Month: February 2025

“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!!