Mind over Matter ...fact or fiction??

Today, while checking out my favorite health and fitness websites, I came across a quote that Mark Twight ( trained the cast of the movie 300) and is also a accomplished mountain climber. 

" The training we do is the consequence of attitude.  The attitude is the meaningful fundamental; without it, no benefits may be realized.  You must want (or need) to be where you are, doing what your doing.  If you can't pay attention or if you don't want to work hard, don't bother showing up to go through the motions.  Nothing is gained by doing one thing with your body and another with your mind."  Mark Twight

How many times have you forced yourself to do something your mind is not really into?  What did you gain from doing it? What was the outcome?  The above quote rang so true to me.  How many years have I spent going through the motions while my mind wandered endlessly? How many hours, days, months of my life did I waste when my mind and body couldn't or didn't want to work together? 

Is mind over matter fact or fiction?  For me, it is fact.  I have learned that my mind is a very powerful thing.  Each thought you think, each word you say, impacts your all aspects of your life.   We all have bad days, days where you don't want to work, go out, clean, work out etc...but in the mist of those days, you must pick yourself up, dust yourself off , and remember that your the only one who could put good thoughts in your mind, your the only one who can choose how you feel.  If you change your mind your body and life will follow. 

Try it, take a look at yourself, say something good about yourself , feel happy and grateful that God made you different from everyone else, because I know that no matter what, I wouldn't want to be anyone but me, besides, everyone else is already taken.

On a different note, Gossip Girl returned on Monday night - I was so disturbed by what happened, and how the whole episode made my head spin...geeze, I thought the -30 weather we had here froze the brains of the writers of that episode, better pick up your socks writers...otherwise I am coming after you with a headband!

HAGO!
xoxox
BT&HB

To Ponder ....in my spare time

I sometimes wonder, if other people sit and think about answers to things that we encounter everyday, that are just...mind bending, strange, not normal, insane, weird, eye-opening, the "ah" moment, or just plain stupid.  Here are a few that use to make me think I was not normal, until I realized, I can't figure everything out...

1. Why does every fitness magazine/trainer/website/book etc..tell you to do 12-15 reps of an exercise?  Why not 13-16?  Is it bad luck, like 13 at dinner?
2. Why when people ask you something let's say, "did you delete my printing from the printer?" and I reply no, do they ask me if I am sure..bugs the living daylights out of me...why ask me if you don't believe me?
3. Your boss telling you that she asked/showed/told you to do something when she clearly did not ...and when you tell her so, throws it back at you like your the one that has an extra hole in your head and your brain escaped from it ...hence, causing you to forget
4. Leggings/Jeggings - why do people think tights are pants?
5. Why when the left side of your neck hurts, it is the right side that is tight?
6. Why did Gossip Girl take a 7 week break??? WTF? the torture is almost over, but still why?
7. When your happy, why can't other people be happy for you?  Why must they try to bring you down to the depth of their own personal hell ?
8.When a police man pulls you over for speeding, do they ask you if you knew how fast you were going?  If I knew, I wouldn't have been speeding now would I?
9. Why do teenagers walk like that are a corpse from a Tim Burton movie? 
10. Why do the slow drivers drive in the left lane?  First thing they teach you- slow stick to the right, trucks in the middle lane, and fast drivers in the left...why are your breaking my palle?
11.Why do people ask me if my hair is naturally curly, I have yet to see a perm look like my hair..
12. Why when your six, do you automatically know everything?
13.Why when your 30, do you automatically think you know nothing at all?
14.Why do people laugh at what I say - when I am not even being funny? HAHAHA
15.Why do people ask me if my car is a "family" car? I work, what a dumbass question, but Why?

I have a bunch more - but my new path of thinking,  the above is not a statement of complaint , just things that make me want to grab the person and tell them that I didn't get to this point in my life, know what I know, and have done what I did, by lying, cheating, googling it, checking on line, facebook, or waiting for mommy or daddy to get me a job or buy me a car...I got to this blissful point in my life because of hard work , faith and positive thinking..I drive in the fast lane, have naturally curly hair, tights are not pants, you want to be miserable, fine by me.

Remember friends to quote Wayne Dyer ..." the way people treat you is their karma, the way your react is yours .."  Very true.

Gossip Girl returns tonight - 7 weeks of waiting are over!  Check in with me tomorrow as I start my own recap of the show!  

xoxo
BT&HB

Veni, Vidi, Vici.....

...or I came, I saw, I conquered:

I came to realize...

•  that life doesn't suck, it's your thinking that sucks.
•  you must love yourself, before you can love another
•  money doesn't buy you love, health, or a person once they are lost.
• your never too old to do what you have always wanted to do. 
•  family and friends are the most important thing in any one's life
•  what you sometimes dislike in someone, mirror's something you don't like about yourself
•  you can be as happy and healthy as you make up your mind to be.
•  no one has the power to tell you that your not good enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough 
•  no one knows everything , not your parents, your boss, your teachers - no one.
•  in my darkest moments, God was always with me, to guide me and carry me when I couldn't go any further on my own.
•  Life is beautiful, if we just open our eyes and look.

I saw....
 

•  hurt, anger, hate destroy someone who I tried so hard to love and save, only he didn't want to be saved, not even to save himself from himself.
•  that faith can save you.
•  the sun rise in the east and set in the west...a true marvel.
•  the magnificent city of Florence ...with all it beautiful art, history, and beautiful people.
•  even if people you love move away, it doesn't matter the miles between you, but how you fill the miles between you, and it my case it is with so much love, she and her family is like a beat of my heart.
• that I am a beautiful person and loving myself can give me all that I desire.
•  I saw death, but in death, I also saw peace. 

I conquered ....

