People have over the last few decades become detached from their intuition or inner guidance system as lives have, with modern technology, become easier and survival is no longer dependent on common sense. For instance, people have turned to logic and reasoning instead and are used to making decisions with their heads, allowing logic rather than common sense to predominate their decision making. Explaining everything through the lens of science has made us more distrustful of ourselves. And frankly, more cynical about everyone else. When this happens, people start to make compromises in life, doing what they think they should do rather than what they really want to do and as a result do not reach that level of fulfillment and true happiness.

Health is not the absence of disease. Yet because disease, at least the treatment of disease, is such an enormous booming industry in this country, contributing billions of dollars to the economy every year, the national emphasis on health is not about health at all. Indeed, it is all about the absence of disease. One has only to turn on the TV to realize that I speak the truth. Unfortunately, this is why most attempts at heralding a healthy lifestyle are little more than an accessory to offset the tedious narrative of healthcare and Medicare in America.

Barely a day passes without the media reporting that some food, we've consumed from the beginning of time, now causes cancer. Oh, that’s right. They seldom use the C-word as in causation, instead, they’ll say something more palatable; that is, it has been linked to cancer. But all too often these stories are based on only a single study or are baseless when applied to humans. Still, just a few days ago, a California Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle ruled in favor of caution. Berle stated: “Defendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving … that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health. “Not that the coffee makers had to prove coffee was linked to cancer, but instead to prove its health benefits. Excuse me! Has any judge ever forced the sugar or alcohol industries to satisfy their burden of proof by providing scientific evidence proclaiming the health benefits of sugar and alcohol? For every study that links something to cancer, there seems to be an alternate one that not only disproves that hypothesis but extols the health benefits of that very food.

Nearly 99% percent of those making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or to change their bodies fail by January 25. That’s a fact. Just 25 days into the process they fail by their own metrics. Now some trainers will tell you that you’re a winner if you just start the process. But you and I both know that deep down inside you don’t get to feel like a winner just because you’ve participated. The body keeps score and so does the mind. You can try to trick yourself into believing you're wealthy all you want to, but after years of struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, your mind, as well as your circumstances, will bring you back to reality.

Every Monday morning in America... There are more suicides, strokes, illnesses, and heart attacks.  What goes unnoticed and unreported is the fact our bodies are trying very hard to tell us something about our lives, our jobs, our relationships, and our attitudes, and how such information affects our bodies and our health. I’m not going to delve into all the reasons for this nor am I going to examine the statistical data. Because none of that is relevant to this discussion. But what I do want you to hear are the silent cries for attention—for meaning. Human beings don’t seem to value things they don’t pay for or at least earn. But devaluing something in your mind doesn’t diminish its cost. There’s still a price to pay. And since we didn’t pay for our bodies, we tend to take them for granted. In fact, most people take better care of their cars then they do their own bodies.

Have You ever heard of the PUSH-PULL Program? In the gym, it suggests working one muscle group while resting the other. In life outside the gym, it should mean the same thing. Look, I don’t know your abilities, your aspirations, your dreams, your insider trade secrets. But what I do know that there is surely something wonderful inside of you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are here for a reason, and that reason is much bigger than you and I.

Esther appeared to be doing everything right except the two most important fundamentals of her revision map— and that was hydrating and supplementing. For this reason, I have always emphasized to my clients both hydration and supplementation from day one. Because frankly, we live in a mineral depleted environment. Primarily because of the pervasive carbon footprint of monocrops, most of the foods we eat are mineral deficient. And like most Americans, Esther was dehydrated at the cellular level.I know. I know. You drink lots of coffee and herbal tea. And my answer to that is that would be great if your cells were comprised of 70% tea or coffee instead of water. 

The human mind craves meaning. We look at our lives and do our best to create a meaningful narrative around it. We find evidence for our beliefs that frankly other people may find preposterous. Then when compare our lives with those of others. We all eat and breath love and seek peace— All universal thoughts and actions. Yet, we lose our frame of reference—our gravity—through all the white noise and begin to see ourselves standing still while the rest of the world passes us by at 19 miles per second. We forget that thoughts, like all things, are in a constant state of perpetual motion. That just because you are over-weight today doesn’t mean that just the intention to eat differently and to exercise daily will not influence your gravity— your inertial frame of reference.

Years ago, a client came to me with a little-known condition (at least back then) called fibromyalgia. In those days, doctors treated fibromyalgia as a psychosomatic illness that largely afflicted women. Meaning they didn’t believe for a moment that the pain and depleted energy these women were experiencing were any more real than the boogeyman. My client had been bounced around like a tennis ball sent to specialist after specialist, but no one was able to find anything wrong. So, she became confused and hopeless about the answer to her own internal question, “What happened to my health and how can I get it back?” See, medical science has done wonders in learning to extend human life through treatment but has made little progress in increasing the quality of that life. 

Progress always begins with a seed of hope. But please note that hope can be a very destructive force, particularly when it is not backed by action. That is, you cannot keep telling yourself this year I'm going to— (feel free to fill in the blank)—Yet nothing ever changes. Never forget that failure is a soft tissue injury. It won't show up on an x-ray, but it will be archived into the muscle memory nonetheless. See, there comes a time when your body stops believing in you and accepts your inactivity as its truth. Yes, it will adapt to your choices even if such adaptation means living with pain, illness, immobility, or disability. So, what happens to your body when you exercise? Perhaps a more important question to ask yourself is what happens to your body if you don't?    

So, every year, you make a contract of sorts with your body and brain— You call it a resolution. And every year, you up the ante. For what? Let me see… Last year, you were going to run a 10K. Didn’t happen! The year before that you were going to lose 10 pounds every month (which, by the way, is reasonable), so that by the summer you were going to lose 60 pounds and change the game. Goose Eggs! This year, you decided you weren’t going to make a resolution at all, but instead would just quietly lull your body into a false sense of security before fully pouncing with your new plan to do cardio for an hour every day while eating no carbs.  

