My previous post was on Goal Setting Tips, which I thought would be good for people trying to set their New Year's Resolutions. I admit that I took a little heat for not posting my own resolutions (but that was not the point). The point was to give people the tools to come up with their own.
Rather than bore you with my own specific resolutions or goals, I thought it would be better to share with you my Life Mission Statement. This is a Guideline or set of Rules that I (do my best to) live by. You can pretty much bet that all of my other goals (Immediate, Mid-Range and Big Picture) fit nicely within the Rules. I like to think of it as the Really Big Picture.
Once you have come up with your own Life Mission Statement and set your Goals, the whole decision making process suddenly becomes VERY EASY. Since your Life Mission Statement is essentially a list of your underlying Values and your Goals are the things you want to accomplish in life-- all you have to do is answer this simple question: "Is what I am doing right now, consistent with my Goals and Values?"
If you have a tough decision to make, again all you have to do is ask the question: "Which choice will get me closer to achieving my Goals and fit within the Rules I have set for myself (my Life Mission Statement)?"
The tricky part (that I just barely touched on in the previous post) is to be sure that your Goals and your Values are congruent. For example, you can't set a Goal to make more money no matter what the cost, and then say in your Life Mission Statement that you will never steal, cheat, etc. That will make you crazy when you have to decide whether to rob that bank for a quick pay out or to apply for a job that will take a lot more time to come up with an equal amount of money.
If you decide that you want to create your own Life Mission Statement, it should incorporate all the aspects of your life, just as I mentioned in the previous post (physical, personal, spiritual, etc.).
Another thing that you should keep in mind is that these Rules are self-imposed. That is why I often refer to them as Guidelines. As things change in your life, it's OK to change your Life Mission Statement as well as your Goals. So it is very important to be aware of what you REALLY want. Sometimes people get wrapped up in what they say they want, and then when they get that thing, they are not happy because it's not what they really wanted.
For example, maybe you set a Goal for yourself to own a 42-foot Fishing Yacht. So you save, save, save, until you can afford it. When you finally purchase your dream yacht, you find that you are not any happier than you were before, because now you have to work more hours to be able to afford to store it at the yacht club. What you really wanted was to have more free time to spend out on the water fishing. For the amount of money you have spent on the yacht, storage, gear and yacht club fees, you could have taken a destination vacation, rented a boat (that comes complete with gear) and spent more time doing what you REALLY wanted to do.
So do a little Soul Searching!
I admit that my own personal Life Mission Statement has evolved over the years, but not a whole lot.
Spoiler Alert: If you want to write your own Life Mission Statement without being influenced by mine, you should stop reading now. Go write yours, then come back and read mine. You can write your Mission Statement in many different formats. Mine looks like this:
I live my life to be a positive influence on the lives and lifestyles of others. I lead by example to encourage, educate and motivate people.
I insist on the highest ethical standards and will never accept less than the best quality performance from myself and others.
I take pride in all that I do, and always stand up for what I believe.
I am the best friend, brother, uncle and son that I can possibly be.
I treat all living beings with fairness, kindness and compassion.
I approach each day energetically, with creativity, passion and humor.
Good Luck. Live Life Well!
Peace and Love,
-------Nick
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Goal-Setting Tips...
Welcome to 2011.
Once again we find ourselves with a fresh start in a new year. Time to do some reassessments and goal-setting.
It has recently come to my attention that many people are not efficient in their goal-setting. So I would like to offer some suggestions.
First, we should set our goals in three levels: Immediate, Mid-Range and Big Picture goals.
An example of Immediate Goals are goals on our Daily List of Things To Do or our goals for the week. Mid-Range Goals are things that we would like to accomplish by the end of the year (or maybe within the next two years). Big Picture Goals answer questions like: Where do you see yourself in five (or ten) years from now? Or what do you want to do with your life?
To me, it seems like the Big Picture Goals are a good place to start. If you know what you want to do in the Big Picture, then you can be more efficient in planning your Immediate and Mid-Range Goals. If you start the other way around (with Immediate Goals) then you may end up on some tangent from where you really want to go.
Once you know your Big Picture Goals, then when it comes time to set your Mid-Range and Immediate Goals, you can ask yourself the question: Will this eventually help me in the Big Picture? If it doesn't then you know that you need to re-focus.
The second thing you should be aware of is that your Goals should not be lopsided. Sometimes we focus all of our attention on one thing. For example, you may set a goal for yourself to be financially independent by the time you are 50 years old. This is a worthy goal to shoot for, but there is more to your life than just money. There are many aspects of our lives and we should set goals for all of them.
Back in April, I wrote the second post in a 3 part series on Books. You may remember that one of the books that made my personal list of Must Read Books was "10 Natural Laws Of Successful Time And Life Management" by Hyrum W. Smith. If you did not rush out and add that book to your own personal bookshelf... that's OK, I'm not offended. But, now may be the time to add it to your collection.
There is a whole section in Smith's book on Goal-Setting. I will give you some of the highlights (including how to incorporate goals for all aspects of your life). As I mentioned earlier you may want to set Financial Goals. These are goals about making and saving money. Investing money. Preparing for retirement. And most importantly, living within your means.
You should also set goals relating to your Physical Well Being. These are your Health and Wellness Goals. Things like Exercising and Eating Right. Overcoming bad habits like smoking, excessive drinking, junk food, etc. Weight Loss.
You may also want to set Personal Relationship Goals. Maybe you want to spend more quality time with your Family or Friends. Both individually and as a group. Maybe plan a vacation with your family or set aside some One On One time with each of your kids or your parents. Maybe plan a Family Reunion. In my opinion, all the success and money in the world is meaningless if you don't have a happy and healthy Family Unit.
Keep in mind that your Financial Goals are a little different from your Career Goals. These are goals as they relate to your Job Performance, not just the making of the money. Maybe you should set goals on how you can improve your performance at work. How can you be more effective at your job? What can you do to ensure advancement and promote your own job security?
We often forget (or take for granted) our Spiritual Goals. This might also include Humanitarian Goals. Maybe you want to volunteer at a shelter or soup kitchen. Maybe you want to search out a church, temple or mosque where you feel comfortable worshiping. Or maybe you want to find a Spiritual Guide or Mentor. Do what feels right for you.
And one of the things I love about the Franklin Covey organization (that Smith co-founded with Stephen Covey) is that they are always geared toward Personal Development. (They often call it "Sharpening the Saw".) These are your Continuing Education Goals. Your Big Picture Goals may require you to take some more formal educational classes at the University level. Or it may be as simple as reading some books to increase your knowledge on your career. Maybe you want to take an occasional workshop to keep your skills sharp or learn the latest most up to date information in your field.
Your Personal Development Goals should also include some form of Rest and Relaxation, and some Cultural Goals. Maybe you want to take in a museum or a concert. Don't forget that sometimes it's good to step away and come back rejuvenated with "Fresh Eyes".
So now that you have an idea about some of the areas to focus on (feel free to elaborate on these areas as they pertain to your own situation)... the next thing you should keep in mind about Goal-Setting is that you must Write Your Goals Down! If you don't write it down, it's not really a goal, it's just a dream or a thought in the back of your mind.
I have some friends who are so serious about their Goal-Setting that, not only do they write their goals down on paper (or in a journal) but they also find an image that represents their goal and post it on their bathroom mirror. This way they see it first thing in the morning while brushing their teeth. And then again at night before they go to bed. This helps them to stay focused on their goal and helps them stay motivated.
Speaking of motivation, there is a great quote by an iconic sales coach and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar. "People often say, 'Zig, motivation doesn't last,' and I say to them, 'Bathing doesn't last either, that's why I recommend it daily!'" Smart guy.
