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Sunday, November 30, 2014

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe podcast #91- Lower your blood pressure AND tone your whole body at the same time- Naturally!



There is something wonderful about doing isometrics for your health.  And I don’t mean anything fancy and contorted, like pushing against pins in a power rack- although that is great as well- but a simple, equipment-less exercise that you can do anywhere, standing or lying down- an isometric total body flex!

The benefits are amazing, particularly in lowering blood pressure naturally.
The circulation is enhanced to all parts of the body, even the peripheral areas like the feet and the hands.  And so, how do you perform this wonderful exercise?

You simply stand straight, and gradually tense all of the muscles of your body, while breathing normally, and count to 5 or 6.  Relax, and then repeat  three times- That’s it!  That burst of oxygenated blood throughout your body (and brain too!) is one of the most energizing things you can do for yourself!

It’s great in that it can be done at odd moments, like when you are standing waiting for something, or gassing up your car, or just standing in your yard grilling...  in everyones life there are more than enough occasions where you can slip in three or four “sets” of this total isometric body flex throughout your day, and reap the many benefits.

As in anything, the more you do it the better you will get at it- at first, just methodically flexing each muscle group in turn will enhance your mind to muscle connection, and your ability to flex muscle groups effectively will improve.  Besides the blood pressure benefits and the circulation benefits, this is a wonderful way to improve your definition, which is to say the muscle tone will dramatically improve, and your muscles will seem to “pop” out underneath your skin, ala ancient Greek statues!
 And you will feel the difference in your musculature, and become more aware of your body, and how to control it in any physical situation.

A good way to start your day is to do a set of the isometric total body flex upon awakening, in bed!  Yes, that’s right- it is every bit as effective lying down as it is standing up- and it’s a great way to kickstart your day with a really healthy habit that starts you off on the right foot!  At first, just flex moderately intensely, to get the feel of controlling your muscles, but you can and should aim at later gradually working up to perhaps flexes of about 80% of perceived effort- that is enough to get all the benefits, without over-straining, which is always a bad idea.

There is numerous medical literature proving the blood pressure lowering benefits of isometric exercise if you care to google it, as I did.  For instance, here is the conclusion of group of studies done recently by the Mayo Clinic-

Conclusion
Isometric resistance training lowers SBP, DBP, and mean arterial pressure. The magnitude of effect is larger than that previously reported in dynamic aerobic or resistance training. Our data suggest that this form of training has the potential to produce significant and clinically meaningful blood pressure reductions and could serve as an adjunctive exercise modality.



The studies go way back, and the results are always beneficial.  So why is the benefit of isometrics not taught and offered to people with high blood pressure, and bed ridden people, and folks recovering from injury that can’t do “normal” types of exercise?

I don’t really know, but again, just as in proper nutrition wherein we consume real foods as made by God and nature, bypassing the man made fake food like substances like GMO grains and processed crap-

THERE IS NOTHING TO SELL!

No exercise equipment, no gym memberships, no supplements or running shoes... NOTHING!

But hopefully I have just sold you on the idea of doing this simple and oh-so-beneficial exercise on a daily basis!  The cost, once you have acquired this knowledge, is just your brief efforts throughout the day.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Beginning Paleo Diet on Paleo Quick Tip of the day podcast #47



Maybe you've just been hearing about this "paleo diet" thing, or maybe you have a friend or know someone who has had amazing results from eating and living according to this template...



Perhaps you have tried to ignore the whole thing, not wanting to change your life and mindset around after all these years of being brainwashed into the low fat high carb Standard American Diet LIE...


But, since the ancestral diet and it's benefits are very real, and the path we are on in the Western world is leading us into slow suicide by eating ourselves into diabesity,  accompanied by prescriptions of pharmaceutical drugs that compromise our health even more with all of the inevitable side effects, resulting in early disability and death- well, "going Paleo" starts to not sound that hard after all!

So, how do you finally get off the sidelines and start making meaningful, healing change??


