Receive Her No With Grace and Graciousness

The true test of a man shouldn’t be how many women he can bed, or how much money he can make, but rather how much grace and graciousness he can show in receiving a no.

No one likes to be rejected, shut down, or told no.

It can give you a feeling of being stifled, shamed, judged, or even of having your worth denied.
But even though you can do a lot to impact the no that’s offered, what really matters is how you react to it.

A no is not something to be worked around. To be cajoled. To be pushed past.

A no is an invitation to pause, to get curious, to reflect, and to lean in with an open heart.

This is especially true when a woman tells you no.
And even more true when she tells you no gently.

It’s brave for a woman to say no.
Because we live in a world where no from a woman is a dirty dangerous word.
So if she gives it, gently and with love it means she trusts you or hopes to.

She is asking with hope that you will be the kind of man who honors this no, feels the fullness of its gift, and is willing to swallow any pain that might arise and simply be with her.

A no isn’t personal anymore than a fenced yard is, or a keep off the grass sign.
No is the simplest unit of a boundary.
No is a line that helps you see where your desire hits her comfort or willingness.

Her no is a gift because it tells you exactly where you are.
It gives you a ground to stand on and explore with her or within yourself.

Sure you can ask about the no, get curious about what might have it be a yes, work through nos that want to be changed, but you can only do this with honor, if you can receive it with grace and graciousness.

The grace to hear it and really feel its power.
The grace to let it land and to pause before you react.
The grace to own what it brings up, while also honoring how it was offered.
The grace to learn from this no and to hear the no behind any yes so that you can feel where the chance for growth (mostly yours) lies.

And alongside these graces, graciousness.

The graciousness that she trusts you to tell you no, (esp directly)
The graciousness to be strong enough to not collapse in the face of it.
The graciousness that she doesn’t want you to step over an edge that might damage your connection.
With a graciousness that she is offering you a chance to honor and even heal her with your loving reception.

This is a true test of what it means to be a man.

Because a man who is strong in himself, truly honors the one he’s with and is capable of accepting challenges with dignity and courage, is a man all men should all work to be.

 

You Are Wrong About Freedom

I talk to a lot of people who long to be free. They want to express themselves, travel the world, live in the moment, go with the flow, and experience life as a boundless possibility.

I get the desire for freedom because freedom seems to offer so much possibility. And a lot of other things we want have the promise of freedom wrapped up in them.

Wealth is really about the freedom to buy any experience or item you want. Attractiveness gives you greater freedom to choose partners. Confidence gives you the freedom to take risks and be yourself.

But even though freedom is compelling I found that people who seek freedom rarely achieve it. Because . . .

When it comes time to do work, they don’t feel like it. When it comes time to invest energy into a big project, their doubts arise. When a relationship is challenging, they’re looking for the exit.

But the missing piece in all of this is the freedom to commit.

If freedom is all about the ability to choose what we want, then having the ability to NOT exercise our freedom is an integral part of that ability.

I’d say it’s at least 50% of freedom and it may be the most important half.

How we relate to commitment –

Often the way we relate to commitment is that it’s a trap. It’s something we say we’re going to do, a person we promise to be with, a project we’re going to complete and then immediately we feel the restriction of that.

What a moment ago was a choice, now is a prison.

Many of us have felt the burden of the commitments to school, a partner we no longer love, or a project we don’t really care about anymore. This burden can make us feel like commitment is never a good idea and always a trap.

But this is a very basic understanding of commitment.

If you look up various definitions of commitment you’ll read words like dedication, and engagement. But you’ll also read words like obligation and restriction.

Both are parts of what a commitment is, but what makes the biggest difference is how we relate to our commitments.

If you choose to take your commitment and turn it into a parent. Into a thing that is oppressing you.

That’s how it will feel. And then freeing yourself from that will feel liberating.

I made a commitment to work. But work feels hard. I’m afraid my writing, coaching, or whatever will be bad.

So I’ll rebel. It will be like a kid when I snuck a cookie from the jar. It will feel so good.

Except when you do this over and over again, you’re not free.

The freedom you’re creating is an illusion.

You built a prison and escaped from it.

But the cycle repeats again and again.

The path out.

