Memories from Haiti 2010

I remember being a little kid, sitting in school, feeling like the days crept by and summer vacation seemed like an eternity away.

I can remember so many different adults telling me to enjoy the time while I can because when you get older time moves a lot faster.

I did not believe them then, but I sure do now… I cannot believe 4 years has passed since Reach Out World Wide made its inaugural mission into Haiti to help with the Earthquake recovery.  In honor of this anniversary, I thought it would be fun to share with you all a few memories I have from those days as well as the days leading up to Haiti.

I have included several pictures below with a little story that goes with each.  I have more pictures from Haiti on my personal Facebook page if you ever wish to check them out, here is a link ( Jesse Brisendine Facebook page ).

Paul first told me about his dream to start a charity called Reach Out World Wide on June 21st, 2009.  I can remember the exact date because it was the Sunday after my friend had committed suicide, and Paul chose then to share his dream with me in hopes that it would lift my spirits.  

Periodically over the next 7 months leading up to Haiti, whenever Paul and I would hang out, ROWW would always be a topic of conversation - how it would run, what it would grow into, and the difference it could make in the world.

When the decision was made to go to Haiti, as fate would have it I happened to be in Costco, and so I immediately started running up and down the isles grabbing what I thought would be essential provisions: calorie dense food, medical supplies, and toilet paper.  I remember my heart was beating so fast; I was nervous, but more than anything I was excited because I knew I was going to get to be a part of something very special.  

Over the next several days Paul and I made runs to REI, the military surplus store, several different sporting goods stores, as well as various medical facilities.  Paul wanted to make sure we were prepared for anything, and that we would be self sufficient; meaning that we would not require resources or supplies from any other agency.  In short we could fully take care of ourselves, which would make us more effective and able to help others.  

This is also the reason that you will see us all wearing "military style" outfits in the pictures below.  You see at the time, the media was reporting about how people, desperate for help, were showing up at various aide areas with machetes and having confrontations and taking supplies.  We felt that if we looked like American Military, people would be less inclined to mess with us and try to steal from us.  

Our "costumes," ended up becoming a running joke for us all while in Haiti because we never encountered anything remotely violent while there.  I felt like we were G.I. JOE and we had showed up to scare off COBRA, but COBRA didn't get the memo to come.  hahaha.

Anyways… before we could get into Haiti we were in the Dominican Republic at a shelter helping to pack up supplies to be sent over to Haiti.  The below picture captures just a small amount of the activity that was going on and the effort that was being put into helping the Haitian people.

It was time to cross the boarder and we wanted to check supplies one last time, see picture below.

At the center of this picture was my proud contribution to our supplies.  Toilet paper :)  There is nothing scarier than to be stranded without toilet paper.

The below picture was from the helicopter ride into Haiti from the Dominican Republic.  This was the first time I had ever been on a Helicopter.

Much of Haiti looked like the below picture… absolute total devastation.  This picture is powerful because it shows how in need of help much of the world is, especially after a major disaster strikes.  All of us can always do a little more to help others.  Whether is is going there directly, donating money, or raising awareness about charities, like ROWW, all of these actions make a difference in helping others in need.  

The spot where we set up camp looked like this when we go there.  People sleeping out in the field, bunched up together, with a small tent or two to help with the more severely injured.  

I will never forget the below moment: the guy giving the thumbs up, came up to me and said, "Sir, sir will you record my picture please."  I happily obliged and took this picture, which I still have on my wall today.  I remember thinking, "I bet he has never had his picture taken before..."

One night  we were woken up by a bunch of big semi trucks that showed up filled with supplies.  In addition, two UN mobile medical trucks also showed up.  It caused quite the commotion.

In the above picture I am wearing "Dog Tags," Paul and I got these made to commemorate ROWW's inaugural mission.  The below picture is a close up of them.  I have been wearing them this week to honor ROWW,  Haiti, and remind myself of my experiences there.  In addition, I have been wearing these camouflage pants a lot the last seven weeks as they remind me of Haiti and of Paul.