Clean out your cupboards!  Ditch the grains- bread, pancake mixes, brownie mixes, cereals, vegetable and soy oils, Crisco, anything you have that is not real food.  If it's not in your house, you won't eat it.

Try a Paleo smoothie!  This is a pet project of mine- I have developed my smoothie into a drink that is continually evolving, since I want to maximize my nutrition optimally, but starting out, keep it simple:

Just get out your standard, $20 blender, and make a simple Paleo Smoothie:

1 can of coconut milk
handful of fresh strawberries

a big leaf of fresh kale
a banana
sprinkle of cinnamon

Blend it all together for about a minute or so- you're done!

Easy, right?  It's so easy, you will start to think as I did- "Hey, what if I add this ingredient, and that other super healthy food, and then that..."


You are on the slippery slope to health my friend, and trust me, that's where you want to be!  You'll start adding raw eggs, and then you'll want the convenience of using frozen vegetables, and the ability to mix just about anything, smoothly and easily into your smoothies- at that point you'll want to get a Vitamix blender, since it it the best tool for engineering the most amazingly healthy and filling and appetizing Paleo smoothies on the planet!

Interestingly, I just read a news story in Barron's, the business newspaper, detailing how the Starbucks chain has bought a smoothie making chain of restaurants, and plans to expand dramatically, doing for smoothies what they have already done for coffee!

While I'm sure it's better than the unhealthy coffee drink market they've been profiting from at the expense of the American people's health, I would suggest strongly that you make your own!  I guarantee that anything made by a corporate giant will be vastly inferior, since the bottom line for such a company is to cut costs wherever possible, to maximize profits. This means low quality ingredients, cheaper, faster, worser! (There, I invented a word!)

So, Go Paleo Young Man! (Or woman)!

At first, I would just make a smoothie each morning, and eat eggs and meat, salads, seafood, veggies and nuts with a little fruit sometimes.  For me, cheese and whole cream are fine- try them out, if you feel worse, maybe they aren't for you!  Some folks can handle dairy, some can't... raw dairy is vastly preferable, if available.

Believe it or not, at first I do not recommend any exercise!  Especially, if your are a "cardio-holic", used to doing lots of running, bicycling, aerobics, etc. just stop for awhile!  Getting your diet in order is far more important than exercise, and along with adequate sleep each night of 8 hours or better, will get you 90% where you want to go.  Just concentrate on those things for a month- learn to eat, and sleep like a paleolithic hunter-gatherer.    Next month we'll add in exercise- hey, I even have an eBook specifically about it...

A good idea, especially if you currently have health problems, would be to have a blood work up just before starting this at the Doctor's office.  Then, a month later, have it done again.  I guarantee the results will startle both you and your Doctor- and then, he'll probably try to talk you out of doing something so "crazy"...

The thing to remember is this- even if all you had read about nutrition was this one blog, you would already know more about nutrition than your Doctor learned in all of medical school.  So, take his or her opinions with more than a grain of good sea salt...

After your initial month, take a good look at how you look, how clearly you can think,and how you feel.  Perhaps you already have had some drastic changes; many people do.  And after actually sticking to the diet for one month, almost no one goes back to their standard diet!  The benefits are that compelling- you may even become like me, shouting the news from the rooftops, because you almost can't believe the benefits of eating real food like a real person!

Soon I will write Part 2- the Intermediate Paleo Diet!  But just do this for a month first- no need to rush things!

Check out this episode!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #46 Paleo Diet to LOSE FAT!


Paleo diet to lose fat! Paleo Quick Tip of the Day podcast #46


The Paleo Diet has shown remarkable success in helping people to lose fat/weight, and achieve a much better "body composition".   The amazing thing is that it can bring these changes about without:

1. Hunger
2.  Long sessions of exercise
3.  Injury from those long, boring exercise sessions you thought were necessary


Really!  But how can this be?

It's really just simple, proven science!

