Thursday, July 14, 2011
Mexico
Hello everyone, I am writing to you from the exotic land of Mexico. I moved here July 1st. Now I know everyone has heard the worst about this place but I have yet to encounter anything like what the media has hyped up. In fact I have had had nothing but the best treatment here by the locals. So follow along as I add to my blog of my adventures here.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Proverbs 2:2-4
A ship captain scans the horizon and contemplates his journey. He looks at his log books and reviews his voyage. The hardships, the joys, mistake and set backs, the moments of elation at making a conquest over an obstacle or a brand new discovery. He looks to the heavens to plot his course forward. Excited over the prospect of what might lie just over that next horizon
2010 was my year of enlightenment. Like that ships captain, I too am looking over this last year and seeing where I have came from and with a sense of excitement looking at that rising sun and hoping for a great journey in 2011.
I discovered so many things about myself this last year. I have actively sought to bring peace of mind into my life and like King Solomon I have also prayed for wisdom. Understanding isn't easy. I have always been a bit of a reactionary type of person. Its not within my nature to hold back on anything. I wear my emotions fairly close to the surface and go at all things with enthusiasm. I have had to learn to temper that a bit. One of my worst habits has been to place people I meet at a higher level then they deserve. Treating them as though they were a five star meal at the Four Seasons rather then just the potato that they are. Then when I finally do see them for their true nature I am disappointed. Now who is to blame for that disappointment? Me, that's who! That person didn't ask to be categorized as a five star meal, that was all on me. They know they are a potato which is why they behave the way they do. It is up to me to see the person for who they are and if they choose to strive to be a five star meal, great, if not and they want to remain a potato then its not my business to try an alter them. In other words one of the lessons of 2010 has been to except people as they are. Instead of starting them out on a pedestal, start them at ground level and let them climb to what ever height they want.
Lesson 2 for 2010: Trust in God to provide
This isn't an easy thing to do either. I worry just as most everyone does.. am I going to have enough to pay my bills this month, will I have enough to pay for my sport and all that goes with it, what if one of my pets get ill or the car breaks down or my father needs me to come help him? The list goes on and on... worrying about these things has NEVER made them go away. In fact worry is like a virus. Its loves to grow and take over your life. This year God pulled my fat out of the fire more then once. In fact every day God has given me my manna for the day. (Exodus 16: 4. This chapter in the Bible has changed my life) The trick to being happy and worry free is to slow down and really look at all that you do have. All that has already been given to you and being thankful for things staying on track. How many times at the end of the day when you are saying thanks to the Lord do you say " thank you for all the things that didn't go wrong today that could have really throw me under the bus" ? It is natural to always want more then what we have at the moment but perhaps its like that responsibility thing your parents did to you when you were a kid. They gave you a goldfish first, when you kept that taken care of you moved up to a hamster, then a dog, etc etc. Maybe the key to getting more things is simply being grateful for what you already have. I don't mean complacent, I don't think God likes lazy people. I mean grateful. A person who is grateful and humble is always respected.
2011 is going to be a very exciting and eventful year for me. I hope, with your support and your donations here at my website, to win my pro status this season. I hope to land a job I've been waiting on for almost 6 months. I hope to be a little more wiser and continue to seek that wisdom that makes being grateful for all that I have and have been given all that more clearer for me to see.
God bless you in 2011!
2010 was my year of enlightenment. Like that ships captain, I too am looking over this last year and seeing where I have came from and with a sense of excitement looking at that rising sun and hoping for a great journey in 2011.
I discovered so many things about myself this last year. I have actively sought to bring peace of mind into my life and like King Solomon I have also prayed for wisdom. Understanding isn't easy. I have always been a bit of a reactionary type of person. Its not within my nature to hold back on anything. I wear my emotions fairly close to the surface and go at all things with enthusiasm. I have had to learn to temper that a bit. One of my worst habits has been to place people I meet at a higher level then they deserve. Treating them as though they were a five star meal at the Four Seasons rather then just the potato that they are. Then when I finally do see them for their true nature I am disappointed. Now who is to blame for that disappointment? Me, that's who! That person didn't ask to be categorized as a five star meal, that was all on me. They know they are a potato which is why they behave the way they do. It is up to me to see the person for who they are and if they choose to strive to be a five star meal, great, if not and they want to remain a potato then its not my business to try an alter them. In other words one of the lessons of 2010 has been to except people as they are. Instead of starting them out on a pedestal, start them at ground level and let them climb to what ever height they want.