The pathway out of this is to make a commitment. Not as an obligation, or should, but as a choice from a part that is deeper than the part that seeks a sort of false freedom.

When you do this you may actually experience a whole new kind of freedom. The freedom of commitment.

At the monastery, I never had to decide when to wake up. That freed me up to focus on practice, to be engaged with my life. I was free from that choice because of my commitment. Some mornings I love it, others I hated it, but the freedom was there either way.

Part of why I ask for a minimum of 6 months of commitment in my coaching is the freedom that it offers.

We’re not wondering week to week if we’re doing this. We’re here. We’re in. Stuff will come up, but we’ll face it together.

For me, that offers a very deep kind of freedom. A kind of freedom that is only possible on the other side of commitment. It took me a long time to learn this and it still shows up from time to time.

I don’t want to write when I said I would. I wonder what it would be like to be with someone else when I’m in a relationship. I dream about having so much money I wouldn’t ever have to budget or plan I could just get what I wanted.

But when I look at people with a lot of wealth, or fame, or beauty. Not many of them seem really free to me. In some ways many of them seemed the most trapped of all.

I’ve learned to understand that while the first kind of freedom feels good in the moment, over time the freedom commitment offers is even better.

It’s the freedom to choose and be with my choice. It’s the freedom to be with the hard parts of life without needing it to be different. It’s the freedom to find new ways to empower what’s happening and truly live in the present moment, even when that present moment is challenging.

So for me, there’s no freedom without commitment. Not random or obligated commitment. But the kind of commitment that comes from a place deep inside of me.

 

The Past and Future of MindFitMove

Over the last 2 and half years I’ve been writing this blog all about how to live a more mindful life.

At first the blog was focused on exercise and mindfulness. Then I sort of stopped writing about exercise, mostly because I lost interest in it myself, and the blog became a general mindfulness blog. Even more recently I shifted my focus to teaching you to use mindfulness to create lasting happiness.

But during the 30 Day Happiness Challenge I realized that as interested as I am in happiness, it’s not really what I want to write about. I met so many of you struggling with depression and anxiety. I heard your pain and wanted to help, but I felt stuck, because I’ve never dealt that much with depression and anxiety.

Yes, I’ve had times of depression and have felt fear, but it’s not the same as what many of you have experienced, and I felt a bit at a loss. I wanted to help, and I think mindfulness can help, but I’m not sure it’s my mission. I’m not sure it’s the work I’m called to , and I know I have to listen to that.

So over the past few days and weeks I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching about what I want to write, who I want to write for, and the change I want to make in the lives of my readers. And as I did this soul searching I realized that while I love this blog I need to make a change.

I need to let go of this vehicle that carried me up to this point and create something new that speaks to work I’m being called to do.

What does that mean?

It means is that within the next few months I’m going to be retiring the MindFitMove blog and domain to launch a new blog and site around my more clearly defined mission and identity.

It also means I’ll be shifting the focus of my blog slightly to fit into this new container. I’m doing this not because I’m bored with what I’m doing now but because I want to be true to the mission I’ve grown into.

In addition to a new focus, here are some things I’m going to commit to as I make this shift:

  1. More Consistent Posting – Right now I post MindFitMove kind of at random. I try to do two posts a week, but I haven’t been solid on that. I want to be 95% consistent on my new blog by posting every Tuesday and Thursday without fail. This way you’ll know what you can expect from the blog and from me.
  2. Post In Your Mail – I used to put my posts in my emails to the list and I stopped this, because someone told me it was good marketing. I’m going to return to this format so that you don’t have to click on my site to read the post. Instead you can read them straight from your email. I’m doing this, because I want to make the process of reading as easy as possible for you.
  3. More Research – I’m going to start doing more research for the blog so that the posts aren’t just stories but have some scientific meat behind them. I want to give you more than anecdotes and real substance along with a sense of humor and my own vulnerable experience.
  4. More specific topics – I’ve covered a lot of ground at Mind Fit Move, and this made the blog hard to follow. With my new blog I’m going to focus on just a few areas. Right now I think I’ll be writing about personal and professional performance. Specifically how to improve your relationships, your work, your mind, and live the life of your dreams. At least that’s what my thoughts are right now, but of course this will change as I work to define my new direction.
  5. Simpler cleaner design – I’ve been dragging my feet on paying someone to design a site for me and I’ve decided I need to bite the bullet and spend the money. It will cost me a bit up front, but I know it will improve the readability and loading speed of the site. My hope is that a better design will make the experience of reading my blog and using my site more enjoyable.
  6. More Joint Ventures and different kinds of content – I’d like to connect more with other amazing bloggers to bring you more types of content including videos and challenges. I also want to create some simple home study courses you can use to help work on specific area’s you’re struggling with. (Note: This is probably 24 or more months out)
  7. A whole lot more
    – One of the things I know this renewed focus will help me do is have more engagement with my readers and provide content that changes lives. It’s been a hard choice to retire the name and brand I spent so long creating, but I know in my heart it’s time to move on to something simpler and more in line with my work.

