Mental Training Week 1

“Your mind is the basis of everything you experience and of every contribution you make to the lives of others. Given this fact, it makes sense to train it.”

— Sam Harris

Can you recall a time that “working out or training the body” was not a common occurrence and part of everyday life? Dan Rather did a 60 Minutes segment on the topic in 1979, he intoned, “Wellness, there’s a word you don’t hear every day.” But “…more than three decades later,” the NYT noted, “wellness is, in fact, a word that Americans might hear every day…” Part of wellness is moving the body and today we certainly have so many conveniences that people need to plan activities into their day to ensure they move. In the past this was not the case. Now there are many opportunities for us to train the body, from workout gyms, fitness spas, classes, walking, biking, swimming, running, and hiking.

According to NIH, wellness is a holistic integration of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, fueling the body, engaging the mind, and nurturing the spirit. Many people are fulfilling the healthy eating and exercise segment of the definition but are you spending time training your mind, or just thinking it will happen? When we reflect on Harris’s quote, we recognize that the way we think about our experiences is what counts. Can we learn to see things differently, to change our perspective?  Consider what training you do for your mind this week. See the mind as the last frontier. Think about it....