Putting Things in Perspective

Things are good or bad -- depending on how one looks at it.  One cannot avoid bad things by simply avoiding all risks, all chances, all choices -- as many increasingly live their lives -- which is really, a dying of sorts.  To live as fully as possible, means to live on that edge of discovery -- of finding out what is true, and what one does not know and is uncertain about.

The most common form of this withdrawal from participation and engagement, is when one thinks they are too old to do anything anymore -- for surely, that is the beginning of the end.  One does not have to be clinically diagnosed as having no hope for recovery -- to give up.  It happens all the time, even to everyone of us.  We reach a point which we will not go on -- and in many instances, that is wise and justified.  Is the reward worth the risk?  And then, do we have a choice?

Sometimes there is no choice but to go through the fire -- hoping there is safety beyond.  Most of the time, it is not as dramatic, but no less significant -- as when one is pushed off an island, and lands on the other side.  Anything would be better, than what is not working.  That failure has become their certainty -- and all the other choices, represent escapes from that dismal fate.  At that point, one is a fool to cling to that certainty that is one's doom.  They have nothing to lose and everything to gain -- by simply trying anything else.

That's how the future lies for everyone -- the choices they make to go on.  But those who choose to live too closely to the edge, risk falling to a premature end -- as certainly as those who will never go there, nor anywhere else for that matter.  They've chosen not to exercise all their options and possibilities -- but just to exist as long as somebody else will keep them alive.  Taking care of themselves, let alone taking better care of themselves -- is no longer a point of discussion.

It is the work and job of others, to make them well -- and even provide a little more each year -- automatically, and unfailingly.  That is what their lives and society has come to -- and all they need do is show up and vote, once a year -- if that.  That is all they think necessary, for everything to turn out well, and not that they have to take personal responsibility and accountability, and see success through to every detail -- personally.

It's easy to lose sight of that perspective -- in a world of conveniences.   That means getting back to the basics -- just as Henry David Thoreau wrote in his time -- as the fundamental grounding each must revisit in their lives, as often as possible.  That is what makes life meaningful -- and not the sound and fury -- signifying little of importance.  All that, is merely entertainment -- distractions and  delusions preventing us from seeing the obvious -- preferring the illusion to the realities of our daily living, which is the reality of our lives.

Then the "story" is preferred to the simple truth of the matter -- as though nothing has any significance in itself, but must be woven into a greater cause before one is motivated to do anything.  The simplicity of purpose is lost so one will not move as a simple honest expression of one's being -- but is justified because it is good for the heart, or cause one to live a year longer in a vegetative state, or some other consideration far removed.

It might be for that million dollars one will need in the last year of one's life being sustained by an army of caregivers on artificial life support -- and the dire consequences of what will happen to you if you do not have the resources.   The alternatives are too horrible to entertain.  But way before that, how does one live their lives to not get into that condition?  Certainly that path of deterioration is not inevitable to most -- but is the worst case scenario for only a rare few -- that should rightfully not be viewed as the rule upon which all of life is predicated on.  Yet that is what some are dedicated to convincing us of.  That is their livelihood in this world -- to sell us of whatever makes a living for them -- and not that it is totally and absolutely necessary.

Can we save every species from extinction -- or guarantee every life at any cost?  That's never been done before.  That is the very process of life, death, survival and evolution.  Things don't just stay the same -- for eternity, no matter how much one wants to micromanage it.

The most difficult part of any task, is just getting started -- or going from zero to one -- which usually makes all the difference in the world.  Once one has actually started anything, the rest is fairly easy -- and often takes on a life of its own -- the one thing leads to the next.  And so it is observed, that a journey of a thousand miles, begins with  single step.  Fortunately however, most journeys are not a thousand miles long, but usually just a jog around the block, or stroll to the corner grocery store.  But even then, a few people have a problem with that -- and shortly, they have a problem with even the smallest effort.  At that point, everything seems like a moonshot -- and just as likely to happen.

Developing Credibility

There are some people, who think they have to "fake it" -- until they "make it," but all they will be successful at doing, is pretending to be what they aren't -- instead of being authentically who they actually are -- which is the real accomplishment and success, of any person.  In that way, they learn what they know, as well as what they don't -- rather than pretending to know what they don't.

