December, 2008:

Exercise – Becoming Addicted

Several weeks ago I made a commitment to myself that I would exercise every day with my primary exercise being hiking. My goal was to get out there and go hiking every morning. I’ve been doing it very faithfully.

My hiking morning goes something like this: I get on my hiking gear, jump in my car and drive up to the trailhead parking lot. This is about a mile from my home. The hike I usually take, especially in the winter, is up in the foothills of the mountain. It’s consists of a trail that goes in a loop where the trail runs along the lower portion of the foothills and then it heads up a very steep part of the mountain and loops back on another trail across a higher portion of the foothills and then back down to the trailhead parking lot. Got that?

I’ve been doing this every morning except Sundays and I have quite enjoyed it. I’ve hiked this trail quite a bit over the last three years but my consistency has been spotty at best. There would be months go by at a time that I wouldn’t do any hiking and then other months where I would be consistent. The goal is to do it every day. So I’ve been doing it very consistently for the last several weeks.

Well, a few days ago I stayed up late working on a project. (See Staying Up Late – Is It Worth It?) So the next morning I was exhausted. I slept in. When I got up I was very disappointed with myself. I realized I just didn’t have time to go hiking that morning for the first time in a long time.

So, as I went through my morning, running behind schedule, I found myself just dragging and very down on myself. I felt so discouraged and frustrated. I felt like I was missing something, that things just weren’t right. I couldn’t picture myself going through the day without my morning hike.

Finally, as I was sitting there pondering what to do, I turned to my wife and said, “You know, I don’t really care how late I go in to work, I’m going hiking.” So I got on my hiking gear and went out and did my morning hike. It was wonderful. I loved it. When I got home from my hike I felt so much better inside.

I started thinking about what happened there and I realized that I have become addicted to hiking. I was actually experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not going on my hike. It was good to realize that I was becoming addicted to hiking and that when I didn’t do it I was in fact experiencing withdrawal pains.

I’ve heard of people becoming addicted to running or other healthy lifestyles or activities. I can’t say that I’ve ever been addicted to running. I’ve done a lot of running in my life. I’ve run nine marathons. They were tough and the training was tough but I never found myself addicted to it.

For me hiking is different. It’s definitely a workout. In fact, as I tape-record this blog entry while hiking you can hear me huffing and puffing on my tape. But for me, hiking is also a mental exercise too. It gets my mind going and gets me away from the day-to-day cares of home and it gets me out among nature. There is a feeling there that is hard to describe. It’s a wonderful feeling. I don’t know if it’s the endorphins getting going in my brain or what, but I enjoy it very much. I was pleased to see how much it affected me when the thought of not going went through my mind.

So what is my self-mastery message today? It is this: Find something like hiking or biking or swimming that you enjoy doing and do it every day. I know two individuals who do this. One I see out nearly every morning on his bike. The other I know goes every morning to the local community pool and swims laps. I would imagine that they most likely have the same experience that I have where it’s something they look forward to every morning and when they don’t do it their day doesn’t feel complete, like they are missing something and their whole day is affected.

My wife Lisa is most definitely addicted to running. She is the most dedicated runner I know. No matter what, she is out running every morning and if for some reason she can’t go it influences her whole day. I think the morning hike is becoming the same thing for me.

My message to you is to find something that will do that same thing for you. Maybe it’s running, maybe it’s hiking, maybe it’s an aerobic workout on a DVD or maybe it’s running on your treadmill. The idea is to find something positive that you can become so addicted to that your day will not feel complete without it. Once you get to this point you look forward every day to your workout. It’s not something you dread any more.

May you be unstoppable in your efforts to take care of your mind and body.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Thank you.
Copyright © 2008 Gary N. Larson

Sheep Thief or Saint?

Dec 15th, 2008

by Gary N. Larson.

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I once heard a story about two brothers who lived in a small town in the country. The story goes that both of these brothers were caught stealing sheep. For their punishment they were branded on the forehead with the letters “ST,” for “Sheep Thief.”

