Re-filling the mind

There is something about silence. It is simple, elegant and still.

Try as hard as hard as we may, the only way we can screw it up is by opening our mouths.

As I have gotten older, I have learned to value silence greatly amidst the ever increasing clutter in my mind and in my life.

I look back at the days when fitness meant benching and then hurling a curl bar to "blast my gunz" on my Dad's back porch. My friends and I would pump out some reps and then hit the gas station for a post workout feast of nachos and corn dogs (yes, corn dogs).

Was it the most efficient way to pack on muscle? Probably not. But when compared to the minutia I must struggle through when I put together a program it would be a welcome respite and maybe even a better solution.

I could point to what strength coach Michael Boyle refers to as the "curse of knowledge" to describe becoming paralyzed when performing simple tasks but it doesnt stop there.

Wolfing down my food, mindlessly checking my phone, replacing mere protein powder with raw meat in my protein shakes (not relevant perhaps but funny all the same) are all symptoms of the disease from which I currently suffer: mindlessness.

I'm not even sure how one loses the fullness of their mind, but certainly filling it with more stuff equals less stuff done well (at least in my case). What I've found most frustrating though is that mindlessness also seems to favor the parts of me which run on immediate gratification (check facebook/phone every five minutes, prioritize work over friendships, fixation/obsession over anything, kissing the girl before we are really ready)

As I became busier and farther down the road of my career, life stuff such as dating, training and marketing have largely taken the place of taking the time to write down my thoughts, time spent alone in devotion with God and placing myself in situations/groups which lead me to be spiritual/mindful.

After six years as an entrepreneur, countless sleepless nights over making the rent and thousands of dollars spent on education, I truly have the opportunity this year to build the business life that I want (and if I so choose, to import gas station nachos from across the globe to further build my gunz)

The irony of the above statement is that the amount of focus and discipline it will take to achieve anything requires me to re-embrace mindfulness. And it will require stuff that forces me to stop and truly live in each moment before moving on to the next.

This blog is my first attempt at such mindfulness. Writing was always something which left me in a better place than I started and so here I return. But I will not be posting the latest study on posterior tibialis activation or how to make raw meat work on a vegan diet. Rather, I plan to write about experiences in my life, thing that make me feel emotion and stories of other people who inspire me.

The white and black of this blog represent simplicity, a departure from the noise that currently clutters my mind and a return to the silence which I think we all need at times to gather our thoughts.

I cannot promise an update every day or even every week, but what I can say is that it is my attempt to all of those who feel similar difficulties. You are not alone and neither am I, so lets take a moment of silence and then start our discussion.