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Today's
quotation:
The Greeks
understood that mind and body must develop in
harmonious proportions
to produce a creative intelligence. And so did the most brilliant
intelligence of our earliest days-- Thomas Jefferson-- when he said, not
less than two hours a day
should be devoted to exercise. If the man
who wrote the
Declaration of Independence, was Secretary of State, and
twice President, could give it two hours, our children
can give it ten
or fifteen minutes.
John F. Kennedy
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Today's
Meditation:
Oh, boy-- is
this a hard one to convince some people of. While we
have tons of people who seem to be overdoing the exercise
and spending hours a day at it, we have even more people
who don't exercise at all, who aren't doing the bare
minimum to keep their bodies healthy and functioning
properly. Of course, that's their business, but it's
really difficult to lead a full and happy life without
exercise as a part of it because of the fact that a lack
of exercise leads the body to rebel against us, to gives
us signs that things just aren't right. Then we have
to deal with the worry that comes with the pains and the
discomfort.
I try
to stay at a healthy weight and to exercise my body
because it really is the only one I get. I don't
want to have something go out and stop working because
I've neglected it. By exercising, I strengthen my
heart and lungs first and foremost-- I don't particularly
care about what size my muscles are, as long as I'm strong
enough to do the things I need to do.
And
by maintaining my weight at a healthy level, I'm helping
my body to avoid heart issues, circulatory issues, and
breathing issues, as well as not putting extra stress on
ankles, knees, hips, and other parts of my body that can
be harmed by the stress of carrying extra weight.
Exercise has many long-term benefits that we don't
necessarily notice while we exercise, so we may not
be aware of them, or we may not see how today's exercise
will help us tomorrow or next year.
A
commitment to exercise, even something as simple as
walking every day, is a commitment to being
healthier. Our bodies are a wonderful gift, and it's
up to us to keep them in a condition that won't keep us
from living our lives fully. An unhealthy body can
drag us into places of sickness and injury and discomfort
where it may be virtually impossible to truly enjoy life
and living, so it's important that we do our best to
maintain our health.
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