Note: you will see on the id's that it says "REACT."  REACT was the original name of ROWW, but we later learned that there was some legal mumbo jumbo that would prevent us from using the name "REACT."  Because of this "legal stuff," ROWW became ROWW.  :)

There were more wounded than we had supplies to accommodate so we had to make do and use things like mattresses, as pictured below, as makeshift stretchers.  People would be moved from the initial assessment area to a separate section of the field based on the severity of their injuries.  

Like I said we did not have a lot of supplies/modern technology to make certain jobs easier.  So this left us to do things the old fashioned way and make a human assembly line.  You can see me below holding the box.  There are probably another 6 or 7 people inside the truck on the left, as well as another 6 or 7 completing the line going into the building on the right.

This guy (pictured below), and I did not share a language, but really formed a bond and mutual respect for one another as we unloaded this massive truck.  The entire process took over 3 hours in the nearly 90+ degree heat.  After we finished we exchanged high fives.

When we got to the spot that we camped at in Haiti, everyone was sleeping out in the fields.  Eventually we were able to get ahold of a bunch of tents.  The below picture is the beginning of setting up "tent city."  As they say: "Team work makes the Dream work."

Below is a picture showing the fruits of our labor.  When we first arrived at this spot we were 5 friends who wanted to make a difference and help people who were less fortunate.  When we left we were Reach Out World Wide, a group of people who knew we could make a difference.  

What difference did ROWW make on its' inaugural mission?  To give you an idea: when we first arrived in Haiti the area we were based out of had about 40 people there all sleeping outside, with minimal supplies.  By the time we left there were over 400 people, tents to house most of them, a well stocked supply room, and an accelerated system of treating patients.

Every single human being has the ability to make a difference in the life of another.

The below picture is me, one of the doctors, and a few of the kids who helped out as interpreters.

The original 5.  From left to right, Lucas, Dave, Me, Brandon, Paul.  Also pictured a couple doctors who were there volunteering as well as a few new friends.

Four years later Reach Out World Wide has grown by leaps and bounds from our initial trip into Haiti, AND, as long as you all continue to support it, spread the word about it, "share" it with your friends and family, ROWW will keep on growing.

Paul had big dreams of what he envisioned ROWW becoming.  He and I would have those "Rocking Chair" talks… You know the ones where you imagine that you are old men sitting around in your rocking chair talking about the "good ole" days.  When we would have these talks, we always talked about how cool it was going to be to see how much ROWW had grown and to know that we were there at the beginning.

With Paul gone, it is now up to us all to pick up where he left off and keep ROWW thriving so that it can continue making the global impact that it is.  Each and every single one of us has the ability to make a difference.  Remember the smallest of gestures, a smile, can change someone's life.  

I hope you all enjoyed this trip down memory lane, I certainly did.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://www.jessebrisendine.com
http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge

Progress

When we are little kids we get so excited about the teenie tiny-est amount of progress.  Simple things like crawling, going pee pee in the potty, and taking a few unsupported steps are huge milestones, major progress and all out causes for celebration.

Then, then… we get older. Unfortunately as we age the joy in the small steps of progress fades.  What replaces it is an expectation, an expectation that we can just show up, put in minimal effort, and expect maximal return.  The expectation is like showing up to run a marathon, expecting to do it in 2 1/2 hours, but you have only run one 5k race to train for the marathon.  9.99999 times out of 10 you are going to fall short of this expectation.

This inevitably creates a problem…

We have become a I want it and I want it now culture.  When we do not get what we want, rather than stepping back and asking ourselves the tough questions: "what could I have done differently?  What do I need to do differently to become successful?  How can I make this happen?" we instead label this unrealized expectation as "failure," and chalk it up as "one more reason why I can't _____ (fill in the blank.)"

I often think what could we all accomplish, how much more successful, happy, fulfilled, could we all become if we had held onto that slow and steady wins the race mantra we had when we were little kids.  How could we ever fail as adults if we celebrated the itsy bitsy progress like we did when we were kids?