Our bodies are not designed to eat grains, particularly wheat, which has become a mainstay of virtually every processed food in America.  Wheat is now completely genetically modified to the point where it has no similarity to the ancient wheat of the Bible, or even to the wheat from the 1960's!!
This is a huge point: if you wish to research the topic in depth, I refer you to the book Wheat Belly by William Davis-  Wheat Belly the blog

But, since all carbohydrates,  like wheat, corn, white potatoes, etc. turns to sugar in the body, that is more than enough reason alone to severely limit them in the diet.


The other thing to limit greatly in your diet is SUGAR.


When you eat sugar, or its twin- carbohydrates- your body responds to the rise in blood sugar, (which is actually an emergency situation for your body!), by producing massive quantities of insulin.  Insulin, which as we know is what Type 2 (self-induced) Diabetics lose the ability to produce, after many years of ingesting so much sugar/carbohydrates that their body has become overwhelmed by the bodily insult!  Don't let this happen to you- it is becoming EPIDEMIC in modern America, largely due to the fact that now- 90% of food sold in the USA is PROCESSED: (Comes in a bag, or a box, and is not real food anymore, but industrial food.


Industrial food is loaded with sugar/corn syrup/wheat/soy and the other thing you need to get rid of on the Paleo Diet- industrial seed (grain!) oils!
Corn, Soybean, Crisco- these are all rancid, harmful oils that are not really food.


The Food Industry uses all of this stuff, in processed and fast foods (another no-no!), because it is CHEAP!  That is the only reason- nutritional value is not even on their radar!

So, bottom line, what do you need to do to-

Regain your health and lose fat?

It's really rather simple, and if you think about it, you probably already intuitively know this stuff-

You've just been brainwashed into the "low fat, high carb Standard American Diet"
for your whole life!

So, here is what you get rid of:
Eliminate fast food
Eliminate bread, pasta, anything made with flour
Eliminate Industrial oils- margarine, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil- any chemically processed oil
Eliminate Legumes- dried beans- irritate the gut lining, just as does wheat- this is a huge problem
Get long, painful, CARDIO/AEROBIC workouts out of your life (They lead to injury, burn very little in the way of fat/calories/, and do not build muscle, which is what you really want)
Stop Staying up late at night- (This interferes with your body in a minor way, stimulating the stress hormone "cortisol", which causes you to store fat, among other negatives).

 And here is what you replace the above with:
Whole eggs (free range is the best)
Real, PASTURED butter (Kerrygold is the best)

All varieties of meat, and seafood  (Grass fed beef is best, but all of it is good- just be sure to include seafood, especially fatty fish like salmon and sardines)
Vegetables and fruits  (Berries are the best fruit!)  Don't go wild on fruit, but include it.  Eat LOTS of green vegetables.
Get on an intense, brief exercise program!  (Body weight exercise is best- pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, brief sessions of sprinting and/or stationery bike "sprints" of 30 seconds or less, done for several "sets" lasting 20 minutes or less)
Get LOTS of sleep!  8 hours minimum (This is really crucial for health and fat loss- stress, like lack of sleep, causes your body to want to hang onto fat)


That's it!  Follow the above subtractions and additions in your life, and sooner than you think, you will look and feel better than you would believe!  This is a promise!!


I hear you asking:   "But how do I eat this way??
Simple:

Eggs and fruit for breakfast
Salad with meat or seafood for lunch
Grilled meat and vegetables for supper
Snacks- if you eat enough at meals, you probably won't get too hungry. But it you do:
Almonds,  dark chocolate, coffee with real whipped cream, macadamia nuts, olives, full fat cheeses, or again- meat, vegetables, sardines, etc. are all fair game


Or, you could make it easy, and make the Paleo Quick Start Smoothie!


It really makes the nutrition part almost effortless, and actually more "available" to your body, since it is all "broken down" and ready to assimilate, raw food enzymes and all!!

But anyway, there you go- try it for 3 weeks!  If you do, I guarantee you will not go back-
the benefits are that amazing!

Check out this episode!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #90 Very Best exercise equipment, and the ONLY way to deadlift!