And really, that is the source of most of the problems in the world -- of those who don't know, not knowing they don't, and not being able to tell that critical difference -- which is the difference between those who succeed, and those who fail.  In order to succeed, one must know what failure is, and distinguish that from success -- or they will not know the difference, and so can never achieve success.

That is rather a simple thing -- knowing that difference.  A few though, have been raised with the credo, that the truth of any matter, is simply what they can get others to believe -- and there is no truth beyond that.  Obviously, those who operate in that way, do so having been raised and conditioned entirely in a socialized environment rather than a natural one -- meaning that the "right" opinions matter more than their actual consequences.

Things instantly and arbitrarily manifest themselves -- because that is what the political leaders have decreed, and not that there is a process for which they came into being.  Food manifests in styrofoam wrappers, and not from the producers who grow and prepare them for marketing through systematic and arduous processes.  And so when things don't turn out as they would like them to, the only course is to appeal to those in charge -- rather than providing for oneself.    In fact, that is immediately dismissed as unrealistic -- rather than how things actually come about.

Cause and effect is lost -- or never taught in the first place.  Of course such subjects are at the mercy of the powers that be -- always beyond themselves.  Thus the struggle, is to be one of those powers -- or at least seem to be.  That is the necessity to seem to be other than one actually is -- and mastering that, as the primary skill and objective of those living in the freedom to choose their own fates and destinies.  In the past, most people never got there -- mainly because all were struggling to be the one at the top in that society -- to tell everyone else what to do, and how to think.  They felt that that was their duty and entitlement, that was their destiny -- to rule over all others.

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But with each successive new generation, such obviously heavy-handed bonds have been erased from memory so that the present one is unaware of such conditioning -- that has gone on for time immemorial.  Thus the insightful personages of human history and evolution were those who pronounced that to see that conditioning, was the key to mastering reality.  Otherwise, one is like the countless many, who can't tell the difference, and don't care to.  It is enough for them, just to watch passively while others tell them what to think.

In that world, are many faking their credibility -- simply because they can -- to an unsuspecting and undiscriminating audience.  It doesn't matter if they know something -- only that others think they do.  Those are their "credentials" -- something quite other than credibility.  Credibility is what can be proven in the present -- and not only what they have claimed to have attained in the past -- as though that standing is permanent and irrevocable -- rather than discovered from moment to moment.

Truth is always discovered in the present moment -- and not simply a remembered happenstance long ago -- retold to yet another generation, as the "official" teller of that story.  Usually though, they make up and replace it with their own story -- that they alone are the truth -- from here on out.  So anything they say, is the truth -- no longer requiring any other authentication or validation -- in actual experience.  The truth is what actually works -- and not all the excuses and explanations for why nothing works as they say it should.

How the Mighty Have Fallen (Disintermediation)

In a time not too long ago, the people who held the power, were those who controlled the information -- and what people were allowed to think on any matter.  They may have claimed to know all the information worth knowing -- since they owned the printing press, and those who wanted to access it, were at the mercy of their approval and favor.

All that changed at the beginning of this century, although the seeds for that development, had been sown by all the generations previously -- by those who dared to challenge that authority.  That was true for Martin Luther, Columbus, Socrates, Jesus, Buddha, etc.  They challenged authority -- because they felt they heeded a higher one, and a bigger picture of what had been known up to then.

Now we know that nobody owns all the information -- or even their small part of it.  It can be known by anyone who wants to -- because they are not convinced that they can only access it through certain self-appointed authorities, who thought it was their job to keep all those unauthorized from knowing what only their self-appointed few had a right to.  That's how much the world has changed in such a short time.

However, not everyone who merely challenges authority, has greater authority to do so.  They may have rightly and deservedly less authority to do so.  Authority implies authorship -- or one who creates that idea, and not the countless many who merely repeat it -- while having no idea what they are talking about.  They simply copy what those they think know, are doing -- regardless of whether it has any basis in fact.  They are fond of saying that the majority is always right -- and that might, makes right, and is its own reason for being.

