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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Eudaimonia, Aristotle, Virtues And Happiness

I love this article because I would bet money that Zig Ziglar developed his great talking points about putting balance in your life from reading Aristotle writings.  It's brilliant!   Read on...

by Rob McPhillips

Aristotle believed virtues led to happiness

The happiness that Aristotle spoke of was not necessarily the same that we would think of today. Today our view of happiness tends to be hedonic. We want to feel good immediately and tend not to think too far ahead. So we see a night out or a pleasant activity as a route to happiness.

The ancient Greeks had a very different perspective on happiness. Aristotle spoke about achieving eudaimonia, which is roughly translated into happiness.

Eudaimonia is not an emotional state; it is more about being all that you can, fulfilling your potential. The idea is that by living in a way that reaches your full potential you bloom or flourish and so display the best version of you that you can be.

Aristotle thought that the practice of virtues would equate to happiness, in the sense of being all you could be. By virtues, Aristotle meant the act of achieving balance and moderation.

For example, courage would be the balance and moderation between excessive amounts, rashness and insufficient amounts, cowardice. Generosity would be the mid-ground between being a wasteful spendthrift and being a miser.

He strongly disagreed with Socrates who knowledge would automatically lead to the right action. Aristotle argued that the greatest misdeed was to know the right course, but fail to do it.

So for him it was the act of living in balance and moderation that brought the highest pleasure. Not in the action itself, but in the way of life. It is this way of life that would lead to the greatest long-term value rather than just a passing amusement. A modern illustration would be the difference between earning a high income, but spending it all and living in more moderation and having great wealth that will last you and provide security.

It was Aristotle’s belief that by achieving these virtues, happiness would result. So for him contemplation was the highest activity humans could do. Contemplation is the activity that refines and discovers virtues. Carried out continuously it allows you to reach your potential.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

In a 3 year time span you can turn ANYTHING around

August 12th 2010 marks my three year anniversary that I signed up for the Team Beachbody Coaching and fitness opportunity.  August 16th marks day one of my first round of P90X.  Here is a small but potent before and after comparison between then and now...

Before Team Beachbody:
I was badly out of shape / easily winded / beginning to develop ugly skinny fat around my gut
I was poor / ZERO income / no benefits / no job because it was off shored to India
I was attending college full time and a half so I had no time
I owned nothing except a car and some musical stuff I purchased before my job was off shored
My personal freedom was VERY limited because of my lack of time, money, and health

After 3 years of Team Beachbody:
I'm in the best shape of my life.  (I managed to accomplish this in only the FIRST 90 days from using P90X)
I'm making more money than I've ever made at a JOB (JOB = Just over broke)
I'm no longer poor if I see something I want I can generally buy it without trying to squeeze blood from a turnip
At age 32 I retired from day job life (the on going fruitless job search) and bought a home in CASH NO MORTAGE!!!  (A feat most people never accomplish in there entire lives and I accomplish it in less than three years from having nothing to where I'm at now)
My range of personal freedom has HUGELY increased because I have more time, money, and health and that is why I continue doing this.  It's for the freedom NOT the money.

None of this is meant to impress you.  It's meant to impress upon you what's possible if you're willing to do just a few simple things every day that most people are not willing to do (unless you're doing alright and wish to change nothing then you're already fine).  If you're not willing to do what most people aren't willing to do then you'll always have what most people have.  And if you wait til tomorrow then you have a logistical nightmare because tomorrow never comes it's always a day away.  You're ship is already here, docked and waiting for YOU.  I didn't accomplish because I waited. I accomplished because I signed up, got in the game, and stayed in the game consistently.   Any of you, if you want to, can take any two or three year time span and change EVERYTHING in your life if you are willing to pay a price of good ol' fashion hard work and discipline.

Do the right actions every day long enough to give it a chance to work and time will be working for you instead of against you.  I promise!  It's a universal law it happens every time.  OWN YOUR LIFE even the parts that are painful or seem totally unfair.  That's how you gain real power over your life.  It's not the government, your friends, family, it's certainly not your job, it's YOU; the same person who can turn it all around :-)  But if it's not you then you have no power to change anything.  Own it!  :-)

A couple philosophical articles that I've used to propel me out of financial and physical devastation to a MUCH better place.  I hope that you can be enlightened by them.  Especially the one by Jim Rohn...

