LegendaryLife Blog

This guy is red with rage, if only he could control and form it into action to improve his life!

Aging is a powerful process, it molds and sculpts you but with that, comes the inevitable bumps and bruises you get from great struggles that you have (hopefully) overcome.

Initiative and ambition

Without ambition or initiative in your life, things get rather dull, hence why most people at least dip their toes into the devil’s water. Nothing bad with getting a buzz from life and the circumstances they bring-on but sometimes, the devil’s water comes with consequences which may cause you to take a step back. Be these relationships, business opportunities gone wrong or even remote destinations reached that didn’t work-out as they should have. With enough initiative and ambition, the spicier side of life reveals itself and sometimes, there isn’t enough coconut milk to cool things down.

Using pain as fuel

Alright, you got or realize you are being burned… you decide to jump out of the fire. Sometimes, this works, sometimes it doesn’t as you may end-up in an even hotter place but this pain, if you may have noticed, really gets your mind going a hundred miles an hour. The adrenalin kicks in, your pulse goes up and you perceive as things only being able to get “better” than they are now. This feeling is the fuel that you need to learn how to harness. Put another way, you got to figure out how to not only capture this feeling but control it so you can go into overdrive when the time is needed… especially when you have NO ambition or initiative. From my experience, nothing is as powerful as the feeling of pain. Pain is an extreme emotion like love, but far easier to find and capture. Fear on the other hand has two answers, fight or flight which may not lead to the best decision making processes.

YOUR FUTURE… and how to get there!

Getting up every morning and facing the world that seems to relish the demise of success can be a tough act to keep performing on a daily basis, especially when your fuel levels are low. You have a goal, a burning desire but the ho-hum of life seems to just sap this energy out of you leading to a mediocre day. Well, simply try to visualize how BAD you will feel if you do not accomplish your goal! Imagine the disappointment not only within yourself but the “I told you so” comments you are bound to hear from those who have done next to nothing with their own “safe” lives. This blog isn’t about depressing people and I am not about to start now but just realize that you have nothing to lose by pursuing your goals and even better, the success you WILL have is going to be able to help those you wish most to give a leg-up on. Use the fuel of the pain of failure, pain of past experiences (relationships etc.. ) and the absolute pain of personal regret for not achieving what you had so high-hopes in turning into reality into your ambition and initiative to make something of yourself. Use the collective pain of all your life’s experiences as a fuel to power your future when your energy stores are low… and you WILL succeed.

Success isn’t easy

Achieving success in life isn’t easy unless your goal is to grow fat watching television, but for most of us, it will act like Bugs Bunny evading Elmer Fud, always, almost, just in reach. This is why it’s so important to, on a daily basis, keep not only your dream alive but make it incrementally, no matter how small the movement, that much closer at the end of the day than it was at the beginning of it.

The Bottom Line

Pain isn’t always a bad thing, it’s a great teacher and mentor but it must be controlled and managed.

For people who are so seduced by the idea of an afterlife and how static “their God” is, I present to you even more proof that the laws of evolution have / are taking effect on religion as well. I think Chairman Mao had it right when he said “Religion is an opiate of the masses”. I don’t think religion should be banned, but I do believe this fever suffered by far too many people on this planet is used as an excuse for not living the life they want in the (false) hopes being promised by hypocrites. We no longer believe in mermaids and unicorns, so why the heck do we need to believe in an all powerful god whose only purpose seems to be in limiting the imagination and ambition of “the masses”?

Here is some more interesting video to watch which actually sort of proves what NOVA has discovered.

Most peoples bodies look like this building by middle-age... it doesn't need to be this way!

I realize that the word “disease” is thrown around all to easily in this world, usually in order to give people a reason to take yet more pills and medication but I truly believe that aging is actually a disease that is acquired through lifestyle… let me explain.

What is aging and its cause?

Aging is slow, progressive process, caused by cellular degradation, DNA replication errors (mutations) and general “damage” however you wish to define it within a living organism. It cannot be stopped nor reversed but it can be slowed down with proper lifestyle choices. Let me repeat, aging CANNOT be stopped or reversed regardless of how many products out there state otherwise.

What are factors that increase the rate of aging?

