Lessons

Much of life is about learning lessons, living through an experience and coming out on the other side wiser and better. Someone who has lived a few more lessons than me (but whose name I can't seem to remember at the moment) said that when we stop learning, we have stopped living. I have thought a lot about that concept since I first read about it, and I subscribe to it. Life is learning. Only when we lie lifeless in bed, completely devoid of interaction and stimulus, when our minds are taken from us entirely, do we stop learning, and that, my dears, is no life.

The last 18 months or so have given me many lessons, and it has underscored previous ones. Often, my heart aches with the knowledge of which I am now so keenly aware. Moments are fleeting and precious, and the people in our lives are what make them worthwhile.  In this vein, changes are afoot. After all, what good is a lesson upon which we do not act?

The weather in north Florida is on the change as well as autumn has brought its chill a bit early. We had frost yesterday morning! I never see a frosted patch of grass that I don't think about all the mornings I stood with wet hair waiting on the bus or huddled in the passenger seat of Daddy's '79 Ford F150 waiting for the heater to kick in. Daddy was always convinced that I was going to catch my death from that frozen head of hair. :) So the last two days, I've not needed a fan at all for my workouts. As a matter of fact, I've had to wear a t-shirt and capris and was still a little chilly. This is the first year I can remember when I actually have looked forward to the cool weather.  I guess we all really do change with time.

 At Moe's yesterday (I didn't have time to prepare anything before work), I ran into a couple I took care of a couple of weeks ago. They insisted on buying my dinner. What a lovely treat!

Kaizen

As Lean Eaters will know, Kaizen is the Japanese concept of continual improvement--of doing a little more, a little better every day. Marc and I were at the range the other day, and another couple whom we often see there happened to join us on the steel range. Usually we only see them on the static range shooting at paper targets, and we've seen them there frequently. Honestly, I had never paid attention to their shooting skills until I saw them shooting on the steel range. I've noticed that they often shoot several different firearms of varying calibers, but never how well they shoot them. The nature of the steel range, though, is such that one can't help but notice others' skills. Frankly, I was surprised by their lack thereof. They really were not very good at all, and I commented to Marc how surprised I was at their poor shooting considering the amount of time they spend at the range. In his seemingly infinite wisdom, Marc made the point that doing the same wrong thing over and over again only serves to ingrain bad habits. Instantly, the light bulb in my head went on. How applicable to all aspects of life--especially the gym!

Showing up and going through the moves is so easy sometimes. The trick is the focus, making sure the moves are worth their salt. The trick is one more perfect rep or 5 more pounds or a bit more squeeze at the top. The trick is one bite less, one bit leaner than last time. The trick is occasionally reaching out to an "expert" for some recommendations about how to improve what we're doing. The trick is continual improvement. Otherwise we're just wasting ammo.

And because pictures are fun: :)