Not only do you have to write your goals down, you have to make sure that they are (what Smith calls) SMART GOALS. These are goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Timely.
Specific: To say that you want to be more healthy this year, or that you want to lose weight is a nice concept, but that is too vague. How are you going to be more healthy? Better to say, "I will workout one hour a day, three days a week for the next year." Or say, "I will eat vegetables with each meal and only have 'fast food' once a week." (Keep in mind I believe in moderation. And that I didn't say that you wouldn't ever eat fast food again.) And as to the weight loss... how much weight do you want to lose? By when?
Measurable: You should be able to measure all of your goals. If your goal is to lose 30 pounds by summer so you can fit into your bikini, that is measurable. That gives you 4 months to accomplish that goal. The thought of losing 30 pounds may seem overwhelming at first glance, but looking at it in smaller increments is much more doable. By working your Specific Immediate Goal of working out 3 times per week for an hour and eating more vegetables/less junk food, you should be able to lose 2 pounds per week. Two pounds per week is 8 pounds per month. And the first four months (January-April) would put you at 32 pounds of weight loss if you are sticking to the program. That still gives you all of May to make up for any lapses in your program.
Action-Oriented: Saying you want to be a better student at school sounds warm and fuzzy, but setting a goal to study two hours a day, five days a week is much more efficient. Saying you want to learn more is 'nice' but saying I will read one book per month is better. Once you know when your paper (or project) is due for school, map out when you should have your outline prepared by, when you should have a rough draft prepared by, and when you should have the finished product ready to hand in and then be sure it is completed before the real due date (in case you want to make last minute changes).
Realistic: It is good to set goals that motivate you and push you out of your 'comfort zone'. But they still need to be realistic. For example, to say, "I will make a million dollars this year!" is a fun goal, but for most of us... it's not realistic. Better to set a goal to make a measurable amount more than you did last year, but still within reason. To say you want to lose 100 pounds by summer is not only not realistic... it's not healthy! Better to set a healthy and realistic goal of two pounds per week. This will help you stay motivated.
Timely: A goal isn't really a goal unless you have a time frame within which you can accomplish that goal. To say you want to travel the world is a nice idea. You might even put pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Big Ben on your bathroom mirror to keep you motivated. But when are you going to do that? Let's say you want to make this your Big Picture Goal. Retire and travel the world by the time you are 60 years old. Well now you can set your Mid-Range and Immediate Goals accordingly. How much will that trip cost? Don't forget to include your other living expensed while you are away. Unless your mortgage is paid off (or unless you sell your house) you will still have to pay that, so add it into the cost of your trip. Now you can backtrack from there and set your other goals. Set aside (xxx amount of money per month) would be an Immediate Goal. Taking the occasional class (or workshop) at your local community college to learn some language skills (French, Italian or Spanish phrases to make your trip more enjoyable) might be a Mid-Range Goal. And all of that on top of your other Goals pertaining to your Family, Career, Spiritual and Personal Development Goals...
Another thing to keep in mind about your Goals is that they are just Goals. These are not Rules or Laws that are inflexible. You can change them if you want. As we grow as people, our desires change. You may decide later that you want to travel the United States, before you travel the World.
A great way to keep all of this in perspective and to keep ourselves motivated is to share our Goals with a close friend or family member. This way you won't give up on your goals too easily.
But chances are that if your goals are really in alignment with who you are and what you want... you will likely be motivated enough on your own. If you are not motivated every day to wake up and do something toward accomplishing your goal, then your goal is not motivating to you and you need to find a better Big Picture Goal.
One day, when I was working out of a health club, managing a team of sales people, I walked into my morning meeting with a can of shaving cream. I took the cap off the top of the shaving cream and pressed the button. Some liquid drizzled out of the top of the can. Then I read the directions off the side of the can. "Shake well before using." So I shook the can. When I pressed the button again, a nice thick foamy substance came out of the canister. The point I was making is that sometimes we have to Shake Things Up. We made some serious changes that day. Changes that worked out for the best. There is an old saying, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." Well if you don't like the way things have been going in the past, it's time to Shake Things Up.
Don't just make random changes. Make specific measurable changes. Feel free to start by reading the "10 Natural Laws..." book.
Good Luck with your Goal-Setting. If you need some help, let me know. Happy to help.
Turn off your computer right now and write out your Goals for 2011. Do it NOW! In fact, one of your goals should be to stop wasting time. One of my favorite quotes that Smith makes in the book is (and I'm paraphrasing here): "When you spend an hour watching TV, you spend an hour NOT doing what?... Everything else!" But now, he would probably say the same thing about Reality TV or Facebook or any number of other goofy things that are serious time wasters.
Get your priorities straight. Figure out what is really important to you and work toward that.
Happy New Year!
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Once again we find ourselves with a fresh start in a new year. Time to do some reassessments and goal-setting.
It has recently come to my attention that many people are not efficient in their goal-setting. So I would like to offer some suggestions.
First, we should set our goals in three levels: Immediate, Mid-Range and Big Picture goals.
An example of Immediate Goals are goals on our Daily List of Things To Do or our goals for the week. Mid-Range Goals are things that we would like to accomplish by the end of the year (or maybe within the next two years). Big Picture Goals answer questions like: Where do you see yourself in five (or ten) years from now? Or what do you want to do with your life?
To me, it seems like the Big Picture Goals are a good place to start. If you know what you want to do in the Big Picture, then you can be more efficient in planning your Immediate and Mid-Range Goals. If you start the other way around (with Immediate Goals) then you may end up on some tangent from where you really want to go.
Once you know your Big Picture Goals, then when it comes time to set your Mid-Range and Immediate Goals, you can ask yourself the question: Will this eventually help me in the Big Picture? If it doesn't then you know that you need to re-focus.
The second thing you should be aware of is that your Goals should not be lopsided. Sometimes we focus all of our attention on one thing. For example, you may set a goal for yourself to be financially independent by the time you are 50 years old. This is a worthy goal to shoot for, but there is more to your life than just money. There are many aspects of our lives and we should set goals for all of them.
Back in April, I wrote the second post in a 3 part series on Books. You may remember that one of the books that made my personal list of Must Read Books was "10 Natural Laws Of Successful Time And Life Management" by Hyrum W. Smith. If you did not rush out and add that book to your own personal bookshelf... that's OK, I'm not offended. But, now may be the time to add it to your collection.
There is a whole section in Smith's book on Goal-Setting. I will give you some of the highlights (including how to incorporate goals for all aspects of your life). As I mentioned earlier you may want to set Financial Goals. These are goals about making and saving money. Investing money. Preparing for retirement. And most importantly, living within your means.
You should also set goals relating to your Physical Well Being. These are your Health and Wellness Goals. Things like Exercising and Eating Right. Overcoming bad habits like smoking, excessive drinking, junk food, etc. Weight Loss.
You may also want to set Personal Relationship Goals. Maybe you want to spend more quality time with your Family or Friends. Both individually and as a group. Maybe plan a vacation with your family or set aside some One On One time with each of your kids or your parents. Maybe plan a Family Reunion. In my opinion, all the success and money in the world is meaningless if you don't have a happy and healthy Family Unit.
Keep in mind that your Financial Goals are a little different from your Career Goals. These are goals as they relate to your Job Performance, not just the making of the money. Maybe you should set goals on how you can improve your performance at work. How can you be more effective at your job? What can you do to ensure advancement and promote your own job security?
We often forget (or take for granted) our Spiritual Goals. This might also include Humanitarian Goals. Maybe you want to volunteer at a shelter or soup kitchen. Maybe you want to search out a church, temple or mosque where you feel comfortable worshiping. Or maybe you want to find a Spiritual Guide or Mentor. Do what feels right for you.