If someone else comes along and tells them to think differently, that is what they will do blindly -- as well, because they have no way of determining the truth of any matter for themselves -- which would make them an authority on such matters.  They would have come to that conclusion on their own -- and not simply accept what others say, without any attempt to discern the truth for themselves.  That form of mass control and propaganda, was perfected in the last century by the mass media and other institutions of mass control.  It was possible because of one-way broadcast media and tactics.  The one spoke to the many, but the many could not speak back, or even to each other -- because only the (self-)designated leader, had that authority -- to think (and talk) for everyone else.

That's what made certain individuals powerful (mighty) -- being able to convince the masses that they were, and having a few self-selected "other" voices vouch that they were.  That reached its height in the era of mass (media) advertising -- and the control of a fabled few on "Madison Avenue," being able to convince everyone of anything they wanted them to believe -- even that harmful practices were good for them.  Of course those who bought into that advertising (propaganda) paid a price with their lives and well-being in chasing and worshiping all the wrong things.  Most had no idea of what they were doing, because as "good citizens," they did and believed what they were told to.

Only years later, would they realize the consequences of those ill-advised behaviors -- as those impacts took their toll, although many attributed those ravages, as just the process of "natural aging," that all but an exceptional few, seemed to be immune from.  Such achievements however, were usually dismissed and derided as extraordinary and eccentric deviations from the norm.  Excessive eating, drinking, smoking, and vices, were encouraged as the privileged way to be -- and people knew no other.  Those who wrote and promoted such excesses, were usually their greatest victims of such unhealthful and unwise practices and lifestyles.

They were invariably those who thought it was their right to exploit all the others for their exclusive benefit -- rather than that everyone had a right to everything as well.  But that is a lot more than just about money.  It is more about having an equal access to all the information -- and not just what some other would want everyone else to believe for their own exclusive advantage and benefit.  Such people were the countless middle men (intermediaries) that required others to have to go through them, to get anything they wanted.  Thus, fewer people got what they wanted -- and only a few really got rich enough to afford what they truly wanted.

Now there are more millionaires than ever before -- but even more importantly, many more who have most things they really need.  The major division in the world today, are those who have everything they really need, and those who have everything that is bad for them -- and not knowing how to tell the difference for themselves.  Those latter, fall further behind with each day and acquisition.  It is not that they have nothing -- but rather, it is the abundance of all the wrong things -- that set them back further each day.  Those are plainly and obviously the victims -- but less so the enablers and codependents that eventually suffer from that same fate -- as their own "normal."

That pattern can continue for generations -- or end with a single individual -- who has the awareness to see their own thoughtlessness and end it there.  It's not the hardest thing to do but actually the easiest -- once they have that clarity.  The problem is that they truly do not want to see that clarity -- but want to continue as they have been doing -- with the deceptions, delusions -- thinking still to get ahead in their misguided way.  But they no longer have any idea of how that is accomplished -- or why it is they continue to do what they do.  It has all become obsessive-compulsive behavior -- with no rhyme nor reason for being.  That's just the way they are -- and expect to remain until they die, even realizing it is killing them.

It's because they expect somebody else to save them -- and not that they have to save themselves.  Another will not save them, they have to be their own saviors -- and in that, become the authors and authorities in their own lives -- rather than further removed from all those possibilities and opportunities.  That is how far they have fallen -- from their original intent.  They have become irrelevant and powerless even to themselves -- thinking it can only reside in others, the middle man, the intermediaries -- the false gods of a previous age.

Beyond the Known

Most instructors can tell one how to make an exercise harder -- but the real genius is in making exercise as easy as possible -- or any skill, for that matter.  It doesn't take genius to make anything harder and more difficult -- taking years to master.  Genius, or true intelligence, is in making the painfully time-consuming, instantaneous.  Then, anything is possible, and immediate -- and nowhere is that more true than in one's later years, when movement no longer seems possible, and increasingly, one attempts to do less and less.  Obviously, that is not the path to greater health and well-being -- which is the capability to do more with increasing less -- effort of course, but also resources and time -- though speed is not the objective.  Economy and efficiency of action is.

In this, one should know (learn) what is worth doing -- and what is not worth the time and effort -- things that are hard, but not productive.  They in fact, may only be injurious -- in the misguided thinking that all pain is gain.  Pain always provides the ultimate message to stop doing it any more.  Not surprisingly, most conditioned in this manner, stop as soon as they can, which is as soon as there is not another to force them to.  Obviously, that is not going to be an effective lifelong conditioning strategy -- to abandon it at the first opportunity.

