30 days...

Well, I've made it 30 days now and I'm starting to see and feel more noticeable changes. I'm feeling stronger, sharper and more and more empowered each day. 70 more days (or a lifetime) of continued growth ahead, but here's what I have to share from the past 10 days.

1. PhilosophersNotes: I continue to really enjoy my daily practice of listening, meditating and journaling on a great summary of a super-awesome book each day, that is packed full of wisdom. The past 10 days have brought me a bunch of sweet new ideas and quotes to share.

Here's a list of the Books I've covered this week:

The Dhammapada - Buddha
The Diamond Cutter - Geshe Michael Roache
Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman
The Enchiridion - Epictetus
Everyday Enlightenment - Dan Millman
Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Focal Point - Brian Tracy
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
Living & Loving Workshops - Gay and Katie Hendricks

Here are some awesome quotes I gathered the past 10 days.

"Good habits are hard to develop and easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to develop and hard to live with. The habits you have, and the habits that have you, will determine almost everything you achieve, or fail to achieve." - Brian Tracy

"Among the most important personal choices you can make is to accept complete responsibility for everything you are, and everything you will be. This is the great turning point in life. The acceptance of personal responsibility is what separates the superior person from the average person." - Brian Tracy

"You can dramatically improve the overall quality of your life far faster than you might think possible. All you need is the desire to change, the decision to take action, the discipline to practice the new behaviors you have chosen, and the determination to persist until you get the results you want." - Brian Tracy

"The great truths of life are simple. It is amazing how many problems both personal and social could be resolved if everyone decided to treat other people the way they would like to be treated. Listen to people the way you would like to be listened to. Sell your products and services the way you would like others to sell their products and services to you. Be courteous and respectful to other people just as you would like other people to be courteous and respectful to you. Be patient and understanding with people when they make mistakes just as you would like them to be patient ad understanding with you when you make mistakes." - Brian Tracy

"The goal of business and ancient Tibetan wisdom, and if fact all human endeavor, is to enrich ourselves. To achieve prosperity both outer and inner. We can enjoy this prosperity only if we maintain a high degree of physical and mental health. And over the lengths of our lives we must seek ways to make this prosperity meaningful in a larger sense. We should see that we have conducted ourselves and our business in a way that has had some lasting meaning, that left some good mark in our world." - Geshe Michael Roache

"For better or worse, intelligence can come to nothing when emotions hold sway." - Daniel Goleman

"Worries become self-fulfilling prophecies." - Daniel Goleman

"Do what you need to do despite of your feelings." - Dan Millman

"Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish, but wish the things that happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life." - Epictetus

"Accept, then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life." - Eckhart Tolle

"The universe has a pulse and rhythm of its own, and wants to carry you with it. So if you dance with spirit, just remember to let it lead." - Sonia Choquette

"Man's ideal state is realized when he has fulfilled the purpose for which he is born. And what is it that reason demands of him? Something very easy, that he live in accordance with his own nature." - Seneca

"The ignorant are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt." - George Bernard Shaw

"Whatever form fear takes, your willingness to face it squarely will determine your fate in the high country of human potential." - Dan Millman

"The mind itself can make a heaven of hell, or a hell of heaven." - John Milton

"Nothing has meaning outside that which we give it. Nothing has any absolute meaning because if it did, everyone would experience it exactly the same, all the time." - Geshe Michael Roache

"What's the best way to teach young children how to lead an ethical life? At that age, said his holiness, it doesnt matter what you tell them to do, they will watch and imitate you. They will do what you do, and so you are faced with the hardest task of all, to be ethical yourself." - Geshe Michael Roche

"Of all the people I know who are serving society, those who are making the greatest contributions and alleviating human ails and wants are those who have themselves in hand." - Melvin Seal(?)

"Everything is hard before it is easy." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"To have more, you must first be more. To achieve more in your outer world you must first go to work on your inner world, on developing yourself. There are no lasting shortcuts. There is no other way." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"If I had 6 hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend 4 of them sharpening my axe." - Abraham Lincoln

"Don't help me or serve me but let me see it once, because I need it. Don't work for my happiness my brothers, show me yours. Show me that it is possible. Show me your achievement and the knowledge will give me the courage for mine." - Ayn Rand

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors, try to be better than yourself." - William Faulkner

"You enter the forest at the darkest point where there is no path. Where there is a way or a path, it is someone else's path. You are not on your own path. If you follow someone else's way you are not going to realize your potential." - Joseph Campbell

"Don't pay attention to the critics, don't even ignore them." - Samuel Goldwyn

"The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them." - Ayn Rand

"Nothing other people do is because of you, it is because of themselves." - Don Miguel Ruiz

"The first step towards personal freedom is awareness. We need to be aware that we are not free, in order to be free. We need to be aware of what the problem is, in order to solve it." - Don Muguel Ruiz

"The worse a person is, the less he feels it." - Seneca

"The only one to blame is ones self." - Joseph Campbell

"Repetition makes the master." - Don Miguel Ruiz

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

"You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with." - Jim Rohn

"Our life is shaped by our mind, we become what we think." - Buddha

"If you find no one to support you on your journey, walk alone." - Buddha

"If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart." - Buddha

"As a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the wise are not shaken by praise or blame" - Buddha

"Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans, that the moment one definitely commits oneself then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole new stream of events issues from the decision raising in ones favor all manner of unforeseen events, meeting and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's Couplets, "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness had genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!" - W.H. Murray

"Work diligently, work patiently and persistently and you're bound to be successful." - SN Goenka


2. Jump Attack: I'm entering the fourth full week of the program and have been feeling stronger with each workout. I'm starting to feel a little 'pop' in my jumps. My feet feel strong and in control. It's amazing how when we put work on our bodies (and mind for that matter) they adapt and become stronger in relation to what we are trying to do with them. What an awesome tool. That being said, I foresee some serious gains of strength, flexibility and jumping elevation on the not-so-distant horizon. :-)


3. Nutrition: Still been eating really good, and feeling great. I've noticed that I need to eat a little more frequently, with my new diet and workout routines, but as long as I keep well fed I feel phenomenal, especially during my workouts. I'm starting to put together some recipes, ideas and a product list to share in the future. I'll post those up by the end of the 100 days.


4. Yoga: Still struggling with my consistent daily Yoga practice commitment, but I will not give up. I will just have to keep re-committing and figure out how to get it in each day. This is a lifelong goal anyways, not just a 100 day deal, so I will incorporate it eventually and make it habit. As soon as this post is done, I'm going to do some Yoga. What better time to start than now, right?


5. Sweets and Refined Foods: Seems this week has brought the odors and sights of tasty treats and cheesy foods into my awareness more frequently. They sure do look good but I haven't even come close to cheating. I am committed and it is not an option. The same mentality of 'non-negotiability' helped me quit smoking cigarettes over 10 years ago, and will continue to see me through for more of what I really want in the long run, not just right now.

Honored and blessed to share...see you in 10 more...