The reason this has been on my mind is because for the last 6 weeks I, as many of you know, have been mourning the unexpected death of my best friend.  I had a friend ask me the other day "how was I doing with everything?"  I stopped and thought about this question…

You see there was a small part of me that wanted to answer: "shitty," and make my response all about my loss.  I stopped myself because I realized that if I answered this way then I would be discounting all of the progress I have made over the last six weeks.

Instead I finally spoke up and said, "honestly I am doing great."

My friend looked a little flabbergasted at my response.  His expression said "how can you be doing great already?"  So I shared with him the following:

I believe all human beings are made up of multiple "parts."  These parts come in the forms of personalities, needs, wants, thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, talents, passions, etc... If I separate my life into two parts right now: Part 1 is Jesse not focusing on the loss.  This Jesse is doing really great.  He is happy, he is healthy, he is making a difference in the lives of others.  This Jesse feels he is living his life on purpose and is motivated to empower others to do the same.

Part 2 is also Jesse, but it is Jesse when he is focusing on the loss of a very special friend.  This Jesse is sad, he misses his friend, he cries when he recalls certain memories, he hurts when he, out of habit, picks up his phone to call his friend to share something that happened today.

Both parts make up of the whole of who I am and my current reality.

I believe, in some cases, there is an unconscious expectation that when one has experienced a tragedy, that the person allows the tragedy to dictate how they think, feel, and act.  This explains the flabbergasted look on my friends face… after all how can I be great after 6 weeks.

Part 1 is doing great part 2 is healing and experiencing all the emotions that come with the healing process.

I often think of the mantra "slow and steady wins the race" while I am going through the healing process. The race, in this instance, is not a physical race to the finish, but rather it is a journey to get to a place where there is full acceptance of what has happened and a complete integration of the impact and legacy that Paul has had and will always have on my life.  This process has no deadline or no time limit on how long it will take because ultimately I decide.

One of the most challenging aspects of the whole process is to begin to let go of the pain.  When we experience a tragic loss, the pain that we feel in the aftermath almost becomes a way to keep the person alive.  After all, when we feel pain at an intense level it validates to us the impact that a person had on our life as well as the depth of love we felt for that person. We become fearful of letting go of that pain because if we let go of the pain, do we let go of the person as well?  Do we let go of the love we shared, the memories we made and the impact they had on our life?

Enter in progress and making the transition from experiencing the loss (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually,) to living in such a way to honor the person... this is where I am at now.

I still have my moments of sadness, I still have some very sleepless nights, I still have those times where I pick up my phone to call or send a text, I still have the aches and pains that come with loss; I have all of those and more.

I now also have the happiness that comes with knowing that every thing I do going forward in life will be influenced by the impact that Paul had in my life, the memories we made and the experiences we created. Thus he will always be a part of my life.  The same goes for my friend Gabe and the same goes for my Dad.  After all, without Gabe and my Dad I would have never done the 1000 Challenge and would not be typing this to you today.

When I adopt a perspective like the above, how can I  not be happy?  After all, if I choose not to be happy then that is a reflection of those who I loved and lost, is it not? 

I believe it is also a sign of progress. :)

Enjoy the pics,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

2013 Recap and My Wishes for Everyone in 2014

It is 2014 and there is an abundance of opportunity and possibility staring you in the face.  Will this be the year you seize them?  Will this be the year you resolve to keep your resolutions?  Will this be the year you make all your dreams come true?

I hope so AND I believe that You are fully capable of it.

To cap off 2013 and help bring in 2014 I recorded a video for you all.  In this video I recap my 2013 the highs and lows, and offer some insights that, if you apply them, will help you make 2014 your greatest year yet.

I hope you find value in the video (if you do, please share it with others), and I sincerely hope that this year is nothing less than magical for you.

As always, please share your thoughts below.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

Moving Forward

It is funny… in a blog that I have titled "Moving Forward," I have found myself stuck the last few days on what to say here.  Even as my fingers move around on the keyboard, I am still not sure what is going to come out.

I have had moments of insight the last few weeks, profound, (or at least what I believe are profound,) thoughts that I want to share with you all.  I have taken notes as they come up so I do not forget them, but then there is the whole "how do I introduce this," dialogue that I have with myself.

