Today on my jog.

Don't be that runner.

I'm afraid to say this video hits close to home.

Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind

I'm currently reading this amazing book 'Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind' I won't try explain it as I won't do it justice but I will share an excerpt from the book.

"The difference between the mind and the body is that no one is surprised to get winded while running to catch the bus. Nobody gets mad at themselves, saying, “I can’t believe I can’t run 26.2 miles!” However, when we become overwhelmed by longer hours at work, more e-mails, or more parenting duties, we become irritable, moody, and unhappy. It doesn’t occur to us that our mind is out of shape. We put more stress on ourselves because we assume we should just be able to handle it all. We should not be surprised when we can’t, for we have not built the base of the mind."

Mipham, Sakyong (2012-04-10). Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind (pp. 24-25). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 

Excel is Fun

There is something a bit wrong with me, I love Excel and I use my spare time to learn more about it.  I have mentioned Excel is Fun on www.econstudent.org several times, but I'm constantly amazed how much high quality material is on youtube.com. For free I am able to study a course in bite size pieces that is superior to anything I would get from a university or tafe. Check it out for yourself! The link to the Excel Channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/ExcelIsFun?feature=edu

First 1km Run.

For the first time since I was a child, I ran a full kilometre. It's true that's actually not that far, but for me it was a big accomplishment. It wasn't that long ago when I couldn't have ran 300 metres without slowing to a walk. My goal is to be able to run in a 5km race without having to slow for a walk.

Up until now I've been using MapMyRun, I've just downloaded Runkeeper and it has programs in it. One program is for a new runner to train up to a 5km run. Sounds perfect for me. So I will try that. I've also purchased a book on amazon, "Ultimate Beginners-Running-Guide Book" for $5. It was pretty helpful and was worth the price.

As lame as it is, the idea of being a runner has always appealed to me, even when I hated running. I'm a bit of a morning person and have always liked the image of going for a run in the early morning wearing the university t-shirt/jumper. One day when I create a company I want to able get up early and go for a run wearing the company's t-shirt. When I ran for council in 2008 I have to admit I loved wearing my campaign t-shirt. There's nothing like wearing a t-shirt with your own name on it!

Humility

I've been reflecting on humility a lot lately. It's an area of personal development that I have been uncomfortable with, because people often use humility as a way of putting people in their place. I've been conflicted on it's relationship with self confidence.

I've come to this conclusion, true humility is the fruit of self confidence. A person who has a proper accounting of his/her personality know their strengths, weaknesses and realises regardless of their talents they need other people. They understand that every person has a unique contribution and it makes sense to benefit from other people's strength. They are concerned with making others feel valued rather than self promotion.

Humility is not down playing your strengths or faking being humble. It's a willingness to share your knowledge with others. A focus on build other people up and taking the opportunity to learn from others. It's understanding that there's enough problems in this world for all of us and other people's strength takes nothing from us. 

A lack of humility stems from a lack of self confidence, the need for constant reassurance and deep fear of not being good enough. The truth is we all are good enough, we all have a contribution to give. Not having a true north and attempting to measure oneself against a costly moving goal post can lead to such doubt. 

I've set myself a little challenge of reassuring any people who are talk down to me or are boastful. Normally such people would get my back up, but now I see this people really need to be told they are doing good and are desperate for praise. Why not help them feel better about themselves.

Jogging

I've recently taken up jogging, this was inspired by my recent trip to Marcus Beach where I woke up at 4.30 in the morning and walked along the Beach. I use to be a keen cyclist but after a near collision with a 4WD, I decided that cycling wasn't for me. About 6 weeks later my supervisor come off her bike and needed surgery and months of rehabilitation. Demonstrating her winning character she said in an sms, "Cycling is no longer one of my hobbies."

The reason why I've always been a reluctant jogger is that I've never been able to run very far without having to stop. Cycling I could peddle for a while then cruise, peddle than cruise. Of course with jogging you have to keep going. At the moment I'm jogging then walking, but my speed is increasing and the time I'm spending jogging is increasing rapidly.

It's ironic that I always complained that there was no good cycling in Strathpine because their are no bike paths and all the roads are very busy. Yet I can walk out of my house and run a 5km return journey along the local creek. One thing I always liked about cycling, unlike working out at the gym once I start I can't just stop. I had to turn around and cycle home, I would often be gone for 2 hours or more.  At the moment my runs are lasting 40 minutes which is double what I normally do at the gym.

In April I'm returning to Armidale for my graduation. The residential schools where I stay is at the bottom of a hill with the university campus up the top. It's about a 20 minute walk up the hill, my goal by April is to be able to do a run around the campus up the hill and back, with only a brief stop when I reach the top.

Principles vs Values

Stephen R Covey discusses in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People the difference between principles and values. Principles are based on natural laws, they aren't subjective. Values can be anything, both good and bad. The best values are based on natural principles. Covey compares school with the farm. Many of us when we were students slacked off all term then studied hard just before the exam. We studied for the test, not getting a real education, but we met that social value of the passing grade. Did we get an education? Maybe, but more likely we memorised some facts that we didn't really understand and missed out on a genuine opportunity to learn. The farm is very different from school, can a person sow some seeds just before harvest, work real hard a few days before? No, of course not, a farm works on natural principles.

Many people are extremely unhappy in life because they are working toward goals that are based on social values rather than principals. They want the social value of financial success, but don't apply the principles that would lead to genuine financial success. They want friends, aren't a friend to others. They want to be appreciated, without appreciating others.

For example a person can have a value of selfishness. Their value system only looks to their own needs, their wants. However, a natural principle is that relationships are only sustainable if both parties benefit. No business, employment and personal relationships is sustainable if one party constantly winning at the cost of someone else. If you're my customer and I'm selling you a product that you're not getting value from you're not going to come back.

Another example, is in weight loss. Looking good and appearing healthy are values. The principles that underpin those values is the principles of diet and exercise. I know from personal experience, I've eaten junk food and reduced my exercise then got on the scales and hadn't put on any weight. From a superficial value viewpoint, I had got away with it, but if I were principle based, I would know that I really hadn't. I would know I would have lost muscle and gained fat and more than that I would know I had started to sow the seeds of weight gain.

Currently I'm experiencing the reverse situation, I've been jogging, controlling my diet for the last week, yet I haven't lost any weight. If I were value based, I would give up, but because I understand weight is a result of natural principles. I know that perhaps over Christmas I lost some muscle and gained some fat and now I'm reversing that. My weight hasn't changed, but most like a week from now my weight will start decreasing.

My advice for what it's worth, any area of your life that you're not getting the results you desire, look past the superficial values and look for the principals that underpin those areas. Understand those principle and commit to living by them, achieve the private victory by working towards goals based on principles and overtime this will translate to legitimate achievement of social values.