Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

During this time of year when the end of winter is near, spring is almost upon us, and the days are getting longer once again, it seems as though everyone has a better sense of optimism vs the pessimism that emerges at the onset of the winter doldrums in late fall and early winter. To keep the inspiration going, here are just a couple words of wisdom by some people who perhaps know a thing or two about challenge and adversity and rising above it all with the incredible spirit we all posses.

A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

I am an optimist. It does not seem to be much use being anything else.
~ Winston Churchill

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
~ Albert Einstein

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.
~ W. Clement Stone

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
~ Henri Matisse

I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.
~ Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope or confidence.
~ Helen Keller

Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to hunt for happiness.
~ William E. Gladstone

The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears.
~ Bill Vaughn

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

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.

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

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

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

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. But, sometimes the simplest statements can have the most impact. The “Golden Rule” is one that is highly forgotten and is not easily recognized by its title. Many have to hear it or see it to understand what it is. Ultimately, it is what defines humanity in its purest form. “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.” In doing so, our thankfulness aspirations can become a reality and the world a better place.

Here’s to being thankful, hitting that thankful button, and giving thanks for this wonderful MioMarmo (My Marble) that we all have. “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice. …. —Eckhart Tolle …