What do I mean by that?

Where are you now with your health? We have been brought up to live with a collected set of beliefs that we have all subscribed to from a young age.  The sad thing is that we subscribe to these beliefs at the points in our lives when our minds do not have the capacity to question them. Much as we subscribe to almost anything adults tell us when we are children. At the same time comments like, ‘it is my genetics’ or ‘that’s just the way I am’ are excuses and give more power to these belief patterns.

We are living each day trying to please someone or trying to impress someone with our knowledge, our looks, our intellect, our wittiness, our charm.  We are all wearing 5 or 6 social masks every single day of our lives, depending on who are with.

Your social mask is not the same when you are speaking to your work colleagues than it is when you are speaking with your loved ones or when you are speaking with a close friend.  We have been brought up learning what masks to wear and in what situations.

The only reason we are wearing these social masks is to be accepted in a society that doesn’t like masks.  So what can we do to break free from a reality that has been built for us, but not built by us?

Make a choice!

There comes a time, or several times, in your life when you have to make a choice between living in a health reality that has been created by others, their choices and beliefs ….. or you can create your own reality. Which one would you prefer?

Right this very second our health has been formed by the beliefs that have been passed down by others, mainly our parents, teachers, siblings and peers.  Right now you can decide that you no longer want to live the health reality created for you and it’s time to create your own levels of health, not average or statistical…. your own high standard.

How on earth do you create your own high health standards?

Wake up!

The very first thing to do to change your health is  to wake up to the fact that the world in which you live is made up of belief systems.  Someone believed that it was possible to fly and went on to master flight, someone believed that it was possible to illuminate the world with light and went on to master the light bulb, someone believed that we could be connected with computers and went on to create the internet, someone believed that we no longer needed horse and cart for transport and invented cars. Some people believe that it is OK to smoke or drink and eat poor food, it doesn’t have to be you belief if you actually choose not to.

It’s time for that someone to be you, it’s time for you break the spell of someone’s beliefs and start making your own spells.  You live in a reality created by others, their ideas of health, of fun, of exercise and socialising – have the courage, the belief, the mental strength, and the power to change your own health.  Don’t join someone else’s revolution, start your own revolution and become the leader and not the follower.

Imagine how you’d look, how you’d feel, what you could do?

What things are you going to do to do to get your health, weight or fitness to the level you want? Who can you get information from? What action will you take now?

I have a confession to make, I HATE weightlifting. I always have. I could never get into lifting weights; I’ve always loved playing ball, I dig calisthenics, I like messing with kettlebells (because it never really felt like weight lifting to me), but deadlifts, and bench presses, and back squats, I just don’t get.

I think my friend Joey said it best: “Lifting weights hurts…”

His meaning was two-fold; but, I’ll get to that is a moment. First, allow me to describe the circumstances around which he made that statement.

It was a bitter cold December day circa 1993. Joey was a few years older than I. He was the older brother of my best friend, Danny. Joey had recently returned from Denver and we were down the playground playing soccer in the cage, just as we had virtually every day since we were little kids.

We all looked up to Joey because he was what we dreamed about being, a professional soccer player. At that time he was playing with the Denver franchise in the Professional Indoor Soccer League (NPISL or whatever it was called at the time). He had served stints in Europe, playing on First Division reserve sides in England, Bundesliga sides in Germany; and now he was back home and playing in, at that time, the only  American professional soccer league.

(Note** The American professional soccer landscape in the early 90’s was still maturing: the United States had yet to host a World Cup, The North American Soccer League had folded almost 10 years previous, less than a handful of Americans had ever suited up for a top-flight European Club, The MLS was a few years away from its inaugural season, and professional indoor soccer was the best thing we had.)

Being (not exactly big) kids hopeful of making our high school varsity teams, Danny and I asked Joey what kind of lifting program they were doing out in Denver. He replied that they had a weight training facility but he never used it. Why? “Because lifting hurts”.

We knew what he meant, lifting made him sore and tight; being sore and tight made him play worse. It made him slower, it made him fatigue quicker, and for a guy who hated losing, it was generally unhelpful. Spending time in the gym also limited his time working with a ball; refining his touch, working on new moves. What Joey realized was, he was already strong enough to hold off defenders, to win loose balls, to work himself out of corners; he understood that if he worked on his touch (with the ball), instead of spending time lifting, he could create more space for himself, wrong-foot defenders, beat people with his moves, or draw fouls and set up free kicks. His strength did not come from a barbell; it came from being a great athlete, and from his love for the game.

