Advice For Athletes and Other People

We all want to be at the top of our game mentally and physically. We all want happiness and contentment in life. The following is as good advice as you'll read on that subject. Very well put.

Here are Christopher Bergland's eight central tenets of a positive psychology of exercise. "If you live by these rules," he writes, "your life will be in good shape."

1. "Take care of your body: "Get seven to eight hours of sleep, exercise for at least twenty to thirty minutes most days of the week. Respect yourself, don't be self-destructive."
2. Family and friends: "Strong personal relationships mean more than money, status, or your job title…. Fortify your sense of community as an athlete and nonathlete. Join a club or a class at a local gym or community center."
3. Laughter and levity: "People laugh thirty times more when they are in the company of others than when they're alone. Laughter heals, stress kills. Lighten up…. Have fun working out with people…. Trigger neurobiological joy by smiling when you work out. Smiling and laughing sends a signal to your nervous system that all is well and you're having fun."
4. Look forward to something: "A sense of anticipation makes people healthy and happy. Put things on the horizon that you can look forward to. A sense of curiosity and eagerness gives you a sense of purpose and a reason to seize the day."
5. Gratitude and simple joys: "Take time to count your blessings from little things like a good meal to big things like watching your children grow up…. Take pleasure in every breath and the celebration of being alive—the joy of movement and sweat."
6. Do something well: "You want to hone a skill and become really good at something…. Mastery is the key to fulfillment. Mastering an athletic skill is an easy place to start, even if it is just becoming the best spinner in spin class or the best stepper in step class. Master it."
7. Develop coping mechanisms for hardships: "The mechanism for getting through hard times is threefold: a belief that you are a survivor, an understanding that it is temporary, and a willingness to reach out for your support network."
8. Give something back: "Try to practice selfless acts of kindness toward family, friends, and strangers every day. This can be altruistic—and should be—but it also creates a positive feedback loop of feeling generous and appreciated and will bring you reciprocated kindness."

Now for the challenge, actually incorporating it into our lives.

35 minutes running today with 8- 45 second pick-ups mixed in throughout the run--stretching and calisthenics after.

What did you do?