Potential...

Potential...

Everybody has it, but few reach it!

There are those among us that believe that everybody longs to reach their own personal best-either it is going to be to get the best body, the best job, the highest score on the test, an olympic record or you name it..

We pretend our ultimate goal is to be the best version of ourselves, finding the right job, reading the right books,eating the right food... but the reality is far less compelling. If we are truly honest we will admit that the level to which we might possibly rise is rarely our chief concern. More important is reaching the level where we can merely survive or, at the very least, mock survival. Getting there is much easier. Getting there requires less time, less pain, and less effort. Getting there is too often there enough.

I see people everyday that claim they want to achieve something so bad...they'd give anything to have it or reach it. But to me they speak with empty voices... How many of them are truely willing to give everything they've got, to work their butt off, to get up before sunrise, to be studying while others are sitting on the caouch watching TV?

I've been involved in sports half of my life. I have seen so many athletes come and go. Some of them had a God givven talent to be the best, some of them just had the will to push them work hard and be the best. All of them claimed they wanted something. But few actually did something to achieve it. Many had the opportunity to show what they were made of. Many had the opportunity to get where they wanted to be....but the trick is that most of the time opportunity is dressed as work...yes! That is the truth. You have to work hard to get where you want to be.

Most people get content to spend their life just merely surviving, just to get through the day. They don't care what they are gonna do as long as it gives them enough to survive...

Why? Because greatness is HARD. Our bodies don’t care about potential. They were built to survive, not to excel, and survival has gotten pretty easy. Our bodies don’t know that by being stronger and faster and leaner the likelihood of illness, disease, and injury drop dramatically. Our bodies only know that it hurts like hell getting there. It takes supreme physical and mental fortitude and an unflinching, genuine ambition to overcome these hurdles. Most of us lack this and it shows.


Yea... you might not become the best basketball player, the smartest person in the world, the best manager...there will be always somebody better than you. What I am saying is that you should not put up with mediocrity. You should always aim high. You should always chase your dreams. You should never let the odds to keep you from doing what you truely believe in your heart you were meant to do!

There are so many of us that faced with the reality of what it would take to reach THE GOAL we balked,just give up and put up with being just a mediocre person who is willing to just get through the days, without aspirations, dreams, goals... This is an all too common tragedy.

Sadly, it seems that our praise of greatness and our distaste for mediocrity is an appreciation and expectation reserved for others. We expect Jordan or Phelps or Ronaldo to reach their potential every time they compete and we shake our heads when they fall short. But we shrug off our love handles and that occasional chocolate cake as acceptable losses. We cry for the children growing up without physical opportunities, yet lie on the couch and amicably waste ours away. We claim we’re too old, too fat, too injured, or too tired. The truth is we’re too obsessed with getting by.

The good news is that potential has no shelf life. Whatever state you’re in at whatever moment, you can always be better. SO BE BETTER. Too often people try to do this by setting a number to hit, a person to beat, or a mirror to impress, implicitly attaching a finite quality to the process. This focus is flawed. As you change and improve, so too should your potential grow and your ambition swell...

So do not let hardships keep you from reaching your potential. Be willing to work hard. It will hurt, you will be willing to give up but if you hang there and push hard I assure you that it will be worth it!

It's not about what you are eating.It is about what is eating you!

A couple days ago I ran into a british tv show called "Superfat vs Superskinny". I watched a couple episodes on youtube and that caught me thinking about people all over the world that are struggling with food. There are those of them that are binging and others that starve themselves to death. What makes them do it? Is it just because they find food so tasty that leads them to excessive eating or on the other hand do they find it so nasty that they refuse eating it? ...

Unfortunately in my life I have had a couple vivid examples with people suffering from bulimia,anorexia and some obese people. Some of those people ain't alive anymore... sad isn't it? What made them torture their bodies that way?

I've noticed that most people that are overweight try to fill emotional emptiness with food. They find it really comforting.It makes them feel happy. They think that the happiness they feel while eating is gonna make the saddness,disappointment and heartache disappear. But does it happen that way? No! It even makes you feel worse! After you stuff yourself with food to the point where you feel your stomach is gonna explode you start feeling guilty and fat and that makes you sadder than you actually were. There are pleanty of examples about people that experienced some hardships and turned to food as their saviour.



Let's talk a little bit about those that starve themselves to death. It all starts the same way. They meet obstacles in life, experience a couple disappointments, probably loose control over their lives...and that is when they try to find balance in life by controling food. They have lost control over everything that happens to them so why not control their food? They start eating small portions, the portions become smaller everyday. The food starts being absent in their plate but in the same time "the life" in their body is absent too. They become weaker and weaker and finally it turns out that they don't even have control over the food anymore...they are now controlled by food...



It turns out that by trying to hide emotional emptiness we tend to become food slaves...ain't it sad? Remember we are people...we are supposed to be the most intelligent creatures and we let FOOD to get the leading role in our life?

As it is said life should be lived forwards but could only be understood backwards... so next time before you stuff yourself till your stomach hurts or you think of starving yourself to death...just stop, give yourself a time and look back on your life and what makes you crave that food...find something that makes you happy, no matter if it is walking in the park,driving your car,reading the newspaper...just find what it is and do it...I guarantee you it will help the emotional pain go away faster than eating or starving will...and most important it won't make your body and mind suffer!

