Brain Dump: 1.12

No title today. I don’t want to guide this entry, what spews forth until 7.40 is my only goal. What is in a name, in an idea, a culture. In conversation last night after watching inglorious basterds and talking about the recent surge in neo-nazism that has been described by some data we came upon a large point of importance.

When a country is born of war it will likely seek out war, just like a person born of stress and struggle will likely search for this and even make choices with food and otherwise to keep them in the stress-response, fight or flight status.

We have the opportunity to reshape culture and image all the time though.

Obama is trying to reshape America’s culture by tying it to healthcare and we have the chance to ties ours to primary, preventative care.

Imagine healthy exercise being a cultural and economical part of our workplace taxation strategies and a focal point for FHT funding!

Image the same could be said of food, home agriculture and mental training, continuing education.

Healthy happy people are more of those two things, cost us less and will live longer more productive lives by the looks of things… why not have a population looking to live long and prosper… this might also encourage them to save for this healthy and vital future they are going to have.

It is amazing how pervasive cultural values are and their ramifications. We migrate towards fear-based marketing because it works on a biological level that is influenced further by being in a chronic state of tension about when the next shoe will drop and the battle will begin again.

Let us stand up and change now. Let us start with a new, health, wellness and vitality-focused culture. Treat those with illness to help eliminate the causes and use them to help us teach about prevention and make that the other prime directive.

From children to older adults we need to re-educate, re-connect and re-invigorate people to help them move towards longer term health and productivity for us all.

We cannot let things like Codex Alimentaris or other food and health lobby groups to put their ideas into actionable laws and policy changes.

We need to mobilize our healthful selves to be able to listen to our bodies so we can stand up together and say “No. This culture, these areas for our tax-dollars are not helping ME. The foods that are available, that children and adults crave and beg for are not healthful, they do not leave me feeling good and I want better.”

Write letters, start blogs, reply to this one and explore any of the key words on here that intrigue you.

Become your own scientist.

Brain Dumping 1.11: The Early Bird Gets the Worm

I love phrases, especially ones that hold actionable truths. In my upcoming eBook this will be one of the topics of discussion along with why on earth to write and eBook.

Being Social is perhaps the most important thing I have discovered over the past year to encourage health and positive feelings and emotions- how does that relate to the above… that is beauty of the stream of consciousness/brain dumping writing…

You are who you hang around with.

Do you really want to be the change you want to see in the world? If so, hang out with lots different people and learn about them, ask them questions, listen to theirs and their perspectives and continue to evolve your own. When I look at the ideas and activities I am enjoying working towards, most if not all of them have been reinforced by social events or circles.

Do we all crave approval? I don’t know and all though some forms or overt quests for approval can be problematic, I think it is a healthy trait… to a point.

I have ideas, things I want to put into action and all the while there is a nagging doubt in the back of my head about the dollar approval I might or might not get from my community.

But, engaging socially, with honest communication, seems a happy and surefire way to lastingly connect with not only others but with yourself.

Hearing my person describe her chats with a friend yesterday and going out socially was a prime example of the power of connecting physically. The joy that emerged between the words describing her tea-time chatting was palpable. The real and pure nature of the words and expressions she related from the time with her friend and the very topics they discussed allowed for beautiful growth.

This Brain Dumping I do is fun and valuable but it pails in comparison to what might be uncovered of my even deeper thoughts or their potential impact on my goals and dreams if they were tempered with good honest communication.

Even feedback is valuable after the fact!

Just in the last few days I have received comments and thoughts on my writing from varied sources around the globe and it is both exciting and nostalgic. Exciting for knowing that I am reaching some people and nostalgic for remembering what it was like to have a teacher.

My most confident growth and success was when I had engaged teachers asking my good questions and giving me feedback on my corresponding work. School was a great place to learn despite its systematic flaws, because it provided at least for me, an environment of support.

I am understanding now just how important it is to cultivate a team of support, a team you can be candid with and a team that looks forward to being candid with you.

Connect, Share and remember all fun and no games makes Jack a dull boy… and don’t slouch either!

Brain Dumping 1.10: Later in the day…

When your day starts at 4ish AM, what counts as later in the day?

