How are Your Telomeres Doing?

 If you've never heard of a telomere, it happens to be found on the end caps of your DNA.  They behave just like your end caps on your shoe laces protecting them from fraying.  Lose your telomeres and your aging process accelerates.  Fortunately, there are things you can do to keep your telomeres around so your precious DNA molecules can function properly.  Do this well and you may even be able to slow down your aging process.

Exercise may be your best solution for keeping your telomeres long and healthy.  Research proves that a sedentary lifestyle dramatically shortens your telomeres while regular exercise helps preserve DNA.

Stress management is another great way to keep those telomeres around.  The more I meditate, the more I realize how easy it is to manage stress.  Negative situations still exist but the way I perceive them is different when I give myself quiet time at the beginning of each day.

Healthy eating not only helps you protect your telomeres, it also helps you feel good about yourself.  The easiest way to do this is to load up on all foods plant based.  Sure, I enjoy a great steak every now and then but I keep the portions small while adding more greens to my plate.

I'm wishing you and all your telomeres an amazing day today.  Share this story with a friend and stay healthy.  Have a great day.

Debt Reduction is a Discipline

There is a fine line between dreaming and achieving.  It's discipline.  Daily discipline.  Practice this and you can make any dream come true.  For me, it's financial independence.  I'm on the path and the finish line is just six months away provided I don't lose my daily discipline.  

Daily discipline doesn't mean you have to give up living.  It simply means you have to set boundaries in order to make your dreams come true.  All that is really necessary to maintain your discipline is to make your rewards bigger than what you are giving up.  Try it.  Stick to it.  Make those dreams come true.  Have a great day.

The Grass Courts in My Hometown

Yes, we have grass courts in my hometown.  They may not look like Wimbledon but they are lots of fun to play on, especially when you get visitors as far away as San Diego like I had this morning.  My buddy smoked me.  He really got a kick out of our grass courts.  All I can say is I'm thankful we have two courts to play on.  Life for me is all about learning to deal with any and all obstacles.   It's also about having fun in all circumstances.  These tennis courts were donated by a family who wants others to learn the game.  If these courts are ever demolished, the property must be returned to the original owners.  I enjoyed my lesson on the grass courts today.  Have a great day.

Teammates Claim Victory in State Championships

My teammates did it.  They won big in the state championships in the Men's 18+ 4.0 Division yesterday.  These are the same players who narrowly lost in the 40+ age group two weeks ago.  All I need now is for a couple these men to hit their 55th birthday so we can get more competitive in the 55+ division.  I was on the bench for this match and I won't be able to participate in the regional playoffs in St. Louis as we have a family vacation that has been on the books for over a year.  These men pulled off an amazing victory against a team that is always in the finals year after year.  It almost alway comes down to a couple of points.  

I want to give a special shout out to Jim, our captain, who is a master at getting all of our to best versions of ourselves that we can be.  We practice year round in all kinds of weather conditions.  Congratulations, men, on a superb victory.  Have a great day. 

Quality of Life Check

Today is a great day for a self-evaluation.  No one needs to see your results.  This is for your eyes only.  Be honest with yourself about this question:  How is the quality of my life?

Here are some points to consider when doing your self-evaluation:

• Hours of sleep
• Food choices
• Exercise
• Number of times each day someone pushes my buttons and I react negatively
• Number of hours each day I'm doing something I love
• Relationships/Keeping in Touch

If you're satisfied with your answers, keep doing what you're doing.  If not, consider what you can do differently today to raise your score.  Don't try to fix everything in one day.  The mess you may find yourself in perhaps took years to create.  Give yourself time to make necessary repairs.  Have a great day. 

Congratulations, Erin

 You will learn more about Erin when "The Adventures of Castaway Wilson" is released later this year.  She's my friend I'm dedicating my labor of love to.  Erin invited to a live stream of a play her company produced in New York City that was presented on Zoom last night.  She could have come up with a zillion excuses for not moving forward, like her stage IV cancer diagnosis.  She could have said her schedule was overbooked because of all those long days in chemo treatments.  We all know how the world stopped during COVID.  Not Erin's world.  She and her band of actors only know one way – forward.

I caught a glimpse of Erin's awesomeness last night when she went off script during a technical glitch that is to be expected when you're doing a live performance over the internet.  She came up with a heart-gripping monologue that stunned even her own actors who had to second-guess where they were for a moment.  I would like to congratulate Erin and her team for doing what seems impossible to the rest of us, living in a pandemic.  Not just living, but raising the bar and shooting for the stars.  If there is one person in this world who can change it, it's Erin.  Thank you for inviting me to see you in action even it has to be from afar right now.  I'm proud of you!  Have a great day.