I know, I generally say you don’t need equipment to work out- after all, if you are doing virtual resistance training (flexing as you move through a muscles range of motion) and then holding isometrically...  your own body is the resistance.  And this is the most efficient and safe of all forms of exercise!  It should be your warmup, and the core of your fitness regimen for the rest of your life.  Nothing else even comes close in terms of totally working your entire physique!

But it is also great to include other tools in your bodyweight arsenal.  The first one I would recommend to you is the rebounder, or mini-trampoline.



I have mentioned this piece of equipment before in a podcast, and it is a wonderful addition to virtual resistance training- I often do my virtual moving “poses” on the rebounder, usually in front of the TV...This kind of “doubles your pleasure, doubles your fun” in a good kind of way- you are working aerobically and your musculature at the same time.  A really time efficient way to work out!

I am also a great fan of the pushup!  And while the “hands flat on the floor” version is good, using a perfect pushup type of revolving handle is even better- not only does it raise your hands up off the floor, giving you a greater range of motion and more muscle engagement, it also protects your wrists and shoulders from damage by rotating along with the motion.  This protects your joints even as it makes the exercise more productive.
Ab Roller

Perfect Pushup
P bars, or parallette bars are another great option for pushups, giving you a VERY low extension below parallel.  They are also great for L sits, a top notch ab exercise you can

My homemade P bars!
do.  In a pinch, the perfect pushup device mentioned before can also be used for L sits!  Just make sure you get the heavy duty version of the perfect pushup, as the other lesser version will wear out quickly supporting your body weight in the L sit, and doing pushups with your feet raised off the floor and resting on the back of a couch or chair while you do your leg raised of “Atlas 3” pushups.

An ab roller is wonderful, and actually another kind of pushup!  Wonderful ab exercise, and it also simultaneously works the arms, chest, back and shoulders- also, it’s a great party trick, as most men cannot do even one without gradually working up to it.  To begin, get an ab roller (they are quite cheap!) and do them from your knees.  Next, you can do them from the top as a negative, going as slowly as you can downwards, and just stop at the bottom.  Eventually you will get one full, top to bottom and back up again rep, and then you will add another, and another until you get to a set of 6 or 7.  That’s all you really need in terms of reps- then, just do multiple sets for a very high level of fitness!  I like to “superset” ab roll outs with my sets of pushups.

Of course, a pullup/chinup bar is a necessity, but a tree branch of piece of pipe will do in a pinch.  I use my old power rack in the basement for this, back from my old weight lifting days of long ago, and a power rack or “cage” is a very versatile piece of equipment indeed- it is much more productive without weights, as it is ideal for isometric work, utilizing its pins to press against with empty bars or wooden dowels.  It is also great to use the power rack for squat variations- you can use the side supports to hold on to as you do a one legged or “pistol” squat.  It helps to lean back as you do this, because that really takes the strain off of the knee joint and puts it right over the quadricep muscle where you want it.  You can duplicate this upstairs, too, by doing these pistols in a door frame!

Another wonderful training adjunct is a set of gymnastic rings!
Now they are mounted on the ceiling joists!
very advanced!

Mount these in your basement as I have, and you will find them to be among the most satisfying, versatile and productive pieces of equipment you could possibly own.  They are wonderful to do pushups on!  You can do Atlas 1,2,and 3 pushups quickly and conveniently, just by moving a little forwards or backwards to adjust the grips to be parallel to the floor (Atlas 1), angles halfway up (Atlas 2), or angled up high (Atlas 3).

They are also great for pullups, L sits, and dips; also rows, and as assists for pistols!

Really- find a place for rings in your house, garage, basement or yard!  They are just fantastic to train on.

I am saving the most crucial for last- an Exergenie is the ONLY way I recommend to do a deadlift, or a heavy squat!
Exergenie

I know, this is controversial within Paleo Land, but it is also undeniable when you really look into it- just as gluten, and the other anti-nutrients in wheat and other grains are undeniably very harmful to human beings in their nutrition- so is lifting a heavy bar from the ground and standing up in a dead lift harmful to your back and other joints.

