WE ARE WHAT WE DIGEST by Lee Hoedl

Just as crucial as a distance runner's training regiment is his/her dietary regiment - the types and amounts of foods and vitamins needed to fuel, rejuvenate and rebuild the body after a series of taxing training miles.

This insight, however, is not focused on the physical nourishment of the human body. In our fast-paced sedentary culture, it has become very apparent across our society that we truly are becoming physically what we are eating. But I'll save my rant on healthy physcial nutrition for another day...

Since my children have been old enough to understand, I've told them that we each need to tend to every aspect of our life - physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual - and nourish each one properly so as to allow it to flourish. Feed your body solely sugar and you end up with one result; feed your body complex carbohydrates and a balanced diet and you end up with a completely different result.

Feed your body four hours of sleep each night and you'll end up with one result; feed your body at least eight hours a night and the world will look and feel different to you.

Feed your life with positive relationships, uplifting projects/work and noble purposes and you can only imagine the result. The alternative of feeding your life with draining relationships and less than passionate goals will assuredly leave you mentally and emotionally exhausted.

Of the runners I've coached and guided over the years, their physical diet was not the primary obstacle or cause of not being able to meet their training or racing goals; it has been their pyschological, emotional, relational and spiritual diets. Ravaged by divorce, abuse, depression, lack of self esteem, negative relationships, lack of spiritual focus and negative self-talk, these runners had all but doomed themselves before they even hit the road or track with their shoes...

My father would tell me that "we need to live our lives from the inside-out." Start inside and work our way outward. Life, like a marathon, is not a sprint. It is an never-ending adventure from childhood to adolescence to puberty through relationships and parenthood and careers and the twilight years... and all those moments in between. It can wear you down over the many miles of your life's journey and only you can feed your life what it needs to survive, thrive and remain healthy. My question to you, my friend, is where in your life are you most hungry?

Where in your personal life, if you nourished it starting today, would it begin to flourish? And what's stopping you?

A recent research study estimates that on average a person has approximately 60,000 different thoughts in a given day. Of that total, it is further estimated that 80% of those thoughts are negative. You read that right: 48,000 of your daily thoughts are negative and not very nourishing.

In that same research study it is estimated that approximately 90% of our daily behavior is habitual; our daily routine is primarily comprised of habits, feeding us each and every day...

In the movie Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the main character boldy states, "Your life is an occasion. Rise to it." My friend, today I challenge you (and myself) to rise to it; rise to the profound occasion that is your life. Feed your life all the rich nourishment it needs to flourish and allow your life to inspire others. Make a daily habit of your life's marathon.

POST NOTE: There was an old adage that stated, "If you want to know about a person, go and look in their medicine cabinet." Nowadays, with the multitude of medications, this doesn't really hold water. However...

If you want get a quick snapshot of what individuals/families feed themselves, when you visit their home, take a quick glance at three items:

1. What the person/family has presented on the walls of their home

2. What the person/family has as a collection of books/magazines in their home

3. What the person/family has as a collection of music

And more importantly, take a moment to walk around your own home and examine these three items. What are the general themes of your wall decorations, your reading material and your music collection? Is it nourishing? If not, it's time to change your diet, my friend.