Do I just lay it out in bullet points?

• profound thought A
• profound thought B
• etc…

Eh, that doesn't really have the effect does it or seem that profound?

Death is an interesting process.  I use the word interesting because I find it interesting how one event, someone's passing, can create a different experience for so many people.

Death brings up more of a variety of thoughts and feelings then probably any other event in our life.  With death comes the full spectrum of our emotional experience.  We have anger and fear at one end and on the other we have joy and love.  In between there are emotions such as sadness, frustration, happiness, guilt, and so on.

Most fields of psychology will say that the grieving/mourning process follows "x" number of steps.  I am not sure I completely agree with it being as clear cut as that.  From a teaching experience there is a need to compartmentalize our thoughts and emotions into steps.  It gives teachers something tangible to pass onto their students.  It also gives those of us going through the process something tangible that we can work with and towards.

However, from an experiential standpoint, as someone who is going through the mourning/grieving process now and has gone through it in the past; I tend to view it more as a vast open field that is filled with hidden "emotion bombs."

These bombs, whenever you step on one of them, cause their respective emotion to explode inside of you.  

Imagine if you will… You have just lost someone you love and you find yourself walking through a vast open field.  You are not really thinking or feeling anything, you are just kind of "numb," and feel an "emptiness."  As you are walking along you step on one of these hidden emotion bombs.  This one happens to be anger, and when you step it, suddenly this angry feeling explodes inside of you and fills up that "emptiness," and takes away the "numbness," you were experiencing just a few minutes before.

As you travel through the field the anger stays with you.  It may have caused you to run now instead of walk.  It may have removed the caution with which you were moving forward because you are now blinded by the anger inside of you.  This continues until you step on the next emotion bomb.  This one happens to be sadness.  When you step on sadness it explodes inside of you.  This new explosion is so powerful that it is able to push the previous explosion (anger) out of you and now you are able to fully experience sadness.

The process repeats itself over and over again.  You keep traveling through the field and you keep stepping on different emotion bombs.  Anger, sadness, happiness, joy, fear, frustration, excitement, etc… they all show up at some point.

This is the best way I can describe how I have felt the last few weeks.  Like I am going through the field, stepping on different bombs from time to time.  What sets off one bomb may be clear, what sets off another one may be a mystery, but none the less, the bombs go off and the feelings are there.

I understand that it is important to allow myself to acknowledge and feel those feelings.  Some of which I may not necessarily want to, but I need to because it is all part of my process.

The field has no end to it because the field is ones' journey through life.  What can end is the presence of the "emotion bombs." They will gradually dissipate and eventually disappear completely as you go through the mourning/grieving process and as you allow yourself to heal.

Allowing yourself to heal… 

I believe that one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall humans is the tragedy that we choose to hold onto so much of the hurt, the loss, the let down, the failures, that we prevent ourselves from ever fully healing.  Thus robbing ourselves of being able to experience those feelings of happiness, joy, pleasure, elation, etc… at a higher level and more consistently.

We experience tragedy in life, we get hurt, we experience pain, and then we never move past it, instead we choose to hold onto it.  The hurt and loss becomes our new reality and we humans have sadly become experts at forming an identity around hurt and loss.

Why do we do this, why?  

I have a theory, but that is for another time and place; another blog.

As previously mentioned, I do have some thoughts/insights that have come to mind the last few weeks, as I have tip toed my way through the "emotion bomb" field, that I would like to share with you all:

I am going to go for the bullet point approach here :)

• What will it take to get people to a place that they celebrate life with the same intensity that they mourn death?
• It is so important to say and do what's most important while you have the breath to do so.
• I have felt sad a lot the last few weeks.  A lot of times people think of sad as a negative feeling, but in situations such as this, I disagree.  I believe sadness is an important emotion to allow yourself to feel in times of loss.  I believe sadness is the yin to the yang of love.  Thus sadness is a way of reminding you the depth of love you felt for the person you lost.
• Sadness continued:  Just because you feel sadness does not mean you have to become sadness or let it control your life.
• How you choose to live your life after you have lost someone is ultimately how you choose to honor that person.
• Whenever you experience loss you have a choice: choose to let the loss define you or choose to define the loss.