Lesson 2 for 2010: Trust in God to provide
This isn't an easy thing to do either. I worry just as most everyone does.. am I going to have enough to pay my bills this month, will I have enough to pay for my sport and all that goes with it, what if one of my pets get ill or the car breaks down or my father needs me to come help him? The list goes on and on... worrying about these things has NEVER made them go away. In fact worry is like a virus. Its loves to grow and take over your life. This year God pulled my fat out of the fire more then once. In fact every day God has given me my manna for the day. (Exodus 16: 4. This chapter in the Bible has changed my life) The trick to being happy and worry free is to slow down and really look at all that you do have. All that has already been given to you and being thankful for things staying on track. How many times at the end of the day when you are saying thanks to the Lord do you say " thank you for all the things that didn't go wrong today that could have really throw me under the bus" ? It is natural to always want more then what we have at the moment but perhaps its like that responsibility thing your parents did to you when you were a kid. They gave you a goldfish first, when you kept that taken care of you moved up to a hamster, then a dog, etc etc. Maybe the key to getting more things is simply being grateful for what you already have. I don't mean complacent, I don't think God likes lazy people. I mean grateful. A person who is grateful and humble is always respected.
2011 is going to be a very exciting and eventful year for me. I hope, with your support and your donations here at my website, to win my pro status this season. I hope to land a job I've been waiting on for almost 6 months. I hope to be a little more wiser and continue to seek that wisdom that makes being grateful for all that I have and have been given all that more clearer for me to see.
God bless you in 2011!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Squatted to rise and baked on the squat
I was raised by my grandparents for most of my life. It was where my Mom would drop us as she was sorting out yet another divorce and so I have this vast collection of really old sayings. Some of them are really strange and I have even had to look them up to find their meanings. The one above sums up a lot of situations that I have had in my life. You see, I ran into my old lover today... he fits this quote to a T.
First let me explain how the expression came about. Picture how some one would squat down so they could really jump high.. now add a little wisdom about when your cooking old fashion biscuits. You see after you cut them out of the dough, you put them on a baking sheet and place them in a pre-heated oven. IF all goes as planned, they should rise and be nice and fluffy and then cook that way. If things don't go so well, then they will not rise and unfortunately cook that way and you get flat hard hockey pucks for biscuits...
People, relationships, jobs, moves to a new city you name it. .. Great starts full of potential and high hopes. But some where things go terribly wrong and they never fulfill that great expectation that we had for them.
Take my ex lover (please) lol .. no seriously, He's a great example of this. Great guy, nice, outgoing, friendly, happy (or so it seems on the surface) and has years and years of experience in bodybuilding. Has made it to pretty high levels in the sport. Talks a great game. Will tell you about how he trained this person and knows that person. How he has won contests stretching back to the being of time. Has his own personal training business that should be going balls to the wall yet.....isn't. When he was put to the test to get someone ready for a bodybuilding show, he failed miserably. When asked if any of these people he's trained will write a recommendation for him, he has no one who will. So what gives? Well as I later found out by being as close as he would let me get to him and his personal situation, it takes more then all the potential, all the talk and all the prior history in the world to make something happen. You need drive, unrelenting drive. The nothing in the world is going to stop me kind of drive. The I'm not sitting around telling stories of glory days I'm doing it now! kind of drive. Otherwise well, you kind of end up just like the biscuit.. you fail to raise to your full and present potential. While your squatting down to make that big leap to be something, you never do anything and bake right there on the squat.
I still care for this person but I am no longer snake charmed by him as the saying goes. In a way I feel kind of sorry for him. Such a waste..all that potential to be one of the great trainers, to have a thriving business going, to have someone like me in his corner, but because he lacks the serious drive to make it happen, nothing does.
I keep the quote by Calvin Coolidge 'Nothing can take the place of persistence.'posted through out my house. What you may lack in God given talent you can make up for with drive. But all the talent in the world means nothing if you never get off your ass and use it.