The reason I am bringing this up is not to condemn weightlifting. I realize that some folks love weightlifting; for some of you, lifting is your absolute passion. That is awesome. Please do what you are passionate about, and do it well.

I bring this up because as I look around the fitness & training worlds, and I see them teeming with weightlifters; some that are passionate about lifting. Others are in search of health and simply do not see an alternative. To me, health grows out of doing exactly what you are passionate about.

Although I am not passionate about lifting, I have always been passionate about playing. Which is why I put such a value on the Z-Health Performance System.

I’ve been witnessing an awful lot of misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the Z-Health Performance System, and my intuition tells me its because our lens has had too narrow of a scope.

The way that I understand this system, its was designed by examining elite athletes, deconstructing their skill-sets, and modeling them. The diversity of athletic pursuits dictates that an overwhelming majority of athletes studied while designing this system were not weightlifters; yet I continually witness the system being applied only to this extremely small speck of the athletic universe – the “pick up heavy stuff” star… or the “help my (whatever) not hurt so I can pick up heavy stuff” meteor… or the “just gotta get through my workout” moon…

It pains me to see so many people “work out”. When I was a kid I never worked out; Danny and Joey never worked out. We Played. we played our tails off; even when we were down the playground perfecting our step-overs or practicing driving corner kicks.

Am I alone in my belief that the true value of the system is that it (virtually) forces us out of the weight room; that is encourages us to get out and play? To get out and recreate? To go out and compete, without being confined to chasing a PR? That mastering the art of playing most any sport well can be refined to mastering it’s R’s, I’s, and S’s? It’s rhythm, timing, and flow?

Am I the only one that believes the greatest joy in life comes from mastering one’s passions?

Why are we only applying Z-Health to pain relief? Why do I so often hear, “I have to go do my Z, to warm up for lifting”. In the book: Kettlebells for Dummies it says: “Z-Health exercises are great for warm-up and cool down”. Sure, they are, but if that is how you use Z-Health, you are missing so much. So much mastery… So much joy.

Again, if lifting gets you absolutely jazzed, have at it. In all honesty, I don’t mind picking stuff up every now and again; I simply need a lot more variety in my diet.

I know I cannot be alone in my agreement with Joey that lifting (for the most part) hurts. I want to practice playing. Playing ball. Playing in the ocean. Playing in the mountains. Playing in the parks and playgrounds. Playing music. I have too much playing to master to worry about lifting…

And need some of you to play with me…

This is a guest post by Lou Mcgovern – Z Health Master Trainer, check him out at his website www.essentialstrength.com

Good health starts with good food, and good food starts with good soil. Weather we like it or not, it is a fact that our existence is inexplicably linked to the health of our planet and inparticular the health of the soil.

This documentary is a fantastic account of one man’s efforts to help educate Indian farmers on the benefits of returning to traditional agricultural methods and save them from the horrors of multi-national agri-chemical companies.

5 Reasons Why You Should See This Film:

• To learn about the importance of biodynamic and organic agriculture
• To realize that your food choices make a real impact on the health of the planet
• To be introduced to a very special farmer with a special mission
• To learn that agri-chemical companies might not have your health at heart
  
• How returning farmers to natural methods holds great promise for the world

You might not be aware of the fact that many Indian farmers are committing suicide at an alarming rate. Why you might ask? Because agri-chemical companies are convincing them to buy GMO seeds and then up-sell them on the chemicals designed specifically for that crop.

This creates a large financial commitment and if the crop fails, which is often the case, the farmers are left in debt and see no other way out. This is never the case when seeds are collected free of charge from nature from the previous crop.

This film is a fantastic account of how even against the odds of the agri-business giants one man and a collection of committed individuals have helped change the face of farming in India for good.

This film will show you a new and positive reason why to choose organic and biodynamic foods. For the health of yourself and the planet share this film and this message with those you love.

Own the DVD Today                               Click Here To Purchase

Insightful, and cost effective!

In a way, simplifying your life for vagabonding is easier than it sounds. This is because travel by its very nature demands simplicity. If you don’t believe this, just go home and try stuffing everything you own into a backpack. This will never work, because no matter how meagerly you live at home, you can’t match the scaled-down minimalism that travel requires. You can, however, set the process of reduction and simplification into motion while you’re still at home. This is useful on several levels: Not only does it help you to save up travel money, but it helps you realize how independent you are of your possessions and your routines. In this way, it prepares you mentally for the realities of the road, and makes travel a dynamic extension of the life-alterations you began at home.

