Category Archives: awareness

Transposing and intertwining awareness… using soccer

Posted on by
1

Happy Monday,

Last week after a long, I-ran-my-ass-off soccer practice I became aware of something important in my life: How to transpose and intertwine awareness from one part of your life to the next. I gained such an awareness of this how to by sitting back and taking perspective – creating a value as it applies to my life – on how the things I do on a soccer field, like playing hard, playing independently, playing as a team mate, taking responsibility and making up for actions or reactions, strategizing individually and as a whole, planning my next pass or shot or run, seeing the big picture of the game’s purpose, anticipating three or four passes ahead of time, remaining composed when I’m tired or my team is down, yielding confidence when I have ball, having fun, playing with passion, being well-versed in the sport, being well-practiced in the sport, and being well-conditioned for the sport all can be transposed into my every day life. Specifically, I can take this awareness of myself as a soccer player and fit it snugly right into any area of my life that may need such a participation of my holistic self (mind, body, spirit, emotions), too.

I would like you all to put your passions, your hobbies, your jobs, your relationships, your right’s and wrong’s into perspective to see if you can create/line-up a foundational awareness where every single aspect of your life agrees with one another, and any effort that is put into each can be transposed without missing a beat from one to the next. For example, the effort one puts into their job should equal the effort they put into their family or relationship with their significant other. The effort one puts into working out at the gym should yield the same effort that one puts into loving, understanding, and experiencing one’s true self.

I just thought that was really cool to have experienced such a cliche concept at such a point in my life and am now able to apply it for the greater good of me and my growth as a person.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Written version: self-understanding and healthy results

Posted on by
Reply

Happy TUESDAY interntians,

I took a bit of a leap for this week’s blog-o-the-week by posting a video blog… of me… standing in front of a camera… shirtless… and headless (I blame the camera guy who’s name we won’t speak but it starts with a J and ends with a D)… rambling on about how I was able to achieve a resulted body as a manifestation of my mind. Idiot-approach aside, I sound like a professional wrestler during a pre-fight interview who just thinks he’s the shit. Not my intention + poor delivery = May have come off that way. So, by the looks of my daily hits, I’m ballparking that the video didn’t go over well. It didn’t go over well not because I look like a jackass. No. It didn’t go over well because I realized today… Monday… the same day that said blog was posted… that people enjoy my blog because of my WRITTEN perspectives… not my spoken perspectives. I’m certainly better behind the keyboard than my projected voice and shirtless attire (my stylist is on vacation). And, in the past, I’ve been told from peers that my blog is an easy and enjoyable read on the way to work or during down time. You would think something would click prior to a trip to devalue-city? Not this guy. I realized that I need to stick to what I’m good at, which is delivering an eloquent hot-mess every monday as a pile of words with a side of boomshakalaka. Plus, I can’t look past the fact that these days, without a decent established viewer demographic, AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR AN 8-MINUTE MARATHON VIDEO.

Ahem, the written version:

The purpose of my video was to put an image to the author, to put my talk into my walk, to physically portray how I am able to manifest my thoughts into a physical reality… a.k.a standing shirtless and talking about myself… and elaborate on  that manifestation: I achieved my healthy results by simply understanding myself, what I’m all about, why I’m all about, and what makes me… me. Obviously that understanding wasn’t really all-that-simple over the past however-many years, but I did eventually put into perspective the opposite of simple… complicate. I learned to stop complicating things, which then opened the doors for simple as a more direct path to the results and happiness that I desire. If I’m not complicating I can only be simplifying! For years I complicated the hell out of what I thought “health” was. My biggest issue was that I thought health was an external achievement, i.e. physique, diet, and exercise programs. No way in hell did I ever consider my current mental and emotional state nor the years of buried mental and emotional states that play an important role in this sweet life-o-mine. I constantly reached out externally, neglecting the ONLY thing that mattered in a pursuit of health… mahself. Along this pursuit I learned some things. I learned a few life lessons. I learned different ways of thinking that shed light on things that have been in the dark for years. I learned that I need to be happy with myself on the inside in order to be happy with myself on the outside. I learned that I am an absolute asshole when I think I’m right and that there’s only my way or the highway. I learned who I am by clarifying why I am sans [what I thought to be my] reality (hint: self responsibility regarding ev-ery-thin-g). I learned that health is so much more than my physical self!

