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Hi Walt,
You have often reminded us of the power of participating in all three aspects (diet, exercise, SR) of the wellness program you refer to as the "three legged stool". You have said that each piece enhances the effect in an exponential way. To review for those who may not have seen one of your posts on the subject, you get three points for doing one part, say diet, for instance. When you add a second, you get NINE points rather than six. It is like 3 to the second power, three squared, or 3 times 3. If you add the third activity, you get TEWNTY-SEVEN!!! Think of it, TWENTY-SEVEN! Our normal thinking is if we get three for each part, we get 9. But the way in which the body, mind, and spirit responds to our efforts is not 3 plus 3 plus 3, but 3 TIMES 3 TIMES 3 TIMES 3! It is wellness to the third power.
Using all three elements of the program, then, is sort of like hitting a ball on the sweet spot, a feat that adds power and distance to your stroke. If you were not into sports as a youth, Walt, ones played with sticks and orbs anyway, or if anyone else is reading this who is not a big sports fan, perhaps a little explanation is in order.
When the big boys mention the "sweet spot", younger boys will often pretend they understand. Little boys will listen desperately for clues to its meaning. They do not want to admit their ignorance in a matter spoken about in such passionate and sensuous tones as the big boys use. The young ones eventually surmise correctly that every bat, racquet, and club has such a spot. If one can cause the ball to hit this legendary location, something magical will happen, something masculine and satisfying. One’s power will be increased exponentially.
Many folks never even hear about the sweet spot. They may not hold much stock in hitting roundish objects with sticks of varying sizes and shapes. If they hear the words, they wrinkle their nose. Or they may have heard the term but not know what it means. They may have heard someone say, "I hit it right on the sweet spot." Then they think it is an "as if" term. "I hit the ball ‘as if’ it hit the sweet spot," that is what they think the person is saying, the way we sometimes say so and so has found the "Fountain of Youth". Whatever that person has done to maintain a youthful appearance, it is "as if" they drank from some mythical fountain. But make no mistake about it, there IS such a thing as a sweet spot!
Where is the sweet spot? Where can it be found on each bat, racquet, or club, and how do you find it? There is a method for locating it, a quantifiable, eternal, material-world truth, described by scientists in terms like nodes, modes, and amplitude. But then, scientists have described many things they do not know how to use. What good is the information if you do not know how to use it. For example, you may know the principle of "lift" exists, but that does not mean you can fly.
Unless you have had a parent, older sibling, or coach to teach the skills involved in the knowledge, you are in the dark, and if you have played any kind of ball in this condition, you are probably what is known in athletics as a "slap hitter" a "Punch and Judy" contact hitter, a singles hitter, a maker of slices, hooks, and backspins; in short, a pesky lightweight. You may hit for a high average, return service well, and hit the ball straight down the center of the fairway, but you have no oomph! No homers, no aces, no hitting the long greens in two.
Given all the variables from the soles of the feet up to the sweet spot, it is a miracle that anyone can put the right spot to the right object at the right time, but there are those who have done it with ridiculous ease. We refer to them as "naturals", and they have names like, "Slammin’ Sammy", "The Babe", "Rocket Rod" or "The Great One". Masters of the sweet spot become legends in their own time.
Is it any wonder that the term is a metaphor for the equivalent of a home run, ace, or hole-in-one even in non-athletic endeavors? If you cleverly close the big sale, you "hit the sweet spot". If you make the passionate summation that sways the jury, you have "hit the sweet spot" also. It is a matter of vision, timing, physics, luck, and magic. The luck and magic part means anyone has at least a chance to hit the long one.
For example, just the other day our principal made a visit to Mrs. O’Doole’s first grade class to observe the behavior modification program Mrs. O’Doole is using to help control Barry in the classroom. The program is really nothing more than a kitchen timer, one of those mechanical, white plastic ones that you can wind up to thirty minutes or so, and it grinds audibly back to zero and gives off a loud ding. The idea is for Barry to set it for however long he is supposed to sit still and pay attention to something. His early goals are modest. For Barry a minute or two is max.