“Travel can be a kind of monasticism on the move: On the road, we often live more simply, with no more possessions than we can carry, and surrendering ourselves to chance. This is what Camus meant when he said that “what gives value to travel is fear” — disruption, in other words, (or emancipation) from circumstance, and all the habits behind which we hide.
– Pico Iyer, “Why We Travel”

As with, say, giving up coffee, simplifying your life will require a somewhat difficult consumer withdrawal period. Fortunately, your impending travel experience will give you a very tangible and rewarding long-term goal that helps ease the discomfort. Over time, as you reap the sublime rewards of simplicity, you’ll begin to wonder how you ever put up with such a cluttered life in the first place.

On a basic level, there are three general methods to simplifying your life: stopping expansion, reining in your routine, and reducing clutter. The easiest part of this process is stopping expansion. This means that – in anticipation of vagabonding – you don’t add any new possessions to your life, regardless of how tempting they might seem. Naturally, this applies to things like cars and home entertainment systems, but this also applies to travel accessories. Indeed, one of the biggest mistakes people make in anticipation of vagabonding is to indulge in a vicarious travel buzz by investing in water filters, sleeping bags, and travel-boutique wardrobes. In reality, vagabonding runs smoothest on a bare minimum of gear – and even multi-year trips require little initial investment beyond sturdy footwear and a dependable travel bag or backpack.

While you’re curbing the material expansion of your life, you should also take pains to rein in the unnecessary expenses of your weekly routine. Simply put, this means living more humbly (even if you aren’t humble) and investing the difference into your travel fund. Instead of eating at restaurants, for instance, cook at home and pack a lunch to work or school. Instead of partying at nightclubs and going out to movies or pubs, entertain at home with friends or family. Wherever you see the chance to eliminate an expensive habit, take it. The money you save as a result will pay handsomely in travel time. In this way, I ate lot of baloney sandwiches (and missed out on a lot of grunge-era Seattle nightlife) while saving up for a vagabonding stint after college — but the ensuing eight months of freedom on the roads of North America more than made up for it.

“Very many people spend money in ways quite different from those that their natural tastes would enjoin, merely because the respect of their neighbors depends upon their possession of a good car and their ability to give good dinners. As a matter of fact, any man who can obviously afford a car but genuinely prefers travels or a good library will in the end be much more respected than if he behaved exactly like everyone else.”
– Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness

Perhaps the most challenging step in keeping things simple is to reduce clutter – to downsize what you already own. As Thoreau observed, downsizing can be the most vital step in winning the freedom to change your life: “I have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all,” he wrote in Walden, “who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or sliver fetters.”

How you reduce your “dross” in anticipation of travel will depend on your situation. If you’re young, odds are you haven’t accumulated enough to hold you down (which, incidentally, is a big reason why so many vagabonders tend to be young). If you’re not-so-young, you can re-create the carefree conditions of youth by jettisoning the things that aren’t necessary to your basic well-being. For much of what you own, garage sales and on-line auctions can do wonders to de-clutter your life (and score you an extra bit of cash to boot). Homeowners can win their travel freedom by renting out their houses; those who rent accommodation can sell, store, or lend out the things that might bind them to one place.

An additional consideration in life-simplification is debt. As Laurel Lee wryly observed in Godspeed, “cities are full of those who have been caught in monthly payments for avocado green furniture sets.” Thus, if at all possible, don’t let avocado green furniture sets (or any other seemingly innocuous indulgence) dictate the course of your life by forcing you into ongoing cycles of production and consumption. If you’re already in debt, work your way out of it – and stay out. If you have a mortgage or other long-term debt, devise a situation (such as property rental) that allows you to be independent of its obligations for long periods of time. Being free from debt’s burdens simply gives you more vagabonding options.

And, for that matter, more life options.

To learn more from Tim Ferris The 4-hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

[Note from Tim: I took Walden with me, along with Vagabonding, when I traveled the world beginning in 2004. Less is More came a few months later, and I still reread it every six months or so.]

Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (Dover Thrift) by Henry David Thoreau
The philosophical account of Thoreau’s experiment in anti-materialist living. An American literary classic for over 150 years.

