Seeing the Obvious

The most difficult thing, is to see what is everywhere around us, because like the air and water, we don't think to even "see" them -- not because they don't exist, but because everything in life would be impossible without them.  And so they are the "givens" -- that we never question, or think there is anything we can do about -- when precisely, that is what we can do most about -- in modifying our health and condition.

That is quite shocking, for those who have convinced themselves, that first they have to make a million dollars, before they can bother to improve their personal condition and health -- rather than that it is by first improving their health and condition, by which making a million dollars becomes possible -- even if it is just being around long enough to receive/win it.

For a person who is very observant, the bad condition many people are in should be obvious -- that despite all that they do, they fail to do that which they must do -- and not that they are doing nothing.  What they are doing -- is putting them into the condition they are in, and not that it has come about because life is unfair, and they were dealt the bottom cards -- rather than all the winners they were "entitled" to.

All along the way, they frittered away all the opportunities they were afforded -- and not surprisingly, wasting the present moment to change all that -- in an instant.  That is the difference between getting better -- or worse.  Merely doing something different.  But most, have been conditioned (educated) to do the same thing -- even if it doesn't work, and that is their problem -- and not that they can simply eliminate the problem and move on to what else life has to offer.  They are stuck, and limited to solving the same problem as they always have -- thinking that is all quite normal, and the way their life has to be -- until it eventually and inevitably kills them.

That is obviously the case with alcohol and other drug addictions, but less so and more acceptable with other diseases and injuries people often inflict on themselves -- including every single athlete who has had to retire because of injuries.  They simply cannot do that anymore.  But that is very different from not being able to do anything anymore.  One simply has to go on and discover the many things they can do -- that they haven't done before -- including making all the right and healthful movements, instead of continuing to do the ones that predispose them to danger, disease and injury.

People often condition themselves by using danger, injury and even death, as a motivator -- that if they don't execute the 500 lb. bench press, their chest or head will be smashed.  Or if they don't dodge the blow the other is trying to inflict on them, the consequences could be lethal.  But it might be less obvious to advise a frail and obviously helpless 90 year old that they should take up walking or running among heavy traffic and hazardous conditions -- just to stay healthy, when thoughtfully, it would make much more sense, to realize all the movements they can do -- from the safety of their own chair, or bed even.

In fact, the most effective exercises, are likely to be those that can be done in one's bed, and particularly, lying in one's deathbed -- and recovering their health fully from that very real debilitated condition.  And if one can do that, those exercises would work even better, if one has a better base to begin with -- but if it is simply advising a dying person that they should run a marathon to be healthy again, that is worse than useless -- but not unlike the advice frequently given by those who think they know better.

So the question is, what movements can one do -- lying in their deathbed, that could change their prospects and improve their health?  Obviously, it is those movements at the head, hands and feet that people retain the ability for responsiveness -- long after they have lost the ability to run a marathon and do 50 chinups.  Yet that is often what the physical expert requires to  prove that one is still viable -- rather than the least movement, that they can exercise to regain their mastery of movement and responsiveness -- that others will regard as liveliness.

So it is shocking, when a person doesn't exhibit movements at the head, hands and feet, while exhibiting it only at the shoulders and hips -- as the movement of the core muscles, or the largest, rather than the most muscles indicative of the greatest range of expression and articulations -- instead of just the one, performed unvaryingly and tirelessly, until the joints have to be replaced, or can no longer be replaced.

At that point, they are forced to stop -- and given no viable alternatives -- since they were convinced, there was no other way.  That should be a huge problem for those who think that running on a treadmill for 30 minutes each day, is all that is necessary to retain all the movements the body is capable of.  Why should we expect to lose all those capacities -- because we haven't expressed them as part of the necessary maintenance for retaining and improving the health of those abilities?

Thus a well-designed program for maintaining one's vitality -- should extend way beyond the shoulders and hips -- to where they have to be expressed meaningfully and masterfully, in work, gestures, speech, writing, art and music -- rather than stop at the heart beat, which tells us very little about the vitality of that individual, and their range of expression and articulation.  Those are the meaningful movements to maintain -- and improve, all one's life.