A Change of Heart: Forging Your Path Through Life

I realize that I had promised a series on 'Slowing Down' in last week's post.  I am passionate about subjects like this; introspection, meditation, discovering yourself and forging your own destiny - these are core values in my own life, and I hope to eventually join the ranks of the great Lifestyle Blogs such as Adventures of a Barefoot Geek, Zen Habits and The 4-Hour Workweek.  Alas, I find it, at this point in my life, extremely difficult to write in confidence on these subjects, as I am still working very hard to incorporate them into my day-to-day life.

At the same time that I was trying to force out a piece on the Slow Food Movement (something which I fully support and endorse), I felt, well, stifled.  How could I write a piece on slowing down when my I have, myself, been moving at 100 mph through life, trying to do so much.  The thought of trying to write this piece was soul-crushing to me - I feel I lack confidence in this area, and it seemed more than a bit hypocritical giving advice that I am currently not following (leading by example is very important to me) - though there is another reason;  it is not my TRUE passion, and that, my friends, is something that I, and you, and EVERYONE, should embrace.

To continue this blog, I realized I have to let go of the preconceptions that I started with.   "This will be a lifestyle design blog, and it will be awesome!"  Well, I personally think it IS both of those things, but it's not what I -need- it to be.  I need to follow my heart and write about what incenses me, what gets me out of bed in the morning and gives me something to fight for in this crazy world of ours.

Some of my readers know that I am part of a movement that has many names:

• Primal (the 'label' that I place on myself, for convenience of communication)
• Paleo
• 'Living Like A Caveman'
• Evo-Fitness
• Crazy (what most people consider me)

Specifically, I follow the The Primal Blueprint - a Primal/Paleo guideline that was developed by blogger, athlete and role-model Mark Sisson with a bit of help and input from his very broad reader-base.

All of these terms are have slightly different connotations; to generalize, they are all lifestyles that focus on moving 'back in time', trying to develop a set of living conditions that 'mimics' what our life was like before the advent of agriculture and predominance of agrarian society.

"Why?" you may ask.

Good question!  The benefits of a Primal lifestyle are many.

The PB and other Paleo-derived lifestyles are all about gene-expression - your body's cells do a lot of things, functions whose instructions are determined (expressed) by your genes.  When you live in the way that the human body has evolved over millions and millions of years, your genes are expressed in an optimal manner.  When we go against how nature has shaped us to live, problems arise - maladies that did not exist before the rise of modern society.

This is not just a diet.  This is not a simple exercise plan.  It touches upon every aspect of our lives - how we think about our food, how we interact with other people and the world around us, even urging us to really consider what is REALLY important to us.  It can seem a little complicated at first, but is, at its essence, a minimalist lifestyle - doing away with all of the nonsense that society tries to convince us is important is critical to a successful Primal journey.   Now that I think about it, writing about what it means to be Primal is very similar to my original subject matter;  I hadn't realized it until just now!

A small but very telling realization.  It's interesting where life can lead you when you let it.

So then. If you are interested in learning how to become closer with yourself and those around you, reverse and eventually eradicate illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes and look and feel your best, then I urge you to stay tuned for my next post in which I will touch upon one of the core tenants of living Primal (and one which most people have the hardest time with!)

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Taking my own advice:  after almost two weeks of trying to force out a post, this flowed out of my fingers in less than an hour.  Follow your heart, my friends.