A moment made just for me

Just me and my view

I travelled to Baltimore today for a Synagogue Presidents conference and happened to get to the conference center a few hours before registration started.  The conference center is based 40 minutes outside of Baltimore in beautiful farm country.  In these situations, I typically pull out my laptop and iPhone to get "caught up".  Fighting that urge, I found a comfy wooden rocking chair overlooking the farmland and just sat there.

No phone, no email, no people.  Just me and my view (see above).  A chirping bird flying overhead, the rustling of leaves in a nearby tree are pretty much the only sounds I hear.  Instead of trying to think of something specific, I am actually enjoying the tough task of thinking about nothing besides my moment.

Why don't I have these moments more often?  Or do I have them but don't take the time to appreciate them?  What gets me really thinking is did I create this moment or was this moment created just for me.  If I have to be honest, it was probably neither but wouldn't it be nice to Live As If these moments in our lives were made just for us?  To take it a step further, wouldn't it be nice if we went out of our way to create these moments for ourselves or even better, to create them for or with someone we love?

Of course my moment doesn't last long enough since my phone keeps buzzing in my pocket and people are starting to arrive.  Before I go on with my day, I at least wanted to share this moment with you.  Feel free to share in the comments below about the special quiet moments you have in your life.

If

Came across this poem by Rudyard Kipling written in 1895 and figured it would be a good poem for the "Live As If..." Blog.  Figured it was time to get the blog going again.

Enjoy,
Steven

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IF 

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

MoFlexStability

I’ve been a Physical therapist for over 15 years and have realized the diagnosis of the body movements is not black and white and the best test subject I have ever had is ME.


I attended my first yoga class like many young guys. I arrogantly went to that first class with the expectation that it would be very easy and very boring. I was wrong on both counts! The class challenged me in new and exciting ways, leaving me humbled, yet thirsty for more. I couldn’t believe I was so restricted. So many of my limitations and weaknesses were exposed that day.


For many people, the word “yoga” conjures up images of hippy-looking folks contorting themselves into unrealistic positions, or a bunch of poseurs thinking they’re spiritual because they burned some incense and followed some stretches along with a DVD.


While those stereotypes are not totally without merit, they make it easy to write of mobility training as a waste of time, which is a huge mistake. Don’t be so quick to dismiss the value of flexibility - mobility – and Stability or you will not only miss out on a great deal of physical wisdom, you will also predispose yourself to injury.


After my initially humbling experience, I paid very close attention during my other athletic pursuits including CrossFit, cycling, running, weightlifting and bodyweight workouts.  I discovered that my limited Range Of Motion in some joints created compensations and overworking muscles in other joints.  It just so happened that those overworked joints were the aches and pains I was experiencing.


Eventually started bringing some of the things I was learning from John Barnes Myofascial Release, Ki-Hara resistance stretching, and yoga into my workouts. I was enjoying the new challenges and it was a nice change of pace from my usual routine.  It gave me the opportunity to re-tool my body and eliminate all and any aches and pains and potentiality for injury that may have existed.


After some time, I came to find that many of the stretches, releases and postures had direct carryover into my strength and endurance training.


Over the years, I’ve taken hundreds of various classes and learned from dozens of different teachers. The best teacher of all, however, has been my own body. I’m still learning new lessons every day. The greatest lesson learned – awareness. Awareness of my own limitations – physical, spiritual and emotional. Now all I have to do is - Let Go! Simple, right?

The Real Play Station

The Real Play Station

This past July I packed up two of my girls and drove to North Carolina to pick up the third from sleep away camp. The drive was 12 hours and filled with movies and Instagram posts and much more technology that a minivan could or should afford.  We ended up in one of our most favorite places to go in the summers, the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northwestern North Carolina.

You make choices in this life about how connected we choose to be.  You can visit places where WiFi is readily available for your phone, tablet and lap top computer or can venture out 30-40 miles out of cell phone range and many miles from the nearest human. We all pick what we are most comfortable with the level of connection we choose to have and/or need to have.

Hundreds of miles from home, 20 miles from the nearest cell tower, and far enough from the nearest human is my comfort zone.  I’m far enough away that I’m ‘disconnected’ yet close enough to check in with the office and family back home if needed.  It is deeply, amazingly, unsettlingly quite out here. An hour before the dawn come on so still, so windless, that the sound of your heartbeat, the shifting of the hair in your ears can wake you at any time.

It’s written about all the time, scarcity, that is.  We’re actually running out of silence – I’ll wait while you wrap your heard around that for a second.  The largest challenge I have is my children’s seemingly consistent access to stuff.  Together my daughters own iPhones, iPad’s, iTouch’s, computers, Netflix, Wii, and countless other distractions that allow then to do things virtually.  Out here, on the mountain, there are books, board games, smores and interaction.  They look for, chipmunks, skunks, deer and OH MY! Yes there were bear to watch and stay a safe and far distance from.

When the sun comes up and we make our way to the bottom of the mountain, there is a stream to play in with fish we will never catch.  The kids move the rocks around to watch how the flow of water will change.  There’s riding horses and white water rafting and let’s not forget the Mast General Store and a park that has sprung out of the landscape.  “Thank you” says the kids and I reply ‘thank you’ right back.  Thank you for unplugging, if just for a short while. Thank you for letting me take you out into the world that is always right there.

Where is your Sanctuary?