Final Thoughts

For now nothing much will change. I’ll still be posting on this blog regularly and the site will still be up. In fact it will likely take me longer than a couple months to make the change to the new site. Having said that I want to let you all know I have been and continue to be very grateful for your support and honesty.

So many of you have shared your lives with me and I’m honored that you let me share mine with you. It has been a great pleasure writing this blog for all of you and I hope that if you continue to enjoy my writing, then I can count on you to support me through this period of transition.

Thank you for being the most amazing readers anybody could ever have. I might be biased but I think you all rock an overwhelming amount.

Toku

 

How I’ve Failed You (And How I’m Going To Fix It)

Dear Reader,

I ‘m here today to apologize. You see I’ve failed you. Not by doing something scandalous on the Rob Ford or Richard Nixon spectrum. And it’s not because I told you something that is untrue about my business or me. No my sin is much more subtle.

For the past year and half I’ve been sharing my life, the lessons I’ve learned, and the struggles I’ve faced with you. And while I’ve done this with as much courage and openness as I could muster it’s not enough. You deserve better.

Recently I realized that while I’ve been sharing I haven’t done enough listening. Sure, I’ve done a reader surveys and answered your emails, but I could do more.

If I had a friend who just talked at me without asking me what was going on with me, our relationship wouldn’t last long. Alternatively, if I was dating someone who wouldn’t let me get a word in, no amount of physical attraction could overcome my disappointment. Moreover, you deserve the same level of respect and commitment.

I’m sorry that I haven’t been listening. I’m sorry that I’ve been taking you for granted. And I promise to do better.

However, I don’t expect you to just take my word for it. You see while I know saying sorry is nice, it’s rarely enough. I know that if I truly want to make it up to you, I have to put actions behind intentions. Otherwise, my apologies amount too little more than lip service.

So here are three vows I am making to rectify this error and to do a better job treating you like the kick ass community of mindfulness masters you truly are.

Vow #1 – I vow to be present and available to my community of readers and to anyone who needs help and support to live a mindful life.

How: I will host a monthly hangout called “How to Live a Mindful Life – All Questions Answered”

On the First Tuesday of each month I’m going to host an All Questions Answered Hangout where I’ll answer any and all questions about mindfulness, exercise, my story, or anything else you want to ask about.

The first session will be August 5th at 5:00pm Pacific Time
And I’ll keep doing this for the next 6 months even if no one shows up or sends in a single question. I know I’m lucky to have you as fans and readers and I need to prove it by showing up even if you aren’t there.

Why:

I’m doing this because I want to know who you are, what problems you’re facing, and how I can help. I know that I can’t coach all of you or write make every post that speaks to your specific problems, so this is my way of offering up a time that you can come and ask for what you need and get real practical help.

Vow #2 – I vow to share myself wholly and vulnerably with my community of readers on a regular basis

.

How: I will create a weekly short podcast/video post called “5 Mins of Wisdom”

5 Minutes of Wisdom will be a short video/audio post that will come out every Friday where I will talk about a issue related to mindfulness, a solution to a common problem, or a question I’ve been struggling with. I’ll also invite other people to come on from time to time to share their experiences and wisdom.

Why:

While I love writing to all of you I worry that who I am doesn’t always come through. I know that while I love reading email from my friends it’s so much more powerful to have them in front of me.
I want to make sure I’m not hiding behind my words. I want to share myself with each of you in the most transparent and vulnerable way I can.

