Exercise as a Daily Function of Your Life

That is the key to remaining healthy all one's life.  What else more important does one have to do?  This is particularly true the older one gets -- and has more time to do it.  There is simply nothing better and more important to do.

The problem is that self-proclaimed experts will still insist that you have to do it their way -- or presumably, not at all.  But one is no longer in kindergarten or high school, and can exercise anyway they like -- and particularly, in the way they like.  Nothing makes more sense.  Still many will insist that one has to run a marathon or bench press their bodyweight to qualify as "proper" exercise, when in fact, any movements one wishes to do and become proficient at, is fully acceptable -- if one enjoys it enough and sees the benefit of that movement, to want to do it every day.

But make no mistake -- it has to be a movement, and not just thinking about doing so.  That is where many people fall short in their thinking about exercise.  It goes no farther than their brain -- and so no actual movement is discernible.  They think they can just will their way to health -- rather than actually doing something about it, and actually move.

However, movement does not have to mean moving the entire body at once; it is even more effective and productive, to be able to focus movement around a singe joint -- particularly the furthest joint possible, which are known as the fine motor control -- of the head, hands and feet, which contain the critical organs of sense and cognition -- that makes all the difference.

The entire design, structure and intent of the human musculature, is to move these areas and faculties for most effective use. So it is not running, jumping, lifting, or any one thing; the usefulness is in being able to do all things -- as needed.  As such, one can become skilled and efficient at those movements, with very little practice -- as little as a minute each movement, each day.

There's relatively little gain with more -- and many athletic events are actually over in a second -- but that second is focused around
one movement.  That movement is not about more or less, but the quality and range -- which is really the objective of any practice.  One wishes to become better, and not simply do more of a poor performance or nothing -- which the undiscriminating mind, can't tell the difference -- and is thus perpetually wondering why they don't obtain the same satisfactory results.

It never matters how much one does poorly and thoughtlessly; all that matters is what one does to the best of their ability -- and the only way to find that out, is by actually doing something.  Just thinking one can, is not enough or sufficient, to obtain the best results.

Unfortunately in a world of mediated experiences and knowledge, many are convinced there is no difference.  Many have even lost their ability to distinguish when they have done something, and only thought about doing it.  But the results don't lie.  Some  become good at what they do -- because of what they actually do, while others become good at doing nothing, because that is what they actually do.

It's not necessary to throw the javelin or pole vault -- as much as it is to maintain one's functioning of the sensory and cognitive organs at the extremities of the human body -- throughout one's entire life, and not only until one reaches retirement age when many think they never want to do anything again.  At that point in their life, it is more important than ever, to exercise daily, the faculties they wish to keep, maintain, and continue to improve.

But they can let go of all the extraneous and arbitrary requirements of doing it for anybody else -- and replace them with their own fundaments of intelligent living.  That's what they have to get better at -- all the days of their lives.  That is the measure and meaning of their lives.  Without that, they implode as many do at this critical juncture of their lives.  It doesn't just happen.  It is a lifetime in the making.

That is what we are all called to account for -- for there is no roll call to have to answer to.  That is what their whole lives has been a preparation for -- the truly independent life, that each creates for themselves.  It's not just about the money, or other accomplishments or attainments, but about how it all comes together in a fully integrated life.   Then everything makes sense -- and there is no thinking apart from the doing -- and one's doing, is one's being.

That is the wholeness of life -- and as healthy as one can be.

Recovery Ability

The single greatest lesson in athletics and sporting activities -- is learning to recover, or recovery ability.   That enables one to deal with any situation, and in doing so, improving their subsequent ability.

When one no longer can, or even shows an interest in doing so anymore, than improvement is no longer possible -- and permanent, irreversible decline the only thing possible.  This quality, more than any other, differentiates and distinguishes people into the thriving -- from the dying, the winners from the losers.

It doesn't have to be a competition -- but each individual's choice -- of whether to get better, or not to.  That ability to improve to accommodate ever-greater challenges, is what we all hope to achieve -- implied or intentionally.  If one runs a marathon, but never recovers from that effort and instead goes into irreversible injury and decline, or worse gets killed, that achievement is moot -- although admittedly, discovering one's ultimate limits.  Obviously, that is the point of no return -- and the preference, is never to go past that point -- as long as one lives.  Again, a moot point.

The only time one desires to "go there," is when there is no choice, and it is necessary for absolute survival.  Those opportunities come frequently enough -- for one not to have to program them as a regular occurrence in their lives -- as the foolish think is necessary, often to "prove" themselves of continued viability.  In that way, many bring about their own premature end -- rather than increasing and enhancing their survival chances.  That also fairly describes what we call "aging," or decreasing fitness for continued survival -- let alone thriving in their environment, and getting better at it.

Recovery ability is what makes it possible -- and indicates the direction one wishes to continue -- and avoid the direction that diminishes those chances.  And in whatever age, time and condition one is in, there is always that choice and action available to them.  That is what life is.  So to think otherwise, is already the beginning of the end -- when one claims they have little or no choice.  They can change that.

That is the meaning and purpose of every life -- and if not, or it doesn't matter, then shortly one will be dead, and it will not matter.  That is the division between the living and the dead -- to the extent that it matters, and one should be clear about that -- and then everything else arises from that.  That is the basic assumption upon which one proceeds to do everything else.

The results of that thinking, is self-evident truth.  One doesn't need to be convinced otherwise.  Yet many seem to go to great lengths to persuade themselves and others, that what is obvious to everybody else, is not true.  Frequently, that is to say that one is getting better, when one is obviously getting worse -- and then one is on the slippery slope where nothing is ever as it seems.  That is Alice in Wonderland.  But one doesn't have to go there -- or read the book -- to see those manifestations in everyday life and situations.

The trick is determining how accurately the perception matches and meshes with the reality -- which is to observe the true as the truth, and the false as the false, and to be able to tell that difference -- and not be dependent on someone else to tell them so, and correct them.  That dependence, is always fatal.