Turn On, Tune In, and Drop And Give Me 20!
In the 60’s Timothy Leary lead the charge of people changing their lives by becoming more aware, more present, and less rigid in their pursuit of life. He decreed that taking Acid (LSD) would help us brake free from the tight pigeonholed structure that our society had evolved into.
Now we are in a time period where life’s rigidity seems to have taken hold again. People work longer hours, drive further distances (often through stressful traffic), eat faster less healthy food, and on the whole, have a hard time focusing on anything for too long. Consequently, we have a mass populous that is uptight and unhappy with whom they are or how they look and live.
But I feel we can take a page from Dr. Leary’s book – but not with drugs – with exercise. It’s very simple. When stressed and tense, take a moment to become more present and aware through exercise. The release of physical tension that exercise brings will allow for emotional clarity to enter and you’ll likely find a better perspective or solution to allow you to “break free” of what’s bringing you down.
So stop worrying about having a meal that was “cheating” (you know I hate that word) from your self-imposed strict “diet” (another taboo word for my clients). Quit obsessing over a missed day of cardio. Stop spewing chronic negative energy over a job you hate or a relationship that is detrimentally dysfunctional.
Just take each moment when you are agonizing over whatever you agonize over, and just BE. 90% of what we humans worry about (excluding serious illnesses and financial strife) is trivial on the grand scheme of things. Be more aware,
be more present, be more willing to relax and breathe. Then, drop and give me 20!
I’m serious. Get on the floor and do some push ups, or stand up and do jumping jacks, burpees, crunches, triceps dips off the back of your desk. It doesn’t matter what it is – just that you take that moment to do something physical.
It’s all about the baby steps. If every time you find yourself stressed out/tensed up (excluding when you’re driving of course), you quickly leap into 1-2 minutes of any high intensity exercise, you will gain not only physical release of some tension, but usually a fresh clarity in your mind. Once you start getting addicted to that renewed clarity and reduction of tension – you’ll be more open to changing what’s not working in your life (job, relationships, body, perspective).
Sorry Timothy, we don’t need acid this time to Turn on and Tune In – we just need exercise to get the juices flowing into mind-expanding perspectives of how we can create happiness for ourselves.
Now stand up and JUMP! (I did right after writing this!)
A Kick In The Butt 