On my City to Shore MS bike ride this year, I witnessed two events that gave me pause to stop and reflect.

The things you can’t prepare for.
The first was an accident, a lapse of attention. Someone ran into the wheel of the cyclist in front of him and down he went. The guy was scraped up and bruised pretty badly, but nothing broken, on his body anyway. His bike was damaged, but that can be fixed. If we could be mindful and fully present all of the time, these things wouldn’t happen. But, that is easier said than done. I read somewhere that the average person loses their attention an average of six times a minute!

Reflection: Bicycling can be a dangerous sport. It is important to pay attention to your surroundings as you ride. Just like driving, you need to ride defensively.

And the things you can.
The second event, could have been an accident, except that there may have been other contributing factors to a rider who suffered from heat stroke. Was this a condition of this man’s body letting him down? Or was it him not listening to his body? Had he trained for this event, or had he just willed his body to participate in it? Riding 75 to 100 miles is not something you can do on a whim. You need to prepare for it.

Through my work personally training dozens of people over the years, I have heard many times people complain that they can’t do something and they wish that they could. They often feel frustrated and that their body has let them down. Very few people understand how their body works. It seems as if they want their body to perform by imposing their will over it rather than doing what is necessary to have their body function optimally.

Our bodies talk to us all of the time. Unfortunately these messages are non-verbal and you have to know how to interpret them. Often pain, discomfort and unease are the body telling us that something is wrong. The next time your body doesn’t perform the way you want it to, instead of wondering how your body has let you down. Ask how you may have let down your body.

We all know how important the following things are to our health:
Sleep
Food
Hydration
Movement
Relationships
Spirituality
Connection to Community

But there are two questions to ask yourself about these things.  First what is the quantity of each item on the list.  Second is what is the quality?

Reflection: You don’t play the game to stay in shape. You stay in shape to play the game.