Tag Archives: strength

Don’t Tame Your Inner Monster: Harness It!

Have you ever had a thought and then wondered why it was so dark? Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who that person was looking back? Have you ever thought about your talents and wondered why they all seemed to focus on something you weren’t really proud of? Have you ever doubted your own humanity? If you answered yes to one or more of those, welcome to being inside my head. I’m going to share a part of my past with you, how my thought process evolved about it and how, today, I consider it one of my greatest strengths. Continue reading →

The Blessing of Convoluted Circumstance

Leave a reply

Every now and then we get reminded of just how good the people in our world can be. And “our world” isn’t just our circle of nearby friends, or folks from our neighborhood, friends of friends, etc. It quite literally is people from around the world. Bear with me as I elaborate and follow along as I try to share what has been impactful for me this morning. Continue reading →

The Math of Weight Loss

Leave a reply

And why it sometimes doesn’t work…

Physical fitness has mattered to me for one reason or another for the better part of forty years. Ever since I was in high school running track, playing soccer, wrestling… I needed to be in shape. When I enlisted in the Army fitness was mandate and part of the promotion process. On the police department fitness may well have meant the difference between life and death in a fight for your life. It more often meant the difference between whether or not you could catch the suspect running away from you. What does all that have to do with the Math of Weight Loss? Hang with me, I’m getting to that. Continue reading →

Investing In and Valuing Your Health

Leave a reply

This entry is being used to announce a new section and effort here on my webpage: a section dedicated to fitness and nutrition and the documentation of my effort to increase my quality (and longevity) of life through use of the same. Welcome to Frankly Fit – the new section. Continue reading →

The 12 Best Life Hacks

Leave a reply

In today’s computer age, days where you can’t look around without seeing someone on their “smart” phone, and times of everyone being connected nearly full time, the word “hack” has come to take on a whole new meaning. It is essentially used to mean “something that makes your life easier or an easier and faster way of doing something.” I’ve seen some pretty cool hacks posted online but I often wonder how come nobody ever shares TRUE “life hacks:” hacks that actually make your life easier in the way(s) that count most. So… I had to. I considered it a challenge I couldn’t back away from. Continue reading →

What Qualifies Me?

Leave a reply

So, I received a private message on Facebook from a gentleman asking, “What qualifies you to give advice on life to anyone?” I had to think about this. It’s a good question. I found myself wondering if he has a point? What DOES qualify me to give advice on anything to anyone? For that matter, what qualifies me to teach anyone anything as well?

The answers become obvious after a while. Continue reading →

A Fighting Generation?

Leave a reply

It is an observable oddity of the American society that we sometimes act or behave exactly opposite to what is in our best interests. I know a great many people who act oddly when they are falling in love, but that’s not really a surprise is it? Some people say that a soldier who sacrifices himself for his fellow soldiers has acted oddly, but others understand the selfless sacrifice he made – and should be honored for. What strikes me this week that I’ll write about in this article is how our American society seems to be structuring itself to raise ever more pacifist citizens at a time in our history when we are most in need of warriors. Continue reading →

2018 New Year Resolutions

Leave a reply

Near the end of every calendar year… or in the first few days of a new year… huge numbers of people make resolutions with the goal of improving their life. Some of those resolutions are very specific and equally unrealistic. For example, after someone has been a cigarette smoker for years (if not decades), they decide that starting January 1^st of the New Year, they’re going to quit smoking… cold turkey. Now, they’ve decided to quit a dozen times before and they’ve stopped smoking for several days at a time, made themselves miserable, and then come up with a reason why they just HAVE to have a cigarette. My own father stopped smoking for a year after he had heart surgery and then someone offered him a cigarette at a bar and he thought, “One won’t hurt.” Another year later he had to go through the misery of quitting again. Continue reading →

Life’s Simplest Lessons

Leave a reply

Recently I saw an image through the wizardry of social media and, after having read through it, thought about just how true it was. The title was “Simple Formula for Living,” but that didn’t really describe the list of items included. As I read them, I felt they more described lessons to be followed for a prosperous and spiritually valuable life. I certainly don’t always follow each bit of guidance (because I’m human and therefore imperfect), but I see the value in each and strive to maintain my compliance to them. Let’s go through them and briefly discuss the value. Continue reading →

Defining You

Leave a reply

As happens all too often in my household, my son asked me a question that forced me to carefully think through my beliefs and values before offering an answer. I have to think carefully because I know, for sure and certain, he’s already trying to form that next question so if I’m not as specific and exacting as I can be, I give him huge maneuvering room to ask the more difficult questions. This week’s question really wasn’t so hard: “Dad, what makes an American an American?” The first and most obvious answer was, “Where he was born,” but that’s not what he was asking. He was looking for me to explain to him what values I felt that he, when he became an adult American, should have as part of his character. Long time readers know that such a conversation can’t be had without me sharing it, so here we go with an explanation of my answer. Continue reading →