THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016 AT 3:36PM
Recently, I was in need of a break and I decided to watch a movie. I got on Amazon Prime and found the two-part movie “Augustus: The First Emperor” At the opening scene, Ceasar Augustus, on his deathbed asked the questions, “did I play my part well in this comedy called life? Was I just or cruel? Applause please.” This line got me thinking about the game of life and especially the game of healthful living. As Augustus told his daughter Julia, about his fight to a better Rome, the viewers come along on the journey of his decisions, plots, reactions, and responses to circumstances, sacrifices, and cunnings from him and others around him who all vied for power and control of the Roman empire.
Having been reminded by Augustus that the world is a stage and we are all actors, I asked myself similar questions about my health life, “Am I living my daily health principles well? Am I kind to my body by giving it the best daily? Am I playing my part to ensure my health is optimal daily? ...” I didn’t like my honest responses to my own questions.
Word to the wise, if you don’t like the truth, don’t look in the mirror and definitely don’t ask questions to which you don’t want truthful answers. I didn’t have to dig too deep to discover I can do better with my daily health life. Truthfully, I realized I could do even better than I am doing presently. So, as I enter 2016 and I outline my goals for the year, I'l be revising my weekly and daily health goals so I can be better.
In 2015, I had intended to hike once a month, walk to the beach and back for 30 minutes daily, return to 95% raw foods diet, be in bed by 9pm every day, wake up at 5am every day, do more yoga and drink half my weight in ounces of water. In retrospect, I only hiked three times in the entire year; I walked to the beach and back twice in the entire year; I ate raw foods 75% of the time the entire year. I drank half my weight in ounces, sometimes more than that, daily. I didn’t increase my yoga practice and at best, my bedtime was at 10pm with wake up fairly consistent at 6am.
With all of my other goals, I track and revisit them daily. Alas! in 2015, I didn’t track my health and fitness goals daily. Somehow, I thought, because I am in the natural health business and I help others regain their health and wellbeing, I didn’t need to pay that much attention to my health and fitness goals. I admit, that was a pompous assumption on my part. While by average standards I did well for my health, I failed in following my own rule of tracking for consistent effort and return on improvements. I also realized I had set too many goals in the area.
For 2016, my revised health and fitness goals are:
Eat raw and plant based diet and take my supplements daily
Bike for 30 minutes 3 times a week
Drink half my weight in ounces of filtered water daily
Bonus: hike whenever I can so I can enjoy beautiful sceneries of the Central Coast of California
I set my intention to get to bed at 930p every night (a compromise, I admit)
To help me keep my intended goals for 2016, I am engaging in weekly and daily tracking of my health and fitness goals as I track other goals. One other thing I am doing is to rewrite all my goals daily; this is because I am only committing to each goal anew on a daily basis and re-entering the contract with myself each time I write it down.
Just like Caesar Augustus, on that day when I decide to vacate my human body, I want the answer to the questions, “Did I play my part well in this comedy called life? Was I just or cruel? ...” to be met with aplomb response from my Self so when I request, “Applause please” my audience will clap with gusto and vigor in celebration of a life well lived for Self and Others.