That is obviously the problem with most traditional and conventional conditioning practices -- and why one doesn't see many of advanced ages continuing with them, even if they might have when they were younger and didn't know better.  At that point, many just put such activities away -- and accept the well-known consequences.  They don't know anything else -- because that was not integral to their conditioning -- to always find a better way.  Instead, they merely spend their years repeating the same things unvaryingly.  Thus the net result is simply more wear and tear -- rather than continued growth and evolution.

But it is not enough just to make a movement as easy as possible -- but as productive as possible -- the gain and not the pain.  Unfortunately, too many people have been waylaid into thinking that the pain is the gain -- rather than the gain is to experience as little pain as possible.  How is that possible?  Obviously, learning a better way.  It is no accident that the results of many years of doing certain movements, inevitably cause disabilities in those who have done them -- all their lives until they absolutely can't anymore.  And then they don't find another way -- that allows them to do it without the crippling disability.  That would obviously be the cure -- for whatever ails them.

One can always create a new movement -- even though they've never seen anybody do it before.  Probably the best example, is to make walking a total body exercise -- that articulates fully most of the major joints, and particularly those at the extremities -- which typical walking does not express -- with its very minimal, or no rotation at the wrists and ankles.  In this, the objective is not just to get from one place to another as quickly as possible -- but to produce circulation maximally throughout the body -- as the ultimate good.  You don't have to go anywhere -- but optimizing the circulation, is the highest good -- and that doesn't mean just making the heart work harder and faster, but using all the muscles to effect the optimal circulation.

That would be the objective of all worthwhile practices.  However, it is taken for granted that that is already being done -- when it should obviously be seen as the problem.  More effective circulation can be cultivated to any particular area -- that one is focused and intent on doing so.  That is especially valid, for any particular problem areas -- that those have to be addressed to optimize the health and balance of the human body -- throughout a long life.  Getting only halfway there is not enough.  And that is the problem of contemporary aging models -- they get halfway there, and then break down irrecoverably -- and just accept that as the normal course of life.

But it doesn't make sense to live half one's life in this decline -- just because one hasn't found a way before.  That is what the second half of life is about -- finding that way -- even if one has failed up to now.  Otherwise, one lives half one's life without anything better to do -- no higher calling.  And life at this age and stage, has to be a calling -- beyond a career and training.  That is the only logical conclusion.

Otherwise, most will simply flounder and lose their way -- their organizing principles of life.  That is sad to see.  And soon, many will be "retiring" at ever younger ages, and what are they to do?  They've simply graduated to a higher level of challenge -- or not.  That would be the ultimate expression of who they are --  and were meant to be.  But only they can find that out for themselves.  Nobody else can do it for them.  They have to go it alone -- and create their own way.

You don't have to be President if you don't want to.  That was the old paradigm -- everybody wanting the same thing, and competing against everybody else for it.  It's not efficient -- nor is it effective.  But when one realizes one can be one's own exercise -- then all the effort ceases, and it is the easiest thing to do -- and continue for the rest of their life.

Only that can be a lifelong fitness program -- and not just theories and explanations that no longer work.  That is a critical failure -- of traditional and conventional exercise -- up til now.  But simply more of the same, is not going to do it.  It just doesn't work.  That is well proven.  So we need to move on to something else -- something that actually works!  Right now, that means discovering it for oneself -- and for the rest of humanity.  That's how life evolves beyond the known.

Looking Backwards

The major problem of extended lifespans -- is the notable failure of the expressive and cognitive  organs located at the extremities -- of the head, hands and feet, even while more centrally placed organs like the heart, lungs, digestive tract remain viable and intact.  However, when that disengagement occurs, the quality of life and living, is greatly compromised and limits the full enjoyment of every capacity.  That is particularly so with the functioning of the brain -- which of course, plays a major part of all functioning.  There is nothing that is not connected to it -- and thus should be recognized as the critical path upon which all functioning is dependent on.