And one of the things I love about the Franklin Covey organization (that Smith co-founded with Stephen Covey) is that they are always geared toward Personal Development. (They often call it "Sharpening the Saw".) These are your Continuing Education Goals. Your Big Picture Goals may require you to take some more formal educational classes at the University level. Or it may be as simple as reading some books to increase your knowledge on your career. Maybe you want to take an occasional workshop to keep your skills sharp or learn the latest most up to date information in your field.
Your Personal Development Goals should also include some form of Rest and Relaxation, and some Cultural Goals. Maybe you want to take in a museum or a concert. Don't forget that sometimes it's good to step away and come back rejuvenated with "Fresh Eyes".
So now that you have an idea about some of the areas to focus on (feel free to elaborate on these areas as they pertain to your own situation)... the next thing you should keep in mind about Goal-Setting is that you must Write Your Goals Down! If you don't write it down, it's not really a goal, it's just a dream or a thought in the back of your mind.
I have some friends who are so serious about their Goal-Setting that, not only do they write their goals down on paper (or in a journal) but they also find an image that represents their goal and post it on their bathroom mirror. This way they see it first thing in the morning while brushing their teeth. And then again at night before they go to bed. This helps them to stay focused on their goal and helps them stay motivated.
Speaking of motivation, there is a great quote by an iconic sales coach and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar. "People often say, 'Zig, motivation doesn't last,' and I say to them, 'Bathing doesn't last either, that's why I recommend it daily!'" Smart guy.
Not only do you have to write your goals down, you have to make sure that they are (what Smith calls) SMART GOALS. These are goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Timely.
Specific: To say that you want to be more healthy this year, or that you want to lose weight is a nice concept, but that is too vague. How are you going to be more healthy? Better to say, "I will workout one hour a day, three days a week for the next year." Or say, "I will eat vegetables with each meal and only have 'fast food' once a week." (Keep in mind I believe in moderation. And that I didn't say that you wouldn't ever eat fast food again.) And as to the weight loss... how much weight do you want to lose? By when?
Measurable: You should be able to measure all of your goals. If your goal is to lose 30 pounds by summer so you can fit into your bikini, that is measurable. That gives you 4 months to accomplish that goal. The thought of losing 30 pounds may seem overwhelming at first glance, but looking at it in smaller increments is much more doable. By working your Specific Immediate Goal of working out 3 times per week for an hour and eating more vegetables/less junk food, you should be able to lose 2 pounds per week. Two pounds per week is 8 pounds per month. And the first four months (January-April) would put you at 32 pounds of weight loss if you are sticking to the program. That still gives you all of May to make up for any lapses in your program.
Action-Oriented: Saying you want to be a better student at school sounds warm and fuzzy, but setting a goal to study two hours a day, five days a week is much more efficient. Saying you want to learn more is 'nice' but saying I will read one book per month is better. Once you know when your paper (or project) is due for school, map out when you should have your outline prepared by, when you should have a rough draft prepared by, and when you should have the finished product ready to hand in and then be sure it is completed before the real due date (in case you want to make last minute changes).
Realistic: It is good to set goals that motivate you and push you out of your 'comfort zone'. But they still need to be realistic. For example, to say, "I will make a million dollars this year!" is a fun goal, but for most of us... it's not realistic. Better to set a goal to make a measurable amount more than you did last year, but still within reason. To say you want to lose 100 pounds by summer is not only not realistic... it's not healthy! Better to set a healthy and realistic goal of two pounds per week. This will help you stay motivated.
Timely: A goal isn't really a goal unless you have a time frame within which you can accomplish that goal. To say you want to travel the world is a nice idea. You might even put pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Big Ben on your bathroom mirror to keep you motivated. But when are you going to do that? Let's say you want to make this your Big Picture Goal. Retire and travel the world by the time you are 60 years old. Well now you can set your Mid-Range and Immediate Goals accordingly. How much will that trip cost? Don't forget to include your other living expensed while you are away. Unless your mortgage is paid off (or unless you sell your house) you will still have to pay that, so add it into the cost of your trip. Now you can backtrack from there and set your other goals. Set aside (xxx amount of money per month) would be an Immediate Goal. Taking the occasional class (or workshop) at your local community college to learn some language skills (French, Italian or Spanish phrases to make your trip more enjoyable) might be a Mid-Range Goal. And all of that on top of your other Goals pertaining to your Family, Career, Spiritual and Personal Development Goals...
Another thing to keep in mind about your Goals is that they are just Goals. These are not Rules or Laws that are inflexible. You can change them if you want. As we grow as people, our desires change. You may decide later that you want to travel the United States, before you travel the World.
A great way to keep all of this in perspective and to keep ourselves motivated is to share our Goals with a close friend or family member. This way you won't give up on your goals too easily.
But chances are that if your goals are really in alignment with who you are and what you want... you will likely be motivated enough on your own. If you are not motivated every day to wake up and do something toward accomplishing your goal, then your goal is not motivating to you and you need to find a better Big Picture Goal.
One day, when I was working out of a health club, managing a team of sales people, I walked into my morning meeting with a can of shaving cream. I took the cap off the top of the shaving cream and pressed the button. Some liquid drizzled out of the top of the can. Then I read the directions off the side of the can. "Shake well before using." So I shook the can. When I pressed the button again, a nice thick foamy substance came out of the canister. The point I was making is that sometimes we have to Shake Things Up. We made some serious changes that day. Changes that worked out for the best. There is an old saying, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." Well if you don't like the way things have been going in the past, it's time to Shake Things Up.
Don't just make random changes. Make specific measurable changes. Feel free to start by reading the "10 Natural Laws..." book.
Good Luck with your Goal-Setting. If you need some help, let me know. Happy to help.
Turn off your computer right now and write out your Goals for 2011. Do it NOW! In fact, one of your goals should be to stop wasting time. One of my favorite quotes that Smith makes in the book is (and I'm paraphrasing here): "When you spend an hour watching TV, you spend an hour NOT doing what?... Everything else!" But now, he would probably say the same thing about Reality TV or Facebook or any number of other goofy things that are serious time wasters.
Get your priorities straight. Figure out what is really important to you and work toward that.
Happy New Year!
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Living in "Get Set!" mode...
In my massage practice, I'm fortunate enough to work with a wide variety of people.
Sometimes we think of massage as a luxury. And for some it may be just that. But most of the people who come to see me are in pain of some sort.
They have pain in their neck, back, hips, elbows, shoulders; an endless list of sore muscles and joints. They may be pregnant or have a headache.
Here is a recent observation: lately I have been working on a lot of stressed out people.
This stress can manifest itself physically in the body. Our bodies are built to handle physical stress. Everyone has heard of the Fight or Flight response. But mental or psychological stress is much more confusing to the physical body.
Back in the early days of our ancestors, if we came across a saber toothed tiger, our body would produce the adrenalin to give us the extra strength we need to run from the danger, or if trapped to fight our way out.
I won't get into the whole scientific process of which glands produce what chemical reaction-- or which other bodily functions are on temporary hiatus until the danger is gone. Just know that the process was the same for our ancestors as it is today for us.
The difference though, for us, is that we rarely have to run from, or fight, our modern day saber toothed tigers. And so we never burn off that adrenaline. It just builds up inside.
This physically stresses our bodies. Think of it like this:
Imagine you are watching runners preparing for a 100 yard dash. They are stretching, walking around trying to stay warmed up. Mentally preparing themselves.
Then the person with the gun appears and everyone makes their way to their starting point.
You hear, "On your mark!" And the runners do exactly that. They get on their mark by kneeling down and placing their feet on the little foot brackets (I think they are called Starting Blocks).
