Carpe momento!!

“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”—Andy Grove

You don’t have to be paranoid to survive (i.e., evolve Spiritually and to grow Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially). You simply have to a growth mindset.

It is interesting to consider that “success breeds complacency” but failure breeds growth and success. Failure is not always the result of complacency. Yes. Allowing success to get  to one’s head or allowing success to create rigidity does breed complacency—because failing to take risks leads to not taking risks and not challenging oneself. I disagree, to an extent, with Andy Grove. Complacency cannot breed failure, because it involves no risk of failure.

Failure is an essential stimulus for growth. The “overload principle” from exercise science applies to SPIES—for a body system (or a dimension of well-centered fitness) to adapt, it must be challenged to a level greater than that to which it is accustomed. In challenging oneself, failure is inevitable—it is essential if one is to grow. Failure is essential for continued success.

Failing to fail is complacency. Once we begin to “play it safe” and rest on the laurels of our success, we stop growing—we stagnate. If we are not growing, we are dying.

Success should not breed complacency. Rather, it should breed a greater hunger for challenge and growth.

“I have high expectations for myself – as an athlete, as a man, as an individual – and wrestling has helped me build a lot of character knowing that I have to remain humble but also fight complacency.”—Jordan Burroughs

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

Knowing with confidence that you are where you are supposed to be and that you are on the right path can be challenging. Personally, I have struggled with it off and on for the last fifteen years—quite possibly, for most of my life.

I spell Purpose with a capital P when I am using the word in the Spiritual sense (think Universal, if you are not a God-person). Spiritual infers a sense that there is something greater than self. Purpose, in this sense of the word, suggests that we are not necessarily in the place we are for our benefit alone. Our Purpose affects others—far more others than we can imagine. So, our sense of purpose does not always match our greater Purpose. Indeed, the understanding of our Purpose is almost always elusive. This can often (quite frequently, in my case) lead to a Crisis of Purpose.

Crisis of Purpose is often (for me) a sign that my SPIES (Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social well-centeredness) is not aligned or centered. Personally, it show the most in my Social well-being. I am less than nice to others when I am in a Crisis of Purpose (hence, my last fifteen years has been up and down and not the fun kind of up and down like a rollercoaster).

What to do in a Crisis of Purpose? (Here is where I feel like my life—my work, this blog, my podcasts, the person I try to be, etc.—is all a façade. But what appears from a distance is often an illusion, albeit an image of aspiration. Let’s face facts. Few if any of us really have our sh** together. Some of us just to more damage in the process of Purpose.) So, what do we do? We deal with it. We dig in and work on the SPIES. It takes effort. It takes self-forgiveness. It takes meditation, prayer (if you will), and introspection. Dare I steal from my friend, Laura Axelrod, and say it takes cycling through the Ten Words: attention, acceptance, authenticity, benevolence, balance, contemplation, creativity, cooperation, celebration, and care. (Authenticity is essential to tear down the façade—so here I am.)

So, here we are (here I am) in a Crisis of Purpose, asking if our path has been in vain and struggling with the “what ifs.” Here we are wasting energy (SPIES energy). Paradoxically, it takes more energy in the movement away from well-centeredness than it takes to move toward our center. This is why a Crisis of Purpose is so draining Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially. We are fighting against the current.

Years ago, I was whitewater rafting with a group of friends when we dumped into a class-V rapid. We had been instructed, were this to happen, to simply relax and let the current carry us to the surface. This was easy and it worked. I know that the same principle applies in a Crisis of Purpose. Nevertheless, I tend to deny (my own) instruction and try to swim my way out. This, however, only sucks us deeper into the Crisis, as it does with the hydraulic (the term used for the river current that tends to pull us down). In a Crisis of Purpose, we need to pause. We are at the Attention stage. Accept this and let the current take us to the Contemplation stage. Here, we can allow ourselves to be carried out of the hydraulic, surface, and move on to reorienting ourselves and fixing what the Crisis may have damaged.

Coming out of a Crisis of Purpose is never easy—perhaps we never really come to full acceptance—but we must begin with attention to the Crisis at hand. Asking “what if” gets us stuck in the hydraulic. We must ask ourselves, “what next?”

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

Do you want universal health or universal health care? Think carefully. It is tempting to want universal health care but count the cost.

We like to think of health care as a fundamental human right (it is considered as such in Oregon where I reside), but…. I think we often overuse the phrase “human right.” After all, in the history of mankind, health care is a relatively new concept. Health and health span have been critical issues since the dawn of our existence.

What is the difference between health span and life span? The terms are not interchangeable. The latter seems to be the goal of western medicine—keep someone alive as long as possible. It doesn’t matter how much of life span is spent in the third or fourth age (the fourth age being the age of decline and decrepitude—the age that we consider one to be frail and “elderly.” Health span is the proactive approach to health—extending the productive years and one’s vitality.