Less is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: an Anthology of Ancient and Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity
Quotes and essays on the value of simplicity, from the likes of Socrates, Shakespeare, St. Francis, Benjamin Franklin, and Mohandas Gandhi — as well as the Bible, the Dhammapada, the Tao Te Ching, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated
A best-selling book that uses a nine-step process to demonstrate how most people are making a “dying” instead of a living. Practical pointers for achieving financial independence by altering your lifestyle.

Voluntary Simplicity Second: Revised Edition: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich
First published in 1981, this is a popular reference and inspiration for those looking to live a simpler life. Strongly themed toward environmental sustainability.

The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living
Luhrs is the founder and publisher of The Simple Living Journal (and the companion website). Book contains tips for living fully and well through simplicity.

Possibly one of the most common questions I receive when it comes to an exercise routine is, “Is there a BEST time to work out?” I know many swear by starting their day with exercise and many others use physical activity as a way to wind down from the stress of a hectic workday. Exercising after 8 pm can often prevent sleep and be stressful to the hormones.

There was an interesting article in The New York Times over a year ago that I bookmarked about this subject. The article, titled, “The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise,” validated my opinion—any time of day beats no exercise at all. The author reports that science has proven working out between 4 and 7 p.m. is a slightly better time for physical performance than morning, based on hormones. The article explains “the body’s temperature and hormone levels peak in late afternoon, making muscles more flexible and producing the best ratio of testosterone (the muscle-building hormone) to cortisol (the hormone that does the reverse).”

However, the article goes on to say that the advantages of an afternoon workout are slight and that the human body can adapt to working out at any time of the day. That being said, I must once again stand on my soapbox and say, a calorie burned at 6 a.m. is the same calorie burned at 6 p.m. The key is to work out whenever you have time, any time of day, any day of the week. I remind my clients all the time that when it comes to exercise, you have to break some rules to get your workout done.

Now, there are rules we follow for exercise because they make sense and keep us healthy and safe. For example, we have heart rate training zones to guide us so we burn fat and don’t overdo it. We have strength training rules that tell us how often to lift, how much and how to do the moves safely. We have guidelines for mobility for stretching to reduce injury and muscle soreness. But every so often, when we read exercise rules and guidelines in the media, we end up feeling defeated if they don’t exactly fit in with our lives, needs and goals. Take a look at how you exercise now. Are you that person who’s silenced by inaction because you can’t do it perfectly according to the rules?

I love morning exercise; for me, a workout at 7:30 a.m. is the ying to my yang. I make sure I have a balanced breakfast at least 60 mins or longer before and get it done before I start the workday. But when I find a client who absolutely won’t go for morning workouts, then I suggest another time of day. You may find that what works for you is a little different than what you might have read, or heard on TV. I’m not knocking fitness experts because I am one! I’m just asking you to remember to be true to yourself and bend the rules to fit in your lifestyle so you actually do something, rather than nothing.

On the flip side, when I’m training an athlete or someone who is working toward a serious goal like a marathon, then rules and schedules are absolutely important to their outcome. You can’t run a marathon at your potential without following a well-mapped program. But if you are that person trying to just lose a few pounds, feel better, have more energy and stop being cranky—then BEND THE RULES to work for you, not against you. The best time of day is the time you will be able to complete a workout consistently over time, and at a time that suits you.

What time can you schedule in and stick to each day?

1. Schedule regular social activities

Remember when you used to spend time with people you were neither working with nor sleeping with? You watched movies, ate meals, played games, and went on trips. You were active and you had fun!

You can regain some of that emotional fulfillment by contacting some of your old pals and scheduling regular activities.

2. Follow a fitness plan

If you want to avoid burnout, resurrect that New Year’s Resolution and figure out what it takes to get you exercising on a regular basis. Apart from all the physical benefits of exercise, you’ll enjoy the mental satisfaction of knowing that you’re taking good care of yourself again.

3. Pursue a hobby

Pick a hobby that has little or nothing to do with what you spend most of your week doing and pursue it with passion! A hobby that uses an entirely different skill set can provide your heart and mind with a satisfying break from the weekly grind and set you on a good path for increased productivity.

4. Volunteer

Nothing brightens the soul or warms the senses like giving to another for no reason other than to give. If you’re feeling run down by life, seek out somebody less fortunate than yourself and work to help them.

5. Write a manifesto

Have you forgotten what you want out of life? It’s easy to lose track of time and even easier to forget about what makes us glad to be alive. What can you do to bring back that focus? Take a day or perhaps an entire weekend and write a manifesto, a declaration of purpose, for yourself.

