Life Update

Hello all! Sorry for the recent delay, been busy since leaving Montana. Not a usual sort of blog post today, just wanted to post a little update about life in general. I’ll have another post up soon with some real info and such.

After nearly two and a half months, my time in Yellowstone has come to an end. While housekeeping is definitely not my profession of choice, I’ve had tons of fun during my free time. I’ve met tons of amazing people from all across the world, from a group of Czech friends who can match my drinking tolerance, to a hilarious Romanian who always calls me “Joker”. I’ve hiked up mountains higher than anything I’ve ever attempted before. I’ve pet bison, chased bears, and had a stare downs with grouchy elk.

Since transformation and evolution are very important to me and what I want in life, I was pretty pleased to discover some major differences in myself when I got back home. Still got a long way to go.

I started at Yellowstone at 240lbs and finished at 205lbs.

My usual time hiking before I get tired and need a break was about 2-3 hours.
At Yellowstone I managed over 5 hours of hard incline hiking without rest.

Generally I just feel pretty great. When I got back to TN I had a few days of unhealthy food choices, simply because I missed the joy of a good cheeseburger 😀 . Now I’m looking forward to continuing my adventures here, and finishing up my body transformation.

Anyhow, apologies for the delay in some of my posts, it’s been a busy few weeks. Thankfully Blaze has been pretty punctual with his posts, and I’ll have another up in a few days with some real info 😀

~Emrys

You Belong

     “I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”

          -Dr. Seuss

     Do you ever feel those moments when you are disconnected with yourself? Do you ever get so busy you neglect to escape to the places where you can shamelessly dance and sing and be your wonderful, lovable self with no judgement? Do you ever get so wild that you feel the urge to run off into the sunset and never stop?

     Don’t hold it in.

     I don’t know about you, but I’m far too animalistic to be held down to social standards or anyone else’s wishes. Besides, nothing will ever get better in your life until you take action and do what you love. Behaving according to rules and dogma limits our passion and ingenuity. That sort of limitation has no place in creating and discovering the tools, ideas, and works that will evolve our world.  Total honesty and vulnerability can be uncomfortable when you share with the wrong crowd, but I promise there are thousands if not millions of people out there that will not only agree with but love you for your unique, weird quirks. We all need that change, so I’ll say right now I love you, you neat, bizarre animal! You rock!

     Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy’s bassist, recently stated onstage to the audience that he believed misfits would change the world. I stand with him on this. How else would we evolve? We need a full palette to paint a new scene, and evolution begins with a need for change. Evolution causes transformation for functionality, safety, or (for our purposes) self expression.  If you aren’t supported in your endeavors and feel like an outsider, find your pack. If you want to belong, I hope you can feel welcome here, believer, as we all join hands, paws, and claws to find answers and create a new world.

Believe In Something Great

In the spirit of re-imagining the direction of our evolution as a species, I invite you right now to imagine yourself with a mind and body that align with your passions. Take everything into account: What do you love to do? What new things do you want to try? What does your artistic and creative vision add to this design? You have to follow only one rule, and that is you have no limitations. Imagination and dreams are free, so hop to it!

…

Now, imagine that this new body is a possibility. I know plenty have tried to make wild and drastic changes before in their bodies and minds, but most usually we see this because it’s a matter of life and keeling over. Of course I’m referring to anyone who has recovered from a terminal illness, escaped a dangerous situation, or had to adapt to a new environment. I’m skipping merrily to a subcategory of healing and spontaneous remission and going to bring up the placebo effect. The rather plain text book definition usually reads along the lines of “an effect produced by an inert treatment or drug that benefits the patient and can only be attributed to the patient’s positive outlook and belief in the treatment”.  Many scientists and doctors such as Ted Kaptchuck and Lissa Rankin have performed studies and tests to discover more about the placebo effect and have proven its validity as a potential treatment for illness, both benign and severe. These particular two I brought up since they have recently given talks that explain the ideas and implications this phenomenon brings to light. I’ll leave links to those talks at the bottom of my section so you too can fill your noodle with goodness.

So, what does the placebo effect have to do with growing from the underdog to the wonder dog?  I have a theory that positive affirmations and steady footing in your belief to achieve and grow is a placebo not only for wellness, but for greatness!  Can we write our own prescriptions and gain new levels of fitness or well being? Can we possibly evolve with enough belief and passion in line with our actions?  Whether or not you believe now, I know that, once you fall in love with a vision, what choice do you have but to at least attempt to create?  

Whatever the future holds, we are the Kings and Queens of tomorrow, so try on that crown and resize the blasted thing if it doesn’t fit!

Ted Kaptchuck’s talk:   http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=299407

Lissa Rankin’s talk:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWQfe__fNbs

-Blaze

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twitter.com/blazemikalo

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“Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard I can feel it through your hands. There’s so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain it’s like rocket fuel. Right now you could run faster and you can fight harder. You can jump higher than ever in your life and you are so alert it’s like you can slow down time. What’s wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower! Your superpower! There is danger in this room. And guess what? It’s you.” ~The Doctor

The Survival Instinct. Proof that our bodies are better equipped than most people may think. A surge of raw power in times of need, fighting to keep you alive at all costs. That does sound a lot like a superpower doesn’t it? That store of amazing potential is often overlooked when we consider what we are capable of doing. If we can do this without even trying, can you imagine what would happen if we pushed and trained our bodies to tap into that same power?  With training and a will to succeed, humans are capable of amazing feats of strength, intelligence, edurance, and skill.

People all across the world have taken an aspect of their bodies and pushed well beyond what many believed was possible. I’m going to list a few that have made the news and some of you may have heard of them.

*David Blaine, a magician and stuntman, managed to break a Guinness World Record on the Oprah Winfrey Show by holding his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds.

*Wim Holf “The Iceman”  has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but shorts. He completed a full marathon above the Polar Circle in Finland with temperatures below 4°F, still wearing nothing but shorts. He is probably best known for breaking a world record by immersing himself in ice for an hour, 13 minutes and 48 seconds.

*John Holtum, a circus strongman, could catch balls fired from a cannon at point-blank range.

There are many more individuals who have pushed themselves to new heights, but it would take a long time to list them all here. There is one more I’d like to add as an example of both training your body to remove its limits, and an iron will to never give up.  At age 29, Diana Nyad attempted a 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. She failed. She tried again and again throughout the years, but failed to due jellyfish stings or extreme asthma. On her 5th attempt at age 64, she fufilled her dream and finished the swim in 53 hours.

The point of all this is to show what everyone is capable of. These are just physical examples of vast improvement. The possibilities for improvement are endless. We all have the potential inside us to become the very best we can possibly be. I know that my journey will never be over, because I want to always improve and evolve.

~Emrys