Simple Statement of the Day

by Nichole Chobin on January 25, 2012

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment.
~ George Eliot

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A Brain and Body Workout

by Nichole Chobin on January 18, 2012


Hi-tech locals, innovative equipment, technologically advanced machines, all can get us there and/or inspire us to be more physically fit. Or can they? Sometimes the missing piece to the puzzle of physical fitness is mind fitness as well.

In a recent article, Smart Move: The Workout for Thinking People by Anthony Stoechert (U.S. 1, 12/7/11 issue) it intrigued me that getting back to the basics was the fastest, simplest, and a more secure way for a thinking person to become fit. When on a treadmill, an elliptical, stairmaster, or cross trainer, it becomes a monotonous bevy of repetition without thought, movement without concept, and push and pull without the ying and yang of your mind also being in motion. What if we had to use our minds as well as our bodies to truly get fit?

Via the Crossfit mantra, “…I will give everything I have. And then I will find more within myself” lies the essence of mind power as always present. The concept of utilizing a gym with no machines or exercise bikes of any kind is the strategem of New Jersey married couple Tracey and Andy Mahaney to encourage everyone to utilize their inner strengths to succeed and not rely on machines but their own bodies as the vessels to success, http://www.transformcrossfit.com/.

Not only are you exercising your body but you are exercising your mind utilizing, “constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity”. Machines don’t do the counts and repetitions while you look on at your progress. You, the exerciser, the performer of these acts, count out the push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and timed rhythms to a blaring red timer on the wall as the class tries to maintain its unison. Owner, Tracy Mahaney simply stated it best, “…more than a workout regimen, it’s a way of life that results in people doing things they didn’t think they could do.”

Can technology assist our bodies in becoming physically fit, perhaps, but the mind is a terrible thing to waste and if the possibility is available to exercise both in poetic harmony…why not seize the opportunity and see where it can take us.

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Simple Statement of the Day

by Nichole Chobin on January 4, 2012


With the coming of the new year often comes many resolutions. But sometimes it is the simplest ones that keep us in tact, on track, and connected to all.

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this — To rise above the little things.
~ John Burroughs

You have done what you could — some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
~ Emerson

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called “Opportunity” and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
~ Edith L. Pierce

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.
~ Confucius

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Simple Statement of the Day

by Nichole Chobin on December 21, 2011


During this holiday season it isn’t just one quote or musing that can be inspirational, remind us of times past, or put us in a positive frame of mind that will last long into the new year. There are many things that can act as holiday reminders to us all that ’tis the season’ should be all year round. Here are just a few…happy holidays to all.

If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.
~ Bertrand Russell

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.
~ Harlan Miller

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!
~ Amanda Bradley

To many people holidays are not voyages of discovery, but a ritual of reassurance.
~ Philip Andrew Adams

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Simple Statement of the Day – The Spirit of the Holidays

by Nichole Chobin on November 30, 2011

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.
~ Donald E. Westlake

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A Month to Give Thanks…

November 16, 2011

It should not only be a month or a day that people are thankful. But a constant. It should be a button that we could all press 100 times a day in recognition of what we have and how much more we are capable of giving. Unfortunately, the global society deems otherwise in everyday life. [...]

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Simple Statements on this Day of Remembrance

November 11, 2011

On this, Veteran’s Day, 11/11/11, we must remember that the earth is only kept in its goodness by those who are willing to fight for it and its people. Honor, courage, dignity, and humanity all co-exist only with some of the ultimate sacrifices that men and women all over the world are willing to give. [...]

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Simple Statement of the Day

November 9, 2011

When the trees their summer splendor change to raiment red and gold, when the summer moon turns mellow, and the nights are getting cold; when the squirrels hide their acorns, and the woodchucks disappear; then we know that it is autumn, loveliest season of the year. ~ Carol L. Riser

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Simple Statement of the Day

November 4, 2011

It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees. ~ Wilson Flagg

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Simple Statement of the Day

November 2, 2011

Lots of people talk to animals. Not very many listen, though. That’s the problem. ~ Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

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