The Library Book That Changed My Life

 I'm living proof books can make a difference.  The one that stands out in my mind today is by Dave Ramsey, the guy who teaches others to live like no one else so you can live like no one else.  I'm six months away from experiencing first-hand what it means to live like no one else.  What struck me about Ramsey's get out of debt strategy is the simplicity.  The idea is to climb steps until you reach financial freedom.  My wife and I have just one step to climb in the next six months – the mortgage payoff.  I plan to share the details about how we did it after we reach the summit in late December.

It's never too late to embark on a new journey.  Read books.  Discover how others overcame the very obstacles you're facing today.  The best advice I can offer is to never give up.  Have a great day.

Do You Have a Happy Place?

 Think back to when you were a kid.  Choose a random day.  Look around and soak in every detail.  Who are you with?  What are you doing?  Are you happy?  Now, come back to the present and take another look around.  Same questions.  Who are you with?  What are you doing?  Are you happy?  If that happiness you possessed when you were a kid is missing, read on and let's see if we can get that happiness back.

There are many adults out there who simply believe adulthood is so loaded with problems that happiness can't fit in to their lives.  Silly me, the one who lives in a magical forest surrounded by magical creatures, for believing happiness can and should fit into every aspect of our lives, even in adulthood.  It's a state of mind, this happy place I'm referring to.  Yes, it was easy when we were kids and there were no bills to pay or jobs to go to.  Maybe that's why creating a happy place in your mind can help you be happy.

The best way to get to your happy place is to find it first thing in the morning before you get out of bed.  Wake up early so you don't feel rushed.  Let the happy place come to you while your eyes are closed and your mind is calm.  Dwell on past childhood memories.  Maybe you see yourself on the steel tennis courts hitting white tennis balls at your local high school with your cousin who hits with the same precision as his mentor, Steve Vidal.  It's a happy place, isn't it?  You can go there any time and be happy.  When you wake up, keep that happy place with you everywhere you go.  See?  Adulthood doesn't have to be so ugly. Have a great day.

An Interesting Heart Experience This Morning

 I have no doubt in my mind that there are some difficult emotions and memories stored deep inside my body.  Burying them was a natural defense mechanism I used to survive trying times.  Digging them up has consequences.  I also believe leaving them buried has even greater consequences.  Perhaps that's why I'm so interested in daily meditations.  Meditation leads to becoming familiar with yourself and all the baggage you carry around inside.

Something strange happened this morning.  I wasn't in my regular guided meditation yet but it was overdue so my body and mind were in a different place.  I felt like I was going through the normal steps of meditating but I was actually in a half-dream state.  I recall adjusting my eye mask to make sure no outside light was interrupting the meditation.  I felt the gel in the mask with my hands.  It was as real as being in an awake state but I wasn't wearing a mask.  Suddenly, my heart rate accelerated.  Yes, I was dreaming but I was meditating within the dream.  All I can say is that I felt some kind of an explosion in my heart.  I wasn't afraid.  It was like a dam exploding and all the water that was held back wasn't water but love.  I felt the love flowing out of my heart.  Once again, I reached out to my eyes to adjust the mask and realized there was no mask.  I was somewhere between reality and emptiness.  My heart was feeling better than ever.  Then, I woke up.  I immediately told my wife about the experience.  This is the first time I've felt anything like this since.  I don't know what it all means.  For now, I will simply say, "It's interesting."  The best way I can describe this feeling I had this morning is like the feeling you get when you tell someone who deeply hurt you, "I forgive you."  Not "fake forgiveness" which you may attempt to do to make yourself look good, but REAL forgiveness, where your heart explodes with love and somehow you're now a better version of yourself than you were the day before when you were carrying a sack load of grudges that were slowly killing you.  Blow up the dam.  Set yourself free.  There is no need to adjust your eye mask.  You're no longer wearing one.  Have a great day.

Summer is Officially Here

 Wow!  The calendar is really moving fast.  I can't believe summer is here.  It was refreshing to have all our family together for a couple of days.  The goal now is to keep my cool for these last six months of the year while closing out all my projects.  All it takes is steady progress.  May you enjoy the season of summer.  Have a great day.

Happy Father's Day

 It's time to fire up the weber grill today in honor of my dad.  I'm blessed to be surrounded by all three of our adult children and my loving wife today.  

We began Father's day celebrating yesterday with a family challenge that included visiting two different bowling alleys and a miniature golf course for a fun family challenge.  Congratulations to our youngest son for his amazing comeback on the 18th hole as well as the 10th frame.  Both wins were needed to knock me off in a thriller.  I'm thankful for weekends like these and for the opportunity to be a dad.  Happy Father's Day to all the dads.  Have a great day.

