic. A few excerpts…
The story starts with a Phil Bruno “super-sizing again…He was only a mile from his house, where his wife, Susan, was cooking the usual big Italian dinner for their family of five, but he was hungry now. The urge was automatic…Ten minutes later, with a bag of burgers steaming on the seat beside him, he pulled into a McDonald’s and ordered a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, an apple pie, and a chocolate shake to wash it all down…Phil had always loved food, which was part of the fabric of his tight-knit Sicilian-American family: Grandma and her lasagna were right down the street. But he’d been athletic in his youth, playing high school football and carrying a robust but reasonable 215 pounds on a six-foot-three-inch frame. Then, in his mid-twenties, he’d stopped working out, as many of us do when life starts to chew up our time. Over the years, his regular meals and high-calorie bingeing had turned him into a physical and emotional wreck. His joints ached whenever he used the stairs, his heart hammered, and he was possessed by a strange, burning thirst that no amount of ice water could quench. “I was 47 years old,” he says, “but I felt like I was 80.” [Read more...]
“My doctor told me that I’m old, fat, and ugly, but none of those things is going to kill me immediately,” he told me shortly before his 72nd birthday. “The actuaries say I have six to eight years. The best tables give me 10. Three thousand days, more or less.” I asked if he is afraid to die. “Because of my hemophilia, I’ve been prepared to face death all of my life. As a boy I spent a lot of time in hospitals. My parents had to leave at the end of visiting hours, and I spent a lot of time just lying there in the dark, thinking about the fact that any accident could be dangerous or even fatal. So I’m ready. Everybody fears the unknown. But I have a strong feeling there’s something bigger than us. I don’t think all this exists because some rocks happened to collide. I’m at peace. When it comes, I’ll be fine, calm. I’ll miss life, though. Especially my family.”
~ Roger Ailles, 72, Founder and Head of Fox News, in Vanity Fair
Whether one is far right, passionate left or in the center, we are not so different at our core. We face our daily struggles. We love our family. We’d give anything for another ten years…Life is good. Have a good day…
Image Credit: EveryThing All Around Me
Steve Layman’s post on this book published in 2006 peaked my interest. (NY Times Bestseller. Where have I been? How could I have missed this?)
Here’s an excerpt from Steve’s post: ”The foods you eat every day, from the fast food you mindlessly consume to the best meals you savor in a top restaurant, are doing much more than making you fat or thin. Their effects on your body are making the difference between the development of chronic disease and a vigorous extended life. They can prevent or greatly reduce your risk of vision problems, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and a host of killers. These are not just vague promises; they are facts that are now supported by an impressive and irrefutable body of research.”
What are the 14 “Superfoods”? Hit this link to see the complete list. (You have to question the veracity of this story given the omission of chocolate chip cookies, pistachio ice cream and smoked & salted almonds.)
Three drops.*
Fall asleep wondering if this is the solve. (Please.)
Amygdala firing up on ailment. (See.)
Doc said there may be issues later in life because of trauma. (Has it arrived?)
One month of angst. (Eradicated. With three drops.)
One could ask why did you wait so long. (Or, one could avoid asking.)
And one wouldn’t have a good answer.
* Disclosure: Turn your eyelids inside out? Heresy. Wear contacts? Nothing touches my eyes. LASIK surgery to correct nearsightedness? Don’t come near me with your surgery solution. Apply your own eyedrops? Can’t do it. Keep eye open so drops can be applied for you? Impossible. Squeal like a baby when drop splashes on eye? Absolutely.
Image Source: LetsBeConnor
Start your day with anxiety. First thing. Every morning for last month. Sharp pain for 75 seconds. Then poof. Gone. Until the next morning. I google it. Up pops Just Answer. Eye with a customer question describing the identical experience:
I wake up every morning with a sharp pain in what I believe is my optic nerve. The pain is so bad that it sometimes makes my eye water when I try to open it wide. It is also painful to press on my eye when closed. The pain is always in my left eye and there are some days that I wake up without pain. My eye does not seem to be more red or bloodshot than normal. The pain does subside as the day goes on and I haven’t experienced any vision problems.
I quickly close my eye and pain subsides. Water fills the vacuum. (The human body is. All on its own. Repairing. Soothing. A miracle.)
I open and close several times. Blinking. (The body is a miracle. The mind, my mind, on the other hand, can be a torture chamber. I need to see. I need to read. Heart begins to race. Relax pal. Just Answer Doc said it’s just dry eyes. Yes, that was the first line. And the rest? What about the rest? This will right itself by itself.)