I did not achieve these results because of a strict diet… I have my definition of healthy and unhealthy foods but I also need to live my life without self-imposed boundaries. “The world can expand when walls do not exist.” (Robert Fritz) I did not achieve these results because of any one superfood… I do have my preference of cooking oil, protein supplement, salt, et cetera but there will never be ONE food that is the be-all-end-all to health. I did not achieve these results because of a specific fitness program… I constantly try out different exercise programs and piece together what works for me, for my goals, and for my lifestyle. I am not healthy because I spend 5+ days in the gym… The world is my gym as long as gravity and my extremities exist.

THIS is how I feel when people see me and immediately inquire about my workout program or diet… Dude, how many days a week do you lift? What program do you do? What’s your diet? I enjoy the look on their face when I say that I might work out 3 days a week (4 at THE MOST), that I’d rather sleep than work out, that I drink soda, I eat bread, I eat full-fat ice cream, I eat saturated fat, I consume sugar, I drink coffee with cream and REAL sugar, I drink whole milk, I drink sugar-infested juice, I eat red meat, I eat fries, or that I rarely eat vegetables. Sure, I went through phases of insane workout programs and strict diets but I do not consider that to be healthy for me at this point in my understanding. I work out sporadically and consume “junk foods” because I truly believe they’re healthy by my definition of “health and happiness.” More importantly, I stopped defining health as just diet and exercise to create a better-fitting idea of what it means for ME to be healthy.

My mentality, my emotional well-being, and my spirituality are far more important than any physicality I possess. My body is nothing without my mind, heart, and spirit. These three are the foundation of my healthy results because THEY are my first priority, because THEY are healthy, because THEY are given the attention that they deserve, and because I have given myself the opportunity to understand why they are so important in my life. My body, my face, and my eyes will always show where my head, heart, and spirit are at.

I know it’s a little short and a bit jumbled, but it’s 1am and there’s 8-minutes worth of jabroni-talk that may have some more insight.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Self-understanding and healthy results

Posted on by
3

Happy Monday my peoples,

This week I’m doing something different, as you can probably tell by the screen-shot shirtless JD in the video box below. I felt compelled to do a spoken-word blog for today’s post because I wanted to provide “an image to the face” in regards to results and understanding how to achieve those results (a physical manifestation of your mental and emotional states). A video post been an in-the-making process as I am beginning to feel more comfortable as a self-aware health blogger and not just some health nerd that needs to vent about his candid battles publicly. So, without further rambling. Here’s today’s blog…

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

TWLOHA’s MOVE Conference Reflection

Posted on by
Reply

A happy monday fellow healthians,

This weekend I attended To Write Love On Her Arms‘ MOVE Conference. It was a two-day informative lecture/conversation amongst two speakers, two coordinators, and about 40 attendees which touched on heavy/personal topics such as Addiction, Depression, Anxiety, Self-Injury, Eating Disorders, and Suicide. I participated in the conference in support of a friend. She had come to me about a month ago that she eagerly wanted to attend and, since we have shared many conversations in the past regarding our perspectives of personal healing and growth, she pretty much said you’re coming and I won’t take “no” for an answer. She didn’t have to twist my arm at all really because I had an idea of what I was getting myself into with my familiarity with TWLOHA’s mission; having “worked” with the organization in the past as a musician and through the friendships I was able to build from sharing an awareness of health. But my awareness only went so far when it came to these topics because I had yet to be thrown into a room with real people who have dealt with and are still dealing with real problems. I found myself being smacked in the face with a reality I have only read about and have reflected generalized philosophies upon. I knew I was in for a treat the moment we began going around the room stating our name, story, and purpose.

I went into the conference thinking that the participants would be those who are dealing with the issues, those who are seeking answers for themselves, those who are in search of aha-moments to get themselves on a better track towards healing. I didn’t read up on the conference beforehand so I had some assumptions going into it and, while that general mindset held some truth, I didn’t expect that I would be in a room with people just like me… young professionals who have gone through their own tough times reality and have now come out on the other end with the approach of I’m going to use what I have learned in my worst-of-the-worst to help others in their paths towards happiness. And the most inspiring part? Everyone was real. Everyone had real stories, real obstacles, real battles, real experiences, real emotions, and everyone was dealing with their own reality all-the-while learning more about the realities of others for one common goal: to help. It was rather humbling to be in a room with therapists, with counselors, with speakers, with help-line workers, with undergrads, with graduate students, with mothers, with adults… with all different walks of life in one room who have been through it and who just get it. That is actually one of the main purposes of the conference – to find someone that just gets it – amongst the slightly more obvious reasons like raising awareness of such hush-hush topics, educating the educators, inspiring the inspired, comforting the disturbed, and disturbing the comforted. To find someone who you can relate to is such a milestone in the world of healing because we have all gone through our own shit and you damn-well know that it certainly helps to speak to someone who understands and relates through their own trials to what you are going through. We all have different experiences, but we def-def-definitely share the same feelings of hurt, pain, shame, or unhappiness (as well as happiness, ease, comfort, or success).

