A Pair of Dimes

Invited to attend and film Junior's rehearsal recital yesterday, I was again reminded of how we can become slaves to habit. You know, the same stuff over and over and over. And not always because it's best. It's simply habitual.

Nobody wants to be fat. But we chronically move limbs from plate to palate without thinking. Nobody dreams of dying from lung cancer, but I witnessed many folks in doorways and portals puffing away in Seattle on Wednesday. You know when 'they' say that one glass of red wine a day is healthful? Well, by this calculation, I might be the healthiest person in the Evergreen State. One last topic: Politics. Oil, defense contracts, lobbyists, pork, slime, big pharma, the military/industrial, fear, church/state, entitlements, subsidies, the very law under which we cower. All in need of major reform. Change. More of it, lot's of it and keep it comin'. Otherwise the chronic, habitual, addictive, stagnant and ignorant become 'normal'. It's the 'Cosi fan Tutti' defense. How can it be slimy when everybody is doing it?

Sound familiar? Are we already there? Have we dummied down as far as this stink hole will allow?

So we talk about the paradigm of change. The radical need to escape the quo of status. Somehow and in some way. Big change now. Of what can we assume immediate ownership? In that radical category are two:

Your thoughts, and in turn,
Your actions.

That's an awfully short list. Very here and right freaking now.

Should be easy. I will think differently and behave differently, acting the part I script for my leading (perfect, saintly, heroic and fearless) character. Here is what that looked like over the last 24 hours:

I filmed Junior's recital and came away inspired by the innocence of youth. THERE IS HOPE. Dime one.

Developed an all new (and exciting) 90 minute spin protocol that upped the work load and augmented the recovery period. I loaded up the iPhone with 30 three-minute songs and we rode HARD to one, using the BIG FOUR drills (speed, leg strength, core strength, explosive power), and then rested for the entirely of the next song. The results were interesting. It was hard. It was hard to spin easy and recover for three minutes instead of our usual ten seconds. Was there value? Yes. Did it accomplish what I intended? Not quite. Will we do it again? Yes. Dime two.

Change the paradigm and you change the story, change the story and you stand a chance of changing the results. A pair of dimes for some change. Ready or not, here we go. Teach the kids to sing and then spin for all your worth. Twenty cents is a good start.

Pix: Three grades at Wilkes School sing for a grateful (albeit related) audience. Ole in Lillehammer demos the CT as we watch off road footage shot less than a day earlier. Thoughts and actions in play.