20 Days...

I'm now 20 days into my own version of Optimal Living. I'm starting to notice smaller changes now and I'm getting in the groove of things. Feeling really good. Here's a few things I'd like to share over the past 10 days.

1. PhilosophersNotes: I really love my daily practice of listening, meditating and journaling on a great summary of a super-awesome book each day. The wisdom that is packed in these 20 minute summaries is unbelievable.

Here is the list of Books I covered this week:

The Bhagavad Gita - Krishna
Body Mind Mastery - Dan Millman
The Big Leap - Gay Hendricks
Big Mind, Big Heart - Genpo Roche
The Book of Understanding - Osho
Conscious Living - Gay Hendricks
Constructive Living - David K. Reynolds
The Courage to Create - Rollo May
Creative Mind and Success - Earnest Holmes
The Dark Side of the Light Chasers - Debbie Ford

Here's a few of my favorite quotes I came across the past 10 days.

"Be open to learning. We choose how gently we get our lessons by how open we are to learning. Life teaches with a sledge hammer if we refuse to pay attention. It administers the same lesson with a feather tickle if we show a willingness to learn." - Gay Hendricks

"If you make a powerful, sincere commitment, a vow that you really want to live your life in the zone of genius, your journey will be blessed with uncommon good fortune at all the twists and turns of the road. Commitment has that power." - Gay Hendricks

"How much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant and the things that are honorable finally become, for you, the same." - Seneca

"Being is so significant that it is irreplaceable, you're just yourself. Do something that comes out of you, not to assert but to express. Sing your song, and dance your dance. Rejoice in being whatever nature has chosen you to be." - Osho

"Follow your bliss and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be." - Joseph Campbell

"We cannot choose out external circumstances but we can always choose how we respond to them." - Epictetus

"Our behavior is controllable in a way that out feelings are not. There's a very special satisfaction for the artist of living who works within life's limits, to produce a fine self portrait. The more control we develop over our actions the more chance we have of producing a self we can be proud of." - David K. Reynolds

"Sow a thought and you reap an action. Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The very best thing you can do for the world is to make the most of yourself." - Wallace D. Wattles

"Every organism has one and only one central need in life, to fulfill its own potentialities." - Rollo May

"As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their lives." - Buddha

"The man with the big thought is always the man who does big things in life." - Earnest Holmes

"Great men are the ones who get a vision and then go to work to make it come true, never looking to one side, but with one-pointedness and calm determination stick to the thing until it is accomplished." - Earnest Holmes

"What a wonderful power, what a newness of life and power of expression is waiting for those who really believe." - Earnest Holmes

"Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"How you do anything is how you do everything." (?)

"Attend your own lectures." - Debbie Ford

"One should not wish to enjoy, where one does not give joy." - Frederick Nietzsche

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right." - Henry Ford

"Fear is excitement without the breath." - Fritz Pearls

"He who controls others may be powerful but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." - Lao Tzu

"Nothing remains, everything passes by, the only thing that always abides is your witnessing." - Osho

"When the potential becomes the actual, only then is a man fulfilled." - Osho

"We all need more backbone than wishbone." (?)

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God, your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people wont feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to manifest the glory of God within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Marianne Williamson

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

:-)


2. Jump Attack: I thought Michael Jordan's quote was a perfect segue, since the Jump Attack program was developed by his very own Trainer, Tim Grover of Attack Athletics.

The super-soreness I had been experiencing early on has now subsided as my body is getting used to the intensity of the workouts. I still get slightly sore, but I am starting to feel great. I feel awesome upon completion of each workout. It is so empowering. I feel a little extra pep in my step and in my being. It is really, really hard work and you just cannot imitate that feeling of accomplishment as each workout is finished. I am loving it.

As for results, that part is still-to-come as I have yet to notice a significant extra lift in elevation. Soon enough.


3. Nutrition: I have continued on with my plant based diet (Vegan) and have been feeling good. On top of eating a lot of Organic grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, I have been incorporating Nutritional Yeast into my arsenal, as it is packed with great nutrients my body wants and needs. I've also been taking a daily dose of Organic Flax Oil. My energy levels during workouts and basketball has seemed boundless. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you'll be weak and tired from a Vegan Diet. As long as it is well planned, you can thrive off only things that grow right from the Earth. Look at a horse for example, they eat grass and oats and are one giant muscle. Pretty cool.


4. Yoga: As I mentioned in my last update, I have still continued to struggle with getting in a daily routine of Yoga. I practice here and there but it is still not consistent. Flexibility is coming back however, due to my body adjusting to the intensity of the Jump Attack workouts, so it is becoming enjoyable again. I'll stay with it and try to get it down pat.


5. Sweets and Refined Foods: I have been sweets, sodas, and refined food free. I had a bit of a sweet tooth in the past, so this has been an empowering accomplishment as well. Most of all, I have been feeling great, so in the end it's not really a sacrifice because of all that I am gainning in health and spirit. The instant gratification is gone but the hard work and real rewards are what I'm after, so I don't really miss them at all.

Looking forward to more progress and positivity to report. See you in 10 more days...