Growing Younger Every Day

What if our bodies don’t have to break down as we age? What if this is just an idea that society has because that is what we tend to see happen? But what if it isn't the way it has to be? What if we can become physically stronger, fitter, and healthier with each coming year?

I completed my first triathlon last weekend in Bala, Ontario. Yay!!! It was a 750m swim, 30km bike ride and 7.5km run. I started training in January when my sisters and I (insipired by the Biggest Loser TV show) decided that we should each work towards doing this triathlon. Since none of us are athletic in any way, this was a huge stretch - but a good one.

One of the most inspiring things about the triathlon was the ages of the people competing. There were a few teenagers and twenty-somethings. But mostly, we were 30,40, 50-years old and even quite a few in their sixties! I know this specifically because they write your age on your calf in magic marker and being a relatively non-athletic type, many people passed me in the race - I had lots of chances to see the backs of people’s legs!! (I actually finished last in the race - but finish I did!!).

Later, after the race was over, I was looking at my stats online - how long it took for the swim, the bike, etc. And I thought to myself, "Well, I can do better than that. If I just do this and that, I can definitely shave some time off there." And suddenly this triathlon thing became a yearly goal. I thought to myself, "What if I don't have to become a triathlete in one year? What if I can gradually get better each year?"

But this goes against everything that we've ever learned! Once we’re “over the hill”, our bodies are supposed to get worse each year, not better. People gain a few pounds each year. We don't become fitter. This is against North American-culture!!

But the funny thing is that I expect all other aspects of myself to improve with age. Mentally, I expect myself to become smarter and wiser. There's no greater teacher than life experience. If we're paying attention, wisdom is the direction we're heading.

We should become more emotionally intelligent each year. We should be able to understand and be compassionate in more situations. We should be able to be honest with ourselves and others easier every year.

Spiritually, I expect to become more intuitive. We should be more peaceful and connected to the world around us. We should hear guidance and trust the callings that come to us. With each year, this should become easier to do.

So why wouldn't we expect the same from our physical bodies? Why wouldn't we expect to become fitter each year? If we’re overweight, why wouldn't we expect to lose a few pounds each year - improving all of the time? Why wouldn't we be more tuned in to what our bodies need nutritionally? Why wouldn't our bodies continue to get better with age?

The problem is that our beliefs about aging can be self-fulfilling prophecies. We have a belief that we die because our bodies break down. But what if we die because it’s just our time? What if we can be totally healthy until the end?

There's a story about a lady that they call "The Iron Nun" who competes in triathlons. She's 80 years old this year and is still doing IronMan Triathlons - 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26-mile run. She's 80!!

I like it. I like the idea of improving each year - of getting better with age in every way!! And so, I am going to do a little experiment with the universe. I'm going to test the theory. What if I could improve every year? What if growing older can mean growing better. I'm going to give it a go.

Care to join me?

The Newbie Triathletes post-race- Cori, Wayne, and me

2010: A Year of (Im)Possibilities

There are things that we believe that we could never do - things that deep down we believe are impossibilities.

But what if they aren’t impossible?  What if you really could find a job that you loved?  What if you could be really healthy?  What if you could heal the rift between you and your spouse/child/parent/friend/neighbour?  What if you could actually be slim and trim?  What if you could do anything that you put your mind to?

Well, this year, I have decided to do something that previously I would have believed impossible.

I am going to participate in a Triathlon in July 2010!!

I don’t know how it happened.  But somehow over the holidays, my sisters and I decided that the three of us would do a Triathlon.

What makes this so impossible, you ask?  Well, none of us are athletes.  In fact, we’re quite a long way from athletic.  We’re more the “sitting-on-the-couch-with-a-cup-of-tea-solving-the-world’s-problems” types.  Athletic?  Absolutely not!

In fairness, all three of us are pretty decent swimmers.  We can all get on a bike (if we can find one) and ride it.  We are all capable of walking.  But running?  Biking for any great distance?  Those are things that deep down, we truly believed were absolute impossibilities.

But then came the show, “The Biggest Loser”.  On the surface, it’s a reality TV show about a bunch of very obese people losing weight.  But there is so much more going on.  It has totally turned my brain inside out.  I just love it. 

Why you ask?  Because it breaks through the beliefs that limit all of us in our lives every day.  As the on-screen trainers push the contestants in their workouts, the common cry is, “I CAN’T!  I CAN’T DO IT ANY MORE”.  And the reply is always, “Yes you can.  You can do anything that you put your mind to!”

Many of these contestants have good reason to believe that this isn’t true.  Many had very painful, difficult childhoods.  Some had traumatic events that they couldn’t get over.  Others just couldn’t handle the day-to-day pressures of marriage, kids, and paying the bills.  These are very common situations – common situations that can leave us believing that there are many things that we can’t do – that we are out of control in our lives – that giving up is a reasonable reaction based on the crazy world we live in.

But then you see these people have breakthroughs.  They start to get to the bottom of their emotional and mental blocks.  They start to believe that they CAN do anything that they put their mind to - and you start to see the pounds drop off.  You start to see their outlook changing.  They start to shift from victims to victors.  The weight loss is secondary to the phenomenal inner healing that happens.  (Did I mention how much I love this show?)

So what does this have to do with me doing a triathlon?

Well, this season the final contestants had to complete a marathon near the end of the show – a mere 16 weeks after they started!!  Some of these people started out over 450 pounds!!  And many of them were still 300+ pounds when they did the marathon!!

We would normally believe this to be impossible.  This just doesn’t happen.  Only skinny “runner-types” do marathons!!  We know this to be true.  The rest of us CAN’T run marathons, right?  We are sure that this is true.

So to watch these people complete the race just turns our brains inside out!  And to see the joy and the victory and the immense feeling of satisfaction that they had after the race!!  Such a gift to us!!

Why is it a gift?  Because we got to watch someone break through the belief that they couldn’t do something.  We got to watch the same feelings of inadequacies and lack of control in their lives as we struggle with all of the time.  And they changed those feelings and beliefs.  They now know that they really can do anything that they put their mind to – that there are no such things as impossibilities!!!  Imagine!

And so, as we begin 2010, let’s ponder our impossibilities?  What are the things in our lives that we’d love to have or to change but deep down, we don’t believe are possible? 

Let’s challenge those beliefs.  Let’s imagine that nothing is impossible.

Hey, if I can do a triathlon, anything’s possible!