I have a dream of living by the circadian rhythm of sleep and wake and digestion and I long for the days when it does not feel like a sacrifice to my health to do the work I have to do to make the money I need to make to build the business and I health I wish to build.

I long to have a movement and food routine that is that anchor to my living instead of letting the dollars drive my decisions of when to take clients.

I long for the ability to get over my fears of not making enough money and just put this plan into action.

I long for the stability that will come from the days when enough people know that I am available to help them and that my help will take them to another level of health entirely.

I long for the moment that I no longer long for things but simply choose to act for them, towards them- why not let this moment be now.

Wanting is a potent motivator, more potent than needing, especially when there is a clear goal in mind.

I want to live in a nice home that is paid for by the work I do in and around it. I want to have spaces dedicated in that house to growing beautiful food, guiding beautiful movement and contributing to shaping beautiful lives and energies.

I want this home to evolve into a place that I bring people to stay and live in the health I have built and I am excited to bring people in to share in the movements and moments to be had when surrounded by a culture of happy health.

I want to know everything I can about a client from personality typologies to goals, dreams, roadblocks and visions. I want to walk them through a visualization of each day, guide them, motivate them, push them, calm them, relax them and take them into a meditative state afterwards to take them away but into themselves and their surroundings.

I want to cultivate in myself and in others, tools to manage the good and bad stressors of life and build a movement, a tribe of people that are choosing to stay well and choosing to share their wealth in health with others, just be exuding the energy of vitality rather than complacency.

As my time draws to an end I am struck by my desire to extol and talk about health. It is at the apex of my thoughts at nearly every turn. As much as I am happy with that, I realize that it sets me apart from my clients for the most part. I want to have the ability to reach each person at their level and help them find ways, moments, to put themselves and their health first- even just for moments

Brain Dumping 1.9: Any Old Tuesday?

We prepare ourselves for everything… almost. Barring the freakishly random events, we use statements to prepare ourselves to just keep the status quo. Why?

Change is absolutely doable, but it can create such challenges- Mentally or physically, for some if not most people. I believe the trick of things is to do all you can do to discover what kind of person you are and how to deal with and respond to your individualized responses to life, to change.

I want to transition a few parts of my life to make the habits of living line up better with the habits necessary for financial freedom but seem to sabotage my efforts more often than I would like to admit.

From deciding to pay bills instead of complete a workbook entry (harder work no doubt) to you name any of the many distractions I can dig up for myself, I keep myself from taking big steps at times. Why?

Even writing this is not “doing” but I figure at least I’m trying to address the feelings that pervade the gut when I knowingly choose not to do or change.

So then, today is not any old Tuesday. I see myself connecting with those three people I need to connect with, putting good work into a couple projects and feeling great about my interactions with my clients today. I will be open and ensure the people I connect with will be listened to and I will ensure I make time to breath, move and listen to myself.

The trick of it becomes what am I really saying in relation to reality as I would like it to be vs. the reality I have created for myself to date. The cravings for stimuli from people, food and otherwise that I am searching for as I try to listen to myself are not what I want them to be so every time I bow to them, I perpetuate this reality. My cells are bathed in the signals of each moment, more importantly, each moment I repeat.

I believe it is a simple math that takes people from the any-old to the amazing each day, the question is, what do you want to cultivate?

“The anatomy of a perfect day: Up to hydrate and write: dump for 15, write and hydrate for 2 litres. Tai Chi/Yoga/Strength, stretch. Green drink. Cient: Functional and Muscle Test, cardio/Stregth intervals, relaxation actions, stretching, hydrate and snack (2 hours). Brunch/Meeting with new/old client. Chi Gong/meditation. Client as above or a small group mirroring my day. Snack and prep for dinner/clean or prep for evening class or educational/growth (personal and business) event. Eat, love, enjoy, read, stretch, visualize, sleep, lucid dream. Wake up and visualize the success of the next.”

That is what I want, so it is the space I need to find and the people that I can help that will fill in those blanks for at least 4 days a week at $80/hour.

Brain Dumping 1.8: After a Weekend "Away"

It is amazing what time, engaged or disengaged will do.

From “You are what you repeatedly do” to “you are what you eat” to “you are like your friends and peers” time is common factor, or at least, how we use it.

What is amazing however is that what we do today impacts both our future time and also how our body deals with past-times.

