Set Higher Standards by YogiRavi

Playing around at the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park, Colorado. Sept 2011.

Silly-ness is good in small and regular doses.

Most of us live in a highly regimented and logical, rational world most of the time. Trains and buses run on time. Work starts and ends in predictable patterns. So much of life is scheduled and predictable and even the unplanned stuff has some logic about it.

A friend turned to me just a short while ago and started saying ooogggaa booggga ooogggaa boogggga ….I have no idea why – neither did she….but I started to laugh and it totally lighted up the mood.

Acting a little silly is a healthy thing every now and then. Do something unplanned. Do something silly. Even if nobody else is around to witness it.

Confusion arises from not following wants, needs and the resulting emotions to their logical conclusion.

The multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry implies that many people want to live forever and look young but would that really be enjoyable? Wouldn’t you eventually be bored living like that?

People want friends to never get angry and co-workers to always get along. Wouldn’t that make your day an incredible bore? If no one pushed on you and challenged your ideas in the workplace would you really be able to bring out your best?

When you carry out wants and needs to their logical end, you’ll find that any confusion will dissolve and little things that upset you during the day become less irritating and instead  become quite enjoyable.

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Heading out to Portland, OR today to run the Portland Marathon tomorrow! My goal is to hold 8-minute miles which would yield a 3 hour 30 minute finish. Last year I ran 3 hours 54 minutes, with just a couple of months of training.

An elephant is in the room! This big boy is hanging out in one of our Microsoft office buildings. He's from a Cirque d Soleil show.

In any situation where a gap exists between where you are and where you want to there is an opportunity for reflection and meditation. There are always a set of behaviors and emotional connections that have a direct impact on either creating or closing the gap. It is your job to tease these out.

But before you can start addressing the underlying causes, there first needs to be an understanding that a gap even does exist. This takes honesty and a real desire to make a change. It is also worth understanding that life is not static, and a small gap today could result in a large gap in the future if the root cause is not addressed.

e.g. If you are carrying an extra 20 pounds today, is it possible that a few years from now that trend will continue and you might be carrying far more extra weight? What will life be like then? How will that contrast with the way you would feel at your ideal weight? What behaviors are creating the gap today?

In the same way that small gaps become large over time, efforts to close gaps create a compounding effect over the long-term. e.g. Walking a few miles each day (a great way is to park further away from your place of work to force a walk to/from your car!) can over time (it might take a few years) melt away weight and keep it off.

Likewise, reading for just 30-minutes or so several nights each week can help you plow through a half-dozen books a year – and help you become proficient in a new skill or subject matter. Same thing with closing a gap in finances through saving a little more each month.

However, the most important thing is to be self-aware enough to realize that there is a gap to begin with.

I saw part of this passage as a preface to a strategy document I was reading at work today. The bold part really speaks to me.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962, at Rice University, Houston, Texas

I get asked all the time why I enjoy endurance triathlon and trail runs and other big goals that test my limits to some degree. I do these things because it helps me really see what I am capable of. I also believe that excellence in one part of life does translate into other parts of life – even if the goal is ultimately not accomplished as planned. When I am focused in my training, it is easier to focus at work, focus on great nutrition and focus on building quality relationships with friends.

When I am moving towards a worthy goal, it takes the “slack” out of my life and helps me achieve and focus more in many other areas. The collateral benefits of setting and working towards big goals are huge.

A "buddha" in my apartment with a wounded knee. I can relate.

You would never build your dream home on a sandy beach. You would seek out a solid piece of bedrock or pour a sturdy foundation, and then create your masterpiece.

Likewise, it pays to focus on the foundations of any task. Clear and concise writing and speech at work. Technique and drills while swimming, running or cycling. Proper alignment, breath (pranayama) and focus (dhristi) in a yoga practice. Nutritional basics like getting plenty of clean water every day.

The most dramatic changes can be found not through fancy supplements, hot-tips or anything you buy. They can found by getting back to the fundamentals of whatever skill you are practicing, and mastering them as best you can.