Believe

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."
-William James

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true
are the things a man needs to believe in the most.
That people are basically good.
That honor, courage and virtue mean everything;
that power and money ... money and power mean nothing.
That good always triumphs over evil.
And I want you to remember this....
that love....
true love never dies.
Remember that.
Doesn't matter if it is true or not, a man should believe in those things,
because those are the things worth believing in......

...to open a door,to clear a path...and to set yourself free...

To let go isn't to forget, not think about, or ignore. It doesn't leave feelings of anger, jealousy, or regret. Letting go isn't winning, and it isn't losing. It's not about pride, and it's not about how you appear, and it's not obsessing or dwelling on the past. Letting go isn't blocking memories or thinking sad thoughts, and doesn't leave emptiness, hurt or sadness. It's not giving in or giving up. Letting go isn't about loss, and it's not defeat. To let go is to cherish memories, but to overcome and to move on. It is having an open mind and confidence in the future. Letting go is accepting. It is learning and experiencing and growing. To let go is to be thankful for the experiences that made you laugh, made you cry and made you grow. It's about all that you have, all that you had and all that you will soon gain. Letting go is having the courage to accept change, and the strength to keep moving. Letting go is growing up. It is realizing that the heart can sometimes be the most potent remedy. To let go is to open a door, and to clear a path and to set yourself free.

The epidemy of our century a.k.a childhood obesity

Child obesity is one of world’s leading problems. Nowadays more and more children suffer from diseases that are typical for adults- diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases and etc.

Obesity is a metabolic disturbance with chronicle character which is a result from complicated interactions between genetics, hormonal balance and the surrounding environment. Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive dietary calories, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications or psychiatric illness.


During the past half century the calories eaten by people are dramatically getting higher, and the change in the eating habits of the population is not just in a matter of quantity but also in quality. Another external factor influencing the low physical activity is caused by economy and industrialization which have led to the minimum the need to be physically active. In the past our ancestors received awards for being physically active and today we are forced to pay in order to be involved in sports.

But where is hidden the problem with our kids “growing wider”? Is it in the family,school, the social environment or somewhere else?


Let’s first look the family. The example that parents give to their kids play an important role in children’s life. It pretty much builds children’s habits and views for life. According to a study 75% of children that have overweight parents are also “cursed” to inherit their shape. You will say “Sure, it is the genes!”. But is it actually true?Does it always have to be the genes that take all the blame. Or is there other reasons that we try not to see in the desire to find an excuse? Every morning you stop at Dunkin Donuts, try all their donuts, brownies, new drinks full of cream and sugar. For lunch you grab some pizza and ice cream and on your way back home you go to KFC and you buy the delicious ,crispy, chicken wings and the only healthy thing in your food is the leaf of lettuce in your McDonald’s sandwich you had over a talk with your friend…how could you expect your child to be dying to eat fruits, vegetables, nuts and meat? Did you forget you were his role model?

Do we want our children to have a better life and feel healthy?...if the answer is yes we should first change ourselves and the way we influence them will be different.
Another reason that is a main factor for children obesity and is again coming from the family are parents relations. There are evidences that most of the children try to hide some emotional emptiness by eating….and I mean binge eating!

There is a study in which they asked some overweight children what is the reason to eat so much…and the most common answer was that they found comfort in food when they had some bad emotions in their life. So again it is up to the parents! Take your time and think if you are giving your child the love and attention it deserves? Maybe in your family there are a lot of fights that are hurting your child and he/she finds salvation in food. When I say attention I do not mean grabbing a happy meal on your way home and giving it to your child thinking that you have compensated for your absence. Your children do not need your presents…they do not make them happy! The NEED YOU!

The other place where we should search the fault for obesity is at school. Our children spend a lot of time there and have most of their daily meals there. Is the food they have at school healthy and does it give them the proper nutrition? I think that all of you will agree that it doesn’t! It should be paid more attention to the food children eat at school. I read about that small town in the USA where people decided to make the first step towards healthy lifestyle. They made up that S.O.S program (Save Our Schools). It concentrates on kids having balanced and nutritionally dense foods at school, they even grow their own vegetables in the school yard and after that prepare their own food.




Another problem at school are the P.E. classes. Before when I hear about P.E. my first association was sport. Now…it is more like let’s have some leisure time to sit around and chat. I heard about a teacher that punished kids, when somebody made something wrong. And the punishment was “No P.E. class for all the students”. Could a normal person punish all the kids to stay in the dusty classroom just because Ivan took Maria’s pencil? I think that we should definitely think more about our children’s health and instead of limiting their physical activity we should motivate them to move more!

And remember that your kids ain’t fat because thei ain’t moving…they ain’t moving because they are fat!!


Next reason for obesity is the MEDIA! The tendency, about animated heroes being exploit like commercial models of the newest food masterpieces of the fast food restaurants, is growing every day. In a study they gave children hamburgers, fries and carrots. Some of them were packed in a simple wrapping and others were packed in wraps with the face of a movie hero. The result was that about 80% of the kids said that the carrot in the “colored” wrapping tasted better than the one in the simple wrapping. What that means is that it is really simple to manipulate children by “accidently” forming their needs and desires.


The causes of obesity could be found in hundreds places but we should start the transformation from somewhere. In the world there are about 45million children at the age from 1-5 that are obese and the tendency is for this number to get higher. Do you want this to be our children’s future? To be food slaves? Let all of us try to lead healthier life and hope that our kids will be our fellow- travellers in this journey.