This process of unloading the minutia for 15 minutes a day is turning into an addiction- or at least I am trying my best to make it that way- and judging by my general feelings for when I don’t do it (much like movement and hydrating) I feel worse for wear when I slip.

I am tying my thoughts, hopes and emotions to the practice. Appreciating its potential to unlock my sub-conscious patterns and help me move towards my dreams. Associating the act with positive emotions and health and seeking to take as much as possible from the feedback I get from my social contributions.

I am trying to make it a routine at a routine time with a routine water in hand to get every part of my body used to and craving the habit.

Sometimes I win and sometimes I intentionally break it like yesterday.

Running the Yoga, Thai Massage and Body Awareness retreat was the focus of my thoughts and energies… and I slept in to give the day my best.

Today however, I just slept in, it felt good, so I did it and know now that it would be better to keep my habit going.

Back to time.

Time is that precious resource that we waste with such interesting abandon and disregard. How lucky we have become, I am, to be able to bask in the upper pools of my mind- our minds- instead of having to dig down into the deeper resources of our mental and physical resources.

Because we have given such value to time I think it has become something to resent and waste only because we rarely actually use time to its fullest.

We are not conscious, engaged and impassioned by its use and as such, we let it disappear with only the slightest twinge of regret and within only the slightest percentage of the population.

Commit to be engaged in your steps, chews, thoughts, actions, smiles and pains alike.

There is no try, only do.

Be what you dream by repeatedly doing (thinking, dreaming, acting eating…)… and maybe even start by dumping the crap from the top of the heap.

Brain Dumping 1.7: 6.29 on a Friday

A desire to write. Why, an exercise to look deeper:

Why do I want to make this a habit?

- Because “a life unexamined is a life not lived?”

Why does it matter to examine this life?

- Because we are here to live- living is growing, evolving all related to experiences

Why write to relate experiences?

- Because it is one way to express and assess the results of each days worth of experiences

But why write, and publicly commit?

- I get lost here in my mind but the first answer to selfishly continue to look for deeper reason and substance for my desire to take my own journey and by publicizing it, I can harness the power of the group and keep at, and perhaps encourage some others to explore as well.

SO, Why do you have the desire to write?

- To better myself, to “learn grow and evolve” as my friend Erica Brandl puts it and to encourage my community, tribe, network to do the same!

And this brings me to 6.38.

The goal is not to profit but to connect and to create value in our individual health’s. The goal is for all of us to build a realistic self-image and give our selves a realistic grade based on input from an honest supporting cast- in my world, your health team. From here, the goal is to harness the power of being able to defer gratitude but seek satisfaction in investing in your health.

Know that every point more you can give yourself and your health you are multiple steps ahead.

Imagine a big red button on the wall and every time you hit it, you add productive, happy days to your life.

Now, slap that button every time you make a healthy choice, from taking 2 minutes to breath, to reading your favorite author, to stretching, waking, having fresh greens… the list goes on!

Make time to slap that button today. I just did with my brain dump here. I feel clearer and happier for it. Find tools to enable you to connect with your mind and body and work towards creating a “healthstyle” for living.

Brain Dumping 1.6: Creative names, simple realities and social commitment

I received an email from an individual in my network that expressed interest in both my services and my courage to let this “stream of consciousness” reach the public after I included some in a mass mail-out. This individual has been practicing a similar action for quite some time that is referred to as “morning pages”.

What I am driving towards with increasing regularity as I continue to dig through the barrage of self-talk and ego that stands in my way is a picture of simplicity and ease.

This picture is available for all to see and play with but has been wrapped in so many packages and described with so many names that it is increasingly lost to us. The funnier reality is that even in my attempts to boil it down to its simplest form for people I will still be putting my spin and perspective on it!

But this is why I turn to the social media world and the internet.

The need to brand and niche-ify yourself become (I hope) less critical when you have the ability to simply reach those that hear your plain-speak. I don’t want to dress-up or down what I am offering to myself and my community (globally and locally) but I also want to make sure that my message gets out.

Seth Godin speaks of the ability to create movements and form tribes and as I glance up at my clock to see how much time I have left for this ‘dig and dump’ I wonder how long it will take to have mine?