As I continue to move forward I have thought a lot about how challenging life can be at times.  It has been my experience that every challenge I have faced, every tragedy I have endured, has ultimately made me stronger and more capable of fulfilling my purpose on this Earth.  I believe the present one will prove the same.

For now, I will leave you with a phrase I have been thinking about quite a bit over the last few weeks.  These words of wisdom come from one of the great thinkers and philosophers of modern time… Rocky Balboa (aka Sylvester Stallone). 

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward."

I guess what he is saying, is that we have a choice… :)

Enjoy the pics,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://jessebrisendine.com/healing-from-loss/

Death and the Gift that Lies Within

This last week has been a challenge to put it lightly.  I am not quite sure what will flow as I type, but I know where I want to end up going with this blog.  Ultimately I hope this blog entry leaves you with, well, You will just have to keep reading to see that. :)

On Saturday, November 30th, 2013 I returned home from a workout a little after 5pm.  On an average day I keep my cell phone on silent and only check it a few times a day.  About 6pm I checked it and saw I had several bizarre texts from different people asking if I was ok and saying they had heard that Paul was in a crash.  I also saw I had a missed call from a mutual friend of both Paul and I.  I immediately called him and he confirmed what I discovered when I turned on the computer.

I am thankful I was able to get ahold of him right away because the online world was providing a host a mixed info.  Some sites were saying Paul had died, others were saying it was a hoax.  When I switched over to Twitter to try to get more current info the #RIPPaulWalker and #PaulWalkerHoax were both trending simultaneously.  I cannot tell you what that felt like - the unknowing the watching the world try to decipher fact from fiction, hoping it was fiction, but hearing your buddies voice confirm that it was indeed fact.

Time stood still for me.  I must have visited a 100 different web pages trying to find one that said it was all a hoax, it was just internet bull shit and Paul was alive and well.  All the while my phone kept ringing, text messages and emails kept coming in, I knew from the volume that no matter how hard I tried I would not be able to find a reality where my friend still lived, I knew he was gone.

I sat there in disbelief and then the tears started.  Along with the tears came the questions: Why Paul?  How can this be real?  This has to be a dream right?  Why did this have to happen to him?  Why did this have to happen to me?  Why do I have to live my life without my friend who I was absolutely certain would be a lifelong friend?

The tears continued…

About 9:30 or 10pm I started responding to text messages.  The only reason was was because I was getting pissed off that people were asking me if I was hurt, if I was ok.  What kind of question is that?  Of course I am fucking hurt!  In fact I am no where near being ok!

I could not figure out why people would ask me that. It wasn't until a few hours later that a friend of mine told me that there was a rumor going around in the cyber world that I may have been in the car.  In the hours immediately after I didn't even think about that… that people may think it was me there, I only thought of Paul.

Sunday was spent crying, reflecting, and trying to connect with people who I knew he would want me to connect with.  At the same time I also tried to connect with a few people who understood his and mine relationship.  Paul and I were friends, brothers, kindred spirits, and all the above.  Our friendship was filled with the full spectrum - never wanting to grow up and acting like 10 year olds on one end to having deeply loving, thoughtful and insightful conversations that come with wisdom and experience on the other end. I kept the closeness we shared private for the most part.  Years ago when we first started hanging out I had several people who heard from friends of friends that I was Paul Walkers friend and they were "just wondering if I could _____ (fill in the blank)."  The point is people started coming at me right away to try and gain access to Paul.  I didn't like it so I didn't talk about him or our friendship to most because I wanted to protect him and his privacy.

Monday morning was my lowest point.  I woke up at about 2am feeling nauseous by 3:30 I was throwing up with food poisoning.  At one point around 4:30 am, I was hugging the toilet and dry heaving in-between the tears of loss AND if that wasn't enough, you know how with food poisoning you sometimes get it coming out of both ends???  Well lets just say that I was crying, I was dry heaving, and simultaneously I was squeezing my butt cheeks trying not to let good ole #2 get the jump on me.  At one point I started laughing and thought: "man I would sure love to tell this story to Paul.  He of all people would appreciate the bathroom humor and allow me to use graphic detail when describing my time with the porcelain God."

