In the Rain, We Run

Many believe rainy days are meant for bowls of soup and Netflix watching. In this way people use rain as an excuse to not accomplish what they should be doing. They believe the lies: when water falls from the sky, your to do list should adapt. You can’t do things outside when it rains anyways, right?

Wrong.

Rain can’t change a thing for your dream attainment. If your dream is really your dream, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from moving the needle every day. That means if your goal is to walk to the grocery store instead of drive, the rain shouldn’t change that. If your objective is to stop by the chapel after class, the rain shouldn’t alter your schedule. If you’re trying to get in shape by running more, a rainy day means a rainy run.

Today I ran 9 200s in the rain with my teammates. It poured rain and we were all drenched. But we must do the work.

If you’re serious about changing your life by achieving a challenging goal, you have to stop pandering to the weather. Your work must get done. No matter what. There can be no exceptions.

Mother Earth is blessing us with a shower. Let’s stop cursing the rain for making us wet and start thanking our Mother for giving us—and everything we need to survive—a drink.

Take Your Time, Make Art

I find myself setting internal deadlines too ludicrous to ever be met. Day after day I make plans and schedules trying to get a handle on this time thing. And, like clockwork, day after day I overestimate what I think I can accomplish and underestimate the time it takes to complete menial tasks. Day after day I am kicking myself, wondering when I’ll finally learn to take control of my day.

It’s all vanity.

Maybe instead of squeezing every last task into my day I should spend some time being grateful for the day I have. Perhaps this moment in gratitude could help me remember why I’m here: to live, to love, to be of service. And then, just maybe, I could spend more time creating art and less time trying to fit my laundry folding into ten minutes.

Imagine how your life could change if every day you were reminded of your purpose. What if instead of getting frustrated with yourself you forgave yourself. Consider how much art you could create if you stopped wasting time making schedules too structured to follow.

Maybe this post could be a reminder to all of us: take your time, make art.

Take your time. Make Art…

Keep Going

Mike Posner is almost finished walking across America. That’s right, Atlantic to Pacific. He started in New Jersey and is currently in California with less than 100 miles to go (out of 2,851). His walk was delayed while walking through Colorado. He was bit by a rattlesnake and nearly died. It took him 3 weeks until he was back to walking. He just surprised the world by dropping his brand new mixtape called “Keep Going.”

Throughout the walk Mike has been sharing videos of spoken word on Instagram. He’s been shouting “Keep Going” at the end of every one of his posts. It’s been his rallying cry during this whole journey. Little did we all know, but Mike was sharing his new songs, verses, and mixtape with us. And none of us realized it.

This album is magnificent. Really, it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever heard. This man doesn’t speak about making money and partying. He speaks of love, self discovery, and following your heart. This is a meaningful message, too meaningful to not be heard.

So go check it Mike Posner’s Musical Medicine. Now we’ll just wait for him to do a song with Nahko…hopefully!

Fallen, Forever

Fallen branches wait to be cleared and you now
drop leaves no longer useful. Every day new old leaves drop
and cover the trail again, reshaping it, untouching it. 
Decaying practicality, now open to opportunity.
Nobody has ever walked on my dead parts before—
you will not be the last. This moment is here but will be gone
soon and forever.

Walk by yourself or with another. 
Walk with a loved one or with an enemy. 
Whether you share visions or disagreements
soon you will be walking side-by-side to the same rhythm, 
left foot, right foot, trip. Not indifference but understanding 
will leave my woods today. Hope for another moment together 
soon and forever.

These seconds are rotting apples, sweet but tender. This day 
is a new beginning for the whole world. I am the world. 
This world is mine to live, celebrate, and ignore. 
Who will be the keeper of my destiny, if not myself? 
I hear the honeybee sing to the doe:
“Today is a good day to die.” 
So it is for me and my kingdom.

Rest Day

If I’ve learned one thing from my Ōura ring it’s at least one day off a week is absolutely essential for better recovery and accelerated performance. It’a simple but hard to practice. For accomplished and improving athletes, a day off may seem like a step in the wrong direction. Let this be a warning to you: it’s only going to benefit you in the long run.

The track season just started and my running is ramping up now to about 6x a week. I’m ready for it. I need to make sure my body stays healthy and ready for workouts, too. So rest days are important. Yoga days are important. Stretching before bed is important. Hydration is important. Staying awake form alcohol is important. Whole foods and less gluten and sugar are important. Balance is important.