What if?
Mind quickly shifts gears to Sunday’s paper.
You are four years old. You run to answer the door bell. Life from that moment on changes. For you. For your family. Forever.
Josh Miel, you define courage. You define perseverance. You are an inspiration.
(On the other hand, you pal, have dry eyes.)
“The risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease is 32% lower in vegetarians than people who eat meat and fish, according to a new study from the University of Oxford.
Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries…The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people’s risk of heart disease…This is the largest study ever conducted in the UK comparing rates of heart disease between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The analysis looked at almost 45,000 volunteers from England and Scotland…of whom 34% were vegetarian. Such a significant representation of vegetarians is rare in studies of this type, and allowed researchers to make more precise estimates of the relative risks between the two groups.”
Source: University of Oxford
Here’s my picks for the inspiring posts of the week.
Thank you Canadian Art Junkie for sharing the photo above in her post Shaun Lowe: Canola, Sunshine & The Sea. See her post for more wonderful photographs of eastern Canada.
Steve Gutzler with his post titled 7 Keys to Building Irresistible Energy:“I’ll be honest, one of my favorite compliments is when people take note of my energy and passion. But having such energy has been a life struggle of mine. When I was a young man in my early 20′s, I was diagnosed with a blood disorder. For over three years I woke up every day with a low grade temperature and lacking energy. I’d drag through my days. My attitude was good but my immune system was ravaged…Well, fast forward to today. I’m healthy with no hint of fatigue. I train 4-5 days a week and I eat like an athlete. I strive to get seven hours of sleep and I’m working most days by 5 AM. What I like most about where I am at is how grateful I am for what I have. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, not perfect but I’m sure grateful for what I have!”…Read entire post for Steve’s 7 Keys to Building Energy at this link.
Maybe It’s Just Me who describes herself and her blog as “The life of a middle aged hippie on Maui, eating raw and vegan and staying healthy. I walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain in fall 2012 with my husband and son“…do we need more inspiration than this?!! Her beautiful post shares her sensations as she returns home to the various places she’s lived. The post is titled: As We Relive Our Lives In What We Tell You and this excerpt is returning home to Maui: …there is no better feeling than coming home to a place that I love. I went up onto the roof deck today to look at the clouds, the palm trees, and the volcano rising above, and again later on, to watch a glorious sunset over the ocean. I was content to just sit and feel the warmth of the island air on my skin. Skin that desperately cries out for sunshine and humidity, and that whispers “mahalo” every time I return home to Maui.” Read her entire post at this link.
This Saturday Morning Work-out inspiration clip is inspiring, has beautiful cinematography and is paired with wonderful music (“Where the Heart Is” by Marijn van der Meer). Tommy Carroll, who has been blind since the age of two (cancer of the retinas was diagnosed late), has been skating since the age of 10. This young man has a graceful, peaceful way about him…and is wise beyond his years.
Where the Heart is? Tommy Carroll.
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David Byrne, 60, is a Scottish musician permanently residing in the United States. He is best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American New Wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. He has received Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Brainpickings.org describes Byrne “as also one of the sharpest thinkers of our time and a kind of visual philosopher. About a decade ago, Byrne began making ‘mental maps of imaginary territory’ in a little notebook based on self-directed instructions to draw anything from a Venn diagram about relationships to an evolutionary tree of pleasure yet wholly unlike anything else. In 2006, Byrne released Arboretum, a collection of these thoughtful, funny, cynical, poetic, and altogether brilliant pencil sketches — some very abstract, some very concrete — drawn in the style of evolutionary diagrams and mapping everything from the roots of philosophy to the tangles of romantic destiny to the ecosystem of the performing arts.”
Bottom line: Brilliant.
Sources: Brainpickings.org and Wiki
Sitting is the Smoking of our Generation:
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Now this has considerable appeal this morning as temperatures dip well below freezing. I’m inspired.
Action Sports St. John from Steve Simonsen on Vimeo.
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Off to a late start today. Could not fire the engines. Or the head. Temperature: Brisk 35F. Not a trace of wind. And gloriously sunny. Sunny but dark.
I skip the hat. Skip the gloves. Skip the extra sweatshirt. I needed cold. Needed to feel alive. Needed a new path. A fresh 5-mile route. Away from the familiar.