•  my demons, kicked their asses right back to hell!
•  my fear of being alone, by leaving an abusive relationship after many years of torture.
•  my fear that I can't do it ....because I can!
•  my self-doubt of not being good enough.
•  the nasty girls in high school, college, the clubs, work and play.
•  the mean bosses, director's and lying two faced co-workers - and I killed it with  kindness!
•  letting someone mood, determine mine.
•  let the mean words cut deep.

I still have much to see, come to and conquer, life is beautiful, no matter what the weather, the mood of others, how much money you have, or the car you drive ( even though I love mine!), the size of your jeans, or the wrinkles on your face...

Do you want to stay as you are? or do you want ride to fame and fortune with happiness and health following you on your travels throughout this adventure called life?  I know where I am going...are you in??

xoxo
BT&HB

Newbies...where art thou???

I noticed something strange at the gym tonight...

On any given Monday night, all gym's are packed with people who feel bad about not working out on the weekend, people who ate way too much or drank way too much.  Don't get me wrong, I am no "miss perfect pants" and I love my treats just as much as the next person...BUT ..I work those treats into my daily calories in order not to ruin all my hard work and gains that I have made over the years, but tonight was different. 

Anyone who is a avid gym goer, dreads the coming of January.  That is when you have a rash of newbies who....use the treadmill of over an hour, make a little "area" for themselves and take all the free weights they feel they need to do their work-out, don't get me started on how they are in the change room - that is another day and another post! I am all for someone choosing to do something good for themselves and all the more power to them.  I am happy when I see new faces and see them for the whole year,...not just for two months.  They say that gym memberships are like university - look to your left, look to your right, in 12 weeks one of you will have dropped my class..same goes for the gym. 

But tonight I got the shock of my life...as I was driving to the gym after a very strange crying conversation with my boss ( her, not me) I pulled into the parking lot which seemed empty...walked on up and entered my beloved sanctuary ...and low and behold ...two of the 15 treadmills where taken, the training floor only had one personal trainer working with their client, the class that was about to begin had a handful of people...and my best friends the free weights ??? All lined up and waiting for me!  

What has happened to every one's quest for a better life? I was waiting for the newbies to show this year ...and honestly, only a  handful are new  and one new face that watched me the whole time I was working on my arms, only to come up to me before she left and say ..."you could see your muscles all the way on the other side of the gym..how much are you lifting for that triceps kickback??"  ah,  17.5 pounds I answer , she looked at me and said ...that is why you could see them and they look awesome! ....that made me feel amazing, because if she knew how sore I was and how close I came to driving home and just curling up with a good book and my trusty water bottle ...I would have never gotten that compliment, and who knows, maybe I  inspired her. 

I started my quest for a better body 7 years ago.  After a nasty break-up, years of being a 5'6 toothpick with bones sticking out that could cut glass - I found myself and a community that I could grow with and learn from.  No one is perfect, we are all perfect in our own way.  There is no right "work-out" , correct form yes, you must do legs before arms and never train your abs ...no, everyone is different and reacts different.  I learned a lot about what works for my body and what doesn't...just like life, working out is trial and error.  You must try and if you fail, make sure you do it right the next time. 

I wish I could gather up everyone I know,  that I would love to have get the same rush that I get after a work-out, ( mind you, my thighs are yelling at me very loud right now ..the pain in my arms might hit me tomorrow..;) but it is worth every minute, cramp, pain and cookie not eaten to feel for days like you own it ...that is what I was missing for a very long time.  So, take it from me, a former fat girl, turned skinny -fat girl, turned muscle lifting goddess - nothing compares to looking at yourself in the mirror,telling yourself you love you...and seeing the fruits of your labour, and knowing ...YOU CAN DO IT.

Till next time ....

xoxox
BT&HB

Beauty and the Bush

How does one spend New Year's Eve?  Is it with family? Friends?  your current flavour of the month, husband, wife..etc,etc.  Well, yours truly, spent it with family up in the bush ( bush meaning cottage country). 

I have never been a cottage type.  On of my former boyfriends, use to drag me up with him and his friends and spend the whole time with them and not me, guess I was brought around to keep the other girls company.  I just dislike the smell of tank water, the smell of cottages and the stink you bring home, the driving, the whole outdoor thing ( I have much respect for all of God's creatures), but I just don't do fur balls.  Ask me to try camping...and you will get a big fat no...don't care who you are...just no, not happening. 

Blame it on me being a born and breed city girl, the fact that if I don't have to rough it, why should I, and no, makes no difference to me if there is stinky tank water and a shower and walls and beds, still a cottage and not a store in sight for miles..which prompted me to ask on the way home..." where do people who live up here shop...??" My brother so kindly replied, " Walmart" ...ugh!  I got a rash just thinking about that.

I admire walking in park and spending time in nature ( my house is not far from a public park with rolling hills and all the trees and grass you could ask for..I enjoy spending time there)...and walking back home, not have to pack and drive with all the other cottagers back home.  I have never seen the allure in having a cottage. For what it is worth, I did have a good time being with my family, trying an ATV for the first time  ( which involved me having to borrow snow pants, snow jacket and snow boots ( my brother asked me if I had snow pants?? WTF?  why would I have snow pants??), that is like asking my other brother if he owns anything Gucci. 

All in all, I did manage to get some very good meditation sessions in while I was up in the bush, I came back with a whole new outlook on things, I closed the door on 2010 and opened a new one .  2011 is my year of transformation, from the inside out, it has been a long time coming, and in a way, the bush gave me a clear mind, and a glimpse of what I know I won't change....and that includes not taking another winter drive up north.

Wishing everyone a super sonic new year and thanks for reading...so much more to come!

xoxox
BT&HB