When you hear, "Get Set!" -- the runners come up off their knees and every muscle in their body tightens up in anticipation of the gun shot.
The gun shot is heard on "Go!". At that point the runners make their way to the finish line as fast as they can.
The time span between "Get Set!" and "Go!" is usually not very long. But imagine if it was much longer. What if you had to stay in "Get Set!" for an undetermined amount of time? Maybe a minute, maybe five minutes or even up to an hour... That tension in your body would tire you out.
Try this little experiment. Everyone can lift five pounds. Take a five pound weight (or even three pounds) in each hand. Hold your arms directly out to your side, fully extended so your arms are parallel to the floor. See how long you can stay like that before your arms get so tired that you can no longer hold them up.
It won't take long. I think you will be surprised.
My point is this: we don't get to expend all of that built up tension and energy. And I believe that the built up tension manifests itself as physical stress.
There are many ways to deal with this stress. The following are just a few ideas.
The first obvious choice is to remove the stress from your life. In theory that makes sense. But the practical application is not always that easy. Maybe the stress is caused by your job. Well, not everyone is prepared to quit their job without the prospect of another.
Or maybe your stress is caused by a family member or some other friend or loved one. Walking away from family isn't necessarily the right thing to do (especially if they are sick or are in some other crisis and need help).
If removing the stress factor is not an option, a great way to learn to deal with it better is to exercise and eat right. Exercise is almost the same as being in Fight or Flight mode. And by eating right and taking better care of our body, then our body can take better care of us. All of our "systems" work more efficiently. Our circulatory system circulates better, our excretory system excretes better, etc...
Another effective tool is to learn the fine art of breathing. Luckily for us, breathing is something that our body does automatically. But just because our body is breathing-- it doesn't mean we can't be breathing better.
Most people let the muscles around their lungs handle breathing duty. Some people (singers and actors for example) take conscious control and use their diaphragm to produce a much larger breath so that they can sing louder or project their speaking voice all the way to the balcony seats.
This is a good start. But I propose learning to breathe with your whole body. You have done this before, without even realizing it.
I'm talking about the "Full Body Yawn". This is not the yawn you do at work or when you need oxygen or are bored. Not the yawn you do and politely cover your mouth. No. The "Full Body Yawn" is when you plant your feet into the ground; you stretch your arms way up over your head so far that when you lean back (which you will most likely do) your arms go way back behind your body.
And it is BIG. So big that you can't contain the noise that is created by the huge exhale of air. "Yeeaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaaahh...."
Another effective tool to relieve stress is Meditation.
Meditation is an extension of better breathing. I do a little workshop called "Meditation 101". In this one hour session we work on Breathing and Focus. By the end of the hour, you will have the tools you need to clear your mind, de-stress and return to your busy life, REFRESHED.
One of my favorite stress relief tools is my chime. I have a Zen Alarm Clock that will chime at any interval I set. Any timer will work. It can be the ping of your watch or computer or cell phone. It could even be an egg timer.
A good time to start with is 15 minutes (10 minutes if you are VERY stressed). At each 15 minute chime, take three really big Full Body Breaths. Not the kind you 'hiss' out. I'm talking about the big Full Body, Belly Breath that makes the big loud yawn noise that I mentioned earlier.
You should probably not be near other people for this exercise as it will very likely irritate others around you. That's how loud it should be.
Holding tension in your body while taking these three big, deep breaths is nearly impossible. It's sort of like trying to sneeze with your eyes open. You just can't do it.
Learning to breathe better, to meditate, to exercise and using the chimes all produce a great side-effect. They all make you more aware of your body.
Being aware of the tension in your body is the first step to making the tension disappear.
Sometimes we hold tension in our body and are not even aware of it. It has become a habit. We hunch over our computer. We lift and hold children. We grip our steering wheel until our knuckles turn white. We carry brief cases, pocketbooks, shoulder bags, etc. We hold our phone between our ear and shoulder so our hands are free to write or type.
These are all things that cause us to contort our body; to tense up our muscles.
We need to disengage our muscles. Make them "let go".
Massage is a very effective tool to help you disengage your muscles. At the end of each massage in my studio, I 'invite the chimes to sound' (as the Buddhist monks say). This is the signal that the treatment is complete. But it is also the beginning of some Pavlovian conditioning.
After just a few sessions, people start to associate the chimes with the Post Massage Relaxation. And soon people can use the sound of their own chimes to re-create that Post Massage Relaxation.
It may be true that we live in a "Get Set!" world, but it doesn't have to be that way for you. You can rid yourself of the physical tension caused by both physical and psychological stress, just by learning a few simple techniques.
Try some of these ideas on your own. If you feel like you need more help... schedule a session for massage, personal training, stretching or a "Meditation 101" workshop by going to www.nickrepoli.com .
Good Luck. Happy Thanksgiving.
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Sometimes we think of massage as a luxury. And for some it may be just that. But most of the people who come to see me are in pain of some sort.
They have pain in their neck, back, hips, elbows, shoulders; an endless list of sore muscles and joints. They may be pregnant or have a headache.
Here is a recent observation: lately I have been working on a lot of stressed out people.
This stress can manifest itself physically in the body. Our bodies are built to handle physical stress. Everyone has heard of the Fight or Flight response. But mental or psychological stress is much more confusing to the physical body.
Back in the early days of our ancestors, if we came across a saber toothed tiger, our body would produce the adrenalin to give us the extra strength we need to run from the danger, or if trapped to fight our way out.
I won't get into the whole scientific process of which glands produce what chemical reaction-- or which other bodily functions are on temporary hiatus until the danger is gone. Just know that the process was the same for our ancestors as it is today for us.
The difference though, for us, is that we rarely have to run from, or fight, our modern day saber toothed tigers. And so we never burn off that adrenaline. It just builds up inside.
This physically stresses our bodies. Think of it like this:
Imagine you are watching runners preparing for a 100 yard dash. They are stretching, walking around trying to stay warmed up. Mentally preparing themselves.
Then the person with the gun appears and everyone makes their way to their starting point.
You hear, "On your mark!" And the runners do exactly that. They get on their mark by kneeling down and placing their feet on the little foot brackets (I think they are called Starting Blocks).
When you hear, "Get Set!" -- the runners come up off their knees and every muscle in their body tightens up in anticipation of the gun shot.
The gun shot is heard on "Go!". At that point the runners make their way to the finish line as fast as they can.
The time span between "Get Set!" and "Go!" is usually not very long. But imagine if it was much longer. What if you had to stay in "Get Set!" for an undetermined amount of time? Maybe a minute, maybe five minutes or even up to an hour... That tension in your body would tire you out.
Try this little experiment. Everyone can lift five pounds. Take a five pound weight (or even three pounds) in each hand. Hold your arms directly out to your side, fully extended so your arms are parallel to the floor. See how long you can stay like that before your arms get so tired that you can no longer hold them up.
It won't take long. I think you will be surprised.
My point is this: we don't get to expend all of that built up tension and energy. And I believe that the built up tension manifests itself as physical stress.
There are many ways to deal with this stress. The following are just a few ideas.
The first obvious choice is to remove the stress from your life. In theory that makes sense. But the practical application is not always that easy. Maybe the stress is caused by your job. Well, not everyone is prepared to quit their job without the prospect of another.
Or maybe your stress is caused by a family member or some other friend or loved one. Walking away from family isn't necessarily the right thing to do (especially if they are sick or are in some other crisis and need help).
If removing the stress factor is not an option, a great way to learn to deal with it better is to exercise and eat right. Exercise is almost the same as being in Fight or Flight mode. And by eating right and taking better care of our body, then our body can take better care of us. All of our "systems" work more efficiently. Our circulatory system circulates better, our excretory system excretes better, etc...