9:45 am: I’m heading North. (It’s quiet out. Eerily quiet. I don’t hear birds. Traffic seems to be moving slower. Everyone mourning? Newtown is North. Sandy Hook Elementary School is 39 miles due North. TV images flicker by: Mother holding phone, screaming. Children being marched out of the building. “Close your eyes. Hold your hands.“)
It all started at around 8pm last night. Susan asked: “Do you really need that?“…this in response to my complaining earlier in the day about hitting new record highs for weight gain. And after my 4th trip to the fridge since dinner time. The “that” was a peanut butter (Jiffy Creamy) and blueberry jelly sandwich. Yes, I needed it. Badly. And I didn’t need someone, anyone, scolding me. (Am I a child?) I continued lapping the peanut butter on the bread – jabbing the knife into the jar – spreading on a few extra layers. I don’t lift my head. She continues on from the other side of the room. ”You know, you should read this book on life style changes in what you eat. You can lose weight by just eating healthier. You are not getting enough proteins. This is causing you to crave potato chips, sugars and salty foods.” Blueberry jam dribbles out of the corner of my mouth. I look up. Fat man’s blood pressure building…readying himself for counterpunching. I glance up and glare. She continues: “You know that I’m just trying to help.” I take the last remaining bite and jam dribbles down my shirt…well doesn’t that about capture it. Enough! My turn…trade a boulder for a pebble. ”I don’t need to read a bloody book to tell me that I eat junk and too much of it. And I certainly don’t need you haranguing me about it.” Now, if I had just stopped there. Trade the ocean for a drop of water. ”So tell me. If this book is so good. How’s it working out for you?” Nearing 30 years of marriage you know exactly where the nerve endings are and where to jab. Yep, direct hit. Then regret washes over me. But not enough to apologize. She knows I didn’t really mean it. Right. [Read more...]
The stone walkway may be 2.5 feet at its narrowest point. The shore line is 7-8 feet down from the walkway. It’s narrow, it is a ways down and I’m always wary. I must have been daydreaming. Or better stated, distracted by day-work-worrying.
I’m on my morning run.
My right forearm slams into the end of the steel I-beam guard rail. Here it comes. A car crash in slow motion. A Bruce Lee flick. With much less grace. The I-beam doesn’t move. But it moves me. It spins me around. Full Stop. Drop. Roll. Air explodes out of my chest. I’m gasping for air. More stunned than hurt. I’m down flat on my back for a few seconds, grateful that I didn’t plunge into the mud and frigid waters in the bay. I look around to see if anyone caught the show. No one is yelling “Man Down. Man Down.” We’re clear. Pride intact. [Read more...]
I’m giddy when new research supports my undisciplined behavior. This time, it’s exercise. Here’s a quick snapshot of new research reported in the Wall Street Journal:
Source: Wall Street Journal: One Running Shoe In the Grave. Image: Crescent Moon
6:15 am. I finish up my blog posts. Finish bantering with Mimi. I pan through the Weather app on my iPhone for a temperature report on my set locations: Miami 61 F/78 F. Sunny. Sydney 67/81. San Diego 54/65. Home: 29 F/41 F. (Brrrrrrr. I shiver. Do I really want to do this? Maybe I should wait until later this afternoon when temps climb. Come on. Who are you kidding? If it doesn’t happen RIGHT NOW, it’s not going to happen pal…you know that.)
6:20 am: I put on sweatpants, sweatshirt and grab baseball cap. (Mind is chattering… should I drape myself in layers…thermal underwear and thermal undershirt…and Tuke/Beanie. Are you kidding? A mere 29°. A Canadian, last time I checked. Man-up.)
6:24 am: Grab headphones, iPhone and Garmin GPS watch. (Notice that I have 1 bar of power left on Garmin and 2 bars on iPhone. Irritated. Irritating. Hundreds of dollars of e-equipment and they can’t hold a charge for more than a few hours. Yep, good one - Gadget Man is blaming battery life. Be grateful. Thanksgiving. Day of Sabbath. And I’m sniping.) [Read more...]
4:05 am. And STILL, no cable, no phones, no internet.(Morning routine disrupted. Motivation waning. Out of bed. But out of sync. Ranging somewhere between live fish in boat flopping around the deck to full Train derailment.)
4:07 am. Begin surfing internet on iPad. (Wondered what I used to do at 4am in the “old days.” B.I. Before internet. I don’t even remember. Ah, yes. I used to read. Like books. Real Reading has plummeted. Guilt washes over me.)