Vow #3 – I vow to nurture and support the practice of meditation within my community of readers.

How: I will create a month long meditation course/challenge (By Jan 2015)

I am going to create a one month 5 min a day meditation course that can help anyone get started meditating. Then I will offer this course as well as a one-month meditation challenge to anyone who wants to learn to meditate or to deepen their practice.

Why:

Meditation is one of the most powerful tools to create mindfulness and change in your life. And even though I know first hand the power it offers, I still struggle to keep my practice consistent from time to time. So, I’m partly doing this as a way to support myself in strengthening my practice.

I’m also doing it because I’ve talked to so many people who want to try meditation, but don’t because they are afraid they’ll do it wrong. I want to create a course that will make meditation simple, enjoyable, and approachable for anyone.

I Need Your Help

Ok so now that I’ve stated my vows I need your help. Yes, I need you to send in questions, read my posts, and share my podcast, but that’s not the help I’m asking for right now.

What I really need you to do is to hold me accountable. I wrote this post not just to promote some new stuff on my blog. I wrote it because I really want to engage and learn more about you. So please don’t let me screw up.

I’m counting on you to DEMAND A LOT FROM ME! Because you deserve someone who is fully committed to helping you live mindfully, create space, and embody your best self. If I don’t do it, please let me know.
Email me Toku at mindfitmove.com or call me 503 394 5348 or come find me in Portland

Thank you in advance for all of your help. I hope that you will give me a chance to earn back your trust and develop a better relationship with you now and in the future.

Sincerely,

Toku


Photo Credits

How I Failed You And How I'm Going To Fix It, dear readers, my vows to my readers, reader appreciation, how I'm going to make it up to you, how I can do better, mindfitmove, mindfitmove readers, gentoku mccree, toku,

 

Which World Do You Belong To?

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I recently saw this Image

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And then I read about the controversy that surrounded it.

The thing I took away was that for some people there exists two worlds.

The Two Worlds

The first world:

is made up of people that look like this

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And This

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And They Eat Things Like This:

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And This

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And They Post Things On Their Facebook Pages Like This:

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And This

 

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The Second World

is made up of people that look like this

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And This

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And They Eat Things Like This:

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And This

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And They Post Things On Their Facebook Pages Like This:

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And This

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If you read the internet then you probably think

This is what the first world thinks about themselves:

  • I worked hard to get this body and I’m proud of it.
  • I’m sexy and people like that, how could that be wrong.
  • Life is about staying focused, being successful, and looking good.

This is what the second world thinks about themselves:

  • It’s not my fault I’m overweight. It’s bad genetics, it’s McDonalds, it’s my kids etc.
  • I hate that I’m fat, but I can’t change it.
  • I look awful and feel awful about myself
  • or
  • I’m proud to be fat and I don’t give a crap what you think.

This is what the first world thinks about the second:

  • Stop making excuses and start getting in shape.
  • You have no one to blame for your weight but you. If you worked as hard as I do you could look as good as me.
  • It sucks that people bully you, but what do you expect. If you really want to shut them up pick up a barbell and put down that fork.

This is what the second world thinks about the first:

  • Those fitness models probably all have eating disorders.
  • Fit people have OCD and they are all about shaming fat people.
  • Those bodies aren’t realistic and they are causing people to hate themselves.

Well I’m here to tell you that all of this is:

BULLSHIT

We all live in one world where people look like this:

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And This
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And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

sfjdon't hate maria kang, i hate maria kang, maria kang, maria kang facebook, maria kang response, maria-kang-whats-your-excuse, mindfitmove, mindful exercise, mindful fitness, mindfulness and fitness, mindfulness based fitness, responding to maria kang, sane fitness, two worlds, what's your excuse.

And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

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And This

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And They Eat Things Like This:

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And This

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And This

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And They Post Things On Their Facebook Pages Like This:

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And This

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And This

 don't hate maria kang, i hate maria kang, maria kang, maria kang facebook, maria kang response, maria-kang-whats-your-excuse, mindfitmove, mindful exercise, mindful fitness, mindfulness and fitness, mindfulness based fitness, responding to maria kang, sane fitness, two worlds, what's your excuse.