Also, putting a heavy barbell across your shoulders, and squatting, will compress your spine, inevitably damage your knees, and set you up for serious, long-term injury.

Also, it just gives you a fat butt, bulging abdomen, and blocky thighs- avoid these exercises!

High rep hindu squats, the aforementioned pistols, and the exergenie can give you anything these exercises can, BETTER!  I have an old exergenie that I bought off of Ebay- it has wooden handles, but they sell new ones too,  and you can use it to do maximum effort deadlifts, squats, military presses, curls, and many other exercises.  You feed the rope (that supplies the resistance) out with your fingers, and you can make the resistance as hard as you want throughout the whole range of motion.  You can make it so hard that 3 reps is all you need for the squat and deadlift.

The best thing about the Exergenie is what you can do for your shoulders!  You can mount it in a door frame, closing the door on it 1/2 way up or so, and really lean into it, stretching out your shoulder girdle in every way possible.  Then, you can pull back using just enough resistance to really work the entire shoulder region in every way- this is the very best way that I have found to really work the shoulders and protect the joint by strengthening both the muscles, tendons and ligaments gradually, from the inside out!

Along with a proper diet, and adequate sleep, these small pieces of training equipment can do far more for your health, strength, and physique than any gym membership you can name.  And, you will have them forever, right in your living room or basement or garage, and can make maximum  use of them for a lifetime!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #45 Take FARMaceuticals to cure both yourself- and the WORLD!


Take your Farmaceuticals daily- cure yourself AND the world!

Any listener of any length here at Paleo Quick Tip of the Day knows that I, PaleoJay, believe that FOOD is the best medicine.  Hippocrates, the founder of western medicine declared this roughly 2000 years ago, and although his modern so called disciples have discarded his teachings in favor of ever-increasing dosages of pharmaceutical DRUGS-

Food is the best medicine is as true now as it ever was!!

Although nowadays, where and how your food is grown is every bit as important!

If your vegetables and fruits come from mega-farms where every inch of that farm is laced with pesticides, over-farmed to the point of near total soil nutrient depletion- you are consuming a tainted product!

We all know now that the human gut biome, that is our intestinal flora are crucial to our health. For instance, a recent study pointed out that artificial sweeteners encourage fat gain. The theory was that the artificial sweeteners, such as those in unsweetened soda pop, altered the gut biome since they are totally alien to our evolved symbiotic relation with our ancestral gut microbes.

In other words, our gut sensed SWEET, and switched on the fat storage, even though there was no honey or fructose to process...

but the fat storage trigger was engaged, and fat was produced!

So, drink artificially sweetened products and get fat quick!  And long term, too, since it doesn’t appear to switch OFF.

To return to my main point: Just as our Gut Biome is loaded with microbes we have a long history with, that help us to regulate our health, our moods and mental health, and how we extract life-giving nutrients from real foods-

So is the soil where we grow our foods loaded with microbes that we have a symbiotic, historic and ancestral relationship with completely necessary for our health, proper fat to body weight ratio, and mental health as well!

We all need to rethink our allegiance to pharmaceutical drugs!  They are poisons except for short term, emergency use- they are like Agent Orange in our bodies!

What we need for health is FARMACEUTICALS-

REAL FOODS!
GOD MADE VEGETABLES!
PASTURED ANIMALS!
PASTURED DAIRY!

And all produced on sustainable acreages, with largely organic practices that preserve and sustain the microbial health of that soil long term!

To learn more on this vital subject, I recommend Dr. Daphne Miller and her wonderful book Farmacology!

http://drdaphne.com/books/farmacology/overview/

So, for the ultimate in gut and overall health NOW, right away-

Get yourself a Vitamix blender!  Load it up with Farmaceuticals like organic broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and kale- throw in some green tea and kefir, toss in some ginger and turmeric and cod liver oil...

Just make yourself and your family a Paleo Smoothie!

The recipe is at www.paleojay.com

And the link to order a Vitamix with no shipping direct from Vitamix is there as well...