The puking stopped by 9am and a new week began.  A week that was filled with tears, with thoughts, with more tears and more thoughts and feelings.

As many of you know this is not my first rodeo when it comes to losing a loved one.  Paul was much different than Gabe and my Dad though.

With Gabe the loss of him also came with a loss of an innocence.  Me finding him and the experiences that followed.  (If you are not familiar with this story you can click on the link here to learn more about me and ultimately why I did the 1000 Challenge).

With my Dad it was the shock of losing someone again, the forced acknowledgement of the mortality of ones parents, and the guilt and regrets that came with the realization that there were opportunities for a deeper relationship between the two of us that would go unrealized.

It has been my experience with death, both personal, as a friend supporting others in loss, and through working with clients, that when death happens some of the most common feelings people feel are guilt and regret.  These feelings are articulated in the form of these common questions: "I wish would have____"  "If only I would have ____."  The blanks are typically filled in with words like love, sorry, effort i.e. "I wish I would have told her I loved her more, or I wish I would have made more of an effort to spend time with him."

With Paul I didn't have those feelings and without those I did not have the questions that go with them. With both Gabe and my Dad I felt a ton of guilt and regret.  With Paul there was/is just a deep void a void that comes from the loss of a very special person.  You see we both made it a priority to say I love you.  We both would call one another at random times just to say how proud we were and what we meant to each other.  The bond we shared and the love we felt was very clear and I'll be forever grateful for that.  And within that clarity there is no space for guilt or regret. :)

This has also reminded me just how important it is to make it a regular practice to communicate these feelings to the people who matter most in your life.  Tell someone you love them, tell them how much you appreciate them, let them know how proud you are of them.  Don't leave things unsaid, you never know when your time or their time will end.  Say what is most important to say while you have the breath to say it.

Watching the world mourn your friend is indescribable to say the least.  It comes with a very mixed emotional bag.  On one hand there is such a great sense of love and pride, pride that this person, my friend, could make such a positive impact on so many others.  On the other hand there is also anger and frustration.  Anger that there are people out there trying to exploit him, people trying to hurt him and his daughter, people talking about him and who he was, who have no idea who he really is - it is hard to watch and see all that.  There is a part of me that wants to defend him, that wants to shut up the people that need to be shut up, that wants to, well to put it politely, smack the shit out of people who are trying to exploit him and his daughter amongst others.

I know those would not be the most productive nor positive courses of actions.  I only share them with you because I want to be real with you right now.  And those are real thoughts and real feelings that I have had.  Another real thought and real feeling I have had, one that I have put my energy and attention towards is: honoring Paul.  How can I live my life moving forward so that I honor him best.

How can we all live our lives moving forward so that we can all honor him and what he meant to us?

I have smiled seeing the outpouring of love and support from fans around the world.  What I am so impressed by is a point I made last week.  It does not take money to make a positive impact, it only takes desire and a will to take the actions to make it a reality.  After all, look at all that has been done this last week to honor him.

1000's of people from all over the world have gathered to honor Paul, to bring attention to him, and to ROWW.  Many of you have helped raise 100's if not 1000's of dollars this last week to help support ROWW.  Many of you have donated time, money, and energy towards ROWW.  Watching this and see this beautiful gesture from so many has given me nothing less than goosebumps at times.

It also makes me wonder, what could the world be like if we focused our energy on honoring someone in life the same way we do as in death?

Think about that…

How much better could all your relationships be if you celebrated their lives with the same intensity and passion as you would morn their death?

How much deeper could you connect with those who matter most if you loved them with the intensity while they are alive as you would morn them in death?

How much more could you accomplish, how much more can you do, if you put the same passion and energy into accomplishing and doing things in life as you would when honoring someones death.