There are a number of things one can do to avoid “getting old before your time” and here is a quick list, there are many more but this should give you an idea of what needs modifying in your life to prevent the acquisition of this aging disease.

Stress

Having a crazy, burn the candle at two ends lifestyle is one of the quickest manners to age yourself. Now, there is good stress and bad stress, worrying about your finances is BAD stress while putting stress on your body physically (within reason) is GOOD stress. I have seen numerous studies directly linking stress and aging… this is probably the biggest thing you need to get a handle on within your life… luckily, it’s also the easiest to change in your life. Other things you can do which stress your body include drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking (pick your poison), taking drugs (legal or otherwise within reason) and a host of other mental, physical choices we put ourselves through on a daily basis.

Food

A typical western diet heavy on meats and low on vegetables / fruits is a great way to not only increase your incidence of bowel related conditions but also a great way to stress all your internal organs (BAD stress) leading to pre-mature aging. You ARE what you eat, no if, ands or buts about it and the sooner you realize that every little piece of food you shove in your mouth plays a very active role in your bodies ability to fight disease, stay healthy and do as you tell it to, the better you will be.

Genetics

Genetics is the ONE factor you have relatively little control over, but as Dean Ornish has found, you can actually, through lifestyle, change to a certain extent, your genetic predispositions. Let me repeat, the genes you where born with aren’t necessarily the ones you end up dying with, thanks to lifestyle choices. This is a MAJOR discovery and one that really got me excited, the body renews itself completely every 7 years, take every opportunity to make sure that while this process is occurring that you are smarter, stronger and healthier than the day before.

(see previous article: TEDTalks: Dean Ornish – activity leads to longer, healthier life!)

Acquired Diseases, Viruses and Infections

A very quick way to age and possibly die way before your time is the acquisition of diseases, viruses and infections, no matter how benign, they will play a role in your lifespan. There are extreme virus like the Ebola Virus which has a very bad survival rate once acquired but viruses like AIDS (HIV-1, HIV-2), with proper medication and genetic profile, mean a shortened but not as dramatic “hitting of the brick wall”. You can get a (bacterial) staph infection which quickly goes away with proper antibiotics or get it on your joints (arthritis) which limit your mobility. Basically, acquiring any common or otherwise diseases, viruses or infections do play a role, so try to avoid them if you can.

So why is aging a disease that is acquired?

I think aging is a disease that is acquired through lifestyle choices in that there are two types of aging, natural and unnatural. Natural is the general process of aging, unnatural is doing such things as watching TV all day on the couch drinking beer and eating potato chips. There is nothing natural in eating artificial foods, our bodies are NOT made for it anymore than living a sedentary life is… these are completely unnatural things for us to do and this is how we acquire unnatural aging along with the diseases they play a very large role in developing. The only reason many people are able to live such a long time while abusing their bodies is due to the medical advances that have come with living in a modern civilization… otherwise, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of older folks keeled over on a more regular basis. Our bodies are made to run, hunt, seek and discover, not sit around waiting for our next meal to come out of microwave.

The Bottom Line

Aging is a disease if brought upon by bad lifestyle choices.

Was building this stack of wood work or part of life?

Interesting thought, do we work to live or live to work? I guess it depends on your definition of both life and work.

What is work?

Work is simply the process or undertaking to complete a task, whether it ever happens though is irrelevant. You may work for years and accomplish very little or work very little and accomplish a lot! Work can be further defined as either something you enjoy or don’t. For instance, I don’t know many people who would enjoy working in the Arctic looking at ice melt but I do know many people who would love to earn a living while relaxing on the beach, working.

What is life?

Life can be defined biologically, theoretically or even spiritually… it all depends on your perception of life actually is. Is a rock alive? No. Is this planet alive? No…. or are they? Again, perception and your background can mediate a debate on whether a No is a Yes or otherwise. For me, life is simply the act of existing within a defined boundary, the most notable being mortality. If you die, then you have a life, if you are “immortal”, then you are not alive. Vampires for instance are not alive as they don’t die of natural causes

Work to live?

