Trust That It Is

47.

In this search for balance, the knock-down-drag-out grudge-match that shows no signs of slowing down from aging up, I realize that there are just a handful of fundamental elements of which I can both control and cultivate. 

At the top of this illustrious list is the factual reality that in order to do my job I must stay fit, remain healthy and avoid injury or illness. We will call these things, and all that they connote as subsets, exercise. This one is pretty easy for me. It makes sense down to the cellular level that one of my most important responsibilities is to take care of my body. I say easy because at an early age I came aware of the cause and effect relationship joining the amount of sweat and muscular discomfort I produce in training or practice and the intended results of that effort. I found in one early experiment that the harder I worked the better my chances of success. Over the course of the next six decades I have repeatedly added to the sample size of that postulation, almost to the point that it is now repeatable ninety-nine times of a hundred. Additionally, the margin for error has been dramatically reduced, virtually eliminating the random element known as ‘luck.’ When one’s level of fitness is combined in a superior functioning living organism - what we casually refer to as health - the results are only limited by our brains ability, or inability, for flawless execution, total commitment and skill in the control of our focus. All this, its lifetime commitment to continual improvement and a clear mission statement, play the physical part in the power trio. Exercise, good health and optimal fitness shake this thunder down.

As powerful a tune as exercise plays — it is not enough by itself. It tires easily when soloing without the support of a solid nutritional compliment. Whomever suggested that ‘what you eat — you are,' came very close to a dead-solid perfect analogy, perhaps contested only by the computer-age warning of ‘garbage in — garbage out.” Dr. Michael Polan debated an idea that has generated enough misinformation to fill a thousand landfills when he proclaimed, “Eat food, not too much. Mostly plants.’ Every other diet, plan, routine or discipline printed on paper will — and sooner is better than later — end up in that landfill. You wouldn’t intentionally put gasoline cut with fifty-percent sun-tan lotion in your expensive new bright-red Ferrari would you? Yet we don’t give a second thought to ramming a quarter pounder with cheese when time and money are short. Diet is the drummer of this outfit. 

Lastly, I consider as I auto-correct a lazy hand position on the stationary bike, is the somewhat esoteric idea of stress management. I will tell you this, I warn the assembled body parts, one can have the best work-out routine ever created, eat organic, fresh and local produce and be miserable, handicapped and compromised as a result of not having the tools, the desire, the discipline or the character to deal head-on with the relentless stresses of modern life. We get it from all sides at all times. The empath feels this dramatically so. The suffering of others is suffering to us, creating in this world where the one percent have the shotgun and sing the song, an epidemic of stressful implications to the ninety-nine. We must find and develop methods to manage this stress in non-toxic ways. Personally I find solace in training, in study, in music and in the small role I play as a peacekeeper. Humorously I add to myself, 'and not necessarily in that order.'

These are the three. Exercise, diet and stress management. They hold the keys to a better, more productive, happier, faster flowing, meaningful and harmonious trot along this path. They comprise what we simply call the quality of life. 

I ponder this and consider if this is exactly what TOM means when he says, “Keep your cover and continue your practice.”

I trust that it is.