I wonder how long it will be before my mini-documentary on perfecting posture and movement will be completed. How long will it be until I can be on Oprah, Ellen, Letterman, Conan, CBC, The Hour, The Mercer Report, the BBC and beyond, spreading my simple message of movement, nourishment and mental, emotional and social engagement?

I want to harness star power to promote this message, create something simple enough for everyone to grasp and use and discuss and live out my days meeting people, families, groups, associations and organizations and re-connecting them with themselves so they can reach a success in work, life and play that allows them to truly find and live their dreams.

With maybe 1 minute left I want to touch on social commitment.

I didn’t write or post yesterday and I felt the worse for it. I tried to approach the feeling with no judgment and I felt as though I had missed the chance to feel something that day that I like to feel.

Commit to your change, commit to your choices and share in your commitment and find support in the support and in the silence.

Scott

And again... 1.5

Brain Dump 1.5
What happens when you keep diggin, but keep leaving just enough time to dig?
And is it really just enough, or just enough to not all the way down there?
Why do this, we write, why unload when there are dishes to do, prep work to do, organizing to do, just why?
I don’t get paid to write, but is it a dream to? Yes. What does that look like? Am I writing about health, am I tracking my own journey to internal and external movement perfection? Am I digging deeper and building people a picture of one persons journey to identifying physical health as the universal starting point for future success? What makes me feel that way, what is the evidence?
I see it and feel it everywhere. I know in my heart of hearts that a change in our philosophical and cultural approach to human physiology and movement would change the dynamics of our world.
SO perhaps that is why I will continue to write, to find different ways to express, convey and explain what brought me here, what my journey looked like and looks like.
I imagine myself with a regular column discussing things health and wellness related in the context of efficacy and enjoyment.
I imagine myself with my completed booklet in hand at my speaking engagements providing subtle support to those that want to take the next step.
I imagine writing articles and giving interviews on topics from flu prevention to stress management, cardio and strength training tricks and generally for the love of expressing myself and my thoughts.
I imagine providing opportunities for experts in the movement sciences and medicines to learn, grow an evolve by interacting and collaborating towards imagining new ways we can help people move toward their dreams and goals both daily and beyond.
Perhaps I dig to dig, to challenge my self to go beyond.
The first obstacle is always doubt for me when I sit up and breath- I pause for flashes of doubt. I fade of topic after those moments it seems… as protection, as habit, I don’t know. The doubt is that people will be interested in my perspective, my story, or at least doubt that this format of disseminating it may not be worth my time.
The doubt hangs as I try to move past it, like a bad smell to use the overused simile, and as I dig deeper I feel like I’ve reached another quicksandish point. Reality.
To put it into words (the whole idea behind writing) I feel my message and so many of my thoughts hang on present reality. I feel an urge to dig into the past realities I have lived to better connect with myself and my audience a kind of “Biography before you know me, and I get famous, and you doubt the truth of it all”.
This is not easy. Life is never perfect for anyone, but the beauty of writing a biography when you’re old is that many people that are involved are either dead, or well past caring. Will there be truths that will shake my confidence, not possibly I cry! They have taken me here and here is where my 15 minutes of dumping ends.

Blog 1.4.2

The point two is for my second try to unload the mind this morning, the first attempt made it to about 10 minutes before I had to hustle out of the house and this one will be 15 minutes on the button.
Fuelled by the odd cup of coffee this morning (odd because I am progressively decreasing my consumption), I notice just what impact culture and environment have on behaviour... in no uncertain terms, habit or addiction.
As much as caffeine is chemically addictive, it is reinforced by many personal, sub-cultural and cultural factors, much like everything else.
My issue as I sit down to brain dump is that almost without thought I make my way to the coffee stand and ask for a fair trade coffee. Habit, addiction, one and the same.
I enjoy the smell, and taste. I enjoy the interaction with the the employee and I am comforted by the ability to sit and type and sip every now and again. If there is a muffin with no dairy I even indulge in that as part of my habit, enjoying the texture combo, along with the sugar I am sure, as wonderfully designed devices to encourage our addictions.
I find increasingly however, that I becoming more conscious as I get closer to the stand. Today I made the conscious decision to have the coffee, treat myself, despite my knowledge of the 'bad' in the choice. I am becoming increasingly conscious, confident, aware of my choices, the repercussions on all levels, but still I have the coffee.
I need to habit link. Find another enjoyable alternative to accompany this task. Enjoy the smells of the atmosphere, but bathe my cells in another broth.
My brain dumping is migrating towards helping my mind and body dump the practices that don't bode well for them by socially committing to my knowledge of the poorness of my choices.
Practice what you preach... moderation is nice to a point, but there are many things worth simply avoiding than moderating.
The question is, what is my choice, at what level do I want to function today and into tomorrow?
We know now that regular high intensity interval training cuts exercise time required for change in half or better. We know now that more greens, teas and less alcohols, meats processed carbs and caffeine equals a much healthier body. We know that fear and negative emotions drive action, but positives only allow for more conscious thought.
Harness the fear, temper it with the positive knowledge of your choices and move forward with good support to make it all the more effective. Link positive habits to other positives. Be they habits, people, environments or rubber bands, use your culture, or build a sub-culture from the above and beyond to succeed.
Be well. Think well... And do it intelligently.

