As our body matures it is usual for it to start losing muscle mass, to be replaced with fat or muscle wastage, resulting in less physical strength and suppleness.
It does not have to be this way, not at all.
The only reason for this loss of muscle mass is due to a lack of aerobic and anaerobic exercise – our brain then receives the message that we are not using muscles in the way we once did and concludes we must no longer require them. Kick-starting the transformational changes in our bodies commonly recognized to be signs of old age.
Yet there are many examples of lean and mean octogenarians who are still superbly fit and leading the kind of active lives that would put many of their grandchildren to shame.
What is the difference here, what can possibly be their miraculous secret?
In virtually all these cases those individuals have always led active lives and saw no reason to slow down or stop doing what they have always done simply because another birthday passed on by. As a result of this, they have kept a good high percentage of their muscle mass throughout their life.
GETTING OUT WHAT WE PUT IN
Exercising is crucially important for maintaining a healthy body and strengthening our immune system’s ability to fend off disease and decay. Investing in ourselves, eating healthily and partaking of regular exercise, is going to be more than worth the effort later down our timeline when we can still run up the stairs and experience life to the full.
I spent my time in gyms back in the day and for sure they are an excellent starting place when venturing into getting fit for perhaps the first time in years. Any good gym will have qualified instructors to advise you on taking those first steps. It is vital to start gently at first. If you realistically know you are extremely unfit, it is certainly prudent to consult a health professional before beginning to make any changes.
Regular gentle exercise is always preferable to doing nothing at all, and you can always increase the length and intensity of your work-out once you start to gain enough fitness to safely feel more able.
Small steps towards our goals are preferable to none every single time!
NEVER NEED TO DIET
It seems every week a new miracle diet hits the headlines, with the usual promise of quick weight-loss by buying-into their incredible new eating regime.
Give or take a kilo, I have weighed the same for the past three decades. This is not because I might not be inclined to put weight on; it is all down to firstly eating holistically with an eye to my long-term wellbeing. And secondly, also making sure my lifestyle includes plenty of aerobic exercise for fitness and some anaerobic exercise for muscle mass.
Rather than buying into yo-yo dieting, completely tailored lifestyles for holistic wellbeing gives us the best chance possible of maintaining our perfect weight long-term.
We are what we focus our attention upon, what we think about and say makes our reality. If we are spending every day desperately obsessing on the need to lose weight and frequently glancing in the mirror underlines this, for sure we need to quickly adjust our mindset to experience the difference this makes. If all we constantly think about is losing weight, we will constantly have weight to lose – adopting a new mindset will prove significantly more effective and work more permanently than any diet. We need to re-apply all our attention on building our lifestyle around actively becoming our vision of how we see our ideal physical self.
We empower ourselves by opting to turbo-charge our weight loss goals with the right mindset; and consequently designing a tailored lifestyle to bring ourselves to where we desire to be physically, this is the only skill-set needed to achieve genuine permanent weight loss.
This is so easy as well!
Quite simply cut out of your new lifestyle anything at all incongruous with how your vision of the way your ideal self looks. Choosing to focus all your attention on things such as tastily fantastically healthy food/drink and taking regular exercise. Find an exercise you buy-into and really enjoy, this can be anything from dancing, yoga, swimming, martial arts, running, zumba, hill trekking or taking part in a sport, something you look forward to doing and can easily be integrated into your weekly routine.
Make this choice right now and you bring this vision of your ideal physical self that much closer into genuinely being your long-term reality. Quite rapidly you will see the results manifesting for you, ensuring your lasting motivation to carry right on all the way through to finally living the life you deserve and feeling good about your mirror image…
OUR NATURE TO BE FOUND IN NATURE
Nature is good for the soul. Our ancestors lived a life far closer to nature. They were aware of the passing seasons and how to read coming weather changes.
Is it any wonder given our usual fast-forward lifestyle so many in the 21st century have lost an inherent spirituality?
