Overcoming My Past – Part 3 – It takes Work to combat inertia!



This body has been at rest for the greater part of the last nine years, being sedentary as a student and then as a marketing professional. Building momentum to combat inertia will require consistent, persistent Work (physics). Knowing this is true, and consciously choosing to act on this knowledge, I went out for another jog. It was a little easier to get up and go this second time than it was the first time, earlier today. I’m planning to go out again early this evening, jogging about the same distance and adding a long walk at the end.

This nice weather reminds me it would be good to take my bicycle out of the basement so I can alternate between jogging and bike riding, to work different muscle groups and to keep moving, conditioning my heart and lungs.

I also realized that all my goals were in progress except for those that pertain to my physical body. I changed that today. I changed ME today.

Part One
Part Two

Overcoming My Past – Part 2 – Yes, I can jog safely.



If you have not yet done so, you may want to read Part 1 first.
At first, Derek invited me to take the plunge and go with him on his second jog. I thought I’d prefer to go alone so I could think rather than have the company. He had told me to think while running or jogging “yes, I can!” to help me believe, and I wanted to practice doing so. When I was appropriately dressed and ready to head outside, Dr. Derek added a clarifier: “I’ll go out with you. You won’t get hurt if you let me show you how to jog.”

Outside, Derek showed me how he jogs. It isn’t pretty. From my perspective, his technique is rather silly looking. (Enter visual of John Cleese doing a silly-walk skit on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. If you never saw it or want a reminder, watch the video here.) Regardless of societal norms, Derek does what he does for health, not for show. Besides, not only does he have more formal education than I, and a medical license, he practices what he preaches: he eats healthfully, exercises, meditates…He sets an excellent example for his patients, especially for me since we are housemates. Therefore, I’ll put my ego in check and be compliant. I’ll aim for his demonstrated technique without concern for my appearance silly-jogging down the street, keeping my show on stage in business and musical presentations.

Derek watched me emulate him. After just a few minutes, when he was satisfied that I understood his direction and would jog his way, he told me I was ready. I jogged away from him and in just 50 feet my right ankle hurt and I stopped. “Really?,” I wondered as I turned to glance at Derek watching me. He said to run through it and think “I can do it!” It brought me back to Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within and the fact that I am a Firewalker. I am a Firewalker! Surely I can run, or at least jog for now! Off I went.

My jog was slow and calculated, somewhat methodical. The previous nine years of my sedentary lifestyle made breathing while jogging more difficult than I’d like to admit. I alternated jogging and walking just to catch my breath, not for any pain. When I realized I was walking for long enough that my heart rate slowed, I jogged again, hearing my inner voice saying, “Keep going!” Aside from the brief ankle pain, I experienced no adverse musculo-skeletal issue. At all. The fear the doctors instilled in me nine years ago – clearly with my permission – was for naught and apparently unwarranted. While jogging, I though about how jogging and eventually running regularly might change me in mindset and spirit, as well as physical improvements.

I did it. I jogged. Taking charge of this old, senseless fear is a step in the right direction of overcoming my past adversities so I can move forward with strength, ease, and grace. I can do it. I can jog.

Overcoming My Past – Part 1 – Can I run, or at least jog safely?

This morning my roommate Derek went out for a jog, as he often does. As he was tying his shoe laces in preparation, I thought about all the people in my life who run and how they each have a leaner, healthier-looking body than the average person. I thought about what it would be like to get up and go jogging or running without fear of injury, and what it would be like to have a runner’s body if I did, if I could.

Ever since a traumatic injury in 2004, I have believed what doctors told me immediately after the injury: Don’t run or jog. I took their word, without question, without re-evaluation…until today. When Derek returned from his jog, I bravely faced my fear and asked him if I, in this physical body of mine, can run, or if I should not.

Derek and I have known each other since we became neighbors in May of 2007, when I moved into a dorm apartment on the campus of the medical university where I would live for 20 months of undergrad and 12 months during work toward my doctorate. When we met, Derek was a first-year medical student at the same university, and lived down the hall in the same dorm. Dr. Derek has been my personal physician since shortly after he graduated with his first doctorate in 2010. Derek is a positive, spiritual young man who is a chiropractic physician, naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, and practitioner of Applied Kinesiology. He has been instrumental in my physical healing and spiritual-emotional healing, as well. This is why I asked Derek!