Divine Appointments

Never underestimate the value of a Divine Appointment.  On the surface, it may appear as a chance meeting, a coincidence, or some kind of a fluke.  Digging deeper, you can see the Holy Spirit at work.  I realize in my nearly sixty-one years on this planet that God sometimes adds exclamation marks to these Divine Appointments to make sure I get the hint that what is happening is by His design.  What happened yesterday on my return trip home is one of these God moments.  It was surprising, humiliating, and totally unexpected.

My morning was NOT going according to my plan yesterday.  I showed up at the airport and got in line to scan my bags and for some reason I couldn't access my boarding pass.  I got out of line and went to the counter for a duplicate and discovered my flight had been cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago.  The agent rerouted me to Dallas and gave me my new tickets.  The times were unfavorable because it meant getting home about seven hours later than planned.  All the good flights were overbooked.  That didn't stop me.  I went to another counter and inquired about standby options for earlier flights.  Standby is challenging because it means waiting to the last minute to board and that's only if someone doesn't show.  The Hand of God was gradually appearing on the scene as I scurried to my seat near the back of the plane.  The bins were nearly full and they were ready to close the doors for takeoff.  I ended up in the very back of the plane with an anxious flight attendant and another passenger in the same predicament.  While other passengers reshuffled their belongs in the overhead bin for the other passenger, I was sent to the front of the plane, similar to going to the principal's office where a second flight attendant reminded me the reason for checking the size of your carryon before boarding.  It was so humiliating.  I was forced to open by bag and remove items to the bag would fit.  I put my head down as I returned to my seat with several items including my Soulcon book I'm reading from my Men's group.  The passenger I sat next to was the same one I met at the back of the plane when we were both trying to figure out what to do with our bags.  She also needed to remove her books, the source of her oversized challenge.  Her books were from a marriage retreat.  My brain was trying to calculate the odds of this odd coincidence.  Divine Appointments don't need odds.  They only need God's intervention.

My new friend elaborated about her amazing retreat and pointed to her husband four rows in front of us.  She told me that when you go through third parties for your tickets you aren't guaranteed seats together.  We took pictures of the books we are both reading with the same theme, getting closer to God through relationships and marriage.  All I can say is that when the Divine Appointment ended I was thankful God was with us during our flight.  I made it home only two hours later than my original flight time and nearly four hours earlier than my rebooked flight times having experienced a roller coaster ride of emotions.  Divine Appointments are special.  They are created by God to teach lessons and bring us closer to Him.  Thank you, Wendy, for sharing about your marriage retreat experience and for allowing me the opportunity to share about my life serving Jesus.  Have a great day.

Time to Say Goodbye

 It's day 11 in the show me state.  It's also time to say goodbye.  This phase of my mentoring has come to a conclusion.  For me, this assignment has been top notch.  I'm surrounded by eager teammates who can't wait to contribute.  Their energy inspires me.

I'm going home this morning.  My teammates at my day job in Iowa need me to cover for them while they take their much-needed vacations.  I found out at the end of my shift yesterday that my boss approved a return visit to Missouri for more training.  This makes my soul sing because I'm doing what I'm created to do.  Speaking of doing what you're created to do, check out two amazing singers in the YouTube video attached.  Have a great day.

Mirror Check

 How critical are you of yourself when you look in the mirror?  In my opinion, this exercise gives you an opportunity to learn from that reflection you see.  It's feedback.  Just like those lines on the side of the road that keep you from going off course, those lines you see on your face help you understand how life is treating you.  If you don't like what you see, decide what changes you need to make to get back to where you want to be.

Pay extra attention to your eyes.  If you notice dark circles, you're in the danger zone.  Your face is trying to tell you changes are necessary.  Don't put these changes off.  Give your body adequate rest and you will see an improved reflection of yourself in the mirror.  Your friends will notice as well.  Have a great day.

Implementing a Show Me Attitude

 Today is day nine on the road at my day job.  I'm in the great state of Missouri, also known as the "Show me" state.  There is a certain skepticism that I detect when meeting the people here.  They tell me what works in other states may not work here.  That's good for a trainer to know because I'm all about successful outcomes and I want to prevent failure before it strikes at our fledgling team.

Should you ever visit the show me state, make sure you back your claims by showing rather than spewing words out of your mouth.  I'm thankful I can adapt to new situations like I'm facing on this adventure.  Have a great day.

Dissension is a Favorite Weapon of Evil

 You don't have to look far to find dissension.  It's everywhere.  I do my best to avoid it but it's not easy.  One way I know to rise above dissension is to love.  Yes, love.  Try celebrating our differences rather than fighting over them.