Another effective tool is to learn the fine art of breathing. Luckily for us, breathing is something that our body does automatically. But just because our body is breathing-- it doesn't mean we can't be breathing better.
Most people let the muscles around their lungs handle breathing duty. Some people (singers and actors for example) take conscious control and use their diaphragm to produce a much larger breath so that they can sing louder or project their speaking voice all the way to the balcony seats.
This is a good start. But I propose learning to breathe with your whole body. You have done this before, without even realizing it.
I'm talking about the "Full Body Yawn". This is not the yawn you do at work or when you need oxygen or are bored. Not the yawn you do and politely cover your mouth. No. The "Full Body Yawn" is when you plant your feet into the ground; you stretch your arms way up over your head so far that when you lean back (which you will most likely do) your arms go way back behind your body.
And it is BIG. So big that you can't contain the noise that is created by the huge exhale of air. "Yeeaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaaahh...."
Another effective tool to relieve stress is Meditation.
Meditation is an extension of better breathing. I do a little workshop called "Meditation 101". In this one hour session we work on Breathing and Focus. By the end of the hour, you will have the tools you need to clear your mind, de-stress and return to your busy life, REFRESHED.
One of my favorite stress relief tools is my chime. I have a Zen Alarm Clock that will chime at any interval I set. Any timer will work. It can be the ping of your watch or computer or cell phone. It could even be an egg timer.
A good time to start with is 15 minutes (10 minutes if you are VERY stressed). At each 15 minute chime, take three really big Full Body Breaths. Not the kind you 'hiss' out. I'm talking about the big Full Body, Belly Breath that makes the big loud yawn noise that I mentioned earlier.
You should probably not be near other people for this exercise as it will very likely irritate others around you. That's how loud it should be.
Holding tension in your body while taking these three big, deep breaths is nearly impossible. It's sort of like trying to sneeze with your eyes open. You just can't do it.
Learning to breathe better, to meditate, to exercise and using the chimes all produce a great side-effect. They all make you more aware of your body.
Being aware of the tension in your body is the first step to making the tension disappear.
Sometimes we hold tension in our body and are not even aware of it. It has become a habit. We hunch over our computer. We lift and hold children. We grip our steering wheel until our knuckles turn white. We carry brief cases, pocketbooks, shoulder bags, etc. We hold our phone between our ear and shoulder so our hands are free to write or type.
These are all things that cause us to contort our body; to tense up our muscles.
We need to disengage our muscles. Make them "let go".
Massage is a very effective tool to help you disengage your muscles. At the end of each massage in my studio, I 'invite the chimes to sound' (as the Buddhist monks say). This is the signal that the treatment is complete. But it is also the beginning of some Pavlovian conditioning.
After just a few sessions, people start to associate the chimes with the Post Massage Relaxation. And soon people can use the sound of their own chimes to re-create that Post Massage Relaxation.
It may be true that we live in a "Get Set!" world, but it doesn't have to be that way for you. You can rid yourself of the physical tension caused by both physical and psychological stress, just by learning a few simple techniques.
Try some of these ideas on your own. If you feel like you need more help... schedule a session for massage, personal training, stretching or a "Meditation 101" workshop by going to www.nickrepoli.com .
Good Luck. Happy Thanksgiving.
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Lessons From The Human Body...
I have often said, "The human body is an incredible machine."
Made up of 206 bones, over 600 muscles, networks of nerves, systems for transporting blood and oxygen, a system for excreting waste... it even has a reproductive system to perpetuate our species.
At our most fundamental level we are made up of cells. These cells are essentially individual living beings. You most likely learned this by examining an amoeba floating in the glass slide under a microscope in high school.
Without the help of a scientist to keep it alive...the cell must do whatever it takes to survive. That means searching for a healthy environment to live in.
Essentially what happens is this: individual, self-serving cells band together to make little 'microcosms' that are also self-serving entities.
Then these microcosms band together with other healthy, self-serving microcosms and so on, until...next thing you know we have a human body.
I should say, we have an individual, healthy, self-serving human body.
Like the individual cell, the human body must do whatever it takes to survive. It must do things like breathe and eat and drink water.
Eventually, we figured out that our individual self-serving bodies benefitted from banding together and working as families and small communities. We created our own little human microcosms.
I think you can see where I am going with this. If we all learned a life lesson from our individual cells, we would see that it is possible to be self-serving and still work together to benefit the whole...
If we are healthy, human individuals and we create healthy families which in turn create healthy neighborhoods and communities; then those healthy communities can band together to create healthy states and nations. This of course would make the world we live in a much different place than it is now.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The point of this post is not to heal the world (although that will be a nice byproduct). The point is to heal our bodies.
The other day on the radio I heard a blurb about how in this country we spend substantially more on 'health care' than other countries. Yet, in those other countries they have a longer life expectancy than we have here.
I have a theory.
Yes, I know. I always have a theory. But especially in a post like this one, I don't want to pass off this information as scientific fact, because I am not a scientist and I have not done any extensive trials and experiments.
Instead, I will pass this information on to you as a theory. This is a theory that makes sense to me.
Let's go back to the cellular level. Imagine a Craig's List for cells: "Individual, healthy, self-serving cells seeking same."
As a general rule, these healthy cells don't want to bond with unhealthy cells. It's just not good for survival. Although once the cells have created the microcosm... of course they will do whatever it takes to help 'sick or unhealthy' cells survive, too. It only makes sense since they are bonded together and their own individual survival (for the most part) depends on the survival of all involved.
And so, it is the same with us. We are like a team. Imagine any sports team (football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc.), the athletes can be great individually, but it isn't until they play great together as a team that really amazing things happen.
This is why great teams have great coaches (or managers in the case of workplace teams). Someone to make sure everyone is doing the right stuff. Doing the basics.
It's the coach/manager who makes sure the individuals are all doing their part. Pulling their own weight. They make sure everyone knows the rules, warms up properly to prevent injuries, runs the drills and makes sure that everyone stays motivated.
For individual human bodies, the coach/manager is our mind. It is the mind that makes sure that all of our systems and little microcosms are healthy, motivated and ready to work for the greater good of the whole body.
There are many things in life that we have no control over. Luckily for us, our mind is one of the things we DO have control over.
Sadly, some of us give up control of our own minds to others. Really. It doesn't happen over night. People don't wake up in the morning and say, "I think I will give up control over my own mind today."
No, it happens gradually over time. Sometimes we don't realize it until it's too late.
Maybe you were a kid and you saw a commercial on TV and decided that you had to eat Lucky Charms or Fruity Pebbles for breakfast. It was certainly an emotional decision and not a rational one. Had you weighed the pro's and con's of putting that much sugar into your body in one sitting (that early in the morning) you most certainly would have opted for the oatmeal with fresh strawberries and blueberries.
But give yourself a break...you were just a kid. This time you get to blame your parents!
Or maybe as a teenager you decided that you absolutely needed to have that $200 pair of sneakers (or some other clothing item with a fancy label). But that's what all the 'cool' kids had, so you gave up a little bit of your rational thinking to fit in.
Perhaps it happened again as an adult. Your boss or someone that you admire, bought a fancy new (fill in the item here: car, boat, house, etc.). Well now you are just trying to 'keep up with the Joneses'!
Keep in mind that the person you are trying to keep up with is... well, trying to keep up with someone else!
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine clothes, fine houses or fine furniture."
All of that just to say something that I have said in previous posts: THINK FOR YOURSELF!
We should all make a conscious decision to make our choices reasonably and rationally rather than emotionally.
For the purpose of this post, however, I will try to limit the scope of our choices to the health and wellness of the human body. So for now, if you can afford that fancy car, house, boat, etc., go ahead and stimulate the economy! I have no objection (as long as you are not living beyond your means).
