Taking Nothing for Granted

There are still a few people who believe that they are "entitled" to perfect health and life -- without doing anything to merit it -- because they have been brainwashed to think that everything in life should be free and available just for the demanding of it.  That's how far removed some have become from reality and the struggle for survival -- that requires their optimal fitness to endure and prosper.  They have been led down the primrose path in thinking that it shouldn't matter what they do -- because they are simply entitled to the same result as everyone else -- regardless of what they do in life.

Many have grown up in bubbles of unreality -- believing that no action has consequences, and particularly undesirable ones -- because every story must end "happily forever after," and all that is required, is simply to click our heels together, and wish it so.

Real life, however, as every honest person can vouch for, is simply not that way -- and every action produces very specific results -- regardless of what one wishes.  Often, that is to find out what those actions will ultimately result in -- and not that one claims that perfect knowledge beforehand.  Most of what we do, is actually to find out the truth of that matter -- in taking our best guess and shot at what that outcome will be.  But the wise and knowledgeable, know that no result is guaranteed -- but they like their chances, and are willing to take them.  That is the mature, and usually successful outlook on life, and what it takes to achieve it -- and not simply another game of "Pretend," with nothing at stake, and no investment in the outcome.

Otherwise, the many fortunes "made on paper," would be the reality that everyone already inhabits -- rather than just another simulation of the game of "Reality," where everybody has as much as they want, every time they want it.  Learning the difference, is ultimately what life is all about -- and why some go on to live happily and fulfilled, while many others, face one upheaval after another -- until mercifully they are gone.  In either case, life goes on -- so it only matters to each individual, what their fate is -- but to that individual, is everything, and what their life is all about.

It doesn't have to be sad, happy, or indifferent -- but simply is what each makes of it.  That has always been the reality of every existence -- so whether one makes the best of it, or the worst of it, is entirely up to each individual to ask of themselves.  Each has their own lifetime to work with.  That is the meaning of their own life.

The healthy individual wants to know how healthy they can be -- because that is the foundation for everything they do.  Even the sick and disabled, want to learn the extent of their capabilities -- and not simply the enclosing walls of hopelessness and despair.  That is the striving of every being -- to realize and actualize the greatest possibility of their existence -- whatever their walk of life.  And in fact, the greatest transformations of those possibilities, have generally emanated from those with those disadvantages that motivated them far beyond what the average was motivated to find out, explore, and develop for themselves primarily, but might prove valuable for the many others facing such as a  challenges.

The beginnings of bodybuilding as a manifestation of this categorical imperative for improvement is the logical place to start.  From the body flows every other action -- and is the testimony of results.  In this regard, the older the better -- as further testament that those truths have stood the test of time -- otherwise, every warrior would simply go out in a blaze of momentary glory -- as juveniles everywhere still do.  Far better if they can still function fully at their greatest maturity.  That is the new standard for these times -- and not the many who used to be good at something or other, half their lifetime ago -- and now are merely shells of their former selves.  That used to be good enough, and maybe all that was thought possible.

But now in this new age, is it now inevitable for people to continue to get better throughout their lives -- now that there is a critical mass of population now doing so -- and what does it take to manifest it?    Just improving the core is not very meaningful when it is the well-known extremities that deteriorate first -- because of its poorer circulation.  That's not caused by the heart not working hard enough to optimize the circulation to those parts.  The problem is that the musculature at the extremities are not working at all to designate the circuit of circulation -- in contemporary sedentary lives.  That means the musculature effecting movement at the head, hands and feet are not producing the pumping effect of alternating muscular contractions and relaxation -- just as the heart is doing automatically and unfailingly, and for that reason, should not be the focus of added efforts.  That is the given.

But when the head no longer moves, then the muscles of the neck atrophy into that familiar look of a person in failing health, and similarly, one loses their grip strength and balance because those levers are unexercised and unarticulated.  And with that lack of alternation of contraction and relaxation, there is no flow into those areas that simply deteriorate -- because although there is a provision for that variable circulation, it is never exercised because modern behaviors no longer facilitate it -- by conveniently making the picture on the screen move -- and so one no longer needs to turn their heads to optimize their hearing, sight, and awareness of what is going on.

Increasing the circulation to any area, increases the inflow of nutrients by first evacuating the inflammation, swelling, and other waste products from those tissues, and in that process, create the conditions for health and growth by that ingenious normal process.  Forget all that jargon about microtears and cardio producing those effects -- because it is the simple basics of circulation that explains it all.  That is the magic of exercise -- that those parts actually exercised (articulated) grow stronger -- including the brain, while the heart is always working unfailingly, and will make the proper adjustments accordingly.  And so people following such regimens, develop enlarged hearts while still maintaining an atrophied and emaciated look everywhere else -- because that is what they are doing!

Now they may win a ribbon or trophy for that -- but no longer seem to be a model of full development in all the ways that really matter.  The same can also be said of those who develop their biceps or abdominals to the exclusion of everything else -- especially their legs!  And so they take countless pictures of their biceps or abdominals -- while the most important parts (organs) of the body atrophy in the typical fashion of their unexcersing cohorts.  That moves the needle just a little bit -- but is not the picture of a fully-functioning human specimen still firing on all cylinders and in every aspect of their lives.  And that is what we really want to be -- and not just a more grotesque caricature of present disturbing trends.

That is the horror of these times: that people's hearts and lungs go on working, but nothing else does, and is functional in a meaningful way -- and simply making the heart and lungs live longer, is not the answer to the problem.  The answer is bringing the rest of the vital organs up to the level of its most reliable and steadfast -- instead of increasing the disproportion and disparity that will drag not only that individual, but everybody else who has any contact and relationship down with them as well.  That is simply the reality of what is going on -- and no amount of wishful thinking otherwise is going to change that.

Developing and enhancing the bicep is not going to alter that disproportion.  What is desired and appropriate, is to bring the weaknesses up to the level of the strengths -- which in most bodies, is the heart and the lungs that still work unfailingly -- because it unfailingly is getting all the blood and oxygen.  But that doesn't mean it is going everywhere else equally.  It has to be directed specifically to where there is the muscular alternation of contraction and relaxation that induces a flow -- and by that action, provides the health, vitality and growth desired.  Nothing else will do.

That is what causes healthy functioning; that would be truly exercising the brain (head) so that it is not the critical failure -- that is increasingly the greatest horror of our times.  That is the simplicity about exercise that one needs to know.