Pay close attention to all the times during the day when you notice dissension creeping into your life.  Is it some kind of spark that is going to start a wildfire?  The sooner you detect these sparks, the better your odds of preventing destruction.  That's what the Evil One wants.  When we fight over our differences we lose our sense of peace.

Peace be with you today.  Challenge yourself to keep your peace in all circumstances, especially when dissension is welling up in your community.  Have a great day.

Week #2 on the Road Begins Today

 My day of rest is over.  Now it's back to work on the road at my day job.  It's been really busy getting our new people trained.  I'm doing what I love and the time is passing quickly.  I'll share more updates later.  Have a great day.

Day of Rest Today

 I did it again.  I'm late writing today.  All I can say is I went so deep into my morning meditation that I lost track of time.  When I returned to earth it was time to go to church.  Today is a day of rest.  I'm catching up on my laundry and getting some extra rest.  Thanks for waiting for me to get my act together.  Have a great day.

My Team is Going for the State Championship Today

 I'm wishing my teammates a successful outcome today in Iowa.  I'm cheering from one state away as they face the top 4.0 team in the men's 40+ age group.  Winner advances to the regional playoffs.  These are the men who shaped me into the person I am today.  Most people my age retire from competitive tennis.  I'm going to hang around as long as possible.  People think I'm joking when I share my dream of playing competitive tennis in the national championships at age 90 and I do acknowledge that's farfetched.  That's okay.  One day at a time.  One year at a time. Good luck, teammates.  Have a great day.

Wake Up Happy

 Do one last thing before you go to sleep.  Decide to wake up happy.  You can probably give me a list of reasons why you can't do this.  I challenge you to put your circumstances aside and commit to my request.  This is for your own good.

I decided a while ago that circumstances which happen to be on the negative side of my own personal happiness equation no longer affect my choice to wake up happy.  It's safe to say the world expects less happines from you when something bad happens.  A friend dies.  You lost your job.  Someone else who also happened to wake up unhappy crossed paths with you.  You can give others what they naturally expect from your misfortunes or you can simply wake up happy no matter what.  That's big.  Have a great day.

Food Challenges to Avoid on the Road

 I'm on the road for ten days on a day job assignment.  That presents a major challenge when it comes to my food routine.  This is my third day and I'm happy to report I'm managing to stay on my optimum food program.  My wife asked me before I departed, "Are you taking your molecules with you?"  I answered yes and packed them in my carry on bag along with all my other supplements.

If your body is a machine and it's running at super high efficiency, why would you want to change things while you're away from home? So far, I've been able to keep up with intermittent fasting, avoid unhealthy food choices, and remain current with my molecules.  This is an experiment.  I'm tracking my results.  Stay tuned.  It's working.  Have a great day.

Have You Ever Heard of Biological Adversity?

 Biological adversity is a type of stress that may help your body live longer.  Just like cholesterol, there's the good kind and bad kind of stress.  Consider biological stress as the good kind.  Trick your body into thinking the food supply is in danger and good things happen.

If you live in the United States, odds are you're living in abundance.  You eat three meals a day and snack when you feel the  first grumbling from your stomach.  You think, life is good.  The body responds and you go about your daily routine on cruise control.  One day you wake up and your cheese is moved.  Panic sets in.  Your primal instincts kick in and suddenly you're a caveman on the hunt.  That's biological adversity.

Don't wait for someone to move your cheese.  Pretend it's already gone.  Skip a meal.  Start running even if predators aren't chasing you.  Trick your body into perceiving danger.  You may find that certain longevity genes are turning on to face this biological adversity in front of you.  Intermittent fasting can become a new way of life.  Your fast food friends may miss you but your quality of life may improve.  Have a great day.

Blogging on the Road Today

Another adventure begins today.  This time it's Missouri.  I'm blogging on the road for the next ten days.  All my belongings are neatly packed into a carry-on bag.  I'm bringing Wilson, too.  Not Castaway Wilson.  He's still in New York City.  My travel companion this time is Wilson, the tennis racket.  My hope is to find some tennis players while I'm on the road.  Meanwhile, my teammates will be playing for the state title in the Men's 4.0 division in the 40+ category.  We have a deep bench this year and this gives me the opportunity to be a part of our expansion efforts at my day job.  Stay tuned for more.  Have a great day.

How are You Doing with Your Mind vs. Body Game?

