Grin, Grind and Grunt

I have ridden on my turbo-trainer four times this week, totaling eight hours since Tuesday. Not the best place to ride when you have good weather, but way safer than riding on congested roads filled with temperamental riders and drivers. It is during these long and hard, indoor, rides that my mind has to work tough to not surrender to the discomfort and pain. It is also through sessions like this, that I ask questions and reflect on values like patience, persistence, determination, tenacity, commitment, decisiveness and diligence.

Working hard and putting in effort, can take its toll on our mind and body. Our brains are easily distracted, so any opportunity to deviate from our conscious awareness and sensation is a welcomed relief. Pain versus pleasure: easy choice isn’t it? Down play one, and crank the other one up.

When you prepare for an examination, nearly complete a stretched-out project, or even a sports race you can draw deeply upon your reserves. By reserves, I mean your energy, mental stamina and psyche. Recall what it felt like at the end of your examination period – what did it feel like after you completed your task? Did you feel drained and relieved? You just wanted to sleep over it, or just do something recreational.

Part of the grind is to keep doing the hard yards, engaging your discipline, and activating your resolve. Persist in your goals, and you will develop strength of character especially when it comes to marathon projects and tasks. You grin quietly to yourself as you go about your task. You may grunt as long as it activates your energy systems to help you through your grind. Grind out your best results, and perform to the best of your ability.

Sometimes, a ride on a turbo-trainer or climb up a long flight of stairs can be edifying and refreshing on one’s being.

Dampening Disappointments

[Thursday’s Post]

Bouncing back from non-starters, disappointing results and criticism are part of our maturing process. Sure, these can hurt us emotionally yet they are bound to occur, at the most unexpected moments.

Kids are taught discipline through suspending their immediate gratification. Delayed gratification is about knowing how to have your cake and eat it, but not all at once, or at one sitting. You can hold back your urges, so that we can channel these motivations into other pursuits of higher relevance and usefulness.

Recall when we resume a bad habit or break a vow that we regret. Regret, left unchecked and unattended, can be destructive chains in human psychology.

We have our bad days – times when things appear to defeat us. Instead of feeling conquered, choose other behaviors to lead ourselves. Exercise, reading an inspirational book, watching competitive sports, or having a productive conversation with a close friend or confidant can excite our neural pathways. Renewed thinking can change the way we feel, almost immediately! Notice how recognition from friends on Facebook or Twitter can engage us. Seek psychological group ‘hugs’ or do a group run, and enjoy the mental, emotional and spiritual energies that come with them.

Step on your disappointments, and step up on your appointments!

Dancing Your Way to Results

‘I dance like a butterfly, but sting like a bee.’ ~ MUHAMMED ALI

Last night’s performance by the Riverdance cast was brilliant! I enjoyed watching it as I did other Broadway musicals. Pure dancing is full of expression and energy! Energetic people are a magnet for others, to indirectly inspire and motivate. Lisa Haneberg, an OD consultant writes about energies and how this attracts others.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are unarguably, the most dynamic dance duo that danced their way to Hollywood greatness. ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ was a song featured in the film ‘My Fair Lady’. Jane Fonda popularized the revolution known as ‘aerobics dance-exercise’; a scientific term misappropriated from Dr Kenneth Cooper in his landmark book ‘The Aerobics Way’ about endurance exercise as preventive medicine.

I love watching dancers. My favourite dance show was ‘So You Think You Can Dance?’ The biggest dance show in the USA is ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Celebrities are paired with processional dancers to qualify to the next rounds; in the former, budding professional dancers dance a myriad of styles either solo or in pairs to progress.

Dancing is more than just an important branch of the performance arts. It is also a metaphor embraced by many, who feel grounded by language patterns that reflect rhythmic movement.

You can dance your way through precision communication. Twitter works on the premise of containing your message within 140 characters. Consider this: the next time you send a text message (SMS), use précis writing and write with precision your memo in a short paragraph. Obey KISS. It is acceptable if it flows through the second text message; it does not work all the time. Let your fingers do the dancing. In negotiations, clients may like to dance around the real issues so that can be a frustrating form of expressed movement. We have to negotiate around bends in intention, expectations, doubt and worry.

For serious triathletes, the Big Dance takes place in Kona, Hawaii in October each year. How many of us would like to make a date with that event? How about dancing your way across the finish line, applauded by thousands of spectators?