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short stories

Repair your inner core to look younger

      I have been watching and learning from people all my life. Some feel this to be normal, but I look into the thoughts and actions of people deeper than most. We all come to a point in life where, no matter what your age, want to become something we can no longer be. The older we get, the younger we try to become. This concept has engulfed most of my thoughts while studying others. Whether it’s make-up for women or lifting weights for men, we are always trying to turn back the clock of life. Let it be known, you will be a day older tomorrow, regardless how much you do today to try and change it. Once you are thirty years of age, twenty-nine is gone forever. So are we trying to turn back the clock to help others see us as we were, or are we trying to help ourselves live a long and healthy life?

     Watching people can teach you a lot about yourself, but one thing it won’t teach you is to be happy with you! You can lose the weight, run five miles a day and eat all the right things, but you are still you. If you believe losing ten more pounds will make someone love you more, you are sadly mistaken. If anyone has ever made this statement to you, then surprise, they don’t know what love is. And if you believe it, then guess what, you don’t know what love is any more than they do.

Lady with lots of make-up with scowl
Make-up doesn’t cover up meanness

In the time it has taken you to read this far, you have gained age, and nothing you can do will change that. You can make the package look better, but you are still the age you are. I have nothing against anyone that wants to improve themselves physically, but you’re not turning back the clock, you are just putting a new coat of paint on it. God Bless those that try, but remember, we are still who we are. If you were a rotten person at three hundred and fifty pounds, you are the same rotten person at two hundred pounds unless you fix the inside, not just the outside.

As I watch, most people try to do the upkeep of their bodies, not for themselves, but for others. This is a huge mistake! If you want to truly improve yourself, put as much work on your inside as you do on the outside. And some might take this wrong and yell at the screen, “I am eating right!” This has nothing to do with what I am suggesting. To fix the inside (inner core), we must fix numerous things that have nothing to do with what we eat. We must repair our attitude (positive rather than negative), humor, thought process and even something called love for our fellow humans. Do you treat others the way you wish to be treated, or just expect them to show you kindness while you treat them like dirt? Are you making people feel welcome or slamming the door in their face? These are inside things that can be fixed with less will power, than it takes to leave the cookie jar closed.

You have now gained a few more minutes of age and there’s no going back. The good news, you can change for the better and make the world a better place beginning now. It may take a long time to lose the weight. It may take a long time to be able to lift them free weights you have been staring at. But you can start making yourself a better person by the time you finish reading this post. All it takes is to decide to do it. Once you have made this decision, it will start making you a better person immediately. Do you feel good about who you are? This question has nothing to do with weight, muscles or what job you have. I ask again, do you feel good about who you are? Can you look someone in the eyes when talking to them, or do you have to look away? Are you trying to hide who you are, or are you proud of who you are?

Lady running in triathlon with smile on he face
Good inner core makes all the difference

Here’s the good news. Once you start working and repairing your inside, it will become easier to repair the outside! All of a sudden, it will be easier to lose the weight or run them five miles, if you wish. And as far as turning back the clock, the glow you put off to others will make you look much younger than what you are. We can’t turn back the clock of age. We haven’t the technology of a time machine yet. Make-up may cover the rust, but when it is taken off at night, the rust will still be there. But an inner core can be repaired and will show on the outside as though you have the ability to turn back the clock. You have the power, but do you have the will? This is my challenge I lay before you. If you should accept, I promise you will become a new you, and you don’t have to believe an infomercial to receive it. God Bless, I wish you well, and I will talk to you again next week.

Age brings strength and toughness through Wisdom

     As I get older, I’m amazed how much tougher I have gotten. I don’t look to show off how tough I can be but when the time comes, I can handle things I would’ve thought twice about in my youth. When I was younger, I had more muscle and less brains. Now I have less muscle but my wisdom has shown me how to use the gift of strength without being muscle bound. I was never a muscle bound boy, let’s get that straight right now but I did have muscle showing and I was fairly strong.

Middle-aged man sitting down reading newspaper

      The difference I guess between then and now is knowing how to use my body and put aside the pain I once wouldn’t have been able to do. If I come across a situation that should be a two man job but I am alone, I can muster up the strength to get the job done. I never could understand how older men with frail looking body’s  could show so much strength when needed. I now understand how this can be, as I am now an older man.

     Explaining this phenomenon would be near to impossible for me to do but I’m going to try to do just that as simply as possible. When we are young, we go at a situation like a bull in a china shop. As we mature, we gain what only can be possible through years of training and experience. This is of course wisdom. Wisdom cannot be taught, it has to be earned through many victories as well as failures. Most of all it’s the failures that teach us the most.

Young man holding baseball bat on his shoulder

      Young, dumb and full of muscles will ultimately get you injured and here lies the lesson, “don’t do it that way again!” Alas, wisdom is starting to take hold in that thick skull. Time and time again, hurting one’s self by picking something up the wrong way or rushing into something before thinking about the situation you are putting yourself into is gaining muscle strains and bruising. Once again I must say this is good training for later in life when the muscles are no longer one of your greatest assets. You now must use the wisdom that has come from the mistakes of the past.

     I guess what I’m trying real hard to get across to you is wisdom is strength in more ways than you can imagine and you will need this great asset when your body starts to show the wear and tear that you have put it through all those years gone by. When your children have grown up and left the household, you will still need to do some of the back breaking work that was there when you had your children to help. Unless you have a lot of money to hire somebody whenever you need to replace that refrigerator, stove, couch or whatever it is that takes strength to move, you must take care of it yourself along with the wisdom you have gained through the years.

