Get Centred

I need to set boundaries, in terms of limiting how much time and energy is going into one thing that is causing imbalance. Tonight the limit is 3am. No matter where I am, at 3am it's lights OUT.

I need to focus less on mental trivia, and more on spiritual stamina. Reading. Being in nature. Drawing a picture or exposing myself to the calm and quiet things of this world.

I touched on the 7th Habit with my adults today, which is sharpening the saw. You sharpen the saw by maintaining a balance of physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional activities. I need to focus a lot more on the physical and spiritual domains in my life.
Covey makes an interesting point. That the benefit to exercise is not so much the benefit of fitness, but a mental benefit, a feeling of wellbeing, of control, of strength (over oneself).
He stresses that exercise, where I am intending to keep the saw (that is the complete person) sharp/effective, it is best to focus on aerobic exercises that develop endurance. Endurance, in exercise, teaches invaluable lessons to us about ourselves, about what we are made of, and capable of. Endurance sports all emphasise the big muscle groups. These are sports like swimming, cycling and running. And an Ironman is which three sports?

Ironman then is the physical dimension, perhaps the ultimate way, to bring balance to a very imbalanced life, one where the focus is unhealthily skewed towards the left brain. Ironman's gift is not only the lesson of endurance, and creativity, and resilience (through being persistently proactive in one's training), but also restores a sense of control, purpose, identity and mission to the individual. To successfully do this race I believe I have to find a way to become Balanced.

That may not mean much to someone who is in their prime, someone holding the flowers of youth. But to a 30-something like me, balance becomes vital, especially as I begin to hold more and more keys to the kingdom - a house, a wife, an important job.
Ironman, at this stage in my life, may be the best soul food out there. In fact I'm certain it's the best nourishment for a weatherbeaten soul like mine.