This is my final circuit of the Division 1 athlete life. I’m going to do my absolute best to squeeze everything I have out of it. That includes rest days, like today.

Keep resting to keep getting better.

El Camino

I’ve never watched a better TV show than Breaking Bad. One summer, I watched four and a half seasons in about three weeks, just in time to catch the last half of Season 5 as it aired live. It was one of the greatest journeys of my entertainment pursuits.

El Camino just came out today. It’s a two hour movie continuing from where the show ended. It follows the pursuit of fugitive Jessie Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul) after the massive fallout between drug lord and drug maker. This movie, like the series, was expertly crafted and well made. It met every expectation I had for it.

Great stories never die. Even when you think the story’s been told entirely, there’s always more to say, more to investigate. On a deeper note, there’s more to every story than you think. You can never know the entirety of a story—to do so would mean to understand each perspective of the characters and every motive behind their actions. This is an impossible task, so there is always more to learn.

If only professors, teachers, and educators understood this… Maybe there would be less students who hate learning and more meaningful discoveries.

I am John Muir

In American Environmental History, we’re utilizing a teaching/learning method called Reacting to the Past. The premise is interesting but relatively simple. Instead of being lectured on certain events throughout world history, students are all assigned roles of important people during that period. We are divided into different factions who each have select victory objectives. Then we take turns giving speeches, presenting arguments, and voting on issues depending on the “game” we’re playing. Students might be in the Assembly in Ancient Greece or the Constitutional Congress in Revolutionary America. Possibilities are only limited to the number of games played in one semester.

For this class, we are having hearings before the Senate in the 1913 Hetch Hetchy Debate. This debate is to determine if the Raker Bill is to go into law. The Raker Bill proposed that the Tuolomne River which flows through the Hetch Hetchy Valley should be dammed to provide water and power for the city of San Francisco. This bill makes sense being as the Hetch Hetchy dam would be the most cost effective and powerful solution. The major problem is that the Hetch Hetchy is within the confines of Yosemite National Park.

Nobody wants this beautiful land to fall into the hands of corporate greed, but opposing factions have different ideas about what should become of the land. The Conservationists are in favor of the dam while the Preservationists radically oppose it. I play John Muir, founder of the famed Sierra Club and head of the Preservationists. John Muir is a real historical figure with profound writings. He is often called the first American environmentalist because of his efforts in this Hetch Hetchy dispute.

Though Muir never testified before the Senate, my character John Muir does. So tomorrow I’m set to give a 2 minute testimony about why I believe the Hetch Hetchy valley shouldn’t be dammed. I’ve decided to share with you what I wrote.

Yosemite is a National Park.  National Parks have been protected, set aside from municipalities and private interests, because thousands of tired, nerve-shaken people have found that going to the mountains is going home.  The Hetch Hetchy valley is not only in Yosemite, it is Yosemite.  It is a National Park.  As previously decided, no Right of Way Act ought to destroy such a temple forged by God Himself.

The pithy politicians who testified last session were more concerned with their reputations and reelections than the spiritual well-being of their own people, for from my journeys I know one thing: civilization needs wilderness.  These money changers and water-power pushers are interested in saving money, not saving this priceless land.  They want personal legacies, not peace of mind and refuge for American citizens. They live on the world but not in it—separate and rigidly alone in their marble homes, disconnected from the reality of this wild land.

My friends, I have lived in the world.  I have swam in the Tuolumne and slept on the grasses of these meadows.  I’ve scaled the granite walls of this valley and inhaled the fresh air of these pines.  This canyon is the heart of the Sierras.  To dam such a land would be to cut off this national treasure, the lifeblood of this region, from the public.  To dam such a land would set a relentless precedent for all protected places.  To dam Hetch Hetchy!  Why not dam the Grand Canyon of Arizona and harvest the rocks of the Yellowstone?  What’s stopping you from chopping down sequoias for lumber and building towers in Central Park?  To dam this valley would be the same as damming your churches and cathedrals.  This is a place of worship.

The Hetch Hetchy valley is the future of our country.  If we allow it to be removed from Yosemite and exploited for its infrastructure, then every future park will be at risk.  The 90 million people of this country need beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in.  Your choice determines our country’s future.

John Muir on October 11, 1913

Your Mission Statement

What is your mission statement? Why are you here? What are you here to do?