Life span costs. (This is why, in part, there are disparities among education, race, and income.) It cost a lot—in the trillions of dollars annually.

Health span is much more affordable. To some degree, it is free. The cost of health span is in education, community planning, policies, and access to quality food, exercise/physical activity, mental wellness, etc.

Health span requires proactive action. It comes down to personal responsibility and personal choices. It also comes down to having access to the ability to make good health choices.

In my experience, western medicine cares relatively little about universal health. Let’s face it. If we are all healthy, the pharmaceutical companies, the increasingly privatized hospitals, and insurance companies are not profitable. If I want to take a drug (my physician is pushing statins on me for cholesterol), I can access it in hours. My pursuit of sleep apnea testing and treatment has spanned nearly a year (from a request for testing to scheduling to diagnosis to delivery of a CPAP device). Sleep is critical to health. The amount of disease and health issues that result from poor sleep is not something that western medicine stresses (there are some medical professions who do, but it is not the norm). The same can be said about diet and exercise.

I contend that universal health span should be a global priority. It must be a priority. It must be a priority in medical training. It must be a priority in public policy. It must be a focus in education (i.e., make Physical Education physical again).

Let’s get to the source of disease and not simply treat the symptoms! Let’s extend health and not just years of life.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“Love is the most universal, the most tremendous and the most mystical of cosmic forces. Love is the primal and universal psychic energy. Love is a sacred reserve of energy; it is like the blood of spiritual evolution.”—Pierre Tielhard de Chardin

With so much conflict and division in the world, I am confident that we are on a fault-line of human evolution (of now Spiritual evolution). The great tension in the world is the friction necessary for a dramatic shift in our nature. We are at a point of tremendous growth or collapse. The choice is ours.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“Slap some bacon on it and let’s go. We’re burning daylight.”—John Wayne, The Cowboys

For some reason, we are hanging on to Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. This morning (at the time of this writing) we “spring forward.” To many, this is a lost hour of sleep. Many, certainly, will be late to church services. Beyond the impracticality of moving the clock twice a year, this practice still makes little sense. But what about the concept of “saving” daylight?

Saving daylight? For what? Is there a bank of time that we can save and collect interest on daylight for future use. “Saving” daylight is wasting daylight.

There used to be a saying that I haven’t heard in a while—“We’re wasting daylight” (or “burning daylight”). It was meant to express that there was much to do and little time. I am not saying that time must be spent hurrying forward or accomplishing more tasks. We waste a lot of daylight doing but not accomplishing (e.g., social media, television, gossiping, complaining…). We waste daylight by “saving” it—not saving time (i.e., efficiency), but holding on to it like tomorrow is certain.

Saving daylight is the opposite of carpe momento.

So, we “lose” an hour today. Use the rest of the day like there is no tomorrow.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.”—Orison Swett Marden

There is tremendous anxiety in the world these days. I am, however, optimistic. I am not optimistic because I have great faith in our leadership. I have optimism because I have confidence in the power within all of us. We need only awaken our slumbering powers. The only thing that dampens my optimism is the weakness that we persist in showing.

Change awaits us, but it only comes for those who are willing to act. If you don’t like the current state of the world or the circumstances in your life, this is your wake-up call. Get off you a** and do something—something positive, something that benefits someone other than yourself. (Complaining and not offering solutions are not positive actions.)

We possess the power. It is the extension beyond the status-quo that stimulates growth. What are we waiting for? Wake the slumbering powers withing.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

As a Geology major in undergraduate school, I underwent a bit of a “crisis of faith” as I struggled with the concept of evolution and that of creation. My faith in God won out, but not because I dismissed the science of evolution. Instead, I recognized that the 7-day Creation story reflected the billions-of-years story recorded in the Earth’s geology. It would be years later that I would read the likes of paleontologist and Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (The Phenomenon of Man), and others.

From geology, I migrated to exercise physiology from which I shaped my career. As a professor of Exercise Science and a student of science, in general, I find myself increasingly drawn to the Spiritual. This is not to say I am drawn away from the Physical. To the contrary, I am drawn in both directions such that there is less and less distinction between the two. To me, the interconnectedness of the Spiritual and Physical is undeniable. One cannot take and honest look at the physical sciences—at the most infinitesimally small and vast—without seeing that we are all One.

The trajectory of the Universe has always moved toward a higher species of human. Consciousness has little explanation without the Spiritual. Knowledge is ever “evolving.” Humankind is “created” to grow—to evolve. We have been on a path from simple organism to complex organism to intelligent organism to conscious organism to enlightened organism.