One brother was so ashamed that he left the community. Everywhere he went he had to constantly explain the letters on his forehead. He remained bitter about the whole thing and always felt he had been treated unfairly. He eventually died a lonely man and was buried in an unknown grave.

His brother, on the other hand, stayed in the community and tried to win back his neighbors’ trust. He did everything he could to show the people of the town that he was a changed man. He volunteered for community service projects, helped his neighbors when he saw the need, and did all he could to become the kind of man that he knew he ought to be.

Many years later a visitor came to town. He asked a local resident about the strange letters on the old man’s forehead. The resident replied that he had forgotten exactly why the letters were there, but that he thought “ST” most likely was an abbreviation for the word “Saint.”

Like the brothers in this story, each of us makes mistakes in our lives – sometimes big ones and sometimes little ones. And like the brothers in this story we can choose what we do about the mistakes we make. We are the ones that decide how our mistakes are going to affect us.

May each of us choose the good path and become the person we know we ought to be so that perhaps someday we may be known as a “Saint” and not a “Sheep Thief.” Thank you.

Ponder Your Life – Find Your Mission

Dec 5th, 2008

by Gary N. Larson.

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Before a person can truly make big changes in their life they need to take some time to explore themselves and discover who they really are deep down inside. They need to discover what their real life passions and desires are. This process can take a long time. It’s not easy. But with some guidance you can go through this in a day or so.

Time Alone

My suggestion is that you go off by yourself, take a day off work, go away from your normal surroundings, preferably up in the mountains or out in the country, somewhere where you are closer to nature, away from the things of the world, where you can almost commune with God, so to speak, with that infinite intelligence that’s out there, the creator; and sit down and think and ponder your life. Bring a note pad, bring a tape recorder, whatever is comfortable, but some way of recording your thoughts and feelings.

Begin asking yourself questions like, what is it your really enjoy doing, what are the things that you are good at? If you didn’t have to go to work today and you had all the money there was in the world or any of the pressures or demands to earn money, what would you be doing? Now don’t say, “I’d be traveling and visiting Europe.” I mean, okay, so you go on your vacation and you come back, then what would you do with your time? What would you spend your time doing? What do you enjoy so much that you would do for free and what do you do so well that people would pay you to do it? That’s what I think true success is, is to find out what that is.

Find the Real You

Really what we’re doing here is exploring to find out who you really are. I believe deep down inside every person is the real person, the missing person. I think when we were a child, when we were young, the passions, the dreams we had when we were in grade school, that’s the real you. But when we get older people tell us, “You can’t do that” or “You’ve got to do this” and we get buffeted and we get put down and our dreams get squashed and they get suppressed and after a while we forget about them.

That person, the true, real person gets pushed down inside of you and we put on all these fronts. The fake you is what people see. We put on an image of who we are. But that’s not the real you. The real you still exists down inside and you need to bring that real you out, that missing person. So, each one of us has to find out what the real, true desires of our hearts are. Those desires come from the real you.

Are You On the Wrong Road?

For example, I personally know people who have fantastic talents. I know a man who is a superb artist. When he was young there wasn’t anything he couldn’t draw. He could draw people, he could draw cars, he could draw architecture. He was a wonderful artist. Everybody thought he was going to grow up to be an architect or commercial artist, I mean he just loved to draw.

He’s about fifty years old right now. He has spent his career as a postal worker delivering the mail. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being a postal worker. There’s nothing wrong with delivering the mail. Somebody has to do it. It’s an honorable job. But that’s not what he was sent here to this earth to do. That’s not his real passion, his real dream, his real desire and yet he spent his life doing something that he doesn’t enjoy doing.

Can you imagine if twenty or thirty years ago somebody would have sat him down and had him go through this process and realize he should be doing those things that he loves to do, the things wherein his talents and dreams and passions lie. What kind of a career would he have had? He would have looked forward to going to work. He wouldn’t even call it work, it would be play for him.