4:15 am. Still reading and surfing. Mostly surfing. (Mind shifts to AT&T 3g – confident that their gouge meter is running. I’m watching cute cat and dog videos while AT&T is performing alchemy – turning my minutes into cash.)
4:22 am. I hit publish on my work-out inspiration post. I look out the window. Black as coal. Touch window. Feels cold on finger tips. (Shut-er-down. Enough alchemy feed stock for AT&T. Mind shifts to Running in the cold and in the dark. Hmmmmm. I grab my Grandma’s hand-knitted quilt and fall heavily into the couch. Now, there’s inspiration for you.)
7:00 am. Conscience wakes me. I need to exercise NOW or this will never happen. (Mr. Work-Out Inspiration Man needs inspiration.)
“…New research this month finds that the more time someone spends sitting, the shorter and less robust his or her life may be. The findings were sobering: Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes. By comparison, smoking a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by about 11 minutes. Looking more broadly, they concluded that an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect to live 4.8 years fewer than a person who does not watch TV. Those results hold true even for people who exercise regularly. It appears a person who does a lot of exercise but watches six hours of TV every night might have a similar mortality risk as someone who does not exercise and watches no TV…” [Read more...]
One of my followers had asked why there haven’t been any running posts for weeks. Simple question. Simple answer. Because I haven’t been running. Hurt? No. Ill? No. Bad Weather? Of course not. Pathetically lazy? Yes. So, we’re off this morning to break this 30-day streak of nothing. For those of you that are new to my running regime, it is 10% physical and 90% mental. So, I play word association games to keep it going.
So, what was rolling through my mind during my run…
Summer vacation. How long ago it was. (Caribbean vs. Paris and they take Caribbean. WHERE IS THE COMMON SENSE HERE? The King Loses (Again) - and again and again. Mimi has gone more than 25x. Me. Zero.)
Thanksgiving is coming. Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Gravy. Pumpkin pie. (I can feel my energy draining. Tryptophan made a leap from my mind into my body. I yawn.)
Stuffing. Glazed carrots. Whipped cream. Apple Pie. (I’m practically walking now.)
Leftovers. Turkey sandwiches. More pie. Heaping scoops of ice cream. (I stop. I need to re-group. What sort of mind discipline plan are you working on here pal? I take a few deep breaths. And, I start running again. Let’s try a different mental path)
Paris. The Louvre. The Eiffel Tower. The Grand Palais. Palais Garnier. Cobblestones. History. (OK, now that’s better. Keep it rollin’)
Quiche. Baguettes. French Onion Soup. Cheese. (OMG. This is going down hill fast. 911. 911. 911.)
Croque Monsieur, Crepes, thin crust butter pastries, Chocolate Croissants, (Free fall now. I have to stop again. I walk for 1/4 mile. My trusty GPS says that I’ve run 2.1 miles. No, that’s a stretch to call it a run. Let’s call is a walk-run. Yes, that’s better. I need a different mind-word game to get me back in gear. What comes to mind? Where in the world have you run and what comes to mind when you think of the city? Here we go…) [Read more...]
Sources: Polar Bears Rock & Suay Dreams
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Fifteen years ago, I would have told you to get out of my office (get out of my face) and stop wasting my time. 10 years ago, I would have called “bulls-” on this malarkey. Today, the image above calms me. And I’ve come to believe that I need this…It’s good for me. It’s good for the team around me. (But let’s not get too excited. I’m a toddler here. I’m on the 3rd step of a 107 step program.) And since it has now been endorsed by the Truth, the Wall Street Journal, I’m in. (:) Lao Tzu (604 BC – 531 BC): “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Takes a Single Step”…Time to take that step… [Read more...]
It happened in a blink of an eye. More than 25 years ago. My collegiate hockey career, for what it was, was long behind me. This was a pick-up game. A lazy Saturday afternoon. I should have been watching the Michigan Wolverines on the tube. Yet, if you know a hockey player, you can’t take the game out of the player. (If one could only roll the tape back and bend the story a wee bit.)
It begins and ends with coolness – Real Men don’t wear face masks. Right.
I could hear the defender chasing me from behind – his skate blades cutting the ice. (Swoosh right. Swoosh left. Swoosh right. Swoosh left. All moving in slow motion now.) He was closing in.