Over the long-term, mastering the basics will slowly, but inevitably set you up for success. I say “slowly” because at first, especially if you do not have a great grasp on the basics, you may actually get worse before you get better – case in point is barefoot/minimalist running, but over time you’ll be better than ever. The trick is to focus on the longer-term and not let any near-term setback derail you.

Here I am teaching a yoga class to members of my triathlon team (VO2 Multisport) in the park near my home. Most folks were relatively new to yoga. What I love about teaching newer students is that they are so receptive to guidance - since there is no preconceived notion of how to do the poses, especially when it comes to instructions for safe/healthy alignment.

The unabridged Oxford English Dictionary contains over 600,000 words.

The average native English speaker knows anywhere from 12-20,000 words depending on their level of education but only uses about 1/10th that amount in everyday speech.

Shakespeare, a masterful communicator, used over 30,000 words in his works alone!

There are so many ways to express emotions, desires, goals, accomplishments, thoughts and meaning through words. Why limit your expression? Imagine if you could only describe a sun-filled mountain vista as “good” instead of “wonderful” “gorgeous” “breathtaking” or “splendid”. What a difference in emotion these different words convey….even though they are all similar in some respect.

Kids spend an inordinate amount of time learning vocabulary in school, but as adults this practice stops – unless you read a wide variety of books or proactively study language. It’s a worthwhile thing to keep doing at any age.

Broadening your knowledge of language directly impacts your quality of life. It provides you with a far broader mechanism for interpreting the world through words, and sharing what you experience and know with others.

A splendid view of Trout Lake, 2 miles into the West Fork River trail near Skykomish, WA.

Hope is not a strategy.

A strategy is a plan that you create to achieve a worthy goal.

Hope can support a strategy. In fact, it is sort of prerequisite – especially when you are trying to do something extraordinary. Extraordinary things are  often surrounded by uncertainty and this is particularly where hope (or faith or grace or whatever you want to call it) plays a key role.

Regardless, hope itself is not a strategy. If you want to do big things. Plan. Learn as much as you can. Consult people who know far more than you do (particularly elderly people who can take a long-term view of things). Write down your thoughts and be specific in what you want your outcome to be, and also be specific in what you anticipate your key tasks and steps need to be in order to get you there.

Once you have done all you think you can do…keep at it….do some more!

Then finally…..allow hope to fill you and give you confidence that your efforts will inevitably lead to exactly the perfect outcome.

I went hiking a couple of days ago in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness a few hours east of Seattle, WA. This is a view of "Big Heart Lake". Photo by Ravi.

The good life is driving to work and hearing on the radio that one of your favorite bands will be in town the next day, and the show is not sold out .

Saw OneRepublic today, here they are performing "Good Life," one of my favorite songs from their latest album.

I’m up to something.

Something that was a big part of my life several years ago, but then I moved away from it. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I was just ready for a change.  Upon meeting with a great friend over a fabulous meal a few weeks ago, a conversation made me realized that the time is right to bring this back into my life.

I do truly believe that our universe operates in cycles. Birth, growth, death and re-bith….just like the seasons.

Friendships and relationships float in, out and back into our lives too. This also holds true for other passions – hobbies, sports, travel interests, etc.

But right now I’m rediscovering something that was very important to me for several years, and the time is right to recommit. More news to come!

A few weeks ago I swam across Lake Washington with a group of friends to raise money for the Puget Sound Bone Marrow Center. Here you can see the fleet of kayak escorts that followed us along our 2.5 mile swim from Medina Beach to Madison Park.

Life is like a really good movie.

If everything was predictable, with bland and boring characters, sunshine all day every day, steady progress and all around consistency in everything – meals, relationships, work, play….everyone happy and hunky dory all the time…..well, that would be one boring movie! No body would want to see it, not even for free!

Of course, every good movie has its joyful moments, but even Disney movies have their villains and moments of struggle.

Life is no different.

It is the unexpected things, the challenges that are presented and dealt with, the random characters that show up and have a profound impact on your life, the struggles and hard problems in the workplace or at home that require your full attention….it is all of these things that make life interesting…like a drama that keeps you engaged and wanting to know what happens next.

Spent this past weekend cheering on friends at the 2011 Ironman Canada. Here is a pic I took of 2800 swimmers ready to start the race! Talk about a challenge...