The only problem I have with the new craze of bio-feedback devices is that they tend to do just the opposite of what they’re designed, and that is to motivate you through bio-feedback. The physical activity that one trains in is very specifically automated in the brain. So, to return to thinking, by incessant reliance on automated devices, even for motivational purposes, is the key to transforming an expert back into an amateur. This phenomenon known as paralysis by analysis is the primary reason most people fail at anything. And frankly, those of you who are obsessed with what I affectionately term, “the Numerology of Fitness”— that is, obsessing over every calorie or what you should or should not eat, are programming yourself to failure. Every calorie you burn or every gram of body fat you successfully burn will be met with staunch opposition by your brain, and therefore you will either hate the journey, or give up on it entirely.

It’s been a long time since you’ve worked out. Too long. Is it like they say? You know like riding a bike? You’re counting on it. Then again who are you fooling? At this point, even a bike without training wheels would be challenging. Two days ago, you couldn’t wait to get in there and get started. You had binged on the Rocky series all weekend and listened to the theme from Rocky all the way to the gym. Like the upstream flow of the river, you see yourself running effortlessly to the top of the 72nd stair, declaring victory over the entire city, both arms raised, fist pumping. But back to reality. So, you walk through the doors and head to the locker room, put your bag down and then jump on the Stairmaster to get the blood flowing and my body warm and loose. 5-4-3-2-1. Done! Not even. You demand Ten more minutes! as your aerobic workout becomes anaerobic, meaning you’ll have to finish without the presence of oxygen. Nevertheless, you’re determined to finish— to burn those 500 extra calories per day you’ve agreed was a part of your New Year’s Resolution.

It’s human nature to doubt oneself, to avoid responsibility, to procrastinate. When we fail at something or do something wrong, it is common for us to hide in the corner or to bury our heads in the sand. So, we have become clever at even dreaming. We dream out loud and just big enough to receive the applause and admiration of our peers, while knowing in our heart of hearts the dream is too big for us to put forth the effort to make it come true. So, we hide the truth. Not just from the rest of the world, we hide it from ourselves.

Technology may have flattened the world, but it has also created greater distance between the heart and mind. The psychosocial-equivalent of an empty room. We are more connected than ever. Yet sadly, we are more indifferent to the pain and suffering of others. Emojis of hearts, hugs, and sad faces, have replaced real emotion and empathy towards our neighbor. To our credit, we are quick to send money to even a strangers GoFundMe campaign, yet we will not invest those things that really make a difference like our time and energy. 

There's something inside of us that wants to make things better. This is why the changing of a calendar year is so exciting for us. It is literally the turning of the page. The beginning of a new chapter. A fresh start. 2017, left many people feeling as if they had no choice but to accept the changes that to all intents and purposes assaulted them from every angle, offending every sensibility. Human beings tend to hate what they don't understand or cannot control. And much of what took place in 2017, relative to the political sea changes, left many feeling powerless, confused, embittered, even enraged. Many Americans gave up hope for a positive forecast for 2017 on November 8, 2016. 

According to dictionary.com, the word of the year for 2017 was complicit. The website defines "complicit" as "choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity." Little wonder why 2017 was such a turbulent year in America. Some would argue that America has never been so divided. Yet, it was the climate change of negativity that created our most memorable moments of 2017. We all took a knee or a stand. We all knew someone who knew someone. “Me too!” And we were all complicit. In addition, many Americans thought little or nothing about communicating their negative thoughts, prejudices, indeed, negative energy, anonymously on social media. Did you notice? That nearly every discussion, no matter what the topic, morphed into a malicious attack on race, gender, or one’s character? 

It has been said that through struggles come strength; that we must go through things to get stronger. I used to believe that. I used to believe that one must struggle to achieve anything of significance. But what I've since learned on my journey is that struggle though seemingly inevitable isn't what produces growth. What produces growth is learning how to avoid struggle. Not to deny its existence or pretend it doesn't exist, but give oneself permission to move to a higher frequency where flow not struggle is the norm. Some would argue that I'm just splitting hairs here, and these are simply semantic differences. I think not. Babies struggle to walk at 8 months to a year, and we accept that as normal. But if that same baby were struggling to walk at age 5, we would look at their struggle in an entirely different way. We would view it in the context of a problem.  

What Must We Learn from Athletes Before 2018? What secrets do they know about staying in the game that we don't? Have you ever listened to an athlete interview after an injury? Have you noticed how they never even admit being injured? How they consider being unhealthy the inability to perform at 100%? There is no athlete who wants to be taken out of the game which is why they now have a standing concussion protocol in the NFL just to protect the athletes from themselves. Because given the choice nearly 99.9% of them would return to the game without any regard to their long-term health. Yet, 99.9% percent of the American public who are not professional athletes, or who don’t consider themselves athletes, or even athletic, for that matter, do just the opposite. Even a headache or stomach ache has them tapping out.

So, you’re fifty-three, fifty-eight, somewhere in there. And you look every bit of thirty-something while your high school classmates look like senior citizens. You remember back to high school. You were the ugly duckling. Kati was the beautiful one. The cheerleader that all the boy’s flocked to. Now she looks like she could pass as your mother. The temptation would be to ask what happened to Kati? But the real question one should ask is what happened to you? You see, two people can be the same age chronologically but can be decades apart biologically. Every year one seems to get a little fatter, slower, weaker, more inflamed. They can barely hear or see. Their hips go, followed by their knees. Until that great friend and amusing companion of your youth no longer has the energy to make it through the day— let alone dream.