6. Ask for help

Whether your struggle is with a particular part of a project or with something general, like time management, asking for help will get you to a solution faster than you could ever hope to alone. If you want to avoid burnout, you’ll need to swallow your pride on occasion and reach out for help.

7. Make others laugh

You’ll find it hard to be glum and entertain unhappy thoughts when the people around you are excited and happy to be near you.

8. Make an escape list

An “escape list” is a list of everything you’d need to do in order to escape a situation that’s driving you nuts. In a work context, your escape list might include things like turning in a final presentation or asking for a raise.

9. Embrace a morning ritual

Are you starting your day on the wrong foot by waking up late, rushing about, and skipping out the door at the last minute? Try slowing down your morning instead.

10. Stop making excuses

Once you’ve given up on blaming others you’ll start seeing more of the good in your life.

11. Be accountable

The trick is find somebody you can trust to give the down and dirty on what you’re trying to do and how you’re moving forward. For best results, have your accountability partner NOT be a relative or somebody you’re dating. They typically won’t have the capacity for objective review of your progress. People who love you will often make excuses for you, and you want to avoid excuses at all costs.

Sources:

Lifehack March 10, 2010

1. Be honest

You don’t need lies in your life, and being honest only gets easier with practice.

2. Make a list of just 7 things that are irreplaceable

Once you know what’s important to you, you’ll probably get rid of some things that aren’t.

3. Make a list of just 5 people who matter the most to you

Once again, keeping in touch with the people who really mean something to you will help you realize your true priorities.

4. Move into a smaller living space

You’ll throw out some stuff during the moving process, and a small home means you’ll be faced with clutter on a daily basis until you get rid of more.

5. Quit or change your job

Or just pretend for a while and make some plans. You might be surprised by what you come up with.

6. Train for a fitness goal
   

Whether this is training for a 5k fun run, a 2k row, restarting an old or beginning a new sport. This can provide an amazing amount of stress relief too.

Sources:

Lifehack March 30, 2010

Total post read time: 2 minutes. Excerpt from Tim Ferris’ blog. The 4-hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

Living well is quite different from “doing well.”

In the quest to get ahead — destination often unknown — it’s easy to have life pass you by while you’re focused on other things. This post is intended as a reminder and a manifesto: keep it simple.

This is written by Rolf Potts, author of my perennial favorite and heavily highlighted Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel In the below piece, I’ve bolded some particular parts that have had an impact on my life.

Enter Rolf.

###

In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the coast of Alaska, resulting in the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Initially viewed as an ecological disaster, this catastrophe did wonders to raise environmental awareness among average Americans. As television images of oil-choked sea otters and dying shore birds were beamed across the country, pop-environmentalism grew into a national craze.

Instead of conserving more and consuming less, however, many Americans sought to save the earth by purchasing “environmental” products. Energy-efficient home appliances flew off the shelves, health food sales boomed, and reusable canvas shopping bags became vogue in strip malls from Jacksonville to Jackson Hole. Credit card companies began to earmark a small percentage of profits for conservation groups, thus encouraging consumers to “help the environment” by striking off on idealistic shopping binges.

Such shopping sprees and health food purchases did absolutely nothing to improve the state of the planet, of course — but most people managed to feel a little better about the situation without having to make any serious lifestyle changes.

This notion — that material investment is somehow more important to life than personal investment — is exactly what leads so many of us to believe we could never afford to go vagabonding. The more our life options get paraded around as consumer options, the more we forget that there’s a difference between the two. Thus, having convinced ourselves that buying things is the only way to play an active role in the world, we fatalistically conclude that we’ll never be rich enough to purchase a long-term travel experience.

Fortunately, the world need not be a consumer product. As with environmental integrity, long-term travel isn’t something you buy into: it’s something you give to yourself.

Indeed, the freedom to go vagabonding has never been determined by income level, but through simplicity — the conscious decision of how to use what income you have.

And, contrary to popular stereotypes, seeking simplicity doesn’t require that you become a monk, a subsistence forager, or a wild-eyed revolutionary. Nor does it mean that you must unconditionally avoid the role of consumer. Rather, simplicity merely requires a bit of personal sacrifice: an adjustment of your habits and routines within consumer society itself.

“Our crude civilization engenders a multitude of wants… Our forefathers forged chains of duty and habit, which bind us notwithstanding our boasted freedom, and we ourselves in desperation, add link to link, groaning and making medicinal laws for relief.”
– John Muir, Kindred and Related Spirits

At times, the biggest challenge in embracing simplicity will be the vague feeling of isolation that comes with it, since private sacrifice doesn’t garner much attention in the frenetic world of mass culture.