The other day, I had a 30 minute break between meetings at my synagogue so I decided to walk around.  I noticed that nobody was in the main sanctuary so I figured it was as good a place as any to relax for a few minutes.  So I sat there by myself for 15 minutes.  No prayer book, no Rabbi, no iPhone, no sound.  Just me.

When moments like this happen, I often am more intrigued by the beauty of the moment rather than what am I thinking about.  It's not often that all you can hear is the sound of your own heart beat but I found myself truly enjoying the moment.  That's not to say that I didn't have thoughts about my life, my family, my work, etc but what I really enjoyed was that this moment in an empty sanctuary happened to occur on an otherwise normal day.

As I was writing this blog, I thought of a painting by one of our family's favorites artists, Tomas Sanchez.  Many of his paintings, like the one above, include a beautiful landscape with a person meditating alone.  To see more of his paintings, go to http://smashingpicture.com/beautiful-paintings-by-tomas-sanchez/.  When I see his paintings, I often think about that person and more specifically, what is he thinking about?  No matter what he is thinking about, I am pretty confident that he is definitely appreciating the moment of peace like I did in my sanctuary.

Which brings me to the question of the day -- WHERE IS YOUR SANCTUARY?

Do you have moments like this?  Are they planned or do they just happen?  Either way, my advice would be to find those moments and cherish them.  They can be on a jog, driving to work or just a few minutes before bed.  There is another Tomas Sanchez painting (shown on right) where there are two people sharing this moment so why not try and find someone to share your sanctuary with you.  It doesn't really matter where this moment happens, how long or what you think about.  In our crazy busy noisy world, these sanctuaries do exist . . . if you take the time to find them.

The TO LIVE AS IF blog is all about sharing our life experiences to enhance others so please comment below about where your sanctuary is.  It can be anonymous but maybe your comment can help somebody else.  Thank you for sharing.

Whose life are you completing?

 

In the Jewish tradition, there is a concept called a minyan which is when 10 people (sometimes just men) are needed in a prayer group so that someone who is in mourning can say Kaddish (a blessing for the loss of a loved one).  As is with most things in the Jewish religion, nobody explains it better than Larry David so please enjoy this clip from Curb Your Enthusiasm explaining minyans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wybt8Tyj4V8).


At my synagogue, Beth Torah, I just took on the responsibility of Ritual Vice President where part of my role is to work with the clergy to make sure that there is always a daily minyan in case some member of our community needs to say the blessing over the loss of a family member.  Since you can't really coordinate a daily minyan without actually going to one, I decided to attend this morning to see what it's all about.  As I entered the room, I realized that I was among the first 10 people there that helped create the minimum requirement for the minyan.  I sat down and prayed like everybody else and as is often the case, I think about the TO LIVE AS IF blog and what I can share about my experiences.  So here is my question to you:

WHEN IN LIFE ARE YOU COMPLETING SOME GOAL FOR SOMEBODY ELSE?

Sometimes good karma just happens in life where you arrived at the perfect time to help someone in need or just made someone's day a little brighter by accident.  But what if we looked for those moments or even asked people how you can help them in their life?  What would it look like if you were "completing someone's minyan"?  So if you made it this far in the article, here is my homework of the day:

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
ASK SOMEBODY IN YOUR LIFE HOW YOU CAN HELP THEM WITH A GOAL OR ISSUE.

It may seem odd at first since most people don't make such requests but I promise that you will make a difference in their life just by asking.  They may not even have an answer for you but they will at least know that you are there for them.  The LIVE AS IF blog has always been about making connections and I can't think of any better way to make a strong connection with those around you than this simple request.  Please feel free to share your experiences by writing a comment below.

SHAMELESS PLUG:  I have made a commitment to go to minyan every Friday at Beth Torah in North Miami Beach, Florida.  It starts as 7:30am and is followed by a free breakfast.  If you care to join me in the mitzvah of completing the minyan, please let me know.

Meditation 101

Meditation is one of those things that until you do it, it’s really hard to understand why you should even start doing it. There are so many ways to meditate that it seems there is a method for everyone. True meditation is a peaceful, thoughtful state of awareness where the mind is calm but alert and begins an inner transformation that brings us to a higher level of awareness. Furthermore, there are countless medical benefits associated with consistent meditation practices.
Why should you be meditating?

Do you experience stress, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, negative attachment to people (like bosses, ex’s, parents), frustration, feelings of being a victim, detachment, or simply want to be healthier? The answer to all of this is meditation.
Hospitals, clinics, and integrative medicine practices are increasingly recommending that people use meditation as part of a preventive health care plan and to manage symptoms of disease. Meditation inspires spiritual, mental, and physical transformation, which helps regulate the daily frustrations of life, understand why certain events are occurring in life, gives solace to unanswered questions, ignites creativity and ideas, and sets the tone for a mindful day. I swear.
Fun Fact: Sex lights up the same parts of the brain as meditation. It throws you into a more visceral, non-censored state. You act without thinking. You act from a place of knowing. And being.

I bet you are wondering how you are supposed to meditate. The truth is that any moment when you can quiet your mind and connect to your inner self, this a form of meditation.
So for those of you that are new to meditation, start small by creating mindful awareness when you: Sip a cup of tea, stretch, sit in a sauna or hot tub, hear a song you like, stuck in traffic. Take a moment to reflect on where you are in this particular moment. Listen to your breath; reflect on what you have to be grateful for. Refrain for just a few moments about what you have to do tomorrow, how mad you are at your mom, the crazy demands of your boss and just be in the now. (I know it is hard, but you can do it!)