My Life in Harmony

Photo by Pro-Zak

Every so often I happen to have a huge insight resulting from bringing a “transparent” belief to the surface of my consciousness. A transparent belief is a belief held as absolutely true, so much so that it operates unnoticed in the background of consciousness. Often times for an entire lifetime.

A couple of days ago, I stumbled across this gigantic transparent belief while reading Wayne Dyer’s book “Real Magic”, and was shocked it had been sitting in the depths of my subconscious for the last two and half years.

I am a lowly college dropout who is constantly struggling to make ends meet. Since I’m not “qualified”, no one will take me or my services seriously.

Boom!

This realization hit me like a ton of bricks. Since I dropped out of school I consciously believed it was my greatest asset rather than my greatest liability. However, in the depths of my subconscious mind I was interpreting my dropping out much differently.

I actually wasn’t free of all of the programming I was subjected to while growing up that told me, “You must get a college degree to be successful” or “College dropouts always amount to nothing.”

While I understand these statements are ludicrous (because there are way too many examples of college dropouts who are tremendously successful, and I’m the kind of guy who chooses to look at the exceptions and believes anything is possible), they are still influencing the way I see my reality.

Whenever I look around my apartment, I see a struggle to make ends meet. Whenever I think about my financial situation, I see myself as always “getting there” but not quite there yet.

Time to Change it Up

I’m so grateful I happened to stumble across this realization now, rather than 10 years down the line. Now I have the power to transform this limiting belief into its empowering counterpart. I’ve already taken the necessary steps to make this happen (affirmations, visualization).

The universe pointed me directly to the book “Real Magic” through a mind-boggling synchronicity, and now I understand exactly why. This is what I was meant to realize through the book, and for that I am exceedingly grateful.

Love and Light.

Photo by selva

I felt a sudden inspiration to write this post.

Recently, I’ve been focusing a ton on results, and on where I’m headed with my life. I’ve been getting more and more attached to reaching the outcomes I have envisioned for myself, and have been enjoying the present moment less and less as a result. It’s like I can’t be totally happy until I have “arrived”.

Then, while reading the book “Real Magic” by Wayne Dyer today, I experienced a moment of satori:

I already have everything I need. That which I seek in my external reality is already present in abundance within me. Though I am constantly evolving and changing, just as the sky is as perfect during the day as it is during the night, I am the same way. I am complete. This is it! I am it all, I need no more to be happy or fulfilled.

I instantly experienced a sensation of total relaxation, and felt a huge burden lift from my shoulders. Now everything makes sense. The words above don’t do this realization justice.

I now understand I can work toward creating my vision by focusing on it throughout the day, but remain detached from outcome and enjoy the process of expressing my life purpose in the present moment.

The next time you find yourself striving and struggling toward reaching some distant future, remember this:

You are complete. You already have everything you need. Though you will constantly be evolving and changing, just as the sky is as perfect during the day as it is during the night, you are the same way. This is it! You are it all, you need no more to be happy or fulfilled.

Love and Light.

Photo by gregwestfall

One of my goals for 2010 is to get into the best shape of my life. My aim is to get down to 8% body fat, and to have the body/fitness of an athlete. I have tried many times in the past to make this happen, but I kept falling off when I wasn’t getting the results I expected fast enough.

For 2010, I decided I was going to try a different approach. Given that I’m now approaching my goals with the attitude of “how can I make my success inevitable?” I decided the best route to do this was to enlist the help of a personal trainer.

The thing about me is, when I aim to get a certain area of my life handled, I like to hit it as hard as I possibly can. I like to go borderline insane so I can push myself to my edge. That’s the only way I can feel like I’m getting real work done. Progress is the only thing that motivates me.

Where was I going to find a trainer who was capable of pushing me to the extreme level I was aiming for?

The Universe Answers… Again

The universe, being ever so gracious, decided to provide me with the help I needed as soon as I totally made up my mind I was going to get this part of my life handled.

On New Years Eve, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in quite a few years. Turns out, he’s a personal trainer who works at an elite fitness club here in Austin.

I told him about how I’ve wanted to get in awesome shape for a long time, and I asked him how much he charged for his services. He replied, “I don’t charge my friends. I’ll work you out for free.” I insisted on paying him, but he strongly refused.

You’re kidding, right? I must be the luckiest guy on the planet!

He also claimed that he could get me down to my goal of 8% body fat in 90 days (I started at 17% body fat, measured by a skin-fold caliper).

Bring it on.

The Workouts Begin

A couple of days later, my friend called me up and said that we’d be meeting up the following day for my first session.

I was stoked.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I figured we’d be doing some dumbbell bench press, some curls, maybe some squats, and some crunches/sit-ups.

I showed up to my first day with these expectations, and was dumbfounded when he told me we’d be doing “plyometrics”. I had no idea what this “plyometrics” was, but it sure as hell didn’t sound good.

I hopped on the treadmill and walked at a moderate pace for 5 minutes to warm-up. After time was up, the workout began. My trainer showed me how to do a squat thrust, and instructed me to do them for a minute.

I did them for a minute.

Next, he instructed me to do push-ups for a minute.

I did them for a minute.

We repeated this cycle 2 more times with no breaks in between exercises, and after the last set of pushups, I noticed I was feeling strange.

Really strange.

I had to use the bathroom really bad (number 2), my head was spinning, and I felt nauseous all of a sudden.

Uh oh.

I told him what I was experiencing, and he instructed me to take a break for a few minutes. I took a break, but I kept feeling worse. Finally, I had the sudden urge to throw up.

I stormed outside and threw up like I’ve never thrown up before. I hadn’t thrown up in 4 years prior to that day, so that should give you an idea of how out of whack my body was at that point.

After only 5 minutes of working out!

Not Your Typical Workout Plan

I quickly realized this was not going to be your average workout plan. But I was determined to finish the full 90 days, and I wasn’t going to give up even if I threw up after every single workout.

I’m a crazy mofo.

I’m proud to say it’s been 38 days since the day I threw up, and I haven’t thrown up again since. Two weeks after my first workout, I did the workout I was supposed to do on the first day, and actually made it through the entire thing.

My body was adapting quickly.

Nowadays, the workouts are so intense that if I were to have tried to do them on the first day, or even 2 weeks ago, I would’ve probably died.

Also, I’ve managed to shed 3-4% body fat and put on a significant amount of muscle mass. I haven’t lost any weight, but I’ve gotten leaner and much more muscular, which is exactly what I am looking to accomplish.

The best thing about this workout plan, however, has nothing to do with the physical progress my body is making. Instead, it’s the mental progress I’m making.

Every day I push myself to my physical and mental edge, and that requires a tremendous amount of will power and discipline. Every day I make a commitment to myself that I’m going to give my workout 100% of my effort. And every day I walk out of that gym knowing that I got some serious work done.

To me, there’s nothing more motivating than that.

Accountability

I’m writing this post as an accountability exercise, and I’m letting all of my readers know I’m going to finish all 90 days of this workout plan. I am going to reach the fitness goals I have set for myself in 2010.

All the while, I’ll be building invaluable self-discipline, and will be tearing down limiting beliefs that keep telling me, “Rahul, you can’t do it!”

Oh yes I can. And I’m going to continue to do it every single time I set foot in that gym.

Love and Light.