It is my understanding that these symptoms umbrella under and manifest as a result of a greater cause. To extremely over simplify that greater cause, I chalk it up to unhappiness. This mental state can be caused by many factors and we all manifest its symptoms in various ways, but I do believe that the foundation exists as a lack of happiness with self and the experiences of self, i.e. what you understand to be your reality through your own [influenced] filter system (thoughts, beliefs, conditionings, perceptions, habits, knowledge, ignorance, diet, digestion, stressors, sleep patterns, priorities, et cetera).

Yet, the conference didn’t really hint on any sort of generalization. There were times in the conversation where we saw commonalities for treatments or fine lines between diagnostics, but it still resorted back to this is this and that is that. It focused on each symptom as its own entity and that one must “treat” each realm accordingly. An addiction counselor should not treat a self-injury patient because, from what I gathered, they are not the same. I ask why? If we’re approaching this holistically, the body’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health fall under one cyclic/complimentary umbrella so why can’t our symptoms? It just doesn’t make sense to me. For example, self-injury is mainly the act of inflicting pain or cutting one’s skin, but how is cigarette smoking not a form of self-injury, as well? Both involve an awareness of the action and its consequences, both inflict pain in exchange for euphoria and a quick-fix result only to come back again because the thrill wasn’t enough and the underlying cause/relief structure still exists. Also, each are forms of addiction and, perhaps, can be a result of depression, too. Of course, I was in a room with trained professionals whose experiences on paper far exceed mine so perhaps I do not have much room to speak, but I do not think that limits my platform to question the approach or to raise an awareness of more foundational-based ways to do things.

I really found this intriguing because this is the habit of our society. We like to label things… every-things. And, in the medical/health field, people can lose their identities or any mindset of who they are because their names can be replaced or associated with a specific disease, disorder, or mental state. This replacement can come from the doctor’s vocabulary/perspective or can even be adapted by the patient. The nice guy named Bob becomes a Drug Addict. Why the heck is Bob a drug addict in the first place? Some sort of shit in Bob’s life culminated, made him freak, and he turned to drugs. Can labeling Bob as an addict make him more unhappy? Why can’t we just say that Bob is unhappy and retrace the steps to where/why Bob became unhappy? He’s still the nice guy he’s always been, but people may not identify him as the nice guy anymore because we label. And when we label, we segregate by default. And when we segregate by default, we impose stigma by default. And stigma is an imposed reality which we seldom take the time to step back from to look at the bigger picture – what truly matters in a universal reality. It’d be nice to look at things objectively rather than subjectively. Then again everyone tends to have their opinion and we all know the saying about opinions… It’d also be nice to get away from labels but I don’t think it’ll ever happen. Really, we just want to belong. Even if it means we belong to a negative connotation, at least we belong to something.

One final thing I’d like to note is a shared story from one of the speakers. The speaker’s father did not allow the use of Neosporin within their household. If you are not familiar with Neosporin, it is a healing agent that can be applied to small cuts or scrapes to speed up the healing process and to prevent the formation of “ugly” scars. The father wasn’t a doctor, but he knew a thing or two about the healing process. Neospiron is promoted as a quick-healer and offers a good-as-new look. That’s cool and all, but while the skin on the outside may be “healed,” the wound underneath remains open and prone to infection because the body is not meant to heal as such a rapid pace. Hey, at least it looks good and my date tonight won’t think I’m a zombie freak, right? When we give the body time to heal on its own time at its own pace in its own natural environment, the wounds mend accordingly. The same can be said about our emotional and mental states. We can take all of the medication we want, we can try all of the quick-fix protocols we come across, but they will never truly heal until the underlying cause is addressed and fixed naturally through being honest with self, yielding compassion for self, having patience with self, and, thus, gaining a greater awareness of self.

I learned a lot from the conference and I’m very glad I was given the opportunity to go. If you are not familiar with To Write Love On Her Arms, please check out their website, blog, and calendar to verse yourself in the awareness and the hope that they spread.

Thanks for stopping by, folks.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Heeding your own advice

Posted on by
1

It’s so much easier to give advice than to follow it, amirite? So, why does it happen? Why are we good givers and sub-par receivers? Why are we able to see other’s trials with perspective and fail to see our own in the same light?