The Most Tragic Thing in the World

To me the most tragic thing in this world is someone who never realizes their dreams and passions inside of them that I believe God has given them. How sad for those who came to this earth and didn’t use those talents and passions and dreams inside of them, but merely brushed them aside or buried them.

So what am I getting at here? We’re talking about change and yet real change, overall change, of a person takes place when they discover who they really are inside and bring that person out, dust him off, wake him up, whatever it takes.

See the Future “You”

Now once you discover the real you, your desires and passions, then what? At this point I believe you need to get a vision in your mind of that person. See yourself one year, two years, three years down the road and where you’re going to be. What would this person do for a living? What would this person do from day to day? What would he or she look like? How would they dress? How would they act, talk and walk? What time would they get up in the morning? What time would they go to bed at night? How would they treat their spouse? How would they treat their children? Get a picture or vision in your mind of this and then move towards it. See yourself as that person. That is, I believe, when true change can take place inside of you.

When I say change it’s almost as if you are getting rid of the false “you” and revealing the real “you.” That’s when huge, positive things happen in your life.

So take the time to ponder your life, explore your true passions, develop a plan, create a vision, and move towards it.

Quest for Immortality

Dec 3rd, 2008

by Gary N. Larson.

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Since the beginning of time man has been fascinated with eternal life. We have been intrigued with the idea of living forever. Let’s face it. We don’t like the idea of getting old or dying. It scares us.

Ponce de Leon

In the early 1500s the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon heard fantastic tales of crystal spring waters flowing from living springs among the Bahama Islands in which he who bathed in these waters would be instantly endowed with immortal youth and great beauty. He was getting older and dreamed of finding this “fountain of youth” and bathing in it.

He sailed from Puerto Rico for the Bahamas with several ships outfitted at his expense. He went from island to island tasting of and bathing in every stream and lake that he found but with no luck. He continued on and came upon a wooded shoreline with large flowering trees that filled the air with their fragrance. He believed he had finally found the fabled paradise.

It was Easter morning when Ponce and his companions landed on the shores of this beautiful land. He named the land after a Spanish Easter holiday, “Feast of Flowers” or in Spanish, “Pascua de Florida.” Today we just call it Florida. And old people still flock there!

Are you searching for the Fountain of Youth?

It’s kind of silly to think that someone would be searching for the fountain of youth…or is it? Are there people today searching for the fountain of youth? Are you?

Americans have spent billions of dollars trying to look younger and live longer. We are fighting old age tooth and nail. We look in the mirror and wonder, “who is that old person?” Just last year over two million Americans spent over $7 billion on cosmetic surgery. Men are getting facelifts and so are 80-year-old grandmothers. These days you can spend your money on:

Botox treatments
Microdermabrasion treatments
Chemical peels
Laser photo rejuvenation treatments
Rogaine to get your hair back

The HGH Craze

The latest craze is HGH or Human Growth Hormone treatments. They are supposed to reverse your bodies aging clock. You inject yourself with it on a daily basis and it will only cost you $10,000 per year to do it.

New Age Books

There are books out now that supposedly teach you how to live forever with special treatments and diets and supplements. Now I understand that as we age our body stops growing except for our ears and nose. They continue to grow. Can you imagine what we’d look like if we lived to be 180. Would we be able to see past our noses?

Frozen in Time

Now if you want you can have your body frozen when you die with the hopes that in, say, 100 or 200 years someone will find a way to bring you back to life. This is for real. It is called Cryonics. For only $120,000 you can have this done to your body when you die. There are three of these Cryonic facilities in the United States. They will take your body and put it in a metal pod and fill it with liquid nitrogen and keep your body frozen at 196 degrees below zero Celsius, the point at which virtually all molecular activity ceases. Currently there are 91 people in the United States that have had this procedure done to their bodies with over a thousand more who have signed up – all with the hope of one day waking up in Utopia and living forever.