First let me explain how the expression came about. Picture how some one would squat down so they could really jump high.. now add a little wisdom about when your cooking old fashion biscuits. You see after you cut them out of the dough, you put them on a baking sheet and place them in a pre-heated oven. IF all goes as planned, they should rise and be nice and fluffy and then cook that way. If things don't go so well, then they will not rise and unfortunately cook that way and you get flat hard hockey pucks for biscuits...
People, relationships, jobs, moves to a new city you name it. .. Great starts full of potential and high hopes. But some where things go terribly wrong and they never fulfill that great expectation that we had for them.
Take my ex lover (please) lol .. no seriously, He's a great example of this. Great guy, nice, outgoing, friendly, happy (or so it seems on the surface) and has years and years of experience in bodybuilding. Has made it to pretty high levels in the sport. Talks a great game. Will tell you about how he trained this person and knows that person. How he has won contests stretching back to the being of time. Has his own personal training business that should be going balls to the wall yet.....isn't. When he was put to the test to get someone ready for a bodybuilding show, he failed miserably. When asked if any of these people he's trained will write a recommendation for him, he has no one who will. So what gives? Well as I later found out by being as close as he would let me get to him and his personal situation, it takes more then all the potential, all the talk and all the prior history in the world to make something happen. You need drive, unrelenting drive. The nothing in the world is going to stop me kind of drive. The I'm not sitting around telling stories of glory days I'm doing it now! kind of drive. Otherwise well, you kind of end up just like the biscuit.. you fail to raise to your full and present potential. While your squatting down to make that big leap to be something, you never do anything and bake right there on the squat.
I still care for this person but I am no longer snake charmed by him as the saying goes. In a way I feel kind of sorry for him. Such a waste..all that potential to be one of the great trainers, to have a thriving business going, to have someone like me in his corner, but because he lacks the serious drive to make it happen, nothing does.
I keep the quote by Calvin Coolidge 'Nothing can take the place of persistence.'posted through out my house. What you may lack in God given talent you can make up for with drive. But all the talent in the world means nothing if you never get off your ass and use it.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
My first Blog
Hello..I have never done a blog before so I'm not really sure how this works but I shall try to make this interesting and maybe as I go along I will get better at it. Today is sunday Nov. 21. Since my life revolves around bodybuilding it is exactly 14 weeks till I start my contest diet for the California State. I hope to add at least another 1/2" to my biceps and my shoulders before I start the grueling business of contest dieting. Last week I got a little too over zealous in the building of a better ab area for myself and actually strained them so I have had to take it easy for a couple of days. Sometimes my tendency to go at things like I'm killing snakes back fires on me. I have found that if nothing else Bodybuiding teaches you patience. Sometimes the body simply gives you a little warning like with my abs, but if you don't listen and keep putting the throttle to the floor, well thats when you end up really screwed. I have been very lucky. I have never torn any of my muscles to the point that I needed to go in for surgury. (skiing accident aside). I think thats one of the reason when I was working as a heavy equipment operator, I never got fired from a job. I use to operate large dirt movers, 35 tons and above, and there was always some dude whos balls were bigger then his brains and he'd blow a transmission on one of these million dollar rigs just cus he wasnt watching his temp gauge. It applied there and its the same at the gym, "back off jack ass before you really tear something up"... so I am taking it easy today and probably for the next couple of days till this little sucker doesnt hurt so bad. (great timing actually since this is thanksgiving week!) I eat turkey every day so as B.B. King says " the thrill is gone" on that one, but I do plan on finding a pie to get real cozy with. I like lemon meringues, deep deep deep dish apple pies with the crumbles, pecan pie is right up there at the top too. The problem is finding a good pie. You see I KNOW how to make a great pie. I have also been spoiled by the greatest pie maker in the history of man, my Grandma. It never fails that when I go to a resturant and order a slice its just not what I have hoped (and usually dieted for weeks on end) for. So you are saying whats the prob, make it yourself right? can't do... You see I can't let those sweet little ingredients even into my shopping basket, never mind all the way home and into the house. Ever see a dog get away from a leash and go after a cat? Who knows how long it would take me to rein myself in and get back on diet! Once I opeded the flood gates of me making pies, my god! I would go thru the entire Better Homes 1000 best recipe book before I'd come to my senses. sooo.... I will hope that luck is with me and I find at least one slice that sort of fills me with that happiness that only a really great slice can do. Speaking of eating it is that time and all this talk of pies has really made me hungry so I hope you enjoyed my first blog and come back for more
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