Brain Dump 1.3

Two sentences per paragraph with quotes and context.
Even the method for writing media releases and ‘news’ articles is based on a formula for our mass consumption.
If this was for that I would have inserted a quote from the man I heard it from, and if this was for eMarketing it would have been a hotlink (but not if there was another one within 100 words!)
We are simple machines that work best when given simple formulae to work with and we get better if we work in the same environment, exposed to similar people or stimuli so that we can fine tune our ability to notice anomalies in the information.
Malcolm Gladwell calls it “thin slicing” I believe, Robert Cialdini goes into detail about its use to then influence our behaviour once some of the ‘thin slices’ have been singled out as anomalies for our predation.
Where am I going with this brain dump you might ask and the answer is I’m not entirely sure. It think what I’m doing is slowly convincing myself that it is ok to use the cognitive behavioural recognition skills and manipulation skills to sell my “product”.
My problem is the perfect world issue. My vision quite honestly is of a world that is educated and confident in their health practices and one that doesn’t need my services so I can just grow food, play and maybe talk to people to make a living…
The problem with this is that it makes asking for money difficult when your long term goal is for government and/or business/insurance best practices to just have wellness and prevention as a first practice and cultural norm, like OHIP or Dental coverage.
Up until that happens though, I know now I need to create a substantial value proposition, package it well and use the various techniques and tricks of the trade to convince people to choose to get and stay well.
Does it mean writing articles… I hope so because I enjoy writing! Does it mean conducting interviews… sounds cool. Does is mean presenting to upper management and educating them on the actual dollar value in return on their investment in health, I hope so because then I get to public speak, educate, empower and motivate.
Employers Edge did a great job yesterday at my annual kinesiology conference towards describing what even the smallest changes look like… $50 dollars a month ROI just to knock absenteeism down 1 day from the average of 7.4, reduce health benefit spending by 5% and reduce 1 employee turnover case per year… multiply that number by the number of your employees and you have an ROI for just these metrics and real wellness does so much more… where can you get an ROI of 300 to potentially 800%?
I am going to continue to invest in my health and am excited to live and grow as an individual and as part of the health care culture that is evolving.
My 15 minutes have expired and although this turned into an industry diatribe, I can still feel the direction I was going. We still look at things from inside the box- the standard metrics- but to see and experience real value and growth we need to expand our comfort zones and really challenge ourselves to search for more.

