Stage 4 Thor

e·qua·nim·i·ty /ˌekwəˈnimədē/ Learn to pronounce noun mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation. "she accepted both the good and the bad  with equanimity "  "Between stimulus and response, there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and freedom"   -- Viktor Frankl About a month ago, a friend turned me on to a book called "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl, and if you haven't heard of it or read it, I strongly suggest you do. I won't get into too many spoilers here, so you are safe. Viktor was a holocaust survivor as well as a psychiatrist, which put him in an interesting position whereby he could study people in the ugliest and most dire of situations. His take on both survivors and offenders is unique. The conditions he was subjected to during the Holocaust provided him with an incredible insight not only into the horrors that hu...

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." -- Albert Einstein Recently in my house, we have been talking about dreams and what they mean, and while I don't personally consider my dreams to have much meaning outside of being random thought soup, it made me think about the dreams that are really important... The best dreams you have are the ones you have when you are awake. Your imagination and ability to see your future in a positive way can be powerful tools for success, but we've lost touch with that spark over the years. Somewhere along the way of becoming an adult, we stop imagining how life could be different in an exciting way. Sure, we can consider how much worse it could be, but even that should instill some gratitude in you. You can, and should, begin to dream about how much better it can be! The power of this lies in the fact that ou...

"An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth" --Bonnie Friedman Going through cancer and now in the middle of my life, I recognized how precious time is  Hopefully not too late.  It is our most important asset and one that is finite and cannot be bought.  If you have read my other posts about when I was in the hospital dying, I prayed only for more time.  Not money, not love, or anything else in the world.  This surprised me more than it should have.. I would guess most people close to death would pray to escape it, but at the core, what they are all really wishing for is more time.  What they want the time for might vary, but at the end of the day, we all want more of it.   If we were to be justified in our greed for anything, I suppose that it would be ... continue reading

At what point, should you start to get moving and back in fitness after an illness or injury? There is no direct answer to this.  Injuries and illnesses are so different across the spectrum, as are things like age, weight, etc.  What I can shed some light on is when I started, why, and how.   When I was getting treated with the first line of chemotherapy I was left with uncertain results.  Was cancer gone?  Was it simply scar tissue showing up on the scan? Nothing to do but "wait and see".  I certainly wasn't healthy, but I couldn't discern between whether that was an effect of the chemo or cancer.   So, with no known answer here, I chose to start the comeback. I was originally optimistic and started to go to a few workouts with my.. .keep reading

Anxiety and worry might be the largest contributor to stress that I can think of and stress is the largest contributor to death.  If you have any hope of living a healthy and successful life or recovering from an illness or injury, limiting your stress needs to be a priority , and the first step in limiting stress is limiting your anxiety! We all understand and hear about the power of positive thinking, and how you can manifest dreams by creating vision boards and meditating/praying for what you want out of life.   Worry is like making a vision board of all the things you DONT want.    If you believe manifesting works, then it should terrify you to know that you can manifest the negative even easier than the positive.   When you worry about something, you invite that which you are most worried about into your life.   The good news is that 98% of all the things... keep reading

The 7 Scientific Benefits of Gratitude:  Gratitude opens the door to more relationships. Gratitude improves physical health.  Gratitude improves psychological health. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression. Grateful people sleep better. Gratitude improves self-esteem. Gratitude increases mental strength. I was baptized Catholic, went to Catholic school up until 7th grade, and later in life moved towards Bible-based theology.  I would consider myself non-denominational, but others would align it pretty closely with Baptist, as we continue to baptize adults to be "born again".   I point this out to be transparent about my background and at the same time understand that not everyone is on the same spiritual path.  Like in my fitness posts, I can only articulate what I felt firsthand and what worked for me. Regardless of what religion you practice or your relationship with the universe, the message here is applicable to all, so please keep readi...