I am not necessarily talking about organised religion here. I mean more looking within ourselves and thinking about who we fundamentally are; our interconnection to the infinite. Why we are here on this planet in this moment…
We deserve to engage with life to the full and enjoy every single day, whatever twists and turns it might take, remaining true to our own ethics and moral code.
Enjoying some fun, this might well cost absolutely nothing in hard cash, but is nevertheless priceless. Now that is really living!
• Think of walking in a forest during a fresh shower of rain, those heady scents combined with the sound of birdsong high above in the trees.
• Sitting by a seashore as roaring waves crash in onto the beach or perhaps soothingly lap gently onto the shoreline.
• The beauty of taking in the awe-inspiring wonder of a meadow resplendent with a kaleidoscope of wildflowers.
• The drama of a wild thunderstorm.
• Looking up at the eagle majestically soaring against a stunning sunset.
• To be out on a cold crisp winters evening, the sky purest black and a million stars twinkling like diamonds.
• Or a scorching hot summer’s day, feeling the sun warming upon our backs and experiencing true contentment.
This is real life.
This is directly appreciating freely given beauty, the beauty of nature, of our own natures; and it is all waiting right there as it has always been. Waiting for you and me to feel it through all our senses, with every breath down through every atom of our very being!
So, what would you rather enjoy?
Any one of those amazing natural experiences or spending more time on your phone?
Why not go and take a walk instead?
Living 24/7 in completely artificial environments stifles creativity and deadens our intuition. Creating an uninspired zombie-like worker-drone level of existence.
If you are one of those people who doesn’t usually have the time for nature or perhaps even finds the prospect of exploring wilderness areas scary, how about you take only half an hour a couple of times a week to visit your local public park?
Simply sit and observe. Leave aside the headphones and no cheating yourself out of the experience by talking or texting on your phone!
Look at the trees, the grass and then listen. Hear birdsong? Do the trees make a noise? Rustling poplars or creaking old oaks. Breathe in the scents. Soak up the sights, sounds and smells, feel on every level what it is like to be there.
Like we cannot step into the same water of a river twice, every time we visit nature it will be different.
Slowly, but surely, your awareness of nature will grow more acute through these visits to the park. Eventually even venturing a little further outside the town or city, to explore untamed nature. Then again, perhaps you are already very connected to nature and cannot relate in any way to this section so far, living as you do in the country or on the edge of an area of wilderness.
Oh, you can help so many people!
Invite your town or city family and friends to come over to stay with you as if possible. Show them your reality. Take them outside and allow them to learn to appreciate the joy of nature through your eyes. Be their guide and show them how beautiful nature is in all her manifestations.
Exercise in nature is my first choice every time. Walking, running or tai chi within a natural setting is far from taking exercise – it is wonderfully inspirational. Most of my game-changing ideas popped into my head way out in the wilderness or in the middle of a deserted ancient Neolithic site. Rarely do I feel connected to nature enough to feel inspired in the middle of a busy city…
As I lead a fairly public life, my way of finding some battery re-charging time is taking myself off for an all-day solo coastal walk or deep down into the forest. This is especially effective in the heart of winter when the harsh weather discourages many others from venturing outside. It is for sure a challenge in this era in which we live to find ourselves some true seclusion. I have to say though, a gale force wind and driving rain usually means I am going to enjoy having the beach pretty much to myself and with the magical bonus of making me feel wonderfully alive, leaving me with a heart full of gratitude for nature in all her extremes.
Take the time to take some time out for you – there is always a way.
About Dean Fraser
I began my quest to learn more about human potential well over three decades ago. Taking a year out from my corporate life, I read hundreds of books, travelled to visit ancient sacred sites and networked with fellow seekers of wisdom from around the world. I qualified in Body Language Psychology which acted as a springboard to my life’s quest to help others discover the reason they incarnated on this beautiful planet of ours at this time. I never returned to the corporate world. Each year I write for thirty magazines across the world on ways of living in harmony and wellbeing with ourselves.