I went down. Fellow player, Doc Lovell, bent over and said “Lay still Dave.” I shouted back: “WIPE THE SWEAT FROM MY EYES, DOC.”
Source: marcdesa via naniithran
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Join me in taking the NY Times Magazine Quiz: Are You Addicted to Food?
Part A: Answer 0 for never; 1 for once a month; 2 for two to four times a month; 3 for two to three times a week; and 4 for more than 4 times a week.
This is my youngest brother Lorne. This photo was taken one year ago yesterday after his successful bone marrow transplant. He celebrates another year of a remarkable life. This man, my Brother, carries himself with such grace, with such gentleness, with such kindness and with such optimism – - I shake my head in wonder. It makes me believe that he was “selected” because of his indomitable spirit and strength.
Be sure to stick with this until the end…when you need to press your keyboard keys to play muscle music.
Old Spice Muscle Music from Terry Crews on Vimeo.
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6:17am: I’m up and out the door. It’s a beautiful morning for running. Wisps of cool air cutting through the early September humidity. Streaks of clouds cover the sunrise. A splash of color on a few trees getting a head start on autumn. It’s September 3rd. And a great day to be alive. (Hello September. Where did the year go? Love, LOVE, the fall season. The pulsating picture above feels like my heart does now. Ba Boom. Ba Boom. Ba Boom. Ba Boom. Keep tickin’ baby. Keep tickin’.)
6:23am: Pace is good. Both jets feel good. No one is out and about. Pesky squirrels are sleeping. Even the birds are quiet. (Yep, it’s just me and my head. And that can get crowded. Managed to contain the food intake yesterday. Miracle. Determined to get this weight down before the hibernation period. As Brenna would say, Thanksgiving is the time of the year “when I feel like I’ve eaten a gallon of mashed potatoes and a gravy-injected turkey and washed it down with six or seven espressos.”)
I’m average as to time spent shaving (2 min). I use the minimum number of strokes shaving. (No time to waste.) I’m with the pack on nicks. Average man takes 200 average strokes to shave…REALLY? And, I want to meet a man that spends 25 minutes shaving with 700 strokes. This WSJ article goes on to dispel some myths. Here’s the facts:
See full article and Video @ WSJ: In Search of the Perfect Shave: Calling out the Myths
“Troubles are a lot like people – they grow bigger if you nurse them.” ~Author Unknown
Image Source: weheartit.com via creatingaquietmind
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Source: areaofinterest via marcdesa
Whether you run or not, this video is awe inspiring. It features South African Ultra-Runner Ryan Sandes running the 5-day, 84k Fish River Canyon Hiking Trail in Namibia, Africa. You will find “epic scenery” coupled with inspiring narration by Sandes. It certainly prodded me out the door on my mountain run this morning. Thank you Doobybrain.com via explore-blog for the share.
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There was no air conditioning, central, window or otherwise. There were no large, five-speed oscillating fans. The one 12-inch fan in the house, hummed like a diesel and was in the kitchen where it kept Mom cool while she was preparing our meal. Dinner included a cool cucumber soup, vareneki and peach pie – - cucumbers individually pulled off the vines in the garden and plump, ripe peaches picked from our fruit trees. The oven, running all afternoon, added to the oppressive heat in the house.
We had one TV, with one channel, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Hockey Night in Canada (Saturday Nights) was one of the few programs worthy of watching. And, in any event, watching TV during the day was taboo. We had one radio station, and it was country. (So no radio.) There was no internet. No Playstation. No iPhones, iTunes, iPods, iPads, iAnthing. No desktops or laptops. No Barnes & Noble, Borders, Waldenbooks or Amazon. No Kindles, Nooks or Readers. The Public Library was miles away and I had never set my foot in it. We had a camera but that was off limits and of little interest. [Read more...]
By Mimi @ Waiting For The Karma Truck
I’m a sky-gazer. It makes for some very dramatic tumbles and some slapstick recoveries to a standing position (degree of difficulty depends upon the severity of my clumsiness – but some could qualify as Olympic-level gymnastic floor routines). This need to look up and out is not folly, it’s my dad. I’ve been aiming my perspective upwards for nine years.
There’s so much written about father/daughter relationships that I hesitate to even tiptoe around this topic. I fret that my words will sound cliched and not really offer much to a potentially tired topic. But, there was nothing tired or trite about the man – and the insistent tapping of rain on the skylights in my kitchen suggests to me that he feels quite confident that there is more to say. [Read more...]