Whether we want to admit it or not, our entire life, from the moment we are born till the last few seconds we breath air on this Earth, we are working in one way or another. From digesting food within our intestines to processing information reaching our brain, we simply are unable to live without working in one way or another.

Live to work?

Now, living to work, taken loosely, can define a workaholic as much as it can define a true passion within a being. For instance, microbes have a true passion with an entire life dedicated towards multiplying and processing the raw materials that are around them. Humans on the other hand, like to take a break from “work” and get back to the basics of living life. Either way, living to work has a very different meaning than working to live.

So which is it?

Depends on your perception, background and ambition, some people will say that working to live is a horrible experience while others saying living to work is equally abominable. As for me, I enjoy both living to work and working to live, I think what the true question to be is what is the balance of the two that you try to maintain?

What is your life to work balance?

Sometimes asking the wrong question leads to a proper one, in this case, you have a scale instead of a yes or no answer. If you work too hard than you live, you will have problems with the success you may achieve while the other way around, things get pretty predictable over time.

The Bottom Line

Grey scales often exist in between black and white issues.

Extremes come in all sizes, shapes and colors... just look around you to find them!

I am sure I am not the first to realize this but the more extreme people act, the more attention they seem to garner.

Why extremes get attention

From those who (still) fear that the Large Hadron Collider will mark the end of the world to simply “famous” people acting rather stupidly, being extreme does get attention but why? Basically, most people can be organized along a bell curve. You have the 5-10 percent at either end (extremes) and the large majority in the middle living a rather mundane life. How do you give your mundane life some excitement? Well, you read and try to imaging living life through those 10-20 percent extremes. Don’t believe me? Why is it that Britney Spears is able to get front page news reports around the world while the genocides STILL occurring in Africa are barely raising a tick on the attention meter? Unless you are involved in the genocides as either the victim or executor, most people honestly don’t care about what others are going through as death is both a taboo subject in our “civilized” society and celebrities seem to be way more fun with their money, fame and fortunes. Another instance, take the Queen of England, a useless relic who is (was) supported by the taxes of the people she “governed” to live a life of absolute luxury… she gets worldwide attention each time something happens in her family. Why? Who cares? I bet just down the street there are some far more interesting people who don’t live a subsidized life of luxury that can actually play an active role in solving many of the world’s problems without being given an allowance by the general public. So, why do extremes, either created by heritage or otherwise get so much attention? Because they represent a novelty, something out of the ordinary or mundane. They wake people up and make them feel alive, give them something to talk about and sound “intelligent” about.

The spiral of becoming an extreme

Our brains have developed a quick adaptation mechanism that, in some people, is a little out of wack. This isn’t a good or bad thing. To be blunt, not everybody can stand living the life of a lemming being told what to do, how to do it and when by societies norms. The problem with becoming extreme is that the next time around, you must be even more extreme to get the attention otherwise you get little or no attention. We, collectively, quickly become desensitized to things. For instance, if you watch a horror movie made in the 40s or 50s, I am willing to bet you don’t find it all that scary compared to what is being played today. If you where able to travel back in time and bring somebody from the 40s a movie produced in 2008, I am willing to bet that they would totally freak-out. What “was” scary “is” no longer. Sames goes with just about every other aspect of our lives. This is why extreme views become more so with time, if they don’t, they quickly become boring and disregarded. This happens in parties as well, the Republican party in the USA slowly evolved into the “religious, me” party while how the Democrats became the “secular, socialist” party over the period of a few elections. Another example of this is reality TV, they USE to be real but then producers realized that having extremes together made for more interesting television, thus diluting the entire meaning of “reality TV”.

When extremes is linked to finances

Now, imagine your earning potential was directly related to your behavior or lifestyle. For example, Madonna usually does something termed “crazy” just before the release of a new record to get some quick press, same for Michael Jackson and many other artists. This does two things. First, it makes the collective realize that “hey, I remember them (flood of memories)” and secondly, eases the entire marketing process from “remember” to “purchase”. First time you see something, there is shock, second time, your brain has had time to recover and you are far more likely to act on impulses… the time frame for this might be a few seconds or weeks but this is a process that marketers know very well and take advantage of.

The Bottom Line

Being or listening to extremes isn’t bad, it’s acting on what you are learning that is.