And This

#BP Status Up date Brett Jordan,  don't hate maria kang, i hate maria kang, maria kang, maria kang facebook, maria kang response, maria-kang-whats-your-excuse, mindfitmove, mindful exercise, mindful fitness, mindfulness and fitness, mindfulness based fitness, responding to maria kang, sane fitness, two worlds, what's your excuse, mindful fitness,

And This

don't hate maria kang, i hate maria kang, maria kang, maria kang facebook, maria kang response, maria-kang-whats-your-excuse, mindfitmove, mindful exercise, mindful fitness, mindfulness and fitness, mindfulness based fitness, responding to maria kang, sane fitness, two worlds, what's your excuse.Rule

The One World

The world is complicated and diverse. But there is one of it.

So I encourage you to not put yourself in one group or another, but to see that we all long to be more whole, to be more connected, to be more wise, and to be more loving.

The problem with images like this

don't hate maria kang, i hate maria kang, maria kang, maria kang facebook, maria kang response, maria-kang-whats-your-excuse, mindfitmove, mindful exercise, mindful fitness, mindfulness and fitness, mindfulness based fitness, responding to maria kang, sane fitness, two worlds, what's your excuse.Rule

Is that they divide the world into two.

Those that make excuses and those that don’t

Those that work hard and those that don’t

Those that look like this and those that don’t.

But there aren’t two worlds, there aren’t two moons, and there aren’t two you’s.

The you who you are and you who could be.

There is only you perfect and whole just as you are.

And everything you are, or have been, or will be is right there in the center of your chest.

Whenever you forget this –

Close your eyes

And say to yourself

May I be free from fear and anxiety

May I be at ease

May I be happy

Repeat this whenever you need a moment to love who you are right here right now


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If you liked this post you might also like these posts:

How NOT to Suck at Dieting

Why Being Perfect Sucks

Minimalist Health: 5 Unbelievably Easy Ways To Live Healthier

Mind Fit Food – 5 Tips for Keeping a Mindful Fitness Journal

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Photo Credits

 

Do You Define Yourself and Your Life Negatively? – My Guest Post On TinyBuddha.com

I was lucky enough to have a guest post today on the Website tinybuddha.com

Please head over and check it out. 

Do You Define Yourself and Your Life Negatively?

Picture is From Tiny Buddha Post

By Samuel Gentoku McCree

 Growing up on military bases I learned to make friends quickly. My family moved a half dozen times before I was out of the second grade, so I didn’t have many other options. But while living on base it was easy, because all us military brats were in the same boat.

In third grade my dad retired from the Air Force and we went to live in a small town just south of Nashville, Tennessee. Once we moved everything changed. Instead of living with the sons and daughters of service families, I went …

Click here to Read More

This post will also be included in an awesome new course on tinybuddh.com about recreating your life story. Click here to take a 5 min quiz and find out about the course

 

See Your Best Self, Be Your Best Self – An Interview w My Dad Al McCree

Al McCree See Your Best Self, Be Your Best Self - An Interview w My Dad Al McCree , interviews, follow your dreams, living with heart disease, heart disease, living with cancer, cancer, life changing,mind fit move, mindfitmove, mindful fitness movement, interviews, how does transformation happen.

My Dad Al McCree

The Call
A few weeks ago, my dad called me and told me he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The news surprised me and reminded me again that my parents won’t be around forever.

Luckily, his cancer is very treatable and all signs point to a positive outcome, but this isn’t the first time I had gotten this kind of phone call. A few years ago he called to tell me, he was diagnosed with heart disease.

Reflection
Over the years from his first diagnosis to this more recent one, I’ve gotten to watch him deal with these illnesses with courage and faith. I saw how it helped him reflect on his life story and I wanted to sit down and talk to him about how these diagnoses had affected his life.

I also wanted to ask him about his journey from a fighter pilot to a record label owner and find out what he thought were the biggest factors in him leading a happy and fulfilled life.

In this interview we talk about:
– Looking at his own mortality
– Why you should follow your dream
– And how he used imaging to achieve his goals.