Jack Kerouac’s legacy as a cultural icon is a good example of this. Arguably the most famous American vagabonder of the 20th century, Kerouac vividly captured the epiphanies of hand-to-mouth travel in books like On the Road and Lonesome Traveler. In Dharma Bums, he wrote about the joy of living with people who blissfully ignore “the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that crap they didn’t really want…general junk you always see a week later in the garbage anyway, all of [it] impersonal in a system of work, produce, consume.”

Despite his observance of material simplicity, however, Kerouac found that his personal life – the life that had afforded him the freedom to travel – was soon overshadowed by a more fashionable (and marketable) public vision of his travel lifestyle. Convertible cars, jazz records, marijuana (and, later, Gap khakis), ultimately came to represent the mystical “It” that he and Neal Cassidy sought in On the Road. As his Beat cohort William S. Burroughs was to point out years after his death, part of Kerouac’s mystique became inseparable from the idea that he “opened a million coffee bars and sold a million pairs of Levi’s to both sexes.”

In some ways, of course, coffee bars, convertibles and marijuana are all part of what made travel appealing to Kerouac’s readers. That’s how marketing (intentional and otherwise) works. But these aren’t the things that made travel possible for Kerouac. What made travel possible was that he knew how neither self nor wealth can be measured in terms of what you consume or own. Even the downtrodden souls on the fringes of society, he observed, had something the rich didn’t: Time.

This notion – the notion that “riches” don’t necessarily make you wealthy – is as old as society itself. The ancient Hindu Upanishads refer disdainfully to “that chain of possessions wherewith men bind themselves, and beneath which they sink”; ancient Hebrew scriptures declare that “whoever loves money never has money enough.” Jesus noted that it’s pointless for a man to “gain the whole world, yet lose his very self”, and the Buddha whimsically pointed out that seeking happiness in one’s material desires is as absurd as “suffering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes.”

Despite several millennia of such warnings, however, there is still an overwhelming social compulsion – an insanity of consensus, if you will – to get rich from life rather than live richly, to “do well” in the world instead of living well. And, in spite of the fact that America is famous for its unhappy rich people, most of us remain convinced that just a little more money will set life right. In this way, the messianic metaphor of modern life becomes the lottery – that outside chance that the right odds will come together to liberate us from financial worries once and for all.

“Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing…”
– Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”

Fortunately, we were all born with winning tickets – and cashing them in is a simple matter of altering our cadence as we walk through the world. Vagabonding sage Ed Buryn knew as much: “By switching to a new game, which in this case involves vagabonding, time becomes the only possession and everyone is equally rich in it by biological inheritance. Money, of course, is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create the life values that make the fire worth the candle. Dig?”

Dug. And the bonus to all of this is that – as you of sow your future with rich fields of time – you are also planting the seeds of personal growth that will gradually bloom as you travel into the world.

* * *

Learn more from Tim Ferris The 4-hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

Resources for lifestyle simplicity

Tim Ferris : The 4-hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich

[Note from Tim: I took Walden with me, along with Vagabonding, when I traveled the world beginning in 2004. Less is More came a few months later, and I still reread it every six months or so.]

Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (Dover Thrift) by Henry David Thoreau
The philosophical account of Thoreau’s experiment in anti-materialist living. An American literary classic for over 150 years.

Less is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: an Anthology of Ancient and Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity
Quotes and essays on the value of simplicity, from the likes of Socrates, Shakespeare, St. Francis, Benjamin Franklin, and Mohandas Gandhi — as well as the Bible, the Dhammapada, the Tao Te Ching, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated
A best-selling book that uses a nine-step process to demonstrate how most people are making a “dying” instead of a living. Practical pointers for achieving financial independence by altering your lifestyle.

Voluntary Simplicity Second: Revised Edition: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich
First published in 1981, this is a popular reference and inspiration for those looking to live a simpler life. Strongly themed toward environmental sustainability.

The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living
Luhrs is the founder and publisher of The Simple Living Journal (and the companion website). Book contains tips for living fully and well through simplicity.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/diet_and_fitness/article7122173.ece

Are these the kind of tactics you or anyone you know use to lose weight? If so they are heading for weight gain, liver issues, depression and fatigue and poor aging skin. Is it worth it for this unrealistic, unmaintainable image?