We are in a time of great friction and discomfort in our history. It has many frightened for what lies ahead. Personally, I find these to be exciting times. My geology and exercise physiology studies (aa well as biblical studies) have taught me that growth and positive change does not come without great stress. In exercise, we refer to the “overload” principle. In geology, we see how stress led to the formation of mountains and rivers and the like. Organisms evolve in response to environmental stress. My hope for the human species is that the next evolutionary jump will be a Spiritual evolution. I am confident of this. The alternative? Extinction. (I don’t think extinction is our future.)

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

Forrest Gump was wrong (well he wasn’t totally correct). Life isn’t just a box of chocolates. Life is a roll of toilet paper.

Early in life, we live like there is no tomorrow. We run through the roll of toilet paper like it will last forever. At the end of life? We are like Elaine Benes (Seinfeld) with “no square to spare.”

Why do we live our lives like this?

First, we want to start off life with the jumbo roll. This is not a benefit we all share.

Second, we want to use our roll wisely—not wasting health and financial resources. We want our roll to last as long as possible. We don’t want to be scrambling for resources as we near the later stages of the Third Age and approach the Fourth Age. The Fourth Age (the age of decline and decrepitude) is the stage of life that is like what Mike Michalowicz describes in The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur where we are out of toilet paper and are scrambling to items from the trash can (e.g., a Q-Tip, dental floss—a truly last resort, etc.).

To live a well-centered life and carpe momento, we cannot neglect planning for a long life—Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially, of course, but also Financially.*

This includes as a society, as well as individually. We must consider how we use each square—wisely and not miserly. “Opportunity costs.”

Okay, I know this has been an off-color post. Sometimes, though, we need the absurd to see reality (and I hope this helps us to see). Life is finite. Our resources are finite. We don’t want to be at the end of life without a “square to spare.”

Be your best today, be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

*I’d be amiss if I didn’t give some credit to Jon Sabes and his book, Healthy Wealthy Longevity, for inspiring this post.

Anxiety, fear, worry, dread, remorse, regret, resentment, guilt, shame…. These are all emotions that prevent us from living in the moment.

Joy, love, grattitude, serenity, awe, excitement, satisfaction, curiosity…. These are all emotions that we experience in the moment. These are positive emotions. We can also experience negative present-moment emotions, such as pain, anger, frustration, and disgust. Some present-moment emotions may be more neutral, like confusion, uncertainty, and embarrassment.

The emotions we experience can hold us back or propel us forward. They can stifle our creativity or light a fire in us.

Lauren Axelrod told me a story about a friend who, after having a stroke, was left with two words in her vocabulary—“wow” and “f*ck.” There are perhaps the only words we need in our vocabulary to live in the present, if we think about it. What better words to express living in the moment? (Don’t challenge me on this. I know there could well be better words, but….)

When we live in the present—when we “carpe momento”—we are either in a state of “wow” or a state of “f*ck.” This is beautiful. We can savor the moment (e.g., joy, love, grattitude, serenity, awe, excitement, satisfaction, curiosity, etc.) or be sparked to change (e.g., pain, anger, frustration, disgust, etc.). Emotions like confusion, uncertainty, and embarrassment make hold us in the moment as they compel contemplation, but, as I shared Laurens “ten words” (attention, acceptance, authenticity, benevolence, balance, contemplation, creativity, cooperation, celebration, and care) in my most recent posts, contemplation is the fulcrum between belief and behavior. It is also the fulcrum between “wow” and “f*ck.”

“This moment matters” were words shared by my friend, Rita Ricks. (Shameless plug for my new podcast: …We Have a Spiritual Problem, featuring inspirational guests like Rita and Lauren, is available on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/4mCCAcY6zGt2JoytSMOmLD?si=c4e6b3c5bc524364] and Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-have-a-spiritual-problem/id1788065136].) This is the heart of this blog. Please, let go of the past’s hold on you and the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“A human being would certainly not grow to be seventy or eighty years old if this longevity had no meaning for the species. The afternoon of human life must also have a significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitiful appendage to life’s morning.”—Carl Jung

To me, longevity is Spiritual. It is a matter of Purpose. A life well-lived is a life that impacts the world. It doesn’t have to make a big splash. Sometimes the lives that are the most well-known are the least impactive. (Just look at the lives of so-called “influencers” on social media and the lives of those we call “celebrities.”) Most often it is the life lived in the background that is the most impactive. Consider the impact of a teacher or a simple laborer who lives (extra)ordinary lives. A compliment paid is far more impactive than a 1-minute TikTok or YouTube video. A smile to a stranger can change lives.

Health. Wealth. Happiness. These are gifts. These give us longevity on both the Physical and the Spiritual planes. They are subjective terms. When we have true health, wealth, and happiness and are willing to share these our longevity transcends the Physical and realizes the Spiritual. Life becomes Purposeful.

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!