Treasures Of The Heart

Today, started with sorting through the volumes of incoming emails. Usually the task involves choosing between the good and bad stuff and enjoying the rewarding sounds of hitting the delete button as fast as I can. But, suddenly I was distracted by a title that caught my eye and I paused to investigate it closely.  Since I recognized the name of the sender, I felt very safe in opening the visually capturing mail. As I read each line to its final period, I knew then that I was obligated to share it with all of you, my valued readers.  My only regret is that I could not determine its author, as its my desire to give all the credit for this piece to it's proper owner. 

May your heart also be enlighten by its meaning and blessing: 

The WOODEN BOWL  

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson.  
The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered  

The family ate together at the table, but the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.  

When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.  

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.   “We must do something about father, said the son.  I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.”   

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.  

There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.  

When the family glanced in Grandfather‘s direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.  

Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.   The four-year-old watched it all in silence.  

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor.  

He asked the child sweetly, ' What are you making? Just as sweetly, the boy responded,  

“Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up”.  

The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.  

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.  

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.  

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.  

On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.  

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles four things:  

A rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.  

I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.  

I've learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life..   

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.  

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back sometimes.  

I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you.. but, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.  

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.  

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.  

I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone.  

People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back...., I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. 

Discovering a New You

Ever wonder why sometimes, you beat yourself up in disgust and frustration, after trying to figure out what went wrong with your fitness goals in the gym?

Well don't feel like the "Lone Ranger", its happen to me too. It took me a whole lot of countless hours of hard work through trial and error, before I stumbled on an article written by fitness guru, Phil Kaplan. The article was titled "The 3 Body Types". As I read the information, I began to have an inner sensation, that reminded of what it must feel like to grow a set of donkey ears and the pain of kicking yourself right square in the... well I'm sure you know what I mean. I continued to read and learn more. Of course, this revelation is not to be classified as the cure all for why I was not progressing in the gym, but it surely helped put some vital training issues in perspective.

I discovered that, although I was training with dedication and consistency, I had failed to realize or take into consideration, that every one's body and physical genetic makeups are different.

Here's a brief synopsis of the article:

The Ectomorph is long and lean. They fall into a category widely known by weightlifters as "hard gainers" or the 98 pound weaklings. In other words, they have a difficult time beefing up. As with most things, there is a good side to this body type in that, although they usually are not gifted with a lot of natural huge muscles, their bodies carry very little fat. This gives their body type an advantage. They actually with proper training and diet they can put on muscle without worrying about gaining FAT. They must train intensely, but relatively infrequently, to avoid over training. This group should stay with basic compound movements like, squats, bench presses etc. Everyone can benefit from aerobic exercise, but this group must keep that part of their training in moderation. Caloric in take should be high with adequate protein, carbs, and essential fat intake. (hopefully the good fats).

The Mesomorph is the athletic prototype. They show off the V-shape back, wide shoulders, little narrow hips and great muscular legs (hate those guys!). They're often natural athletes and are the ones usually with "healthy" body fat levels. They add muscle easily, even if they make a few errors in their training regime, they still gain muscle. Their metabolisms are usually sufficient enough to handle "less than ideal" nutrition provided they get adequate calories to meet their energy needs.

The Endomorph is usually a bit rounder in appearance. They appear to have a softer look, which is probably due to the higher proportion of overall body fat, mostly carried around the hips and stomach areas. Some people have called or stereotyped them as having a "pear shape". Technically, they have to really focus on their diet, especially those high in sugar and fat. Their aerobic training should be at least 4-5 days per week.

OK, now that you know what I know, DO NOT PANIC, there is after all some good news!!

Very few of us rarely fall cleanly into just ONE category. There are people who are actually a combination of the above body types. For example, some can be deemed, endo-mesomorph and ecto-mesomorphs. Sounds complex, doesn't it? For most people, a simple glance in the mirror, may be of some service to them in determining where you fit.

Remember this information is merely a tip to help you make a few adjustments in your training regimen.

It was an incredible and rewarding tip for me, because that year after reading and learning more about this information, I made some adjustments to my mental and physical training regime and then I decided to compete in a local all natural body building contest and as a result, I won 1st place in the masters division.

Hey, its a New Year, its out with the old and in with the new...., so let's get started!

Stay safe, be patient and never give up on yourself or your training!

Happy Holidays

Now that we've all celebrated and enjoyed Thanksgiving, its time to move forward to another highly celebrated holiday fit for a "King"... if you know of whom and what I mean.

With me it starts out being more about making the choices between Christmas tree A, B or C and to make things a bit interesting, there are always new vendors popping up annually all over the place, proclaiming to have the perfect one.  Some of my favorites have moved to other locations for larger space which tend to drive me nuts.  Heck, I need a GPS monitor just to keep track of all the migrations.  Either way, timing is everything and so I've got to get busy.

As I ventured out today, looking and sorting through tree after tree, I came across a few that were so magnificent they should only be found located on the front lawn of our nations Capitol in Washington DC.

As a child, I was always told that Christmas was somewhat magically, but as I grew older I moved away from those beliefs. Then suddenly something very strange happened, and as if out of no where, I thought I heard the sounds of simple and humble words screeching through and from behind all the thick forest of Christmas tress in front of me.

I literally heard pleadings saying... "Pick me, Pick Meeee!!" echoing over and over.

So, I decided to take a closer look and..... there it was.

Yes!!, that one I shout out, as I pointed to the most beautiful and perfect tree hidden amongst some of the  ugliest, leafless, creepiest, shortest, colorless trees on the property. 

Whew! my search was over.  As I drove home with the new addition to our living room, I began to think about the fate of all the other trees left behind. Would they also be chosen; would their owners find them just as beautiful and just as purposeful and most importantly, just as significant as the one I chose for our families Christmas holiday.

Of course they will, I said to myself.  It should never, ever be about the outside appearance, but always about the essence of character and substance of a person and any this particular case that of a thing.

Life for me is about living and about making good and positive choices vs. the type of negative choices that only allow us to just merely exist or settle.

Now its your turn... Go out there and remember to choose wisely.

From all of mine, to all of you and yours, have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season.

           

It's All Yours

Today, at this very moment is one of those phenomenas that will create new visions, dreams, desires, opportunities and memorable experiences.

It has been stated that, "Today is truly a GIFT and that's why it is known as, The Present".

Its interesting that some of us fail to understand or relish in this fact.  It's as if the mere vocalization of the word TODAY transforms itself into something evil, a myth or an untruth being offered as punishment for just existing.  Make no mistake life as we know it is quite temporary. Just as a day begins..., at some point it does end. The resulting punishment may reside in our ignorance, of not taking full advantage of the precious moments every sunrise we experience brings.

There have been an ocean full of atrocities, adversities, social and economic injustice', cast on mankind, but what if anything did we personally do, to change the outcome of these imposed negatives to make them result in positives ?

Have you ever been in the company of people who just complain about everything?

Some may complain about not having more money, respect, attention or love. They shout out into this worlds abyss that.., more is better!

Yet all the atrocities and indifferences linger and continue to thrive amongst us.

Well..... more attention hasn't stopped it, more money couldn't stop it and more respect didn't stop it.

Perhaps MORE LOVE is truly the resolve we ultimately need and should passionately seek.

TODAY... this very day, which of course could be our last is truly to each recipient, a precious GIFT.

Participation in it requires an unconditional expression of praise and devotion to the one true giver of this Present.

Only then.. this very moment.. this Today, can you treasure these uttered words.... It's All Mine and I accept It!!