Man lifting weights with a Superman shirt on

     When the time comes and you have to push the love seat up the stairs to the second floor where your wife would like to have it in the spare room, you just do it! When your children come to visit and see what you have done, well, you my friend will look like Superman to them. And all it took was a small dose of wisdom and knowing how to use leverage to get the task done. When your children ask how you did it, you can simply smile and say it was your inner brute strength! Let them figure it out when they get to be your age, don’t spoil the wisdom trail they must follow to get where you are. Besides, they haven’t gained the wisdom you have yet to understand it anyway. If you try to explain it to them, they either won’t listen or would think your off your rocker.

Enjoy your age and the wisdom you have gained along the way. You deserve being thought of as Superman by your children. Take care, God bless and Remember, we are all in this together.

Age shows your past

Age can be a state of mind but it also shows on the body. There are people that age quicker than others. Some of this is due to genetics but most of it can and will show up because of the way we treat the body we are incased in. People that abuse drugs and alcohol are classic cases of showing age at a higher rate than normal. We are blessed with this container and yet we continue to destroy it. We are only going to have these bodies for a few short years so why do we continue to destroy them?

Elderly man sitting on couch with bottles of alcohol in front of him

Think of your body as a rental. When your time comes, what kind of shape will your body be in when it is returned to your maker? I myself have abused my body in ways that would make me lose my deposit if I had to return it today. The one thing that is good about our bodies is, for the most part, it can heal itself given enough time. Time though is relative and sometimes we don’t have enough for it to repair the damage that we have done.

So what are we to do? Your body is expected to take some wear and tear along the way. We are responsible to keep the wear and tear to a minimum. Our deposits will be given back as long as we keep up our end and not let our bodies fall completely apart.

Elderly man thinking

Now you know as well as I that we neither rented or put down a deposit for the bodies we are living in. But if we think along these lines of renting, maybe we won’t do quite the damage to them. Feeling good is a great feeling but it takes practice and determination to achieve. Maybe thinking before eating one more donut or drinking one more beer today will make you stop and think before consuming them in the future. Maybe mixing a bunch of chemicals together to put into our bodies for that quick high will no longer feel necessary. Think before you consume.

I am very guilty of many things in my life that has hurt this body of mine but I’m trying to do better. I’m not trying to tell you that what you are doing is wrong. I’m sharing with you in hopes that my downfalls will not fall upon you and others. If it doesn’t feel right before you do it, it’s probably not right.

Keep in mind that if you are one of the few that live to be a hundred, wouldn’t it be nice to have a body that works as though it is in its fifties? It all starts today. We can’t fix yesterday but we can change for tomorrow.

Elderly lady that has her hands up

Age in alot of ways is a state of mind. Let’s keep our bodies running along the same lines and live with that good feeling and not that broken down old creaking body that so many of us live with. We can’t help our genetics but we can adjust our abuse.

May the Lord bless you and keep you well. Remember, we are all in this together.

Living and life

It is true that we must labor to make a living, but what are you doing to make a life? I’m not talking about having children, I’m talking about your life. Going to work at a job you don’t like will make you a living but not necessarily a life. You need to enjoy what you do for a living to have a good and fruitful life. You can have a job that you dislike and still enjoy it with the right frame of mind.

Mechanic working on car
Keep a joyful life even while making a living

Most people don’t realize the difference between just living and life. One hundred percent of us are in the living sector but what percent can actually say they have a good and fruitful life? Many go to work forty or more hours a week to make that all important living that pays the bills and puts food on the table. Maybe seventy percent of these people make it to retirement age. Once retired, possibly twenty-five percent of those retired have the means and physical ability to enjoy the remainder of their lives. That’s not very high in my point of view. Besides, why do we need to get to sixty-five or older to have that life we so much desire? Why can’t we have true meaning before we get old?

So what makes a good life? Some are content with the nine to five jobs, going home to see the family and for a home cooked meal. Three or four hours of enjoyment, then off to bed. The best thing we can think about is the weekend or maybe the week or two of vacation once a year. Of course the family vacation takes away the savings we have, which later will hurt us when we are ready to finally retire. Some have retirement money through their jobs like the 401k or maybe the company will pitch in if you spend thirty years with them. By the time you reach this all important age, you find out the retirement money isn’t really as much as you planned. It really looked good on paper, but when you start paying for things you want to do, you find out it’s never enough.

Man carrying a woman piggyback
Don’t wait till retirement, enjoy life now

I know it sounds like I’m being down hearted about this living versus life, but I’m going to bring a light to this right now. You can make a living and have a good life everyday once you set your mind to it. This has nothing to do with money. This my friends has everything to do with your mindset. You have to learn how to enjoy life even when things are at their worst. If you are of the mindset of just putting in your time till retirement to have a life, then that’s exactly what you’re going to get. You will not find true joy until you receive that gold watch for thirty years of hard labor. And sometimes, once we arrive at that time, we find out how fast time has gone and how much joy we have missed. Worse of all, maybe our bodies aren’t in the shape we planned on when we get there. This would really put a kink in our plans.

Retired husband and wife looking off into the world with morning coffee
Retirement is happiest if you enjoy life before

To have a good life from beginning to end, we must determine to live every day to it’s fullest. Then once we hit that all important time to finally retire, we can look back and see that we had a good life all along and didn’t miss the joy that came with it. When you wake up in the morning, and every morning from now on, decide to have the positive outlook instead of the grind it out negative way. I will guarantee, if you follow my advice, even the worst day can be a good day.

My friends, this may not make sense to you right now, but if you try the positive outlook for one month, every single day, you will feel the joy that you so desire and deserve. Don’t wait to get old to have a life. Start today and enjoy the time you have. We never know how long we truly have. Don’t wait to enjoy life. Take care my friends and Remember, we are all in this together.