@Minholkin You are a bright light here on Coso. The positivity and kindness you share are a daily blessing here.

Thank you for all you give us here and a very happy birthday to you! May you have many more healthy and happy years full of every good thing!

Good morning groovy souls!

I am getting back on top of things today. While my discipline has been nowhere to be seen the last few days, the time to decompress and rest has been welcome.

Knowing this I think I start building in "Vacation days" at least a few times a year while working to moderate how much slack I take. I went a little spare on the snacks and such this time around.

Mindfulness with rest. Even the moments we aren't moving forward are moments where we can grow and learn ^_^

Good morning groovy souls!

Today is my last day of my impromptu "Vacation" I'm heading back to the gym tomorrow, but today I'm going to take as easy as I can.

Our new shower curtain brings a certain ambience and elegance to the bathroom.

Me: I need to meditate and get to cleaning.

Also me: Stretch... Vacay... Coffee... comfy chair... It can wait.

@Vozy Thinking of you, dear brother.

@feloneouscat To be excellent means to present excellence. What is excellence in this regard? What is the excellence that they embodied?

Radical acceptance, loving friendship, kindness, curiosity. To "Be excellent" is to aspire not only to your best self but to encourage others to aspire as well.

To party on means to persist. To not give up on the dawn light that is our dreams. To seek relentlessly the better day and the higher path.

@feloneouscat has got me thinking about Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures.

They are among my favorite movies of all time. I see a lot of hidden depth in those comedies.

Two Guileless souls, through the power of believing in their dreams, change the world for the better, forever.

It's an incredible and powerful statement.

I've heard it said that "Be Excellent to Each other" is too broad to be of any real meaning or substance. I disagree.

Everything is ok. Life is never a static thing. Trying to hold rigidly to a static mean will only leave you hurt and exhausted.

It's a hard won lesson, but I'm getting there.

My goals remain the same, but sometimes you have to let go and stop to move forward. I've pushed myself to the point of everything falling apart before, and that is a cycle I can break

Today, I am going to set easy goals, keep my calories in range, and do the cleaning I've been wanting to get done

I'm taking the time to let the body and the mind mentally recover, even if it costs me a couple training days. So long as I get back to it tomorrow or the next day, I'll quickly regain ceded ground.

Good morning groovy souls!

I've bee on the struggle with my fitness and gym goals the last couple weeks, and I realized this morning that all the stress of travel and work these last six months, along with my rigorous training schedule, I'm feeling strained.

No matter how much I want to, part of me is burning out. Yesterday, I was hurting and exhausted so I rested, and then my eating went a bit over the top.

Avoiding recrimination, I took time to really think about where I am today.

Good morning groovy souls!

I find myself in an odd position this morning. I want to push, go run and hit the gym, but something feels off and spent within the body. There is a gut level instinct telling me to not push it, yet I fear losing ground, which is nonsensical so long as I get back tomorrow

Knowing that I have ignored such warnings to my own detriment before I am listening, begrudgingly. It is a paradox that sometimes one must stay still if they want to continue to move forward

Good night groovy souls! I was not in the mood to sleep, so I stayed up late.

I was really wrestling with my eating at the later part of the day, but I looked at my calories and kept everything logged, letting myself go beyond just a little while maintaining my calorie deficit. It's about 300 less than it normally is.

It was a good choice and a compromise. Rigidity will burn you out, but with a little bit of flexibility, the whole is preserved.

Middle way!

Today was an exercise in will. I did not feel like it, but once I got into my run everything smoothed out.

What we feel is not immutable. Feelings are something we experience but they don’t define us. The choices that we make about those feelings will.

While I do practice mindfulness lately I’ve been asking myself, what will I think about the choices I’m making now, tomorrow ? It’s been a powerful tool!

My life was not always so disciplined, but I've learned as I've aged that having these moments act like the rhythm beats in a song. They are touchstones that help me orient and follow the melody of each day, helping me deal with whatever I will face.

Good morning groovy souls!

I'm wrapping up my morning wake up routine and will head to the gym for morning workout after meditation.

My morning routine takes about three hours. Starting with a half-hour workout, that is the first thing I do after getting out of bed, washing my face and brushing teeth, breakfast, dishes, and finally, meditation and devotional before heading to the gym for the days workout.

I call these my "foundations" on this routine I build my days.

Good afternoon groovy souls!

I had a rough week for my disciplines and routines, but that's all the more reason to drill down and push harder. There is no stopping; there is only forward or back.

Onward toward the dawn!