Derek was rather surprised that I would ask and his answer was, emphatically, “Of course you can!” I was equally surprised at this response. We then discussed mindset and neuro-pathways as it pertains to health and wellness, and why I “should go out and run. Right now. Let’s go,” he encouraged. I wanted to write this blog post first, capturing the before so my “after” would be more meaningful. So I have done. Now the run. Here I go.

(Continue to Part 2, here.)

Review of the Book (1413 of) Those Words by anna ligtenberg


(1413 of) Those Words(1413 of) Those Words by Anna Ligtenberg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

(Yes, the lower-case author’s name is intentional as it is the way she has it on her book and Page on FB.)

Those Words is the author’s deliciously intimate memoir heavy on young love, seasoned with self-psychoanalysis, mystery, and hope of an escape from the loveless bourgeois, whether by suicide or reconnecting with her long-lost high school sweetheart. Ligtenberg has done an excellent job of tempering the story of her tragic childhood with experiences of love, subtle joy, and friendship.

Ligtenberg’s sense of humor doesn’t allow the reader to cry for more than a couple lines at a time, which I believe is a reflection of her resilience and fortitude. An example, from my Facebook post January 25, 2012: “In between the anxiety and the despair and hope and love, I burst into laughter for a line that is uniquely Anna Ligtenberg: ‘(because really, except for the efforts of the goofballs on urbandictionary.com, nobody has yet come up with a sexy word for that spot)’ location 5350 (Kindle version) in 1413 of Those Words by anna ligtenberg”

Yes, there’s a great number of sex scenes in the book. I must admit I only skimmed them, feeling they were more intimate in detail than I was interested in knowing since I wasn’t reading this book for pornographic entertainment. Psychology student that I am, I was, however, very much enthralled with the aspects of the sex scenes that were related to Anna’s mental health and her memory disorder. Fascinating! From my Facebook post January 17, 2013: “I’m only 2/5 in to 1413 of Those Words by anna ligtenberg and highly recommend this memoir. This book is for adults only, especially for women of a dysfunctional background who will likely find herself relating to the author in her functional dysfunction and quest for a way out of life altogether if not out of the life she was suffering.”

I devoured all of Those Words as if engrossed in a visit with my old best friend, catching up after spending more than a decade apart. It was as if Anna was reading her diary to me and narrating additional details. This familiarity is partially a credit to Ligtenberg’s writing style in this book. Anna and I grew up in the same neighborhood and, although we were only superficially acquainted back then, I was well acquainted with several characters in the book, and had even remembered her sweetheart as the awkwardly sexy boy who resembled, in my mind’s eye, a young, healthy Keith Richards.

From my Facebook post, Jan 22, 2013: “On lunch break, reading 1413 of Those Words by anna ligtenberg, who happens to be the sister of a childhood-high school friend. This experience is much like reading the grown-up version of the juicy diary of a neighborhood kid 30 years later. In learning details of several “characters” whom I have known in real life, the anticipation builds. Also, as a student of psychology, I’m fascinated with knowing the background and contributing factors to functional dysfunction, and the coping mechanisms employed to get there!”

Although very unconventional, I love that Anna included so many conversations with Mike that took place on Facebook’s private messaging platform. Sharing those messages helped the reader believe in and fall in love with Mike as much as Anna had believed in him and loved him all along. Prior to the reconnection and ensuing messaging via Facebook, Mike just seemed to have been another bad boy who played Anna and other girls for whatever he could get, and I found myself sad for Anna and her unrequited love for this player. His genuine love for Anna becomes evident in very short order, and when it does, it brings a sense of relief, joy, and hope to the reader on Anna’s behalf!

I wasn’t ready for the book to end. I wanted updates. Within a week of finishing the book, I was feeling Anna-and-Mike withdrawal! I wanted to phone Anna and ask her what was new? (Actually, I did call her to ask!) Is there a sequel? When is Letterbomb playing out and will you, Anna, be there? Now that I know the intimate details of your life, when can we meet in person?!

Great book on many levels. Don’t bother if you are easily offended with swearing, sex, drugs, self-infliction of pain, family secrets, or other real-life hardships. If reality doesn’t disgust you and you want to learn a little something about yourself, read this book.



