New Life and Transformation

Spring is a time of growth and new life. The long, cold, lifeless days of winter are becoming a distant memory, while mother nature is busy bringing forth buds, blossoms, and blooms. With the world around me bursting with vitality, it seems like the perfect time to begin the next phase in my own personal transformation.

In August of 2008, I was tipping the scales at 258 pounds. About 3 months after that, I had only managed to lose 10 pounds and was basically stuck. That was when I stumbled upon Craig Ballantyne's "Turbulence Training" program... and what a difference it made! Here we are, 5 months later, and I've managed to drop another 30 pounds without a whole lot of focus and effort. (I'll spend more time in later posts explaining exactly what I did so that you can do it too.)

Now, you may look at that and say, "Wow! You've lost 40 pounds! You should be proud of how far you've come!"

Well, I don't know if "proud" is the word I'd use; "pleased" is probably a better choice... but that doesn't mean I'm satisfied or finished. In fact, the progress I've made has given me even more motivation to do better!

The Easter Season is Perfect for Transformation

I look back over the last 8 months and I know that I wasn't very focused. I know that I wasn't very disciplined. I know that I didn't train anywhere near as hard as I should have. Sure, I've had some good results. I look a lot better and I feel great, but I KNOW that I could've done much, much better than I did. But rather than beating myself up for sub-optimal performance in the past, I've decided to look ahead to the future.

For Christians, this is the Easter Season; a time when we focus on the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of new life. It is the perfect time to begin a physical transformation through improved nutrition and increased activity.

Some people have argued with me about this, claiming that the season of Lent is better because it's a time when we remember the suffering of Jesus, and then our "transformation" coincides with Easter and the resurrection. I absolutely disagree with this because I completely disagree with making temporary changes in order to get fit. I strongly believe that we need to make gradual changes to our nutrition and activity that will be permanent. And if those changes are going to be permanent, I certainly don't want to associate them with suffering! I want those changes to be associated with resurrection and new life! I want those changes to be associated with good, positive things so that my subconscious mind helps me and isn't working against my conscious mind.

A Change in Presentation (Posts That Are Personal)

I started this blog with the idea of sharing my knowledge and ideas regarding improving ourselves so that we can better build God's Kingdom on earth. Until know my posts have been relatively impersonal (though I hope you've considered them well-written). From here on out though, these posts are going to be a lot more personal (but still well-written, I hope). I've decided that the best way to share my knowledge and ideas is to document my own attempts at training the temple and give you a glimpse of the thoughts and information that motivates and drives me along the way.

It's not a change in direction; just a change in presentation. I think you'll enjoy it!

Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon

Understand the Value of Your Work

If you ask someone how they think people define spirituality, they will most likely tell you that people's definitions will vary widely, because that is the conventional wisdom on the subject. Most of us assume that spirituality is something extremely personal and thus our definitions are situational and individual.

Interestingly, the few studies that have been done on the subject indicate that respondents tend to have a very similar definition and understanding of spirituality. In the book A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, author Ian Mitroff uses the results of one such study to offer this definition of spirituality: "[Spirituality] is the basic desire to find ultimate meaning and purpose in one's life and to live an integrated life."

Given this definition, I think it becomes pretty clear that there is a significant difference between spirituality and religion. Obviously, spirituality will be strongly connected to religion because the focus is on living an integrated life, but it's important to acknowledge the distinction between the two. Because of this distinction, I would argue that spirituality is a very appropriate topic within the workplace even though religion is not necessarily safe ground.

But how do you find ultimate meaning and purpose in your life? If you work 40+ hours a week at a job, doesn't that job need to enter the equation? In fact, don't you think that the work you do during the bulk of your waking hours should play an extremely prominent role in helping you discover that ultimate meaning and purpose?

The fact of the matter is that understanding the greater value of the work you do gets you one step closer to living an integrated life.

Action Exercise (10 minutes): Think about the work that you do on a daily basis. What value does it create? How does it help others? How does it make the world a better place? If it's a small part of a much larger system, then also think about that larger system. How does it create value, help others, and/or make the world a better place?

Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon Jubar