So in comes the principal and strides right over and makes a big deal about Barry’s timer in an overly cheerful tone. She tends to go on a bit, and so Berry snatches up the timer, holds it up to the her face, cranks it open, and then twists it swiftly back so it forces a loud DING. "Time for you to go!" he tells her. Then he turns on his heels and retreats to a spot across the room and ignores her completely. She left, perplexed, shortly thereafter.
The story spread around campus amidst gleeful muffled chuckles. Many enviously felt that Berry had, in deed, hit the sweet spot, a half-court slap shot into the net if ever there was one. Humor has exponential power as well, but that is another story.
So, Walt, we all are in favor of the concept of getting more bang for our buck. So why not add a throwing stick to our spear, adjust the fulcrum on our prying bar, hit the sweet spot with our racquet? The benefit from the synergy of the third element of our wellness program will do just that. It does not take a rocket scientist to carry out this program (no offense, Jim). If you are going to take a swing, you might as well go for the "sweet spot"!
Jim
At the bully keyboard
In Reply to: The "Sweet Spot" Of Wellness posted by Jim H. on November 22, 1999 at 08:49:45:
This is a beautiful and beautifully written post. And in the charitable spirit of the upcoming holidays, I'm going to let the words "something magical will happen, something MASCULINE and satisfying" pass without comment :o)
(Happy Thanksgiving)
In Reply to: The "Sweet Spot" Of Wellness posted by Jim H. on November 22, 1999 at 08:49:45:
Thanks, Jim.
OK, you have asked for it: The "sweet spot" is "Cosmic Consciousness". For those who are not familiar with the universal nature of this concept, I recommend an eminently readable book: "Cosmic Consciousness" by Richard Bucke, MD.
The main reason I do not talk about it is that most people seeking on the internet for answers are so ill that they have to get their "temple" (Even the Bible says that the body is the temple of the soul.) in better order before it would be capable of making that step.
The "Grace of God" CAN strike out of the blue but most of us have to gain it step by step.
SO, I try to get people feeling a little better as they put their foot on the "Journey of a thousand miles that starts with a simgle step."
Remember, our bodymind is the only tool we have to create works in this sensory reality. The higher quality our "tool" is the better "works" we can do and the closer to health (wholeness, holiness) we become.
Comments?
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: Re: The "Sweet Spot" Of Wellness (ARCHIVE UNDER PHILOSOPHY.) posted by Walt Stoll on November 23, 1999 at 09:26:35:
Well that was certainly a thought provoking reply, Walt. As you say, you do not interject the spiritual into many of the queries you get here on the board, but you have said enough over the past several years that your words come as no surprise to me. I have been thinking about what you wrote all day, and also wondering if anyone else might jump in. I am surprised not.
I just see an awful lot of room between finding God in a flash and taking a lifetime; enough room for each of us to find a path I suppose. I think every person is on a spiritual journey. Some see it, some do not. We all seem to have our own peculiar and eclectic ways. Formal religion fails a great many of us these days. It makes me think of Yoga.
It is a testimonial to the ancient seekers of India that they realized, centuries ago, what we have only just discovered in popular culture; "Different strokes for different folks." There are numerous well defined forms of Yoga, each one developed to lead us along the path according to different human qualities. There are Yogas of love, duty, devotion, selfless action, stillness, sensuality, knowledge, and the body, to mention a few that come to mind. Hatha Yoga, the way of the body, is what most of us have in mind when we think of Yoga. Among the kinds, there is perhaps one, or a combination, that is best suited for each one of us.
Yoga, we are told, comes from the Sanskrit word 'Yug' meaning union (with the Divine), and the practice of Yoga leads one to the "eternal," by whatever name we know it. "Cosmic consciousness" is the name you used. But I think it is good to think of Yoga as a path. Not only are there different paths, there are many wonderful and worthwhile destinations along the way. Various intermediate levels of health, serenity, self knowledge, and wisdom are noble enough attainments for some. Not all choose to seek the Ultimate.