Death has a very clever way of removing boundaries and obstacles.  I guarantee many of you had obstacles to overcome to go to one of the car rallies this past weekend, BUT you were going to be dammed if you let those stand in the way and keep you from going!

What will it take to make that attitude, that passion, that intensity a part of our daily lives?

As I wrap things up, I am curious, how has this blog made you feel?  What are your thoughts?

Remember pain is a part of life.  Pain is also one of the greatest gifts we will ever have in life for without pain how could we ever learn to appreciate and enjoy at the level we are capable of?  Without pain how could we ever discover just how strong we truly are?

On the other side of pain is pleasure and it is always much much closer than you think.  I have been in a tremendous amount of pain this last week, but I keep reminding myself that there are lessons within the pain and those lessons will ultimately lead to the pleasure of life.

Anyone in life can do pleasure.  Pleasure is easy.  Pain is the challenge.  Pain is what tests us, pain is what will break us if we allow it to.  Pain is the barrier that can keep us from our dreams… Pain, and how we handle it when we are face to face with it, will ultimately define us.

And so my friends I hope this blog has given you a bit more insight and understanding to me.  I hope this blog has inspired you... inspired you to look at life a different way, inspired you to make doing and saying all you are a capable of a priority while you can.  I hope this blog has left you with the courage to face any pain you may be facing right now.

The pictures below are from this mornings sunrise.  May they serve as a reminder that beauty is everywhere and that from the darkest of places a great light can spring fourth, one that can illuminate the world.

Find Your Light!

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

Delicious Egg Muffins

Katie has cooked up quite a treat for us all.  Read below to see her recipe for some delicious egg muffins.  Please share how you like them.  Also if you have any healthy recipes you would like to pass along please do so.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse


Egg Muffins

I see this recipe all over Pinterest, but recently my friend, who is a wonderful cook, made these egg “muffins” and raved about how easy and tasty they were. Easy and tasty are my two main criteria for recipes, especially when cooking for one. Not only is the recipe simple, but infinitely adaptable and provided me with lunch for a whole week. I used spinach, herbed goat cheese, and onion, but these muffins would be perfect with any combination of cheese, veggies, and meat. When you’re short on time in the morning this is the perfect grab and go breakfast or time saver when packing a lunch. Here goes:

You will need:

A dozen eggs (I used large, cage-free, organic brown eggs. I’m not a food snob, they taste better.)

Fresh spinach, chopped

White onion, chopped

Cheese - I used herbed goat cheese, Mediterranean style feta would also be great here

Salt and Pepper

Olive oil spray or any non-stick spray

To Prepare:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, crack one egg. Throw in a tablespoon of chopped onion, as much chopped spinach as you’d like, a few small dollops of goat cheese, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Gently mix the ingredients together until everything is coated with egg.

*Note: Keep the yolk intact if you prefer a hardboiled egg consistency, or scramble the yolk if you prefer a more airy consistency.

Spray the bottom and sides of each round in a muffin tin with non-stick spray. Pour the ingredients of the bowl in one round. Repeat until each spot is filled, or when all your eggs are used up.
Place muffin tin in heated oven for 25-30 min. Make sure the egg whites are completely set before pulling the muffins out.

When finished, run a toothpick around the edges of each muffin to prevent sticking. They should pop right out! Enjoy right from the tin, or let cool on a plate or baking rack. These can be stored in an airtight container or a plastic baggie in the fridge. I placed a paper towel in the baggie because the muffins tend to release moisture. Enjoy 1-3 for a protein and veggie packed snack or meal!

Best,

Katie

Breaking through Plateau's

We are changing things up and doing something a little different today.  I recently received the below email and I thought there were some great questions in it worth discussing and sharing with all of you.  Please read the email and then read my responses below.