I want to thank him for his frank and honest answers. He has obviously been a big influence on my life and his story inspires me to be my best self. Below are some of the questions I asked and I hope you enjoy watching this interview as much as I liked doing it.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/69386694 w=500&h=281]

Interview w Al McCree from Samuel Gentoku McCree on Vimeo.

Audio Only Version

QUESTIONS:

  • In the past decade you have been diagnosed with Heart Disease and then Prostate cancer, how have each of these diagnoses changed your life or you perspective on the choices you’ve made?
  • What role has awareness or spiritual reflection played in your life?
  • If you could go back and tell your 30-year-old self anything what would it be?
  • What are the main factors or factors that are essential for people who want to change their lives?

Links
Almccree.com
Jeanie Robertson Clips

Bio

Bio
Al McCree is a professional speaker, songwriter, entrepreneur and retired Air Force fighter pilot. He is CEO of Altissimo!Recordings, a record label that features the music of the US Military bands, orchestras and ensembles (militarymusic.com). As a speaker, Al has conducted programs on such topics as leadership, sales, customer service, and professional development for corporations and associations throughout the country. His corporate clients include Featherlite Trailers, Apple Computer, Gulf Stream Aerospace, Maytag, The Franklin Life Insurance Company, and Lanier Worldwide. His association clients include the National Association of Life Underwriters, the Association for Service Management International, the Kentucky Petroleum Marketers Association, the Tennessee Safety Congress, and the National Fraternal Congress of America. Educational organizations include the National Association of Teacher Educators, the Maryland/DC Association for School Business Officials, The Tennessee Academy of School Leaders, and ASBO International.

 

100th POST! Mindful Eating at Food Carts – A Guest Post On FoodCartsPortland.com

I am excited to announce my 100th Blog Post.
And I am honored that this post was guest post I wrote for the awesome Blog FoodCartsPortland.

FoodCartsPortland.com is an awesome blog that tells the stories of the amazing food cart scene in Portland OR. I highly encourage you to Follow them on Twitter , Share the hell out of this Post, and if you live in or plan to visit Portland Download Their Ap For Itunes Or Andriod

It’s written by Brett Burmeister  aka dieselboi who is an excellent blogger, community leader, and a all around inspiring guy to hang out with.

We went out a few weeks ago to answer the question:
Can you eat mindfully at a food cart?
And here is what we found out:

 Dope Da Nang Pork Sandwich from Graffiti Food Cart on Woodstock and 48th, mindful eating at food carts, food carts portland, foodcartsportland, Blog Food Carts Portland, Graffiti, Food Carts Portland, Mindful eating, eating+, mindful eating on the go,

Dope Da Nang Pork Sandwich from Graffiti Food Cart on Woodstock and 48th

Mindful Eating at Food Carts
June 20, 2013 On FoodCartsPortland.com

[I had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with our guest author and we discussed mindful eating. A guest post from Sam ‘Gentoku’ McCree, Founder of the Mind Fit Move]

When most of us think about mindful eating, we think of a quiet room, with a lit candle, and a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries. Not midday on a street corner with cars rushing by and strangers yammering on their cell phones. But when you’re a food cart connoisseur, that’s exactly the environment you eat in.

I recently had the chance to check out some local carts with Brett of FoodCartsPortland.com and together we tried to answer this question: Can you eat mindfully at a food cart?

The first cart we went to was Graffiti at the corner of 48th and Woodstock. They serve a variety of delicious sandwiches inspired by both street food sensibility and big city savvy. We ordered the Da Nang Pork sandwich, a tasty looking creation with…

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The 5 Best Minimalist Mindfulness and Fitness Apps

What is mindfulness ? For the iPhone
Owning an iPhone won’t make you mindful and healthy. But a smart phone is a powerful tool. And part of blending mindfulness into your life is about learning to use tools to increase your awareness and bring balance to our lives. 

Though I have many kinds of apps on my iPhone, these 5 aps stand for 3 reasons.

1. They have simple minimal designs.
2. They provide practical tools to increase mindfulness and fitness.
3. They are useful for people with a variety different mindfulness and fitness goals.