Thus the curse of otherwise "healthy" modern life, is the failure at these extremities (articulations) -- usually labeled as arthritis at the hands and feet, and dementia in the brain -- particularly in those people, more susceptible to poor circulation to those extremities -- which can be greatly rectified, by using the musculature at those extremities -- to function as adjunct hearts dedicated to the purpose of increasing the flow from and to those areas -- of notably poor circulation.  Obviously, that contributes greatly to their dysfunction and disease -- when because of their genetic blueprint -- those areas are not serviced by the nervous and circulatory systems as a priority or even adequately, by practice and (pre)disposition.

That is not immutable -- but greatly influenced and determined by actual behaviors, exercise and conditioning -- because that (mental) functioning occurs not only internally -- but is manifested externally as well -- by the frequency of such movements -- or absence thereof.  It is the lack of this responsiveness, that is what distinguishes these conditions in such individuals -- that increasingly grows worse, with up to now, no remedies for their improvement.  They simply get worse -- because there is no improvement (movement) in their responsiveness.  At that point, many just do not care -- or act like it.  Again, that is the problem of diminishing responsiveness -- they act like they just don't care, or fail to respond appropriately -- anymore.

Yelling louder will not result in greater acknowledgement or compliance -- nor increasing the bar for appropriate responses -- as many unthinking demand.  So of course such people become increasingly frustrated -- that their demands go ignored, which may be precisely the response merited.  Eventually it becomes the way it is -- especially when the basic needs can be satisfied anyway.  That is the classic codependent relationship.  The more one can get by doing as little as possible for themselves, the greater that dependence will become -- at the expense of the remaining viable life.

That is the personality as well as culture fostered in failing segments of the population.  They don't get better -- and can only get worse, unless they take drastic action for their own improvement.  It cannot be done by others -- for them.  Yet it is the simple ability to turn their heads in a 360 degree rotation from left to right -- and back again -- that optimizes the circulation to the brain, as well as the musculature of the expressions of the face -- that characterize liveliness and animation (responsiveness).  Those features don't come automatically -- but are expressed and exercised by those who wish to optimize their effects.

People with winning smiles, practice it.  People with dour expressions etched on their faces, have gotten that way by practice and conditioning.  That should be obvious to anyone with the least consciousness of human behavior and expression.  But cultures can be in denial -- and even convincing, that everything is the opposite of what is plain and obvious to any observer.  Instead, they prefer to have "expert" opinion decipher and explain everything to them -- so nobody has to think for themselves.  It's much easier and more profitable that way -- even at the cost of many lives.  That would be the continuation of the status quo.

It doesn't matter how many lives are sacrificed that way -- as long as the status quo is defended and preserved.  Usually there is some person receiving most of the funding for this -- and the situation to get increasingly worse -- as long as they are "in charge."  That's what they're getting paid for.  Thus, they never want anything to change -- and they make a good living from the way things are, and hope to remain so -- for the foreseeable future.  That is their "job security."

So one must not depend solely on such experts who offer them no hope but to follow their advice -- even if it doesn't work, and offers them no hope.  For them to seek out any alternatives, they warn would be even worse -- because there is no hope, and one should not delude themselves that there is.

Life is not indefinite -- but there is always hope -- if not in this life, then there is the next.  But way before then, one has to do everything possible to improve in this life -- including trying everything possible to do so -- including the only plausible and sensible.  What can one lose?  One should have that attitude not only at the end -- but also in all the moments of one's life, because it is by having that attitude and understanding, that opens them up to all the possibilities -- especially the unthinkable and extraordinary.

But it always begins with a simple thing -- a simple movement -- that brings about the next, and shortly, takes on a life of its own -- that couldn't have been foreseen, from what one knew before.That is the simplicity of life and human evolution -- that life always returns to the basics and most fundamental things -- that were overlooked.  What capacities and functionality is most important to maintain and improve? -- even at 100?

Is that running a marathon or lifting the most weight?  Or simply the ability to say "No," to all that -- even in the most rudimentary way -- moving the head all the way to the left, and all the way to the right -- as the basic indicator of functionality and competence.  It's that easy, simple and obvious.  It is also the movement necessary to initiate movement at the most rudimentary level -- of turning the body from total immobility -- of the sort that inevitably results in bed sores -- from the lack of any movement off of the constant and unrelenting pressure points.