The choices I'm talking about today are more about keeping yourself healthy. Which by virtue of my theory will benefit the greater good.
For example, if you eat fruits, vegetables and grains, food that is as close to the natural state as possible, your body will be able to use that food as fuel and efficiently eliminate what is doesn't need.
Unfortunately, most of the food we eat today is processed. It needs to be processed so it has an acceptable 'shelf life' in the grocery store. This makes it more profitable. It's always about the money.
Our bodies are not equipped to process the chemicals and sugar and whatever else gets put into our food. This makes it more challenging for our bodies to digest. Sometimes little particles of these inorganic 'food stuff' get left behind to clog up our intestines or arteries or does-- who knows what other damage.
This is why we get sick or need surgeries. I may be over simplifying here, but you can understand my point:
The better we take care of our body, the better our body will serve us.
The other thing we can do to care for our body is to be sure we are getting enough exercise. In the old days when we were hunter/gatherers we would get plenty of exercise. But now that we hunt and gather at the grocery store and then drive our meals for the week home in a car, the only real exercise we are getting is carrying the bags into the house. (Hopefully they are reusable canvas bags!)
Of course, if you are having your groceries delivered, your only exercise is putting the groceries away.
For more information on exercise tips, go to my massage website (www.nickrepoli.com) and sign up for my FREE monthly e-newsletter (which will also qualify you for $10 off your next massage).
My goal is to send out a newsletter each month with a new tip on health and fitness. In this month's e-newsletter (the first one) I talk about the five components of fitness and elaborate a little on cardiovascular fitness. I also explain how to find your Target Heart Range and why it is important information to know.
Over the next few months I will elaborate on the other components of fitness. If there is a topic you would like to know more about, send me an e-mail and I will consider it for a future edition of the newsletter.
The point is this: It's time to follow the lead of our inner cells. We must search out healthy environments and attach ourselves.
We have to make good choices. (Now there's a life lesson!)
We have to eat right and exercise. If you don't know what that means... do a little research. Find someone who does know.
Note: If you are reading this blog from the West Coast, look up www.shelleerae.com and "Have Tea With Shellee". She offers workshops on healthy eating. If you are on the East Coast, I suggest looking up Karen Sevenoff who is currently running a "Nutritional Healing Lecture Series" at the Fuller Yoga and Pilates Studio in Hartford, CT. Working with either of them will give you a great starting point on your path to healthier eating.
In my opinion, the reason people in other countries have a longer life expectancy than we have, is because they eat better than we do.
I realize that some of these other cultures make rich sauces that you might consider unhealthy, but they use fresh ingredients to make their meals, not chemically enhanced, pre-packaged, processed ingredients.
Using fresh ingredients makes it easier for the body to process the food. This in turn helps us to stay healthy, which is less taxing on the health care system.
I could go on and on about the faults and short-comings of the health care system... but that could be a whole separate post. For now, let me put the blame squarely on us.
"The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." So says Billy Shakespeare in Julius Caesar (and I agree)!
We can blame the system: The farmers and ranchers who use chemicals and growth hormones; the grocery store chains; or even the marketing and advertising companies, but as long as we keep buying their products... they will keep making and selling them.
In a perfect world the companies would unilaterally change their ways to make their products more healthy. But alas, this is not a perfect world and so we must be our own advocates and pressure the companies to do the right thing.
I agree that we shouldn't have to do it that way, but as I said, "It's all about the money." But luckily for us, the greed of these companies makes it easy for us to use economic pressure to change their wicked ways.
All we have to do is stop buying chemically enhanced , processed foods.
If you don't have the time or space to grow (or raise) your own organic food, you could join a food co-op or buy from your local farm or farmer's market.
One of these days I should write a post on the state of farming. This is a real problem, but I will save that topic for another post.
So where can you buy healthy organic food? Here are some websites that may help:
www.sustainabletable.org
www.eatwellguide.org
www.organicconsumers.org
Plug in your Zip Code and then determine your shopping radius (5 miles, 10 miles, up to 30 miles) and the site will give you options to find farms or stores or co-ops that offer healthier solutions.
You can find more ideas on the Links Page of my massage website (www.nickrepoli.com) that range from books to articles on genetically modified foods. Don't get me started on that!
Good luck in your search for healthier food.
Make healthy choices.
Peace and Love,
-----Nick
Made up of 206 bones, over 600 muscles, networks of nerves, systems for transporting blood and oxygen, a system for excreting waste... it even has a reproductive system to perpetuate our species.
At our most fundamental level we are made up of cells. These cells are essentially individual living beings. You most likely learned this by examining an amoeba floating in the glass slide under a microscope in high school.
Without the help of a scientist to keep it alive...the cell must do whatever it takes to survive. That means searching for a healthy environment to live in.
Essentially what happens is this: individual, self-serving cells band together to make little 'microcosms' that are also self-serving entities.
Then these microcosms band together with other healthy, self-serving microcosms and so on, until...next thing you know we have a human body.
I should say, we have an individual, healthy, self-serving human body.
Like the individual cell, the human body must do whatever it takes to survive. It must do things like breathe and eat and drink water.
Eventually, we figured out that our individual self-serving bodies benefitted from banding together and working as families and small communities. We created our own little human microcosms.
I think you can see where I am going with this. If we all learned a life lesson from our individual cells, we would see that it is possible to be self-serving and still work together to benefit the whole...
If we are healthy, human individuals and we create healthy families which in turn create healthy neighborhoods and communities; then those healthy communities can band together to create healthy states and nations. This of course would make the world we live in a much different place than it is now.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The point of this post is not to heal the world (although that will be a nice byproduct). The point is to heal our bodies.
The other day on the radio I heard a blurb about how in this country we spend substantially more on 'health care' than other countries. Yet, in those other countries they have a longer life expectancy than we have here.
I have a theory.
Yes, I know. I always have a theory. But especially in a post like this one, I don't want to pass off this information as scientific fact, because I am not a scientist and I have not done any extensive trials and experiments.
Instead, I will pass this information on to you as a theory. This is a theory that makes sense to me.
Let's go back to the cellular level. Imagine a Craig's List for cells: "Individual, healthy, self-serving cells seeking same."
As a general rule, these healthy cells don't want to bond with unhealthy cells. It's just not good for survival. Although once the cells have created the microcosm... of course they will do whatever it takes to help 'sick or unhealthy' cells survive, too. It only makes sense since they are bonded together and their own individual survival (for the most part) depends on the survival of all involved.
And so, it is the same with us. We are like a team. Imagine any sports team (football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc.), the athletes can be great individually, but it isn't until they play great together as a team that really amazing things happen.
This is why great teams have great coaches (or managers in the case of workplace teams). Someone to make sure everyone is doing the right stuff. Doing the basics.
It's the coach/manager who makes sure the individuals are all doing their part. Pulling their own weight. They make sure everyone knows the rules, warms up properly to prevent injuries, runs the drills and makes sure that everyone stays motivated.
For individual human bodies, the coach/manager is our mind. It is the mind that makes sure that all of our systems and little microcosms are healthy, motivated and ready to work for the greater good of the whole body.
There are many things in life that we have no control over. Luckily for us, our mind is one of the things we DO have control over.
Sadly, some of us give up control of our own minds to others. Really. It doesn't happen over night. People don't wake up in the morning and say, "I think I will give up control over my own mind today."
No, it happens gradually over time. Sometimes we don't realize it until it's too late.
Maybe you were a kid and you saw a commercial on TV and decided that you had to eat Lucky Charms or Fruity Pebbles for breakfast. It was certainly an emotional decision and not a rational one. Had you weighed the pro's and con's of putting that much sugar into your body in one sitting (that early in the morning) you most certainly would have opted for the oatmeal with fresh strawberries and blueberries.
