You HAVE to be okay with going AGAINST the GRAIN

I've had some "epiphanies" recently with my health practices. Yes, yes I get those at times. While I was doing other things like training, hiking and just daily life activities, I got that spark! The "ah-ha moment" that I just love, because it signals LEARNING, GROWING and CULTIVATING a root system or foundation within that only makes us more RESILIENT in this wild, wacky life adventure. What clicked was the idea that, in order to be our healthiest self in a SUSTAINABLE and REALISTIC way, we need to be okay with going AGAINST the GRAIN.

I've mentioned this in past posts as it's the premise of Pilar Gerasimo's book, "The Healthy Deviant". As we all know though, we can READ or HEAR words and think we believe them, but when we FEEL that BELIEF? Nothing can hold you back.

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We were at a friend's house recently and the topic of meditation came up (from him) amongst discussions of busy-ness and stress. He mentioned, as often folks do, that he's tried meditation but "he just can't clear his mind". Shawna and I both jumped in to remind him that THAT is NOT what meditation is about.

This is a typical misunderstanding of the practice.

**The other factor here that we did NOT get into is what does "try" means to my friend? For many people I've encountered in my career and personal life, "try" has different meanings to many of us. Ultimately, "trying" meditation for example once, twice or even three times IS NOT trying. Our physiology needs time to adapt to a new stimulus. And nature doesn't work on a once or twice kind of timeline. She needs time and consistency to gently nudge her in the direction we want.

This conversation got me thinking about my meditation practice that has grown over time, with practice, study and more practice. Here's what came to mind...

When you practice meditation, you have to be prepared for people to NOT understand;

They won't understand why... 

They won't understand how... 

They may be uncomfortable with the idea in general...

This is all the more reason for YOU to be excited, happy and into your practice for YOUR OWN REASONS!

I took that thought, and brought it into ALL my health practices, in addition to meditation; breathwork (which we could argue can be a form of meditation in itself), hikes, walks, runs, nutrition habits, sports, strength training, mobility work, recovery practices, sleep....

All of it goes AGAINST the GRAIN. Why?

Because it's ALL done from a place of basics.

Because it ALL feels good (which doesn't mean it's not challenging at times).

Because CONSISTENTCY is at the forefront of all of these health practices.

Because it's done without "time constraints" or an "end" in mind.

It reminded me as I thought about it, how strong then we need to be in FEELING and KNOWING what WE (as individuals) want for OURSELVES.

Not what others think we "should" be doing ...

Not what came across social media feeds today...

Not what some random self-proclaimed guru says I "need" to do...

It HAS to come from deeper inside ME in order to be truly okay with working AGAINST the GRAIN. The norm in our society are things like...

👉"All or Nothing" mindsets, approaches and way of living

👉Follow the trend of today

👉Do the fancy BEFORE the basic foundational principles

👉Constantly gather information

👉Gather info from a WIDE variety of sources (good or not so good)

👉Never be satisfied

👉Do what "everyone else says" or "is doing" rather than approaching things from a self-experiment

Sustainability in your habits starts with YOUR mindset

People DON'T have to agree with OR understand YOUR health paths your choose. In order to create the health and lifestyle YOU want though, YOU have to be 100% into YOUR ways, YOUR approach and YOUR practices.

Personally, I've discovered in the last year or so how my meditation practice has helped with this. In meditation, one of the important aspects of the practice is LETTING THINGS BE. Not forcing, not trying to make it BE anything in particular. Just being. Think about it - that's the EXACT opposite of what our society teaches us and what's shoved in our faces every day. That also helps explain why meditation is so often misunderstood.

When we practice LETTING THINGS BE as they are NOW, in the MOMENT it becomes easier and easier to FEEL what you're feeling on any given day as you practice your health habits. All the while, we need to be prepared that it's NOT the norm and you will have people who don't understand, disagree or are completely confused by your choices.

This is a STRENGTH and RESILIENCE in our health that we often don't consider.