i.m.m.

Balance is often known as a skill-related component of physical fitness, but it can also be applied in all aspects of the Mind/Body/Spirit model of fitness: Balance in Muscular and Cardiovascular strength and endurance through physical activity; balance in mentality through positive reinforcement and development of character over practice and time; spiritual balance through identification of successes, failure, fear, or anxiety and what causes them with daily reflection—and then seek self-improvement on this reflection. The mindfulness of balance improves consistency and confidence and creates a life of ACTION instead of reaction or in-action.

Yes! From a physical fitness perspective, core strength is essential for joint stability, strength, balance, and movement control. In a metaphorical sense, it is also the tough part of a fruit that contains the seeds for future growth—it is the central and most important part of something.  Each of us are individually special, so finding individual core strengths is vital. The journey is 99.9% mental and core strength is the foundation by which your mental toughness is supported. Your core is where life force is pumped into the organs that allow you to activate muscles for movement, nourish the brain and develop new neurological pathways, and enable critical thinking for emotional and spiritual stability. In other words, balance. Core strength gives mental fortitude and resilience which allows you stay focused in your vision and on your path towards success.

It appears that it is difficult to have an individual foundational principle without some or all of the others included. Developing good habits requires an individual repeating single ACTIONS.  Consistency through repetition builds muscular strength, size, and endurance in physical fitness. However, you can’t have physical fitness without the mental aspect. Whether envisioning your daily plans or your long-term goals and ideas, consistency in thought and then action are key to putting your body and mind into motion with energy. Such repetition and motion will present opportunities and obstacles along your path which requires consistent effort. This is how you build self-efficacy—the confidence that you have in your self to accomplish that which you set out to achieve.  Doing what you say you wish to do consistently takes courage, which leads to self-respect forming within. Self-respect breeds confidence, which breeds more consistency.

In order to make behavioral changes, we have to be mindful of the fundamentals, and repeat them daily even when something says not to; it is nothing fancy.  We use repetition in exercise, and we also use repetition mentally and spiritually.  When training we have to be in tune with our bodies to understand strain, fatigue, and your capabilities. Mentally and spiritually there are times when we are distracted by the stresses and anxieties of life. To be mindful is to be in the present, free of stress, and free of anxiety. Living in the moment reduces emotional responses to things that most likely don’t matter. Being mindful of this gives you a tool to remove those emotions from your mind and be in the moment; this is called grounding. We can then learn to consistently live in moderation, which is a virtue. This gives you the ability to keep your path and vision clear and unimpeded with continued action. Remember, repeated action becomes long-term behavior, and it starts with a mindful posture and the way you carry ourself.  Become conscious, be mindful, and take repeated action.  Success and consistency feeds motivation!

Range of motion of a joint is a great way to determine our current physical fitness and health status, and gauge potential risks for injury.  While we apply this in fitness and health, we must also be flexible with our self and our lives.  Being able to accept circumstances; in many ways create circumstances in life by being proactive instead of reactive allows us to be more resilient—coping with anxiety and obstacles so that we can organize our minds and find rational thought. Remember, we experience many successes and we will experience failure at times—flexibility is required to see that in failure you seek self-improvement and learn that there is more than one path that you can take when obstacles and challenges present themselves. We create various avenues in our proactive decisions instead of living in a reality of limited possibilities and narrow paths with even narrower margins for error.  Practice being flexible with a calm mind when you would normally react negatively, be capable of being nomadic, and live and operate in the present with focus.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first 4 hours sharpening the ax.”  We must strengthen our self, but we must also take responsibility for sharpening those around us towards a common goal. It can be difficult networking and putting energy into the environment around you. However, it is necessary to at the very least put yourself into the universe and share positivity. People will naturally be attracted to you—this is a universal law of attraction. Inclusion is important for spirit de corps and motivation, and studies indicate that overcoming obstacles or goals in many cases make future obstacles easier to accomplish.  In many cases having the spirit of community can be uplifting as it is a foundation, especially when the current path you are on is a difficult one. Having two heads in most situations is usually better than one, as we acquire ideas from different perspectives, and a community is even better. Communities have to be built, and relationships—with yourself and others—have to be nourished.

The word investment must take on new relevance in our lives.  Along with our preconceived notion that investment mainly has monetary significance, we must consider investments of time, trade, ideas, and effort into our individual self, and those around us.  Energy is another investment that must be done on a daily basis, and it’s important to reflect and put together a daily plan—even long term plans as you must refine your goals as time moves forward. Finding an individual purpose and investing energy, time, and ideas into that purpose builds skills, reinforces virtues and the other foundational principles, and allows you to stay focused and live in the moment instead of the past or the uncertain future. The goal is to build self-value and value of that which you are building in the name of your purpose.

One must subscribe to a pattern of behavior and consistently execute this pattern to develop habit which is the way of discipline. To wake up in your warm bed every morning and have a choice to either get up and physically train, or read your research articles, or just be on time for your professional obligations requires mental, physical, and emotional fortitude in a consistent manner. If you are trying to balance your checking account and pay debts, you must have monetary discipline with your investments. Perhaps you are trying to lose body fat and increase muscle mass—you must consistently execute your physical activity/training plan through discipline. If you are trying to get better sleep but your lifestyle prevents you from doing so—you must consistently execute a game plan and develop a habit through discipline. We must consider discipline from a physical, mental, and spiritual perspective, which correlates with all the other foundational principles.