A smoothie maximizes the available nutrition, even in today’s depleted soil.
IT IS A NO-BRAINER!!

Just like our current system of food doesn’t matter, drugs are the answer, and to just rely on Big Food corporations, Big Government, and Big Medicine to take care of us...

That is truly a NO BRAIN NON-SOLUTION.

Solve things yourself.  You are responsible for your own health!  Eat real foods, grown in real, healthy soil, and move and exercise naturally, doing Perfectly Paleo Exercise.

And ignore the advice of Big Government- Big Pharma- and Big Food!!


Check out this episode!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #44 Don't eat like a Sumo wrestler, or a goose!


"I'm sick of starches!"
pqtd 44 Don’t eat like a sumo wrestler, or a goose!

Really- don’t!

Sumo wrestlers, those extra large Japanese men who try, as the demands of their sport dictate to gain as much weight as possible, do so by not eating breakfast (that is forbidden!), and then eating as much as possible for lunch and then taking a 4 hour nap.

What do they eat?  Well, since they desire to gain as much weight as possible, fat and muscle, they wake early and train for 5 hours or so- really!
(this is their whole life)...

Eating Fat does NOT make you fat- carbs do!
Then, they eat a huge stew of meat, fish, vegetables, and LOTS of RICE, and wash it all down with lots and lots of beer!  (Not light beer, either...)

Then, they take their 4 hour nap.  When they awake, they might move around a little, but they mainly get ready for dinner!

Dinner is the same as lunch, but probably more rice, and more beer- at LEAST 10,000 calories worth!  And then, it’s lights out, for a long sleep before the next days training, and eating...

This regimen is calculated to produce maximum weight gain- both fat and muscle- and it works like a champion!!  Many Sumo wrestlers are over 500 pounds, and some are over 600!!

And then there are geese...

Geese have been force fed for many, many years to increase the size of their livers- actually, the practice started in Egyptian times!  Geese are able to store weight in their whole bodies, and especially in their livers to enable them to migrate long distances; and force feeding them particularly with starches like corn and wheat enables maximum fat gain!

Since animals, like geese would be unwilling to force feed themselves massive amounts of grains, we humans have devised ways to force them to adopt sumo like methods of overfeeding, using tubes forced into their unwilling mouths...

But why am I talking at length about Sumo wrestlers and force fed geese?
It’s because if you are a typical, Standard American, following a SAD standard American diet-

YOU ARE EATING LIKE A SUMO WRESTLER GOOSE!


The modern typical American, western diet is so loaded with starches, and the ultimate horrible starch grains and carbohydrates, that you are literally force feeding yourself!

And if you wake up, skip breakfast or just eat a fast food carb horror, and then go to a job or school where you just sit almost motionless as if you were napping, and then eat a standard American sandwich/Subway meal or other fast food, or even a sandwich from home that is the same deal, washed down by a soft drink, and then again sit almost motionless until quitting time...

Congratulations!  You are well on your way to being a big, giant, fat, Sumo kind of person...but without the underlying muscle!

BUT, on the upside, if there is a Twilight Zone kind of scenario in the future where aliens land and are looking for food- well, your liver might be...

JUST WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR!

What?  You don’t want to be an enlarged liver sumo person??

Well, then just wake up early, work out like a sumo but for maybe a half hour or so, and then eat a big, protein centered breakfast, like eggs, bacon, and coffee with coconut oil in it, topped with whipped cream!

Make a big Paleo Smoothie with lots of veggies, and lots of good fats, as outlined in my paleo smoothie recipe at www.paleojay.com, and whip it up in your Vitamix- eat a lot of this smoothie, and the breakfast after your workout, and do not add in any carbs at all- no rice, no cereal, no toast-

JUST A REALLY LOT OF GOOD, GOD MADE FATS AND PROTEIN!!

This means butter, cream, avocado, bacon, sausage, eggs- you get the idea!

You will not be hungry for a long time!  Trust me.

When you are, have another paleo smoothie, or else a big, giant salad with lots of olive oil, beef or chicken or tuna or other protein source, and maybe a tin of sardines packed in olive oil as well...another big helping of your best friends: fat and protein!