A fish doesn’t know it’s wet.

The first time I heard this quote was at the CHEK HLC 1 course in October 2011. It struck me and stuck with me. I find myself referencing the quote at least once a week – if I’m not experiencing and taking perspective on it, I am repeating it to myself.

The problem lies within our self-awareness… or the lack thereof. We become blinded by beliefs, emotions, habits, reactions, assumptions, judgments, or expectations – by our Ego, which serves to protect (sometimes it’s a bit overprotective). We fail to see our situation because when we experience a trial we tend to fall back into what got us there in the first place. To paraphrase Einstein, “a problem cannot be solve with the same level of thinking (or awareness) in which it was created.”

How do we gain perspective and attain awareness to start heeding our own advice? Well, there are a few ways…

  • Find yourself. Define yourself. Discover who you are and how you came to be. Write down all aspects of your personality, your beliefs, your perceptions, your actions, your reactions, your habits, your likes, your dislikes… and why.
  • Be present with your thoughts, beliefs, actions, reactions, and words. Understand consequences by defining the positive or negative energy action that created the reaction (Karma, what goes around comes around, what you give is what you get).
  • When you act or react ask yourself why it occurred… the cause to the symptom.
  • Remove or detach self from the situation, experience, or outcome. Become self-less. See the situation for what it is, not how you perceive, assume, expect, or want it to be.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Solving problems

Posted on by
1

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. (Einstein)

  • Identify or define the problem
  • Can you trace back to when the problem started and who it involved?
  • Is the problem a symptom of a greater cause?
  • Is there a quick solution or evolving solution to the problem?
  • What have you done to fix the problem?
  • Does it work?
  • Does it actually work?
  • What else can be done to address the problem?
  • Does the problem lie within you or outside of you?
  • Does the problem lie within your experience of yourself when faced with the problem?
  • Have you ever taken time to address the problem with self?
  • How do you react to the problem when it occurs?
  • Can you avoid the problem before it occurs?
  • Is the problem unavoidable? Why or why not?
  • Does the problem make you happy?
  • What steps can you make to be happy?

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Can an Ancient Chinese text still hold water?

Posted on by
1

Tao Te Ching – Chapters 8-10

The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.

When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.

Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?

Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

What if the world ended tomorrow?

Posted on by
2

This is my end-of-the-world-fantasy-for-example’s-sake so let’s get cracking…

What if the world ended tomorrow?

The end will be peaceful. No meteor collisions, no volcanic eruptions, no tsunamis, and no earthquakes. It will be a quiet end that every single person will be completely aware of its inevitability – here one minute and gone the next.

What would you do for the remaining 24 hours of your life? 

  • Would you love or hate?
  • Would you appreciate or neglect?
  • Would you forgive or forget?
  • Would you accept or deny?
  • Who would you spend your final time with?
  • Who would you reach out to and what would you say?
  • What would you say to others?
  • What would you say to yourself?

Why do we have to wait until the end to love, appreciate, forgive, accept, spend time with loved ones, reach out to others who’ve had an impact, and to have a heart-felt conversation with self?

Last week, I came across a post from an old friend and a darn good writer that inspired today’s perspective. Below are her words…

On the last day of earth, people rose early. There was so much work to be done. Phone calls were made. Important sentiments were expressed. A new record was set for daily kisses.

No one went into the office. All businesses were closed. All eyes and ears and arms stayed open.

Some remained inside, cleaning their homes, returning everything back to its proper place.

Some poured themselves into the streets, shouting and laughing and roaring with life.

Some stayed quiet, pensive, breathing in the end of sweetness.

Some held strangers.

Some held animals.

Some held objects.

Some held the hands of their loved ones, all day, waiting.

People relaxed into their grief and made room for acceptance. The birds sang wildly of every beautiful thing. The dogs howled madly at invisible moons. The grass continued to grow. It was the opposite of disappearing.

“Now” whispered the wind.

The earth trembled in anticipation. The trees waved goodbye. The oceans overflowed with sad and happy tears.

The waves crashed, echoing the sound of the world’s first expression.The earth circled back towards nothingness, like all living things.

People watched from windows, trapped inside the blaze of their own bodies. There were so few ways to speak. There was so much that needed to be said. The hours dwindled. The sun moved across the sky.

In the last moments of the last hour of the last day of earth, everyone gathered together to stand separately in a crowd. Every phone was silent. All electronics were turned off.

People spoke, but didn’t really speak.

