The Come Alive Project

Category: Energy Bites

  • Energy Bite 281 – Your Virtual Reality System

    Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging trend. You put on a pair of special lenses and you feel and believe you are in another world.

    Did you know that you have your own built in Virtual Reality Systems? They are called your Imagination and your Subconscious Mind. Together, they are capable of doing a lot more than any commercial VR system available, to let you create and feel a new reality for yourself.

    You can activate the Imagination and Subconscious mind through a process known as Visualization. That’s nothing new, and it can work to help you stay Healthy, get Fit, and help slow down or stop the aging process. The best form of Visualization is what I term: “Multi-Sensory Visualization”.

    Multi-Sensory Visualization is creating the reality you want through ALL your physical senses, and can even include an emotional feeling as well. Most people use only the visual part of Visualization. I suppose that’s why it’s called visualization. It is often said that the subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between something vividly imagined, and something real.

     Authors Michael Murphy and the late George Leonard were both principles of the famous Esalen Institute in the California Big Sur Region, where many pioneers of the Human Potential Movement in the United States got their start.  In their excellent book, The Live We are Given, they listed the three elements of Exercise, Meditation and Visualization as the three essential ingredients for a long life of Healthful Vitality and Personal Energy.

    They are not alone. Many authors and personalities practice all three. Tony Robbins, tells about how he uses all three elements as part of his daily ritual to energize himself for his grueling weekend seminars.

    Bruce Lee the actor and martial artist told of how he used both meditation and visualization to both set and reach his goals, both as an actor and as a marital artist.

    Lindsay Vonn, the World Champion skier not only keeps mental images in her head, she physically and mentally visualizes the ski runs by shifting her weight back and forth, and simulates her breathing patterns, AS IF she were actually on skis.

    And Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of one of the more successful personal development books of all time, Psycho-Cybernetics, called using the imagination: “The theater of the mind”, and wrote that you can create your own mental movies of whatever you want your life to be, using this powerful tool.

    In my workshops for Seniors about discovering Your Own Fountain of Youth, you will learn and practice a form of guided, multi-sensory visualization – meditation, that will help motivate you toward adapting new physical movement, eating and breathing habits, making them an integral part of your personal identity.

    Some claim visualization to be a healing tool. While the medical science is still debating that, neuro-scientists are making new discoveries that seem to bear out the idea of healing through multi-sensory visualization and meditation techniques.

    Meditation and Visualizations are no longer reserved for practitioners of Eastern Philosophy or Yoga classes. They have become mainstream.  They are practiced as lifestyle tools by business leaders, champion athletes, musicians and other entertainers, and for the most part, anyone who wants the benefits of their own built in Virtual Reality system. Your imagination is a powerful tool.

    So why buy expensive Virtual Reality equipment when you already have it built into you —  your subconscious mind. It’s that part of you that vividly imagines the way your world can be. It sets the stage for your own future actions based on what your internal Virtual Reality system shows you is possible.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 280 – The Real Reason WHY?

    Exercise and Diet are not the end product.
    If not, what is    ?

    Look closely at most health and fitness websites and you will find they are promoting exercise programs or nutrition programs as the end product — an end unto itself. Most are either muscle building programs or pure weight loss programs. A few are some combination of the two. And that’s fine if your end goal is a lot of muscle or  quick weight loss. But as we’ll see, that’s probably not the end goal for most seniors.

    Chances are with those kinds of programs, one of two things will happen: 1. You get discouraged at your lack of progress and stop, or 2. You reach your goal and your mind tells you that now that you’ve reached it, you can stop. So you do. And your new muscles atrophy or the weight sneaks back on.

    Of course, nutrition is not a settled science. I am convinced that the diet industry thrives on confusion and once the science is really settled (I mean truly, honestly, unequivocally, totally settled), up will pop new authors, new theories, new programs and we will again spend our time and money searching for that everlasting quick fix that simply isn’t there.

    The goal of exercise and eating right is to recharge your personal battery,  your Energy Source, so you can continue living your life on your terms rather than living it dependent on someone or something else — on their terms.

     To continue to keep your physical batteries recharged, there are certain fundamental things you have to do. You must keep moving your body. You must fuel your body with high octane food, oxygen and fluids. You must get plenty of rest and sleep, consistent with your own, individual needs.

    And to keep your mental battery charged, you’ll need to add some meditation, visualization and affirmations into the mix, to tap into the energy of your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is a powerful tool that is used to fortify your mindset. A mindset of energetic self-empowerment is every bit as important for Seniors, as the physical side.

    While muscle building and “program” diets can be useful, the results they offer are either temporary muscles or a temporarily skinny body — not the long term health and fitness improvements that you are most likely striving for. True Health and Fitness is a long term lifestyle “practice”. It must become part of your personal identity.

    So it’s not the activity itself (diet and exercise), it is the benefits of the activity that really matter. The main benefit  for us, as seniors, is to enjoy our senior years with gusto and meaning, on our own terms, and with a fully charged battery at all times. That feeling of being fully alive as you age is the real end product. And to get there you must move and eat healthfully.

    Yes, you’ll like it when people notice your energy and appearance. You can’t help but enjoy feeling better that you have in years. Those are nice benefits too.

    I have a gym friend in his 70s. He is an avid skier. But he doesn’t ski to stay healthy and fit, he gets healthy and fit so he can continue to ski. He is living life on his terms because of what he does to take care of himself.

    In the final analysis, it’s the end result that counts — a long, healthy, happy and productive life, a life you are fully able to live on your own terms, with the energy and gusto of a live well lived.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 266 – What Come Alive Really Means

    I have been focusing this blog almost entirely on aspects of exercise, food and other fitness related topics. The email comments have been positive. But fitness is just a part of an active Senior lifestyle.

    I must remember that The Come Alive Project is about far more than physical fitness. It’s about the ENERGY that physical fitness provides. It’s about the benefits of good health and fitness, waking up to life and the experience of being alive! It’s about the things you can DO as a Senior because you are healthy and fit. It’s about saying yes to life! It’s about being in the Flow of Life!

    You can’t be truly alive unless you are fundamentally healthy and fit. That’s why I have focused so much on health and fitness in these weekly articles. You have to feel physically good to feel alive. There are very few exceptions.

    Mindset is critical. A positive attitude toward life is what lets you Come Alive. And it must be in keeping with your  identity. We see news reports of military veterans with missing arms, legs and both, who don’t identify with their disabilities. Instead they identify with their potential and often fit back into the real world better than many who have returned uninjured. Many don’t consider themselves victims and they get on with their lives on the terms that life has given them, with an attitude of optimism about their possibilities.

    We must not let age or our perception of aging, determine our identity. We too, must identify with our potential. We are not victims of aging, nor should we wish to be identified as such. Sadly, many Seniors do. Many adopt the “poor me, I’m too old” attitude.

    I’ve written before of what our capabilities as Seniors can be, if we only let them come out. We are stronger than we think we are. We can do much more than we think we can. And we can continue to remain independent and do the things we want to do in life, even as we get older. And yes, we need to be healthy and fit to do them.

    So, for a while I’ll be focusing more on Coming Alive, staying alive and being alive without forgetting the importance of fitness and food as the way to get there. Review the about page of this website to see what I had in mind when I set it up.

    I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving or holiday and I hope all are ( or will soon be ) healthy, fit, and “Alive” with energy and vitality!

    Thank you for reading.