Aren’t we all guilty of it?

Come on. Admit it. Aren’t we all guilty in one sense or another of pursuing the so-called “Fountain of Youth?” We stare at the mirror in the morning and wonder if there is something that can be done to erase the ravages of time. Our medicine cabinets are filled with creams and ointments that promise youth! We take dietary supplements in hopes of lengthening our lives. We fight aging and death tooth and nail. But is that where we should be spending our time and energy?

Staring at Death in the Face

Several years ago I participated in an American Red Cross blood drive. They take a very large needle and stick it in your arm and proceed to drain out several gallons of your blood (or so it seems!) Even though I was weak after the procedure I still felt good that I had done my duty and perhaps helped save someone’s life.

Several weeks later I received a letter in the mail from the American Red Cross. This is what it said:

Dear Mr. Larson: You recently donated blood and we appreciate your support of our blood program. During that donation you were informed that several screening tests would be performed to determine the suitability of your blood for donation. During the routine testing of your blood donation, an abnormality was discovered. We have enclosed the results of all tests performed on your donation.

(At this point I thought to myself, “Oh, I probably have low blood sugar or something.” Then I read on…)

Your Test Results: The Red Cross screens all blood for the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. One of the screening tests detects antibodies to HIV.

Suddenly my own mortality became very real for me. I sat down and read the letter over and over at least five times. There were two huge concerns going through my mind at that time. The first was the whole stigma of HIV and AIDS. If I did have it, where did I get it from and what will everyone think. The second, ever-bigger concern, was that I could die from this. I wasn’t ready to die. I had a whole life ahead of me. Suddenly life became so fragile, so precious.

The letter said chances are it was a false positive test and that I didn’t have the HIV virus. It said that I should see my doctor as soon as possible to get another blood test. I remember that day sitting in the clinic. They had my chart on a clipboard and the nurse wrote a big red HIV on the top of it. “Thanks,” I thought. Everyone that got my clipboard would look at it and look at me. I just knew they were not thinking good things about me.

Live the life that you have

Gratefully, all the tests came out negative and I am the perfect specimen of health to this day, ha ha! But, for a brief moment in time the possibility of death stared me in the face. It was very sobering. My life began to sort out in a different order than before. Things I thought were so important suddenly had very little value. Other things I had long neglected, such as my family, became intensely important.

I’m actually very grateful to have gone through that experience with donating blood because of the lessons learned. Perhaps its not the number of years that we live that give our life value. Perhaps, rather than spend our time and energy chasing the fountain of youth we ought to live the life that we have. Thank you.

Life – Don’t Miss It!

Dec 1st, 2008

by Gary N. Larson.

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Good morning! I’m standing in the foothills above my home. Just last night it was pouring rain. We had a big storm come through. This morning as I stand in the foothills it’s not raining on me, but as I look across the valley I see heavy rain and lightning flashes from one end of the valley to the other. What I’m witnessing is an amazing and wonderful light show. It makes me feel like God is putting a show on for me. It’s a delightful thing to watch. Wow, there went another one! It lights up the whole sky and valley. It’s a beautiful thing.

What does this have to do with self-mastery? Probably nothing except for the fact that if I wasn’t up here on my hike I wouldn’t get to see this. There are a lot of things I wouldn’t get to see if I didn’t get out every morning and go hiking. I get to see a number of amazing things that I think a lot of people don’t see. I feel blessed for it and I feel that’s one of the reasons that it makes it worth it for me to get up early and to get outside and exercise my mind and body. It allows me to be among nature and not miss the unexpected and wonderful things in life like this wonderful light show this morning.

Master Yourself, Master Your Life

Thank you.

December, 2008:

Exercise – Becoming Addicted

Sheep Thief or Saint?

Ponder Your Life – Find Your Mission

Quest for Immortality

Life – Don’t Miss It!

Master Your Life!

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