So with further ado I give you:

The 5 Best Minimalist iPhone Apps For Mindfulness and Fitness

1. Mind – Meditation Timer – Free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mind/id419702358

A Screen shot of Mind a minimal iphone meditation timer app for iphone

If you want to start meditating, you need a timer. And staring at a clock is challenging even for the strongest sitters. So, I recommend getting an app to time your sessions.

Of course, there are tons of meditation timers out there. But I love Mind because of its super minimal design.

You move the rainbow colored counter to whatever time you want. Then you tap the button. You hear a little gear cranking sound and small text appears that tells you to relax and focus on your breath.

The lines slowly move to the right giving you a sense of time passing without the mind numbing quality of digital numbers counting down. When the time has expired, a nice soft chime rings 3 times.

2. Evernote – A Minimal Journaling and Note Taking App – Free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/evernote/id281796108

A pitcture of the 100 pushup app one of the best fitness apps on the iphone

If you want to become more aware of your life, you have to start keeping track. And evernote is one of the best minimal apps out there to record and track your mind, mood, and food.

I use evernote for everything from writing my daily vows, to taking notes, to keeping journals of my food and exercise. It’s simple input makes keeping track of various notes very simple.

Best of all you can have it on your computer, iPhone, iPad, and even access it on the web. Notes from each device all sync to the cloud. This means you can take notes on your phone and edit them on your computer or vice versa.

3. Hundred PushUps – A Mininal Strength Trainig Ap – $1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hundred-pushups/id301174591

A pitcture of the 100 pushup app one of the best fitness apps on the iphone

This is a simple and awesome app for anyone wanting to build functional strength. You follow the programs, take the tests, and work your way to 100 pushups. Pushups are a great full body exercise and this app makes the path to 100 pushups nice and simple.

It’s a great way to establish a regular strength training practice and though it’s not a comprehensive workout. It will give you confidence try other strength training regimes once you get done.

I’ve used this program with many of my clients and have seen great results in strength and confidence.

This is the only app on the list that you have to pay for, but if money is an issue you can skip the payment and just follow the program by going to http://www.hundredpushups.com/

4. C25KFree – Free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/c25k-5k-trainer-free/id485971733

A pitcture of the C25K 5k trainer couch to 5k app one of the best fitness apps on the iphone

There are a lot of couch to 5k apps out there, but I like the simple design of this one and the fact that it’s free doesn’t hurt.

The app takes you through a simple 8-week running and walking program to get you up to running a 5k. Almost anyone can complete this very simple program.

Most people go out too fast when starting an exercise program and the slow pace of this app will help you get moving while keeping you injury free.

I’ve used this with clients and it not only gets you running but is a very gentle way to start yourself on a path of doing regular exercise.

5. Lotus Bud Mindfulness Bell – Free

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lotus-bud-mindfulness-bell/id502329366

A screenshot of the Lotus Bud mindfulness bell app one of the best mindfulness apps on the iphone

A mindfulness bell is a bell that rings periodically to remind you to be present. I have used them off an on for years. They serve as a great cue to stop and take a breath.

I’ve tried out a few apps with lots of complicated steps, but this app is super simple. You turn it on and set when you want the bells to stop. Then through out your day a bell will ring to remind you to stop and take a few breaths.

The only downside is you have to remember to start it every morning, but that itself can become a good mindfulness practice. Though I’m not in love with this app, I haven’t found anything better. And remembering to practice is one of the biggest challenges there are.

BONUS APPS
These apps are great apps for anyone who wants to make big changes in their lives, but neither of them qualified as minimal so I didn’t include them on the original list.

My Fitness Pal – Free
Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calorie-counter-diet-tracker/id341232718

A screenshot of the My Fitness pal MyFitnessPal app one of the best fitness apps on the iphone

This is a great tool for anyone who wants to keep track of his or her food towards the goal of losing weight. Though a million fad diets have come and gone the calorie in calorie out method of weight loss has stood the test of time

With thousands of preprogrammed foods, MyFitnessPal makes calorie counting much easier. It will provide you with weekly calorie goals to help you lose weight.

My tips for using MyFitnessPal

1. Ignore daily totals use the weekly goals as your main focus. This means you can cheat some days and still be under for the week.