View all my reviews

Growth Occurs Where Attention Was Focused – A follow-up to my Aug 20th post

I’ve been a believer in Law of Attraction. Most of the time. Except that I questioned, as have non-believers and skeptics, “what about all the bad stuff that happens to innocent people?”

My early personal history included many situations of bad experiences. Sufficient number to question the thread: what was my role in these experiences? What did I create and why?

Early this week, I found some answers during a self-exploration exercise with an Avatar mini-course called The Forgiveness Option. In doing the exercises of the course, I found a few threads and identified my role in creating the garbage of my life. In general, my focus was on “This is what I’m used to. This is what is familiar. This is what I was programmed to believe.” Having done the mini-course, I am now fully a believer in Law of Attraction.

Interesting how “The teacher will appear when the student is ready.” I found this video on creating and co-creating misery because that’s where the focus is, and how the objective is to FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT TO MANIFEST, NOT WHAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO MANIFEST!

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Information Glut Age – Applying Sensible Guidelines in E-mail Marketing

As I was purging thousands of automated, unread e-mails from my inbox last night, I thought of the relevance of a blog post I read earlier the same day.

Branding coach Bill Ellis posted in his blog Branding for Results, “Sometimes the best thing to say is…NOTHING!” three guidelines for speaking that are easily applicable to those of us in the “information” business. Bill’s guidelines can help us practice better manners and business ethics in our e-mail marketing:

(1) “Does it [this e-mail] need to be said [sent]?” – Is this e-mail more purposeful than intrusive? As Bill asks, “Will it add value…?”
(2) “Does it need to be said [sent] right now?” In the practice of e-mail marketing, how soon after the sign-up do I send the first e-mail? What timing is best for the next e-mail? Would I be annoyed if I received my own e-mail marketing campaign series?
(3) “Does it need to be said [sent] by me?” So many e-mail marketers are promoting other people’s material as an affiliate, so the message has been distributed a dozen or maybe hundreds of times. Did the person on your list sign up for YOUR information, or for all campaigns whose bandwagon you care to jump onto?

Be sure to read Bill’s article “Sometimes the best thing to say is…NOTHING!”, “three questions to ask yourself – before you speak – that will greatly reduce the likelihood that you’ll need to snag any of those words floating out of your mouth.”

The Semantics of Thanks

Today, I’m practicing being an excellent receiver based on what I learned in T. Harv Eker/Peak Potential’s Millionaire Mind Intensive as well as from Law of Attraction. “I am an excellent receiver! I gratefully accept these gifts and the abundance of gifts on their way to me.”

Interesting to me is how that so resembles, “Thank You, oh, Lord, for these, Thine gifts, which we are about to receive. Amen”.

I’m thinking religions and spirituality are not unlike languages, with their connections in history and semantic similarities and differences. Aren’t we, of varying religions, usually saying the same prayer (sentiment/intention) with different words? In the same manner, is it not also *possible* that we differently name the entity to which/whom we offer gratitude or make requests?

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, Law of Attraction, and Blissful Ignorance

(written 19 Aug 2012; edited & published 20 Aug 2012)

Law of Attraction says what we focus on grows. Thoughts are energy. Energy affects our reality. Reality is whatever we focus on at the moment. Energetically speaking, does that mean if we focus on world peace, love, justice, and compassion, all this negativity in the news will disappear? Or, will such negativity simply be silently swept out of sight?

I’ve just taken a dose of current events, something I’ve avoided for what may actually be years, perhaps decades. It’s easy to do while a student of higher education. Although, I’m not sure I’ve been interested in current events since before my son was born. But, I digress.

Having just read about WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and the media, I am stunned. I’d like to believe in and live by doing what is right rather than coersion and manipulation, and in goodness and rights and freedoms, and in a government by the people, of the people and for the people, which on the surface appear to make the United States so well loved by the majority of citizens of the same — I dare not refer to myself and my countrypeople as “Americans” as I understand well enough the elitism involved in so doing.

