THE FIT
Lean, rippling muscle. Sharp outlines edged and refined. Creases,
distillation of intent, chiseled, precise, powerful. Fitness is a lovely
bitch. She punishes those who would be fit and torments those who lack
the determination to smash down lifestyle obstacles to arrive on the
bulls eye of a normal
weight and size. In male or female the essence of fitness is
anti-nonsense: it speaks of a coherent strength and vitality. If human
wholeness' potential for perfection is obtained, it is because of synchronicity:
a oneness of mind, body, spirit. The mind's will and determination cuts
the flesh into a physical fortress. Using the discipline of weight
training and intense cardio exercise laced with austere abstinence,
there is the loyalty to this recognition: all luxurious indulgence of
the flesh and being is unclean. It pollutes the spirit, body and soul.
All toxicity including lack of confidence, anxiety and self-sabotage must be jettisoned for health and wellness in every aspect of one's being.
People who are
synchronized have reached the apex of control over their own human
weaknesses. This is not the realm of Olympic athletes who only adhere to
physical attainment. It is the realm of human poetic artistry: the divinity of perfection. It is the
fullness of life manifested in peace. In every cell there is completeness, an attainment of the whole, a unified
homeostasis (balance) on every level: physical, emotional, social, mental, psychic, sexual, psychological, spiritual. This condition is dense health, vibrancy,
oneness of being. Light fills every cell and the black hole of depression, sadness, infirmity, sickness and debility is blocked from entering. The immune system functions at optimum levels. Achieving this state becomes a lifelong process and requires a holistic, present lifestyle which brings
abundance and prosperity.
It also doesn't exist anywhere for anyone for any length of time, unless one lives a cloistered life. Granted, it may be, perhaps for a season, until the aging process takes hold and the health force is curtained. Show me that unique individual who has achieved maturity, physical wellness, wisdom, soul peace and spiritual grace in the present, extending into the ever-present present and into perpetuity? I have yet to meet him or her. Short of that wholeness of being,
many fit and/ or thin are mentally and psychically oppressed about staying thin and fit. This oppression may subject them to various states of stress that weaken and further subject them to dis-ease or addictions to maintain a steady state of "thinness" or "fitness." For some the oppression about appearance may eventually turn into an obsession. The obsession becomes self-enslavement: God forbid they gain weight and become fat or are thrown off their exercise routine. This has given rise to extreme disorders: bulimia, laxative dependence, binging and purging, and fitness crazes that jeopardize life in the long run (i.e. steroid use,
after menopause for women excessive exercising to counteract weight gain via hormone changes). If the obsession becomes extreme, some choose death over weight gain; the anorexic periodically do. And the ages of anorexia are extending from tweens to those older Americans in their 70s. This not only includes women but the numbers are increasing among men as well.
Let's face it. We believe we ARE our appearance. IF...we have a few bad hair days, we wake up with a new crease or dark circles under our eyes, our partners check us out nude and raise that eyebrow that is instigating we have put on a few pounds, we can't get into our 00 size jeans...THEN our emotional well being is wrecked. For guys the equivalent is less egregious; you overhear the female executive assistants refer to you as fat blossom. For females, and maybe less so for males, the recognition that our appearance is less than what we want it to be is a devastation. We run to the ubiquitous exercise gurus, "state of the art" gyms, and yoga instructors and body trainers for help. We canvass the lowest calorie/carb sports drinks, protein bars and shakes for our sustenance twice a day with a salad and no dressing for dinner. We select the wheat grass fast and stay on it for two weeks. We drink plenty of water and go on #thinsporation sites "for the hell of it." We skulk around the scale for repeated and frequent weigh-ins, willing the pounds off.
Yes! We live in the 21st century. Until we're dead (except for those whose families want an open casket at the funeral home), what we look like is a daily emotional crucible. We're stuck with ourselves and the mortality of our flesh. How our mind, emotions, psyche, soul and spirit deal with it makes all the difference in the world.
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