Like it or not, your mind and your body are playing games.  They are in fierce competition.  It's winner take all.  The stakes are high – your life.  When the body wins, you are simply reliving each day until you die.  Nothing new.  No adventure.  It's same ole, same ole.  When your mind wins, everything changes.  The unknown becomes your friend rather than your foe.  You welcome opportunity.  Beware.  You body hates to lose.  It will fight you, even in the small victories you claim when your mind is victorious.  

There are plenty of reasons to listen to your body.  It knows the struggle.  It knows the price the mind must pay in order to win.  Your body will do everything it can to talk you down off the ledge.  It's trying to protect you.  Decide today if desiring a new life is worth taking on the body.  If so, fight.  Fight with everything you have inside of you.  Have a great day.

Hell Week is Over

 One Hell Week is now over.  Another one is on the horizon.  This is all a part of my spiritual/mental/physical journey.  I'm doing my best to find harmony in my life.  It's working.  I'm discovering optimum food, exercise, and sleep.  Monday was dedicated to max pushups.  Wednesday was max sit-ups, followed by max squats on Friday.  Saturday was family day at the zoo.  My wife caught me staring at the animals with the awe of a child.  My inner caveman was perhaps reflecting on the days when my ancestors roamed in the wild.  I felt this strange sense of peace inside my body.

Wherever you find yourself today, I wish you peace.  Do something you love today.  Find the time to exercise.  You don't need to go to the extremes I do to achieve good health.  I just happen to enjoy pushing myself to my limits.  In my opinion, I need every possible advantage in order to complete all the tasks on my to do list by the end of the year.  Have a great day.

Family Day at the Zoo

 It's family day today.  We're headed to the zoo.  I love days like this.  Yes, it's going to be hot.  Highs are in the low 90's.  That's okay.  We're leaving early to beat the heat.  My vitamin D levels should be fully replenished by the end of today.  Have a great day.

It's Max Squat Day Today

This is the final day of Hell Week for me in my spiritual training and it burns in my quads.  The goal for today is to max out on my squats.  I got 50 in this morning before my shower.  I have 24 hours to do as many as I can before my body runs out of gas.  Hell Week will be repeated again in another three weeks.  They say, "no pain, no gain."  I must be gaining.  Time will tell.  I'm thankful my body is hanging in there so far.  Have a great day.

It's Another Lightning Blog Kind of a Day

 I'm in lightning speed again today.  My body needed to sleep in this morning after my "Hell Week" sit up day yesterday combined with 2.5 hours of rather intense tennis in the heat.  I broke up the sit ups into a morning and evening session reaching 300 by 11:00 pm.  It's part of a spiritual training I'm going through with a group of men in my area.  The idea is to get your body into tip-top shape so that you can be a better servant to others.

Life is a balancing act.  I may seem out of balance to others but the truth is I don't really think I've ever had a better sense of balance in my entire life.  I'm feeding my body the right foods and taking supplements that mimic what the body naturally produces in the youthful stages of life.  I'm also doing my best to visit the outdoors during my breaks in order to get adequate sun on my skin.  The daily meditations along with a yoga session once a week seem to be contributing to a better state of mind.  See you tomorrow.  Have a great day.

Why Changing Your Routine is Necessary for Growth

Have you ever paid attention to all the things you do on a daily basis?  If you were to break them down, hour by hour, how many of your daily activities are repeats of the day before?  Is it possible that your life is on some kind of cruise control?  If your daily habits are helping you to grow, good for you.  Maybe some of them are actually hurting you.  Like smoking.  Or eating junk food.  Or being a couch potato.

I invite you to change it up.  Today is a great time to get started.  Order a book that will inspire you to be a better person.  Choose an activity that will help out someone in need.  Make a decision to make today different from yesterday.  Make today better.  Fill your life with new activities.  Make new discoveries.  Do this every day and you will unlock the secret to the universe.  It really is bigger than anything you've ever imagined.  You won't see this until you begin changing your routine.  Have a great day.

The First Step to Becoming a New You

 I love listening to people who are willing to share challenging stories from their past, especially when they describe the old version of themselves as if that old version was a different person.  This is the ultimate.  I can relate.  I reflect on past days when my heart was filled with anger.  I really do feel like the old me was a different person.  I'm a new person today.  I caught a glimpse of how you can do this yourself if you desire to be free from a past that may be haunting you to this day.

The first stet to becoming a new you is to let go of your old self.  Spend time in quiet meditation and analyze you thoughts.  Choose to let go of those thoughts that raise your anxiety levels.  Let go.  One single grudge inside your head is enough to hold you back and prevent you from becoming a new you.  If you are holding on to more than one grudge, this may take a while.  Don't give up.  It's worth the sacrifice to go on a journey into the unknown and discover who you really are.  Have a great day.