The Buried Life & one year of Personal Training….

I’m coming up to my one year anniversary of PT sessions soon, working with Brad, making slow progress towards some pretty lofty goals in my personal training regime.  I’ve asked him to provide me some feedback on how he thinks I’m doing.  One of the things I’ve learned this year while on my leadership journey is to ask for feedback without taking it as criticism.  It is what it is.  Take it, use it, drop it, move on.  It is someone else’s opinion of the situation.  It can make a difference, or make no sense.  Whatever someone tells you, listen.

Something else I was looking at today – the website for the new MTV show, The Buried Life.  It looks like it’s going to be a pretty cool show.  Four guys ask the simple question: What do you want to do before you die?  So, in light of that, I started my “100 wishes” Wishlist…..

Here’s the first 20 or so…in no particular order (other than to number them):

1. write an Oscar winning movie
2. win the Nicholl Fellowship (Oscar award)
3. do an Amazon adventure
4. get married
5. have children
6. write a book
7. own a property in Ireland and live there part time
8. produce a leadership seminar
9. go dog sledding
10. visit Newfoundland
11. take the train across Canada
12. visit my sponsor child, Yennifer
13. write full time
14. create a clothing line
15. become a personal trainer
16. meet Stephen King
17. shadow Bryan Murray
18. live in an old house
19. take my mom on a trip somewhere
20. hang out in LA for a month
21. take singing lessons
22. take acting lessons
23. volunteer overseas

So, what do you want to do before you die?

(p.s. I’m currently working on a screenplay adaptation of my friend rob mclennan’s novel – “white“….who knows where that will go!)

(p.s.s. A big hooray for my friend Kim who became a mom (to Delaney) for the first time today – one of the things on her list!)

Scott Abel

So, along with Thomas Moore and Henry Rollins, I emailed Scott Abel the other day.  You can check out his site and his blog (his blog is great).  He emailed me back RIGHT AWAY and was interested in participating in the leadership seminar I’m devising: The Art of Leadership: Body, Heart, Mind & Soul….I have a few more hours of work to polish my proposal and then I’m going to send it off to him.  Thomas Moore is already interested too.  This will turn into a really cool series….I’m very excited.

Metanoia means…

To change one’s mind.  To change your mind is to change the way you view life, the way you engage with life, the way you experience life and how life is experienced through you.

I recounted to a friend the other day how I began the slow and imperceptible decline that lead me to gain the weight I had to lose.  In my early 20s, I worked in retail for a number of years, not behind a desk.  I was always on my feet and kept generally healthy.  When I started back to school, I was sitting most of the time, and due to work schedules and school schedules, I had bad eating habits.  I was eating cafeteria food for one (gross) and high fat content food.

When I started working in IT Security, I was sitting at a desk.  There is a common understanding that when most women start working for the government, they gain 50 lbs.  I remember a friend who was already in the government telling me this and me saying that I wasn’t going to let that happen.  Well, I did.  It happened slowly, like getting grey hair.  I didn’t even notice.  To be honest, I didn’t notice much for a long time.  A few years after I began to work in my field, I broke up with a long time boyfriend too.  That didn’t help matters in the least.

I remember going to buy clothes and every time I would have to go one size up.  I pretended it didn’t bother me, but it did.  I didn’t pay attention and became more and more numb to anything going on around me.

Flash forward a few years – I sat up and payed attention when I had my car accident.  Something had to make me realize what was happening.  For some it’s an illness.  I made a decision in short order to change my mind too when I wasn’t getting where I wanted to in my personal life.  I was hiding and I didn’t like it any longer.  When you are awake, other things that are limiting your growth are suddenly revealed and sometimes, they just have to go.

If you have the courage to change your mind, you can change your life.  Step off the train.  Shit, or get off the pot.  It’s scary sometimes to reveal yourself, your true self, but it is necessary in order to grow.  Who knows?  Your courage may inspire someone else to do the same.  You never really know all the effects of your actions.

Scott Abel and James Hillman – an unlikely combination

I started reading Scott Abel‘s blog about a year ago, when I was doing some research on leadership, training, etc.  He’s a fitness trainer responsible for the MET (Metabolic Enhancement Training) regime.  Brad gave me his name and that was that….I’ve been keeping up with his blog ever since.  His writing resonates with me.  It makes me think, it usually evokes some kind of emotional response and it steps me out of my own head.

His September 2009 entry speaks to being true to yourself and your You-niqueness (love it!).

When your life is always defined by what other people have in store for you (whether a boss, a spouse, a parent), you can’t reasonably expect to be your own person – EVER.  You will always live within anothers’ expectations of what you were meant to do/be.  Stepping out as an individual and being prepared to buck the system (life is full of so many systems!) is necessary.  Scott talks about excavating your essence to find your true self and to discover your true “potential” (my interpretation).

Another writer that I simply love (LOVE) is Dr. James Hillman.  His book, The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling is along the same lines….

What this has to do with me and my training?  Well…I’m not entirely sure yet.  It’s something I’ve picked up along the way to keep in my Tickle Trunk.