People laughed, but didn’t really laugh.

People cried, but didn’t really cry.

People prayed, but didn’t really pray.

People clung to one another. They held millions of years in their arms. They remembered the world in reverse – day before day, moon before moon, all the way back to the beginning.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Audio: How to love yourself by Paul Chek

Posted on by
1

How do I love myself?

Who else have you got to love?

Who’s more important to love than yourself?

So how do you do it? You wake up in the morning, you look in the mirror and you say “Damn, you’re cool! You’re the only person that I really know for sure can love me whenever I want to be loved. You’re the only person that can wipe my ass. You’re the only person that can choose good food for me. You’re the only person that will always be in the gym with me. You’re the only person that gives me an opportunity to look out at world and see the beauty of the world and see how amazing creation is. You’re the only person that lays with me under the stars and sees exactly what I see.”

The gift of life is a miracle.

There are 60 billion souls waiting for bodies and to have one is the greatest gift in the universe.

My advice to you is just to play more.

Stop worrying about everybody’s opinion. Opinion’s are like assholes – everybody’s got one.

All that really matters is how you feel.

Enjoy your day, think of things that you enjoy doing, give yourself permission to do that, and just really become your own best friend. Treat yourself as your best friend. Take care of yourself as you would take care of someone you love.

Give yourself permission to be honest about your feelings and express those.

Meditate on your curiosities. Ask big questions.

Have fun. The secret to love is having fun. If it’s not fun then it’s probably not a very high form of love. Start allowing yourself the freedom to have fun.

Look at yourself in the mirror every morning, just relax, look right into your eyes and say “I love you. I’m so glad to have you here. I’m so grateful to share this experience of life with you. I’m going to love you so much that it’s inevitable that other people are going to feel how much love we have for each other and they’re going to want to participate in our private little party. And then you’ll see people can’t resist you when you love you because they know that you’re safe to be around because you’re loving.

How can I tie that with purpose?

What greater purpose is there than enjoying life?

The purpose of life is to live.

There will never ever be another you with your fingerprints, your eyes, your smile, your way of seeing things, your way of breathing, your way of loving. You’re the only one. This universe has trillions of stars, galaxies beyond galaxies – it’s got no end to it and you are the only one ever. There will never be another one of you. The universe never duplicates anything – it’s a novelty generator. There is so much joy to be had by just realizing how fortunate we are to be able to watch the birds fly, to be able to see the grass grow, and just to watch the sun go up and down. Spend some time each morning – any time you can – to watch the sun go up and watch the sun go down. The majesty of it is phenomenal. Spend some time being honest about how mysterious and how miraculous it is that you’re here to have this opportunity and think of all the people that waste it away – torturing themselves in screwed up relationships and doing jobs they don’t want to do; being controlled by parents that have weird ideas in their head. To the degree that you can just dance and enjoy being you – that is love, my friend.

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Is a scale a good measurement of health?

Posted on by
3

A scale measures weight, not health. What does body weight actually tell us? It is no more than a number that tends to do more mental damage than good. When body weight is measured it cannot be broken down into what is what - i.e. water, blood, organs, muscle, fat, bones, bacteria, food, and fecal matter. How can a scale provide true measurements of water content, cell count, muscle to fat ratio, bone density, intestinal bacteria ratio and weight, digested vs undigested food, and, essentially, metabolic rate (thyroid regulation)? It can’t!

Furthermore, body weight can fluctuate so easily due to meals (size, type, frequency, nutritional value), elimination patterns (going regularly or constipated), metabolic rate (how efficient a meal is used for energy and the body’s hormonal response), water intake (depletion or retention), exercise routines, movement frequency, life stressors, and sleep patterns.

So, a scale cannot measure what’s going on the inside and it cannot provide insight into one’s lifestyle pros or cons. Yet, there are plenty of people out there that live and die over their daily to weekly weight measurements thinking that it is a true progression of health. It’s understandable that body weight gives a sense of progress and allows for goals to be established, but come on – there’s gotta be a better, more telling way!

  • How about measuring how good we feel on the inside?
  • How about measuring how happy we are compared to how sad we may be? And why!
  • How about taking note of our food, hydration, and elimination patterns, and putting it all into perspective as to what helps or hinders?
  • How about observing our energy levels throughout the day regarding our activities, meals, and sleeping patterns?
  • How about recording a lifestyle journal for a desired length of time to truly gain perspective of what works and doesn’t work for YOU?

jdperryhealth.com
jdperryhealth.tumblr.com
jdperryhealth@gmail.com