What is the next step you must take?

Bartram’s Garden

Last week, I went on my first ever field trip in college. It was for my American Environmental History class. We visited Bartram’s Garden in Southwest Philly. Sitting right on the bank of the Schuylkill, this garden was started in the mid 1700s by John Bartram, a botanist and friend to many of the founding fathers. Bartram travelled from Ontario to Florida, collected different species of flora, and propagated them back on his garden. This place soon became a spot of refuge for the founding fathers when they wanted to get away from the busyness of dmeocracy planning.

I decided to share part of my essay for my post today. I think it was meaningful. Hopefully you find it to be, too.

Though the origin story of United States is a rather sad story of Indian removal and genocide, the sentiment of a democratic republic which offers opportunities for all people to flourish is at the core of this country.  From the beginning, people from opposing cultures, beliefs, and ideologies were welcomed to come together, have difficult discussions, and learn to coexist among each other.  This is exactly what Bartram did in his garden: he brought plants together from opposite lands and helped them live next to one another in a symbiotic relationship. Just as different plants needed different soils and nutrients, so too do different ethnic groups and cultures have different needs.  

In the 18th century Philadelphia was the center of the nation, a true melting pot of ideas and initiatives.  If Independence Hall was the brain of the city, then Bartram’s Garden was the heart.  As in the body the heart is separated from the brain by about 18 inches, so too is Bartram’s separated from Center City.  The Schuylkill River, being the main artery that connected the head and the heart, could be likened to the aorta.  This primary blood vessel carried the lifeblood of liberalism and democracy from the floral assemblage of Bartram’s to the rest of the city, the nation, and the continent.  As we are sprung into action by the beating of the heart, so too were the founding fathers inspired to bring people from all nations, races, and cultures together in this one, United States.

Though my analogy may not be wholly accurate, I believe it touches on the importance of this garden in the history of our nation.  It’s really no wonder Bartram’s has withstood the test of time: the diversity of the plants and the community that keeps it thriving are the same diversity and community at the core of American identity.  Though our culture has moved away from the land, agriculture, and the love of the natural world, I believe places like Bartram’s can bring us back into harmony with one another.  Maybe a better understanding of our ecological home and the beauty within it might just help elevate us to a higher octave of humanity, an octave rich in appreciation of diversity and communal support of one another.  

I’ll be sure to visit Bartram’s again soon so I can be reminded of how, together, we can make this a better home for everybody.

Aaron Lemma

Back to the Basics

When embarking on a journey towards better health and more vibrant wellness, you must remember to keep things simple.

If the basics are not the cornerstone of your endeavor, you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed. When things are too complicated and you can’t commit to all the changes you held yourself too, you’ll feel defeated. You’ll stop progress altogether because if you’re not all in you’re not getting the most benefit, right? Instead, your complicated plan shortly becomes too much to bear and you remain the same, still holding that extra 20 pounds, still gasping for breath after going up the stairs.

Let me take a moment to remind you of the basics, the bare necessities of living a healthy, balanced life. This doesn’t include a food scale or calorie counting, and there’s no need for a fancy fitness program.

The Basics:

  • Eat plants and animals
  • Avoid processed foods
  • Cook your own meals
  • Eat until you feel full
  • Pack your lunch
  • Find healthy snacks that don’t have too many simple sugars
  • Drink filtered water
  • Steer clear of sugar-sweetened beverages
  • Don’t have caffeine past 2pm
  • Move your body every day
  • Go for a walk
  • Run, lift weights, or go to a yoga class if you want to
  • Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night, depending on your own needs
  • Limit your screen time, especially at night
  • Take deep breaths
  • Spend time with your loved ones
  • Spend time with yourself
  • Allow yourself to laugh
  • If you slip up, forgive yourself and get back on track

If you implement these lifestyle practices, things will start to change. You’ll feel more energized and less lethargic. You’ll need less coffee and have more time to spend with your loved ones. Once you start, the momentum will keep you going. That cupcake you have in celebration of a good week won’t feel like a defeat but a victory. Small victories will compound and you’ll soon be miles ahead of where you started

It’s all about balance. If 80% of the things you do are healthy and 20% aren’t the best for you, you’re living a pretty balanced, enjoyable life. Forgive yourself if you slip up and move forward with a grateful heart. This is all about learning and growing.

I’m telling you, if you get back to the basics, things will change.