The cost of waiting for tomorrow  - Me
Action VS. Self Delusion - Jim Rohn

Tom - Passion For Fitness 

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

War against ourselves - A self imposed tyranny

A year ago we stood to see, experience, and FEEL the costs of health care quadruple over the course of the next ten years if the rate of obesity growth didn't shift in reverse.  One year later, instead of shifting in reverse or even slowing down, our rate of obesity growth has increased.   Sadly we are inadvertently waging a war against ourselves, our resources, our economic health, our job markets, our nation as a whole, and our over all happiness.  The spill over affect from this one area will make the spill over from the crashing housing market look like a barely noticeable blip on the radar screen.

People bitch all the time about how the economy sucks, how there are only minimum wage paying jobs, how the cost of everything is too expensive, how unhappy in general we are, but yet we keep gaining weight and largely dismissing our nations obesity epidemic as "fuzzy math".  Collectively we deserve the sand box we have made for ourselves.  Let's change a few things so that we can deserve a BETTER sandbox for tomorrow.  But first we seriously need to find our guts and see the mess we are in for what it is.  Only the truth can set us free, no matter how painful it is, to make the changes we need to make to change everything for tomorrow.

The apathy and the selfishness that plagues all that is devastating our country has got to be overcome and outright CRUSHED with people willing to step up and help their fellow people lead healthy, happier, more fulfilling lives.  It can't be just a "take care of myself and let the next do the same" philosophy anymore because that isn't working.  Show others how they can take care to while being kind to yourself.  Consequently you to will be a happier more fulfilled human being if you're helping to make a positive impact in other peoples lives.  Put yourself FIRST but do it in a selfless way so that you are more capable of helping others take care to.

I am absolutely calling out to people to join my team and I in the Team Beachbody coaching opportunity.  WE NEED MORE PEOPLE WHO DESIRE TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE.  If more people don't step up to help their fellow people then our economy as well as our health and happiness will feel more like a self imposed tyranny.

I practice what I'm preaching.  I focus my actions where my mouth is.  I'm personally positively impacting peoples lives one by one.  Over time the number of people I'm positively impacting is adding up into big numbers.  My team collectively has already positively impacted thousands of lives and that number continues to grow.  Sadly in a country of 300 million plus people it's just not enough.  We need YOU to pitch in and help.

What are YOU personally doing to contribute?

It doesn't matter in terms of our nations health and well being if you do this with or without financial compensation.  If you have the extra time and resources and don't want extra money step up and help your fellow people get healthy.  If you're like me and want to be financially compensated so you can give back even more than you could have otherwise then step up and help your fellow people get healthy via the Team Beachbody coaching opportunity: http://PassionFitness.info Click the Coach link and Call me so that I can help you get started the right way.

With or without financial compensation lets all of us step up and get started.   A GREAT future lays ahead if we have the guts to claim it for ourselves as a TEAM effort!

Tom

"Heart disease doesn't just kill the elderly -- it is the leading cause of death for ALL Americans age 35 and older. Heart disease accounts for over one million deaths each year; in 160,000 of those deaths the individuals were 35 to 64 years old" - healingwithnutrition.com

"In the United States, more than 300,000 deaths a year are attributable to obesity" - faqs.org

"Obesity contributes to the number-one cause of death in our nation: heart disease" - surgeongeneral.gov

"Unhealthy eating and physical inactivity are leading causes of death in the U.S. People are dying. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, unhealthy eating and inactivity cause 310,000-580,000 deaths every year—similar to the number of deaths caused by tobacco and 13 times more than are caused by guns" - cspinet.org

"By the age of five most children have early signs of atherosclerosis and letting our children choose their own diets is like letting someone without a driver's license drive in a NASCAR race. Somebody needs to teach children how and why to eat and the schools aren't going to do it. In fact many schools have sold out to the soft drink and fast food companies and even have candy sales to raise money" - hiltonheadmedctr.com