Brain Dump 1.2

Brain Dumping 1.2
Another sample of what happens when you just let go and expose, or at least continue to dig down in an effort to expose, the inner workings.
Stephen King in his (terrific) work “On Writing” explains eventually getting to a point when you’re just there in the basement of your writers mind and able to pull whatever book or box off the endless miles of shelves and dive and to see what is there. Perhaps the only guardian down there is the old wily and wise janitor who upon seeing you, nods, shrugs and turns around to keep sweeping- you’ve been expected.
However, before you can get to that visualized state of pure access to your deepest thoughts, you have to fight through Lord of the Ring sized cobwebs, anchored by ego, fear, self-doubt, pride… you name it your body has protection mechanisms built in to keep you in your comfort zone. This is why I am brain dumping, this is why I am rattling my cage as often as I can and this is why I have committed to Micheal Brese to get in there and rattle daily. I want confident access to my basement, not a mirage. I want to rummage and connect the dots inside so that I can pursue my dream and change the outside world.
It may at first glance seem lofty to want to change a culture but, why not try? I figure at the least I’ll create a little sub-culture of people the proudly where the “I Choose” pin on their sleeves… and maybe even a few savvy corporations that want to separate themselves from the field will have “We Choose” stickers on theirs.
I almost wasted a few minutes editing rather than dumping just then and it brings my mind back to the comfort zone thing. I drifted back to thoughts of “who is going to read this?” “where should I post this?” “who, what, where, how, why…” My brain went off on tangents designed to keep me where I’m comfortable. These writings could bring positive or negative feedback, they could vault me or vilify me and in the process I could loose myself and my mission in myself, self-sabotaging rather than using this as fuel for my fire.
Looking back for a moment on the mechanism of the brain I love the synergies that appear and that perhaps science will fully understand in the years to come. I mentioned the web of ego and protection you have to dig through to get into the basement for creativity and want to draw the comparison between that and wanting to make a change in your life. We are naturally resistant to change as it is our nature to maintain homeostasis. These set-points are anchored emotionally, biochemically and even physiologically with our cells and their DNA expressing a regular set of receptors and enzymes to deal with the ‘typical’ insults of the day, weeks, months and years. So to make change you need consistent persistent action yes, but at a lot lower dose and volume than we once thought. Frequent, high intensity explosive changes to the system, be it cardiovascular, muscular or mental appear to have very similar impact to our bodies as the previous standards for change had with up to 90% less time involved!
EFT and NLP for example can take what used to mean protracted periods of time in talk therapy and turn it into an 11-week process or less. We can now change our bodies within 30 minutes of well-designed cardio where used to think we needed an hour. We can increase muscle mass in far less time that we previously thought as well.
The theme I am trying to uncover is that the comfort zones we have can be broken down much easier than we have been led to believe.
I grew up with family that said and believed that “You can’t make anyone change” and “Change is the toughest thing to do”. Belief and even exposure to these sayings is toxic and will make this true in your mind. Understand that you can change, that it is easier than you imagine and that if you chalk up all the hours and stresses of saying to yourself “easier said than done” its probably a lot “easier” done than said!
Choose to change, choose to dig deep and push yourself beyond, choose to go big or go home… Choose to Stay Well.

The first Brain Dump

Brain Dumping:
Typing versus writing, either way I have to look st my fingers and I get to notice the subtleties of the way I write.
Confidence. In my passions, in their place and time in this world and the presence of people like myself looking for change, knowing there is something better and wanting to live it today.
Being a conscious liver of a passion rather than a cheerleader. It is challenging and exciting to make changes, difficult to focus on the exciting at times, but amazing to listen to the pulls that occur to pull you away.
Are they negative emotions?
Are they safety mechanisms to keep us safe and away from failure… and what failure is that? Would it not be worse to live a life unexamined and untested?
15 minutes to dump the mind and it starts with my business to a certain extent, but me at a deeper level. It is my vision to live and be the change I want in the world, live and breath my business and passion out to people with my voice and in print and just live a living.
To do that I need a product to sell, a brand to sell and a culture to promote- I Choose, We Choose, everyone onboard for making sweeping changes.
I want this by January. I want this so I can re-prioritize and live my life with my loves, my lady, my family, myself and not feel like it has to be the other way around to thrive.
Trust. Trust in the energies of the world that this, my ideas, passions are not lost on people, they just need to find the right ones.
Trust in the Web, in the social media to attract the people I can help.
Trust in the Simplicity of the message and Trust in the value of planning. Just plan. For life, for work, for play, just plan.

My time is up and thought my brain looms on emotional attachment to care, money, debt and letting go of these fears, I feel there is a wall there formed by words as I can’t seem to find the tools to express those feelings like I can my passions for the work/life side of me.

For the Life/Life side there needs to be other passions, other goals, other visions of regular events, just like there are monthly retreats for my world, there need to be monthly retreats for me and mine.

I need to create a system to facilitate this and this is my vision. Having a product and a team to sell and promote it beyond my own promotional efforts.

I want to just love, love every minute and plan my days out ot live and love every minute!

Love yourself, plan for yourself.