I watched a video of Assange’s speech presented at the Ecuadorian Embassy via this link: What had I missed?! The articles on that site are almost always extreme in perspective, so I went searching for the same news from a different perspective. I generally like to glimpse major issues from the perspective of different cultures, this story being no exception. I started with my favorite overview site, wikipedia.org where I caught up on the WikiLeaks news of the last 6 years. How isolated I had allowed myself to be, or, as my mentor Jorge Bueno says, we are “being sheeple”. Ignorance is bliss because the bad news doesn’t affect us.

Going next to The Guardian, and then Huffington Post, I read similar account of the issue . Then, I found the scarier stuff on Electronic Frontier Foundation.…

Wait a minute. I just remembered why I avoid current events. Back in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s I was – heck, we all were -concerned about nuclear war and the possibility of World War III. I became a news junkie, having cable television and a channel box (the corded predecessor to a remote control), I could sit and watch news for hours at a time. It was, as it is still, depressing, disheartening, and disenchanting. It was and still is so much easier to be blissfully ignorant by playing video games, watching non-sense television, and other means of escape.

After hours of bad-news-watching in 1982, I watched a movie about a nuclear mishap. It seemed so real to me, having just seen “real” news that could sensibly precede the events of the movie. Horrific and very, very distressing and disturbing to my spirit. I then made a conscious decision and rule for myself that I would not watch or participate in any bad news if I could not personally affect a positive change. I would no longer make my sensitive self sick from worrying about all the bad news in the world. I’ve lived by that rule, for the most part. Have I denied myself of anything important? Have I been neglectful of my civic duties? Worse, have I neglected persons or cultures affected by events I chose to ignore? Or, is reality only what we focus on?

Today’s event with Julian Assange’s speech and the history behind it highlight the ill-will (I rarely use the word evil) in our world including our own backyard here in the USA. Can we do anything about the cause behind this story? Are we really losing our rights and becoming a police state of sheeple? If we ignore the root issue and focus on peace, love, and understanding, will the positive energy prevail, or will we simply perpetuate our blissful ignorance?

Progress in Reconstruction with Diversity!

Welcome to my Blog!

Please keep in mind that this is my personal site, where I discuss various topics of interest to me including my business ventures, my family, political issues, charitable causes, dating, aging, living life fully, and more, and more! Clearly, each article will not be of interest to every reader. Feel free to use the category search to find the articles that are more likely to be of interest to you. I am highly diverse in my interests and endeavors, The Queen of Shiny Objects, it sometimes seems. I personally think this keeps life interesting, though I know it drives some friends a little wacky.

Please note this site was initially published in Spring of 2010 immediately upon my return from my cross-country road trip. Many of the posts have been un-published, some of which will be re-published after the links are corrected or eliminated. I’ve learned a great deal about websites, blogs, and general life since then, and I hope to have those lessons reflected in this updated version of my personal blog.

Blessings on you & your loved ones.

Thanks for reading!

LMB

More Action and Results!

Almost one year ago I unpublished most of my website and blog that I had established a year earlier. It’s hard for me to believe only two years have passed since the cross-country road trip I enjoyed during my sabbatical from medical school! Since then, I’ve grown by leaps and bounds with the guidance of various mentors and coaches, acquaintances, and loved-ones. Life is beautiful and purposeful!

Now, with more clarity of direction, I am ready to publish and regularly post content. As you may (or may not) notice, I changed the name of this site from “Health, Wealth, and Self Exploration” to “The Profound Gerneralist; the facets and works of Lisa M. Blacker” with several iterations in between. Some of the posts will be on matters related to Health & Wellness, some to Wealth & Business Development, and still others on the subjects of personal growth, travel, relationships, academia, and existential issues. Everything will not be for everyone, so if you are only interested in a particular category, you may like to subscribe only to the category of interest.

In travel and in life, it seems to me the journey is at least as important as the arrival at one’s destination. For that reason, I have chose to re-publish most of my original posts and have done so with the original publish dates. I have found re-viewing/re-reading the posts helpful in my own personal growth. It is my sincere intention that one or more of them may be helpful to others, as well.

As we each move toward self-actualizing, it makes good sense to maintain a point of reference as to our origin. Like enjoying a few sunny days after a week of rain and gloomy skies, we enjoy the good stuff of life in contrast to the not so good. No matter how you define success, it is sweeter after periods of fruitlessness.

Thanks for reading. ~~ LMB