It really is that simple, my non Sumo Goose friend!

Eat more fat. Eat protein.  Just eat real food, as made by God, not man!!

Work out like a Sumo, but for much less time.  Eat like a goose in the wild, without a tube down his throat ala a Happy Meal!

And remember that starches, and grains like wheat, and especially sugar/corn syrup/aspartame and all other fake, man made food like substances will turn you into a force fed giant livered Sumo Goose!

And, I’m not even exaggerating.

Check out this episode!




Sunday, November 2, 2014

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #89 Go for a Flow State in life!

Go for a Flow State in life- Exercise for the body, and music for the soul!

This is to paraphrase the ancient Greek Aristotle, who first said it!

Alexander
As the teacher and mentor of Alexander the Great, he certainly proved that he knew what he was talking about... but what does it mean for YOU, today?


Well, with all the talk of “play” being important in paleo and primal health, even amongst adults, this quote points out what is really important in that statement- FLOW STATE, or being so immersed in what you are doing that you are almost oblivious to all else around you- is key to both real achievement, happiness, and health!

A tall statement to swallow I know, but it is true!

All of us instinctively grasp what this statement means, since all of us have had that... moment... when everything else just disappears, and we are caught up in the moment- whether we were hitting the bes
t baseball pitch ever, or sprinting our fastest sprint and feeling like we were flying, effortlessly, or playing our guitar and feeling like we were Jimi Hendrix reborn!  ALL of those are FLOW STATES!

And a flow state is the ultimate state of human kind- a kind of “state of grace” if you will.  And, when achieved, it makes all of life more than worth living, and is the ultimate human expression of self- self actualization!

I believe that is what we are here to experience.  The flow states of Exercise for the body, and Music for the soul- those are the ultimate ends, the means to happiness in the here- and- now.

I spoke of Alexander before: what was his “flow state”?

Well, he sent back specimens of all of the animals that were new that he encountered, to his mentor Aristotle when he was on his conquests out East... I’m sure that was part of his “flow”...

But for him, the greatest conqueror of his age, I’m sure he felt most fulfilled and alive in battle, as he ran at the enemy in his armor, dodging and thrusting with his sword, calculating without even thinking consciously like a modern day football player on the field, going with his interior flow!

Alexander always wore bright armor that identified him for who he was, and LED his armies into battle- do you think he attracted the enemy much??

We have come a long way from the bravery of Alexander in battle; now our generals hide away and order the soldiers to be brave instead...

So what is our “flow state”?

Whatever we feel we are “good” at!

And the key is to get good at something!

And I don’t even mean that would be something that others might “think” you are good at- just pursue, say exercise and music, and do them for fun, and do them as best you can!

Those are two that I have chosen.  But, you can choose whatever disciplines you want!

Like to work on cars?   I like old cars and trucks too!! Enter them as disciplines, and work on a “flow state”!

Landscaping or “rewilding” your yard or acreage?

I do that as well, and it is  wonderful candidate for achieving a flow state of satisfying creativity!!

What I’m saying is this: no matter what you choose, you can achieve the ultimate in human happiness by achieving an active “flow state” as you work towards your passion, whether it is flower arranging, auto mechanics, physical culture, visual arts or music- just find your passion!

As long as it is active, and requires you to learn, research, and pursue it actively- it can lead you to your flow state, and your realization and happiness in this world!!

The alternative is passivity- seeking out passive entertainments, easy “nutrition” like fast foods, no attention to diet or exercise, letting the Government and the media decide how you live and spend your time-

Just biding your time until you “prematurely” die...

That is a waste of your life.

Seek out your Passion(s)!  Whatever they are- pursue them!

Be like Alexander! Wear a bright colored helmet and run directly at what you want- let no one stop you!  When they try, dodge, jump, and thrust!

When you pursue your passion, above all- LIVE IN THE MOMENT!

You have prepared for it, and it is YOU!

Here is a great TED talk about Flow State!