I suppose it is because I am a child of the sixties, but I just assume things are going on about as they are supposed to in some unknowable grand scheme. Probably I read Desiderata a few too many times. God knows I could never figure out what is right or wrong for the world, or for any individual, but I have often seen the seductive and destructive power of the urge to spiritual questing, and I have watched others take a flaming imitation of the Icarus ride experience. What we call compulsions and perversions in our society may well be abortive attempts of desperate individuals to reach the divine through unconscious and self-styled practices. But that is another story, and best left to psychology text books.
There are no end of used Zen salesmen about these days, and I am leery of anyone who claims to know the way. I believe we have had visits from some of them right here on the board. I agree with Sheldon Kopp, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
I am somewhere on the lower slopes of Mount Olympus, enjoying my view and trying to maintain my health, tame my mind, and find my heart in small things. I help stamp out ignorance in the second grade, and I report on my findings in little stories I send about here and there. It is a full time job to do just that much in this sensory world. My spiritual pace is somewhere between a Groucho Marx stride and a mosey.
Without the improved health and peace the last few years, as a result of what I have gleaned from this board, I would hate to think what my existence might be. I pray you keep your health, Walt, so you can continue doing what it is you do. It is a path that benefits so many.
Jim
In Reply to: Re: The "Sweet Spot" Of Wellness posted by Lisa M. on November 22, 1999 at 15:39:11:
Lisa,
Thanks for the compliment, and thanks for having mercy on me in the holiday spirit. :b
Jim
In Reply to: Re: Note from the lower slopes posted by Jim H on November 23, 1999 at 21:12:03:
Thanks, Jim!
I agree with EVERYTHING you have said here. Was it Socrates who said: "The unexamined life is not worth living!"?
I would, although, like to add a few more thoughts: Someone great once said, "If one is not growing one is dying." or something like that.
Those who embrace Karma and Reincarnation would say that the purpose (and opportunity) of life IS to finally reach the divine. Each life builds upon the the previous and we learn (or do not) with each.
Those who have been benefitted by any of the myriad paths, naturally want to share what has worked for them. Thus they say that they have found "the way". All this says is that they still have a ways to go. All they know is what is working for them: valid but no cigar. There are almost as many ways as there are different people.
All I know for sure is: I. There is a goal. & 2. There IS a "way".
I have another thing to be thankful about tomorrow: YOU!
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Note from the lower slopes (ARCHIVE under philosophy.) posted by Walt Stoll on November 24, 1999 at 11:11:29:
Walt,
I hope your Thanksgiving had special moments.
We made paper turkeys and Pilgrim hats in class before leaving for the holiday. Some of the kids' hats look less like a Pilgrim’s, and more like Napoleon's, Abraham Lincoln's, or a hobo's hat. The girls' looked like nurses or maids. Robert's turkey was a quadruped, Alicia's had a mane, and all of table 4 used day-glo colors for their feathers. Our turkeys could shame peacocks.
On a deeper note. I agree with all you said in your post also, and I offer this:
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life....I think that what we're really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive." Joseph Campbell
I cannot say it any better than that.
Jim
Chia pets, clap-on clap-off lights, and the barking dogs Jingle Bells song on radio and TV….....tis the season, eh?
In Reply to: Re: Napoleon Hats and Day-Glo Turkeys posted by Jim H. on November 29, 1999 at 08:12:38:
Thanks, Jim.
I think what Socrates was trying to say is what you just "said" here.
I really apreciate what you have contributed to MY life as well as those who happen to catch your BB contributions. It is one of the most important lessons and opportunities of "life".
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Note from the lower slopes (ARCHIVE under philosophy.) posted by Walt Stoll on November 24, 1999 at 11:11:29:
This couldn't have been put better. You both touched a deeply resonant chord in me. Touched the sweet spot...
Love, Kyra
In Reply to: Re: Napoleon Hats and Day-Glo Turkeys posted by Walt Stoll on November 30, 1999 at 08:34:43:
nm
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