It is the same for lesser but increasing immobilities -- as the failure to turn over from a fall on one's back.  Then one is like the proverbial cockroach or turtle helpless on its back -- until it can muster a single burst of energy that turns them over.  That motion of the body is called "torque," or the twisting motion -- always originating at the extremity, called the insertion of that muscle -- because the insertion must always move towards the origin (base) in any contraction (movement).  That is to note, that the "core" will not move to the extremity -- but any movement has to be initiated at the extremity -- back towards the origin or core.

That is the critical understanding that most people lack of all movement -- that it has to be "fired" neurologically -- from the extremity rather than at the core on out.  Movement cannot happen in that manner -- because it is not hardwired to work that way -- no matter how many pushups or laps one does without that understanding.  Similarly, the problem of circulation is not critically one of going to the extremity, but coming from the extremity -- because there is no pumping action from the extremity to optimize the circulation -- no matter what its genetic predisposition.  So the solution is not to make the heart work harder and faster -- but to produce an alternation of the muscles at the extremity that evacuates the stagnant fluids accumulating at the extremities so that fluid can be revitalized and recirculated -- rather than allowing to buildup toxicities that destroy the oxygen sensitive nerve tissues -- eventually destroying the capacity to respond.

And of course, the situation becomes increasingly worse.  Thus if one were to prioritize those movements and capacities (organs) one wishes to to maintain and improve throughout a lengthy lifespan -- that is what one must do -- rather than all the superfluous activities that have proven are totally ineffective over time.   That is the only thing that will work with age.  One has to do the right thing -- and not just anything -- as though that were the same thing -- thinking there is no difference.  It makes a difference.  I doesn't hurt to start the proper practice at the earliest age one can think of it.  In fact, it will optimize improvement over a lifetime.

An Independent Life (Putting It All Together)

The most disturbing thing of people feeling a lost of control over their own lives and destiny, is the increasing reliance on "other people" to fulfill their basic (daily) needs.  So increasingly, they feel their lives are beyond their own control -- and all they feel they can control, is the remote for their television and entertainment.  They may even feel privileged and "progressive" to have reached such an advanced state of "interconnectedness" -- that they fail to realize they have become entirely helpless in living their own lives -- and are even advised to become even more so.

It is good business for those who provide their "services" -- for those who no longer can provide many of these things for themselves -- and increasingly lack the competence and confidence to do so -- which seems quite a perversion of how we think life should be for the best.  Early in life, they thought nothing less for themselves -- until increasingly reaching a point sometime in their lives when they experienced a definitive turning point -- and felt resigned to the kindness and mercy of others -- who could not resist the power of feeling others totally dependent and indebted to them for their continued existence.

That is the modern version of power -- just as these of an earlier time relished their power of life and death in the most brutal ways that now have become so subtle and insidious.  If we can make a whole category of people helpless, we have an unlimited source of customers for our own services -- and they never change so that they don't need us anymore.  They are our personal "cash cows."

One is simply the "pass through" -- for others getting paid (rich), while they never get better -- but only increasingly worse, and dependent on even more costly services.  That certainly distinguishes life at the bottom -- where those are regarded as expendable and disposable, and openly prey and exploit the most vulnerable, and not merely gullible.  In that scheme, the most "successful" regard themselves as the ultimate exploiter -- at the top of the the pyramid -- outsmarting all the others.

But real success is getting beyond all that dependency and co-dependency to become an "independent" person (mind) -- not thinking in such terms, but providing as much for oneself so others never need to consider doing so for them.  Such a life these days, seems almost unthinkable -- so reliant have many become on information and input provided for them -- disturbing the stillness and tranquility of their own minds in deference to the most intrusive and persistent.

Just as "scarcity" has been replaced by "abundance" in a generation, many have not made the shift to adjusting their strategies and orientation when the rules of the game have changed so drastically -- and the danger is no longer underconsumption, but overconsumption -- even to one's own destruction.  Thus, obesity and excess are the markers of advanced decline -- and the minimalist lifestyle of only what one actually needs, seems ingenious.