But give yourself a break...you were just a kid. This time you get to blame your parents!
Or maybe as a teenager you decided that you absolutely needed to have that $200 pair of sneakers (or some other clothing item with a fancy label). But that's what all the 'cool' kids had, so you gave up a little bit of your rational thinking to fit in.
Perhaps it happened again as an adult. Your boss or someone that you admire, bought a fancy new (fill in the item here: car, boat, house, etc.). Well now you are just trying to 'keep up with the Joneses'!
Keep in mind that the person you are trying to keep up with is... well, trying to keep up with someone else!
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine clothes, fine houses or fine furniture."
All of that just to say something that I have said in previous posts: THINK FOR YOURSELF!
We should all make a conscious decision to make our choices reasonably and rationally rather than emotionally.
For the purpose of this post, however, I will try to limit the scope of our choices to the health and wellness of the human body. So for now, if you can afford that fancy car, house, boat, etc., go ahead and stimulate the economy! I have no objection (as long as you are not living beyond your means).
The choices I'm talking about today are more about keeping yourself healthy. Which by virtue of my theory will benefit the greater good.
For example, if you eat fruits, vegetables and grains, food that is as close to the natural state as possible, your body will be able to use that food as fuel and efficiently eliminate what is doesn't need.
Unfortunately, most of the food we eat today is processed. It needs to be processed so it has an acceptable 'shelf life' in the grocery store. This makes it more profitable. It's always about the money.
Our bodies are not equipped to process the chemicals and sugar and whatever else gets put into our food. This makes it more challenging for our bodies to digest. Sometimes little particles of these inorganic 'food stuff' get left behind to clog up our intestines or arteries or does-- who knows what other damage.
This is why we get sick or need surgeries. I may be over simplifying here, but you can understand my point:
The better we take care of our body, the better our body will serve us.
The other thing we can do to care for our body is to be sure we are getting enough exercise. In the old days when we were hunter/gatherers we would get plenty of exercise. But now that we hunt and gather at the grocery store and then drive our meals for the week home in a car, the only real exercise we are getting is carrying the bags into the house. (Hopefully they are reusable canvas bags!)
Of course, if you are having your groceries delivered, your only exercise is putting the groceries away.
For more information on exercise tips, go to my massage website (www.nickrepoli.com) and sign up for my FREE monthly e-newsletter (which will also qualify you for $10 off your next massage).
My goal is to send out a newsletter each month with a new tip on health and fitness. In this month's e-newsletter (the first one) I talk about the five components of fitness and elaborate a little on cardiovascular fitness. I also explain how to find your Target Heart Range and why it is important information to know.
Over the next few months I will elaborate on the other components of fitness. If there is a topic you would like to know more about, send me an e-mail and I will consider it for a future edition of the newsletter.
The point is this: It's time to follow the lead of our inner cells. We must search out healthy environments and attach ourselves.
We have to make good choices. (Now there's a life lesson!)
We have to eat right and exercise. If you don't know what that means... do a little research. Find someone who does know.
Note: If you are reading this blog from the West Coast, look up www.shelleerae.com and "Have Tea With Shellee". She offers workshops on healthy eating. If you are on the East Coast, I suggest looking up Karen Sevenoff who is currently running a "Nutritional Healing Lecture Series" at the Fuller Yoga and Pilates Studio in Hartford, CT. Working with either of them will give you a great starting point on your path to healthier eating.
In my opinion, the reason people in other countries have a longer life expectancy than we have, is because they eat better than we do.
I realize that some of these other cultures make rich sauces that you might consider unhealthy, but they use fresh ingredients to make their meals, not chemically enhanced, pre-packaged, processed ingredients.
Using fresh ingredients makes it easier for the body to process the food. This in turn helps us to stay healthy, which is less taxing on the health care system.
I could go on and on about the faults and short-comings of the health care system... but that could be a whole separate post. For now, let me put the blame squarely on us.
"The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." So says Billy Shakespeare in Julius Caesar (and I agree)!
We can blame the system: The farmers and ranchers who use chemicals and growth hormones; the grocery store chains; or even the marketing and advertising companies, but as long as we keep buying their products... they will keep making and selling them.
In a perfect world the companies would unilaterally change their ways to make their products more healthy. But alas, this is not a perfect world and so we must be our own advocates and pressure the companies to do the right thing.
I agree that we shouldn't have to do it that way, but as I said, "It's all about the money." But luckily for us, the greed of these companies makes it easy for us to use economic pressure to change their wicked ways.
All we have to do is stop buying chemically enhanced , processed foods.
If you don't have the time or space to grow (or raise) your own organic food, you could join a food co-op or buy from your local farm or farmer's market.
One of these days I should write a post on the state of farming. This is a real problem, but I will save that topic for another post.
So where can you buy healthy organic food? Here are some websites that may help:
www.sustainabletable.org
www.eatwellguide.org
www.organicconsumers.org
Plug in your Zip Code and then determine your shopping radius (5 miles, 10 miles, up to 30 miles) and the site will give you options to find farms or stores or co-ops that offer healthier solutions.
You can find more ideas on the Links Page of my massage website (www.nickrepoli.com) that range from books to articles on genetically modified foods. Don't get me started on that!
Good luck in your search for healthier food.
Make healthy choices.
Peace and Love,
-----Nick
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Route 101 in NH...
If you happen to find yourself wandering around southern New Hampshire on Route 101 (and are in the market for some patio furniture or cool yard stuff) keep an eye out for the Patio Barn.
I was on my way to Wilton, NH to shoot a wedding (you can see some of those photos soon on the 3000 Words Photography Blog) and had to stop to take some photos of the colorful windmills, patio furniture and deck chairs.
Brett Wilson, the owner of Patio Barn was out rearranging the lawn chairs when I stopped by. He shared a little of the history with me. His Dad used to run a shop that sold handmade baskets from this same spot for many years. When Brett took over, he decided that Patio Furniture (and other interesting lawn accessories) was the way to go. Like his Dad, Brett is committed to offering only quality products and great service. It seems to be working out great.
More than just colorful... When you purchase these chairs you are not only getting great looking chairs, you are making an ecological statement. The chairs are made from recycled products like plastic bottles. And they come in kid size too!
They also have a wide variety of windmill products for your yard. Check out all the different themes. From firetruck...
To golf bag...
To golf cart...
To the gnome pushing a wheel barrel filled with flowers!
And all of that is on the outside. Go inside and find more traditional patio furniture and also some hammocks hanging from the ceiling.
And if that's not enough for you, there are some fun rainbow hot air balloons that spin like crazy in the wind:
One of my favorite things was the solar powered lights! Just stick them into the ground. They collect sunlight all day and then light up at night. Most of the lights I saw had three different colors. Very Cool!
Apparently, the whole Wilson family has that entrepreneurial spirit. Brett said that one day he came in to work and found that his son had planted a whole row of the lawn windmills out along the road...
That is what caught my eye...
Again, you can see some of the variety of windmills...
And after you get all the Patio Furniture you need, you can walk across the parking lot to treat yourself to some ice cream or a sandwich...
If you want to find out more before you drive up that way, check out their website: http://patiobarn.net .
I really love that area of Southern NH. Amherst, Wilton and all the way to Keene and Peterborough. Jaffrey is the home of Mt Monadnock which is one of my all time favorite mountains to hike.
Hope you are having a great summer and spending some time outdoors.
Peace and Love,
-----Nick
Note: Can you believe I made it through this whole post without making one joke about my Irish friend Patty O'Furniture? :-)
I was on my way to Wilton, NH to shoot a wedding (you can see some of those photos soon on the 3000 Words Photography Blog) and had to stop to take some photos of the colorful windmills, patio furniture and deck chairs.