2. Set your weekly weight loss goals reasonably. Slow weight loss is sustainable and will give you time to develop healthy habits. If you set your weight loss goals too high you’ll either bail or rebound.

3.Watch your anxiety level when using this app. If it becomes an obsession, try something else. It is a great tool, but don’t let it control your life.

Cyclemeter – $4.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cyclemeter-gps-track-cycling/id330595774

A screenshot of the Cyclemeter app one of the best fitness apps on the iphone

This app may cost 5 bucks but it’s worth 10 times that. I started using this app when I began training for my first century ride and now I use it for everything.

My favorite features
Programmable intervals – This app allows you to create your own interval workouts based on distance or time. Which means you can use it for speed workouts or HIIT without much trouble.

Doesn’t drain your battery – I tried other GPS tracking apps, mapmyrun, strava, and they all killed my battery. I don’t know how this one does it, but it outlasts all the others.

Facebook Wall Reading
This app will post your progress to Facebook and actually read you the comments that people post in reply. Nothing is cooler than to be out on a run and have this app tell me that my friend Ali said to have a nice run.

This is a totally extravagant feature for an app but it’s still cool.

Finally, I’d like to say that though I use my phone to track my runs I try not to always use it to listen to music and ignore my body. While a smart phone is an excellent tool that can support your intentions to be mindful, it can also support your intentions to be mindless.

Final Thoughts on the Best Minimalist Mindfulness and Fitness Apps

While your iPhone can be an amazing tool, it can also become an amazing problem. We must learn to master the skill of picking up and putting down. This means we know when to use this tool to help us be aware and when we are using it to avoid our feelings or mind.

While all these apps can be helpful, nothing will improve your awareness more than leaving your phone at home and going for a walk or run unplugged.

Our natural environment can teach us more about life and our own mind than any app we can ever buy.

 

Eating with Gratitude: A Mindful Eating Thought Experiment (Audio)

Paleo diets are all the rage so lets do a Paleo thought experiment.

Imagine you were a Paleolithic man or woman. It’s been a hard winter and your food supplies have been dwindled. Your young children are hungry, but spring has come late this year. Nothing is sprouting and the game hasn’t returned as it normally does.

The Search
You have been searching for food, but other than a few meager herbs, nothing can be found. You know that if you return home with nothing it will mean another day without eating.

Your youngest has been growing weaker. She’s been coughing and unable to rise from her mat. You know that if you don’t find more food soon she won’t make it.

<

p style=”text-align:Left;”>Feel the fear, the frustration, and the confusion at your situation. Feel the deep hunger in your own belly, which hasn’t been properly fed in weeks. You feel an ache not only for yourself but for your family as well.
Eating with Gratitude: A Mindful Eating Thought Experiment (Audio), eating+, gentoku, gratitude, guided meditation, mindfitmove, mindful eating, mindful fitness, What is mindfulness?

Lost
Now imagine as you return home you become lost. You have never been in this part of the valley before at first, you are scared, but then you come across a tree.

On the tree are strange objects you haven’t seen before. You take one down and it smells sweet. You are unsure what to do, but you figure you have nothing to lose. So, you take a bite. The taste of sugary sweetness fills your mouth.

The rich grainy texture is a little sour, but you can tell this is food. You rush to gather as much of this new fruit as you can, eating as you go.

With your arms full, you head back the direction you came. And with each step, you know you carry hope for your family. Your heart is filled with deep abiding gratitude.

The Salvation of Food
For centuries, food was a blessing. People sacrificed to harvest gods and performed sacred rituals, but for most of us, access to food is an afterthought. Living in a modernized western world our idea of hunger is mostly abstract.

Even hunger that occurs on a diet is very different from the hunger brought on by starvation. Because of this, we have lost our sense of the struggle to eat that our ancestors fought with.

Wars have been fought over the same salt and sugar we buy at the grocery store everyday. But it’s hard to access that reality, because of the relative bounty that we live in.

So for this post I thought I would share a Mindful Eating exercise that helps reconnect us with our gratitude

Eating With Gratitude
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/92698148″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Interested in the Paleo vs Veggie debate read this awesome article by Matt from No Meat Athlete – http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegans-and-paleos/