Balance is one of the biggest keys in all of life. I believe God wants us to be balanced. Wherever you stand in your belief about God, your life... training and every part of your being will work better in balance.
Why did I mention balance in this thought about the holiday season? Because when you grow into being an adult you get caught into all of the responsibilities and pressures of life, most of us don't have any way to balance out that serious side. I'm all for and all about living a disciplined, accomplishment-oriented life. But what's the point in all that work and accomplishment if you don't literally take time to enjoy things. Life is way too short to spend every minute thinking about training or working or bills, or plans or whatever it is that might distract you from being "in the moment" and having fun.
Let me tell you another little secret about this. The more purposefully fun you make every part of your life the more you'll complete on the serious accomplishment and work side. We can't all do the thing that we love to make a living. But we can make living enough fun to be energized and happy even when we're doing things we don't particularly enjoy. Balance takes discipline. It seems odd to mention the idea of discipline when you're wishing people happy holidays and telling them that they ought to have fun. But most of us are so trapped into the working mode that we're literally going to have to discipline our minds to be able to let go. To be able to block out the things that are a worry and be focused on joy.
Here are a couple of tips:
1. Consciously cultivate a joyful mindset and refuse to have it messed with. We spend a lot of time building discipline in our training and in just getting up and going to work every morning. Use that power to choose happiness and then treat it not as a chore, but as a matter that you've already settled in your mind and will not be shaken off.
2. Find the joy in giving. Give something to someone unexpected. Not only do you make them happier, but also you make yourself happier.
3. Lifters tend to use visualization all of the time. So visualize/concentrate on building a joyful feeling into your workouts. I've addressed this in other materials, but if you do this long enough it has a Pavlovian effect. You will constantly associate being happy and it will become automatic to be boosted in your mental state while you train.
4. Don't take yourself or anything else so seriously. I spent a long time learning this because I was so goal oriented in training, that if I didn't make every goal on the moment I had it planned I'd be highly upset for long periods of time. Balance your motivation with the fact that you don't have time to waste being upset on minor things.
5. Hang out with kids. They have an amazing ability to help you be happy. If you sit back and learn from them you will see that even though they may take the smallest things seriously enough to cry over them, they also have the innate ability to bounce back ridiculously fast and be just as joyful just as quickly.
6. Be considerate of others. Understand that sometimes your attitude can make or break someone else's day. Strive for the place where you are strong enough that no one changes your peacefulness. But realize that if you consistently put out joy to other people you'll get it back.
7. Find the things that bother you that keep you from having fun and settle those situations. I can tell you this; when you've settled all of your spiritual questions and know what your relationship with Jesus Christ is, it's a lot easier to accept happiness.
8. Don't be afraid to be happy. Many people get so wrapped up in their own misery, it's the only thing that comforts them. Get past that and don't be afraid to be fun, silly, spontaneous... whatever. It's much better to be constantly surrounded by joy and comfortable there than it is to be constantly surrounded by ho-hummness to the point where you're not happy any other way.
Bud Jeffries has much more to teach on building super human strength and conditioning. Visit http://www.strongerman.com were you can sign-up and receive additional tips now.
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