That is the new paradigm for this age -- and not that of the previous generation's -- of acquiring and accumulating as much as one can -- even if it risks burying them, as hoarders are wont to do.  Such people feel they are "dependent" on their possessions for their well-being and prosperity -- even as it "owns" them and dictates their lives.  As such, their whole lives can be seen as an "obsessive compulsive disorder," having little to do with meeting "actual" needs, and have become ritualized to where no deeper insight is possible.

Of course that is mental illness -- that many increasingly fail to recognize, or are taught not to see -- as all delusions are encouraged, as though that was a public good. That increases the "GDP"  -- the greater dependence.  It's good to be able to disconnect from the grid of predetermined choices and fates -- and write out one's own.  But one has to ensure that they haven't lost those capabilities -- in exercising them from time to time -- if not oftener.  That's how one knows they are still capable of doing these things for themselves -- and not have these memories and experiences merely planted in their heads -- as though they thought of these things themselves.  Or did they? -- and how will they know the difference?

The Power of Exercise

The biggest difference anybody can make in their own lives is to exercise -- because that is invariably the person they are.  Nothing else is possible.  You are what you do, and if you don't do anything, the results are obvious.  That doesn't mean that a person has to climb Mt. Everest (or the peak of their choice) to prove they are fit -- or die trying to do so. 

One just has to be able to do everything they normally do -- as best as they can, and maintain those capabilities as long as they live.  That's really a simple task -- made difficult by doing otherwise.  Usually, they get distracted onto doing things that subvert that health and well-being -- with the rationalization that it doesn't make a difference.  Thus they are convinced, and convince themselves, that things that matter, don't -- with disastrous consequences to follow.  For a while, they say they should have known better, but after a while, they make no pretense for falling apart -- with no will or skill to make it otherwise. 

Then the worst just happens -- and they are powerless to do anything about it.  For a few, that is the beginning of the end -- of increasing hopelessness and despair, and the feeling that they will ever master and be in control of their lives again -- as they might once as a young person believed.  Now those dreams are over, and they can only look forward to diminishing health and well-being -- because it is "too late" to do anything about it.  But so was every moment before then.  That is their conditioning, that is the "shape" they are in.  It is both physical and mental, and their whole adaptation to life.  That is the person they've become.

So how can one NOT become that person?  That is the difference between those who are succeeding and those who are failing at life.  One is the master of their own destiny, while the other is the victim in every other's path.  For these latter individuals, life is more about what others can do for them, and less about what they can do for themselves.  Inevitably, there is very little they can do for themselves -- which is the skill set they never acquired some time in their lives -- having missed the whole point of what life was all about.  They never matured, and blossomed into a free and independent person -- at some point in their lives, and preferably, in the best years of their life.

For most, that is the golden years, and the golden age -- of when they do.  Instead, they were too busy chasing finish lines and fulfilling bucket lists -- to have remained at home, taking care of business -- and all those housekeeping chores that the wise build their lives upon.  They were out chasing fame and fortune -- at least in their own minds, while their own foundations were crashing down upon them.  One wondered -- when if ever, they would ever awaken to that awareness -- which was the only thing separating them from the happy outcome they sought, while choosing to chase the wrong things -- even if only because "everybody" else seemed to. 

But was that truly "everybody else," or merely the false idols held up before them? -- all seeking that same, elusive fame and fortune? -- they would give everything they had, until they had no more to give.  Still, they could replenish the well -- if only they knew how.  That was not something they thought important to learn -- as they were confident there was always more where that came from.  In that way, the best often become the last -- trailing badly as they limp and hobble their way to the end -- thinking they would always maintain their advantage at the head of the pack.  They only knew how to win -- and when the winning stopped, they had no idea what to do -- and so they perished, or merely shrank into a shell of themselves -- rather than reaching a higher level with every passing phase.

Such people, only want to stay young forever -- rather than growing into each successive stage.  Those were the best years of their lives -- that they now merely want to relive forever -- even if only in their own minds.  Far better would it be for them to exercise the best version of their present selves -- as though that was all that really mattered.  That doesn't mean simply repeating the past -- as though that was the only thing that mattered.  Surely what matters now, just as any other time in the past, is finding out what one's present (actual) capabilities are -- whatever that might be. 

That knowing and discovery, is what is important -- at any stage, and condition.  That is discovering "reality," and to know that, is worth all one's fantasies -- no matter how lavish and glorious one thinks they used to be.