"Dear Jesse,
 
I recently returned to the gym after a long layoff (about 8 years).  I must say I am absolutely loving it and can't believe that I let 8 years without the gym slip by me.  A friend of mine from school has also recently returned to the gym and I was asking him how it was going.  He said that he had hit a plateu and struggling to find motivation to keep going.  The next day when I was at the gym I was thinking about this as I was exercising.  The thoughts led me to memories of the principal at my old high school.  When I was a freshman and sophmore I would go to the gym every day after school.  Every day the principal would be working out.  I remember watching him as he would do forward latteral raises for shoulders.  Every time he did those exercises he always used a 35 pound dumbbell.  For two years I watched him do those exercises and always he had a 35 pound dumbbell.  I remember being young and thinking, I hope my body doesn't max out like that.  This leads me to the reason that I am writting you.  The last few weeks I have been wondering, why do our bodies plateau?  Why does a young man like my friend hit a point where his body and muscles stop growing.  Why did the principal always have those same weights? He was a strong guy and put out a lot of effort but the amount of reps and the weight he used never changed.  This also makes me think of you.   You have been working out and encouraging others to do the same for over a decade.  Have you reached the limits of what your body can do? Why or why not? Is there a limit? I remember reading about Ronnie Coleman adding five pounds of muscle every year while he was Mr. Olympia. Could he have continued this for the rest of his life? At what point would his body have said no more? In closing, why do our bodies plateau, can we avoid the plateau, and is there a maximum plateau?
 
Thank you very much,
 
Jason"



Hey Jason,

These are some great observations and questions you have here.  While we are talking about muscles and exercising, my answers can be applied to any aspect of life - Relationships, financial, personal growth and development, etc...

Why do our bodies plateau?  

When we hit a plateau, it is because we have arrived at a temporary roadblock, meaning that we need to change something if we want to improve because we have hit the maximum benefit of doing things the way we have been doing.  In the example you mentioned your principal kept doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again.  What would have happened if he would have changed the exercises, change the order, changed the weights, the reps, the tempo, or any of the other 100+ variables.  What would have happened then?  

When we hit plateau's in life, unfortunately to many people give up and quit doing what they have been doing, or accept that they have hit their maximum potential.  Those are the two worst things you can do.  If you want to break through the plateau you MUST mix things up, You MUST challenge yourself to learn, to grow, to evolve in a way you have not done before.

Who hasn't taken up a new hobby, a new activity, and been overjoyed with learning it and how rapidly they have picked it up.  Then a few months down the road they get frustrated and quit because they stopped improving at the rapid rate when they began.  They gave up rather than challenging themselves to approach the problem from a different angle.

Remember the quote: "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get a different result."  

If you or anyone else want different results then you/they must be willing to change things up and do things differently.

No, I do not believe I have reached the limits of what my body can do, nor do I ever think I will.  

As I have gotten older I have evolved with the pursuit of my passion (weight lifting) when I was in my early 20's it was all about being as big as possible.  Then it was about being stronger than certain people.  Now it is about using better technique and mastering more challenging exercises while I grow stronger on more traditional exercises.  In another 5 or 10 years my focus will no doubt change again.  The cool thing is that every time I change I learn more about myself and my body.

We all have an un-ending opportunity to learn and grow (metaphorically and physically).  I enjoy reading, so to maximize it I am learning how to speed read.  If I did not challenge my brain and my eyes this way I would be left to read a page every 2 minutes which cuts down dramatically the number of books I can enjoy and the amount I can learn each year.  Now I can read a page in about 45 seconds.  Meaning that I have more than doubled my reading speed, which means I have also doubled the amount I can read and have the potential to learn in a year.

If I had never challenged myself to change things up when I hit a plateau, I would still be stuck reading and learning at the pace I was before.

Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman (for those who do not know who this is click the link here to watch a quick video that sums him up)  who knows how much mass he could have continued to pack on.  Remember for his sport he wanted to be big, but also maintain symmetry and aesthetic appeal.  I think he would have been limited by those two things for the sake of his sport before size.  

So why do we plateau and can we avoid them?

I encourage you to look at a "plateau" like this:  A plateau is your body's or life's way of telling you that you have done really well and now you have reached a fork in the road AND if you want to continue to improve it is time to change things up and start on a new path.  

Embrace plateau's they are the ultimate compass on the path to success.  Each one arises to tell you that you are headed in the right direction!!

Thanks for writing.

Carpe Diem,

Jesse