Head-dibs

These plants are just getting started. We're gonna need a bigger freezer!

Enjoyed a nice long run down quiet back-roads hearing nothing but the birds, my breathing and the sound of plodding feet. Here are a few of my favorite spots along the way: The Road Behind The Road Ahead

I can't believe this is a thing. ht: For Reading Addicts

This never gets old

l to r: Chris, myself, Ben, Mark, Jason A good friend of ours (center) is moving along to the next phase of his life's journey. We are really going to miss him--but it's not "good bye." We celebrated Ben and sent him off by doing the workout of his choosing: "12 Days of Christmas." So, complete with some rockin' Christmas music we had some serious bang-n-clang going on in the Fitness Center. We did the following WOD, like you would sing the song, the number of the "day" being number of reps. And boy did everyone crank it out! 1 Power Clean (115#) 2 Pull-up 3 Wall Ball (20#) or Thruster 4 Bench Dip 5 Goblet Squat 6 Push-up 7 "Supermans" 8 Deadlift (115#) 9 Box Jump 10 Kettlebell Swing 11 Burpee 12 Knee to Elbow Best going-way party ever. Sure made some memories, Dr. Ben!

"What then makes a beautiful human being? Is it not the possession of human excellence? And do you, then, if you wish to be beautiful, young man, labour at this, the acquisition of human excellence. But what is this? Observe whom you yourself praise, when you praise many persons without partiality: do you praise the just or the unjust? 'The just.' Whether do you praise the even-tempered or the undisciplined? 'The even-tempered.' And the self-controlled or the uncontrolled? 'The self-controlled.' If, then, you make yourself such a person, you will know that you will make yourself beautiful: but so long as you neglect these things, you must be ugly, even though you contrive all you can to appear beautiful." (Epictetus, Discourses 3.1.6ff)

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Marcus Aurelius was born almost 1900 years ago today. He was one of five good Emperors to rule the Roman Empire but he left his mark in another way. Read his " Meditations " and encounter a man who never bragged on his exploits or affairs of state, but pursued wisdom and lived with intent.

You know that feeling when you catch your breath and everything returns to normal after a long and difficult experience? That's a "breathturn." Everything's going to be alright.

“The wise man will live as he ought, not as long as he can.” (Seneca) While visiting an inmate serving a robbery sentence, a visitor reported to his incarcerated friend how another man was recently arrested for robbing a house and killing the family who lived there. “You know,” the inmate said, “it's people like that who give robbery a bad name.” As Shakespeare wrote, "He hath ever but slenderly known himself." (King Lear) Awareness is a starting point to wise living, balancing the inward look with an outward look. After all, we live on a planet with other people. Problems set in when the inward or the outward look are out of balance. For example, if we worry about what others think and tailor our actions to people-please, then we lose ourselves. Or, if we become too inward focused, selfishness takes over and we get along with no-one. The outward aspect of awareness is simply proximity. "Who" is doing "what" around you?  Personal Awar...

The young man stood in the valley, craned his neck back thought to himself, "I am going to climb that mountain." Filling his canteen and with walking stick in hand he struck out, crossed the road and began his climb, one foot in front of the other. Sometimes his boot trod solid ground, or clambered over the salt-and-pepper granite. Chipmunks chattered at his passing and Marmots watched from the boulders, ready to sound the warning squeak. He wondered if he could remember where the Mountain Lion den was, so he could avoid that path. Stepping higher and higher, sliding over shale, now in sunshine, now in shade, he stopped from time to time to catch is breath. The valley began to grow beneath him and over his head, he could see the peak. "That didn't take long." He thought to himself. Icy water from his canteen revived his resolve and he struck out again, tramping and supporting every other step with his walking stick. Climbing higher and higher until at last, h...