Brett Wilson, the owner of Patio Barn was out rearranging the lawn chairs when I stopped by. He shared a little of the history with me. His Dad used to run a shop that sold handmade baskets from this same spot for many years. When Brett took over, he decided that Patio Furniture (and other interesting lawn accessories) was the way to go. Like his Dad, Brett is committed to offering only quality products and great service. It seems to be working out great.
More than just colorful... When you purchase these chairs you are not only getting great looking chairs, you are making an ecological statement. The chairs are made from recycled products like plastic bottles. And they come in kid size too!
They also have a wide variety of windmill products for your yard. Check out all the different themes. From firetruck...
To golf bag...
To golf cart...
To the gnome pushing a wheel barrel filled with flowers!
And all of that is on the outside. Go inside and find more traditional patio furniture and also some hammocks hanging from the ceiling.
And if that's not enough for you, there are some fun rainbow hot air balloons that spin like crazy in the wind:
One of my favorite things was the solar powered lights! Just stick them into the ground. They collect sunlight all day and then light up at night. Most of the lights I saw had three different colors. Very Cool!
Apparently, the whole Wilson family has that entrepreneurial spirit. Brett said that one day he came in to work and found that his son had planted a whole row of the lawn windmills out along the road...
That is what caught my eye...
Again, you can see some of the variety of windmills...
And after you get all the Patio Furniture you need, you can walk across the parking lot to treat yourself to some ice cream or a sandwich...
If you want to find out more before you drive up that way, check out their website: http://patiobarn.net .
I really love that area of Southern NH. Amherst, Wilton and all the way to Keene and Peterborough. Jaffrey is the home of Mt Monadnock which is one of my all time favorite mountains to hike.
Hope you are having a great summer and spending some time outdoors.
Peace and Love,
-----Nick
Note: Can you believe I made it through this whole post without making one joke about my Irish friend Patty O'Furniture? :-)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
New Photography Blog...
Now that I have updated my Massage Website (it still needs a little tweaking but it's up and running); I am starting to work on my Photography Website.
Since I'm starting from scratch, it will take a little time. And as you may (or may not) know, I lean a little toward the impatient side. So while I am working on the new site, I will be posting some of my photos to my new Photography Blog. This can be found at: http://3000wordsphotography.blogspot.com and you can link to it (or my massage website as well as my Mobile Me Photo Gallery) by clicking in the 'Check Out These Links' box just above my Profile in the upper right hand corner of this page.
Right now there are photos of some of the dance concerts that I have shot recently and also shots of the Sand Sculptures from the national contest at Revere Beach last weekend.
I also went out tonight to shoot the "Full Thunder Moon". I haven't really looked at the photos yet, but if any of them look interesting I will likely upload them to the 3000 Words Blog when I finish this post.
Why '3000 Words', you ask? Well, they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words" but I like to think that mine are worth more than the average picture. My original thought was that my photos were worth twice as much... but when I did a Google search to make sure that someone didn't beat me to the idea, I found that someone else did have a '2000 Words' site already. Sadly, the site is terrible, and the photos couldn't be more underwhelming and unimpressive.
So I went with '3000 Words' because '2001 Words' doesn't roll off the tongue easily...
Feel free to check out the site (and become a Follower if you would like to add a comment or make suggestions for future posts).
Enjoy.
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Since I'm starting from scratch, it will take a little time. And as you may (or may not) know, I lean a little toward the impatient side. So while I am working on the new site, I will be posting some of my photos to my new Photography Blog. This can be found at: http://3000wordsphotography.blogspot.com and you can link to it (or my massage website as well as my Mobile Me Photo Gallery) by clicking in the 'Check Out These Links' box just above my Profile in the upper right hand corner of this page.
Right now there are photos of some of the dance concerts that I have shot recently and also shots of the Sand Sculptures from the national contest at Revere Beach last weekend.
I also went out tonight to shoot the "Full Thunder Moon". I haven't really looked at the photos yet, but if any of them look interesting I will likely upload them to the 3000 Words Blog when I finish this post.
Why '3000 Words', you ask? Well, they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words" but I like to think that mine are worth more than the average picture. My original thought was that my photos were worth twice as much... but when I did a Google search to make sure that someone didn't beat me to the idea, I found that someone else did have a '2000 Words' site already. Sadly, the site is terrible, and the photos couldn't be more underwhelming and unimpressive.
So I went with '3000 Words' because '2001 Words' doesn't roll off the tongue easily...
Feel free to check out the site (and become a Follower if you would like to add a comment or make suggestions for future posts).
Enjoy.
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Thursday, June 24, 2010
New Massage Website...
I know this will surprise and amaze you, but I have officially redesigned my massage website... myself.
Crazy, right? I admit that I had some help from the Apple Geniuses but that was mostly coaching and telling me what all the little symbols mean. But other than that, I really did do this myself.
I have gone from computer illiterate to Apple Computer Geek in a matter of months.
But here's the dilemma. Just because I built a website, doesn't mean it looks good (or professional). So in an effort to get some constructive feedback, I am offering $10 off your next massage to anyone who compares the new website to the old website and gives me some constructive hints on how to improve the site. (Both aesthetically and functionally.) Is there too much information? Not enough? Did I leave out anything obvious? Is there anything I can do to make it look better?
I have forwarded my www.nickrepoli.com domain name to the new website. The address of the old site is www.nickrepoli.massagetherapy.com . Thank you in advance for your help. Note: This offer expires on 7/31/10 so take a look soon.
My next project is the Photography Website! I am officially obsessed with digital photography, and am getting ready to add photography to my professional repertoire. I have shot a few dance concerts recently and I am hoping that the photography will help keep me in the Dance World, since my injury has forced me into retirement from being onstage.
I have also done quite a bit of Landscape Photography (while on my many hikes). And my studio lighting set just arrived yesterday so I will be experimenting with Portraits. That includes individuals (head shots), family portraits, kids, etc. Any volunteers for that?
If you or anyone you know needs a photo for a head shot, family portrait, dance concert, etc., I would be happy to do the photo shoot for free (in exchange for allowing me to use the good photos on my new photography website). This offer expires as soon as the new website goes live... so if you are interested, let me know soon!
One of my other goals with the photography, is to do what is called Destination Photography. That is when people go on vacation and bring a photographer with them to document their trip. The bonus is that they get quality photos and they get to be in the photos, too!
So if you know any rich people going on vacation (or a group of people who all want to chip in to share the cost), feel free to suggest that they bring me along.
As a funny side note-- I am thinking about sticking with the "Hit Man" theme in my marketing approach. If you haven't seen my car lately, then you haven't seen the sign in my back window. It reads, "Massage Hit Man-- I Rub Out The Pain In Your Neck", along with the phone number, website and my tag line, "Massaging the North Shore Since 1999..."
I was thinking I could use a similar approach with the photography. "Photography Hit Man-- I'll Shoot You and Your Whole Family" and then add the phone number, website and the different types of photography that I offer (landscape, portraits, family, kids, destination photography, etc.).
It may be corny but it's kind of clever at the same time. And with a name like Repoli... I think I could pull it off.
The last piece of information for this post is the new e-newsletter. I am thinking about sending out a monthly newsletter with tips on health, fitness and massage, so if you have any ideas that you would like to read about or learn more about, let me know and I will try to use that as a topic.
And if you have any suggestions on the best way to deliver that e-newsletter I would appreciate hearing about that too. Does anyone use Constant Contact or some other delivery system?
I hope all is well. And I hope your summer is off to a good start.
Peace and Love,
------Nick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
