Answers from the gym

I have changed over the years from a person who shunned the word to gym to a person who uses one.  Frequently :(.  Much to my chagrin, you can't eat nachos and enjoy your clothes as they are without working really, really hard and making yourself super uncomfortable to sweat the nachos off.  And nachos are delicious.  As well as burritos, and wine.  And many other items I still eat.  But that isn't what I'm advising on today.  The gym this weekend had the essential keeping-me-from-quitting tool - at handy television screen inside the stair climber that I use to keep myself from quitting my workout after 2 minutes.  I need accountability people.  And distraction.  Lots and lots of distraction.  Then, I have a much higher chance of staying for longer than 2 minutes and actually breaking a sweat.    On the television, I happened upon an incredible program that introduced me to an incredibly enlightened speaker.  Prem Rawat.  

He shared something that I really enjoyed and thought I'd re-share.

You get good at what you practice.

If you practice anger, you get good at anger

If you practice peace and love, you get better at peace and love.

http://www.premrawat.com/

Its not a new idea, it is something we know, and yet, when stated so simply by someone else, it resonated.  This idea is found in directives throughout literature, self help, religion, social media, and pinterest for crying out loud, but hearing it again, it struck me.  Stop practicing worry.  Stop practicing gossip, stop practicing judgment and practice instead peace.  Practice joy.  Practice kindness.  Practice the qualities you aspire to have more of.  

So my stair climbing experience was pretty exciting.  I was able to be joyful, and excited while doing something I usually am less than joyful about.  Here is hoping reading this will have a similar affect on you, or someone you share it with!

I wish that I could be like the cool kids, the cool kiiiiiiiids.

Oh hello there!  Hi, yeah, it's me, and it's been a while.  Forgive me?  Read on?  I hope you will..

I'd love to say that I've just been too busy being cool over the past year to write, but that would be a complete lie.  I've been chasing down work and kept myself busy and well, I was just not being busy writing, but I'm hoping to change that now...

So what is the splashy, awesome, life-changing blog-blurb I've got for you today??  You got it, it's all about being COOL.  Which I suppose is not possible if you write about it, but let's set that aside and go with me on this one.  Apparently there is a study showing that being cool actually leads to your demise later in life, so perhaps you should re-think your goals huh?  Lest you worry that I am making this up (as I've been known to do quite convincingly) here's a quote, a link, a sources, and a pic... I am seriously BRINGING IT with my comeback blog.

"Teens who were romantically involved at an early age, engaged in delinquent activity, and placed a premium on hanging out with physically attractive peers were thought to be popular by their peers at age 13. 

But over time, this sentiment faded, the team found.

By 22, those once-cool teens were rated by their peers as being less competent in managing social relationships. "

"Researchers followed 184 teens from age 13, when they were in seventh and eighth grades, to age 23, collecting information from the teens themselves as well as from their peers and parents. "

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3181611/The-curse-cool-Kids-popular-school-losers-adults-claims-study.html#ixzz3kWxfOm1I
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link to article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3181611

link to the study here ( I think ) : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12250/full/

So I know, I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking; "Hey!  I was cool, and I am NOT a loser" and you know what, if that is what you're thinking, well, that is just fabulous.  But if nothing else, shouldn't a bunch of scientists who sat around for 10 years tracking cool kids get a bit of our mind space before we flit off to the grocery list?  So let's say you were the exception, or perhaps you know a friend of a friend who was the exception to this rule.  Well that is just fabulous, you know some non-losers.  Yay for you.  However, isn't this a nice opportunity to share some insight and good news with our over-parented, over-scheduled, stressed out kids?

"Hey bud, you know how mom (or dad, or auntie, or uncle, or sensei) always says it's not important to be popular?  You know what?  Science has proven moms are right, and that being seen as popular isn't always a great thing for young people.  It's ok to focus on whomever your buddies are, and to take the slow track and to not spend so much time fighting to climb the social ladder, because doing so may only lead you to be held back in the end. "

So that is my snippet, my advice for the day.  And maybe it's a good reminder to someone like me, who was never without friends, but definitely was NOT very cool.