"David! Paul! Strand!" - The Power of Purpose & Dedication

 

One of my favorite familial stories is from the first week of my little brother Dave's life. 

A little background to provide context for the story:

I am 3rd of four children. My older brother and sister were adopted as infants, as my parents (for whatever reason) weren't getting pregnant. True to form, my parents weren't necessarily worried about getting pregnant, but knew they wanted a family, so they applied to adopt and adopt they did, twice. A few years later, they got pregnant with me, another five years later, with David. At this point my Mom was a stay-at-home Mom (she taught high school and adult education before we were born and once we were school-age; she also taught piano lessons and made profits buying and selling furniture while she was home with us). My father was a high school gym teacher and football coach. His teaching tenure ended at Central where he retired in the 90s. Did I mention both were well liked and respected teachers? My Dad was particularly beloved as a high school football coach.

Well, sometime in the early eighties, during September in Minnesota, my Mother went into early labor. It was a Sunday night, around 11pm. My parents went to the hospital, and at 1:15am she gave birth to David Paul Strand, 2 months premature; 4 pounds, 2 ounces. My Dad held David briefly before the nurses came to put him in an incubator because he was so small (David, not my Dad). My Dad distinctly remembers thinking David was the size of a nice walleye (being an avid fisherman, the weight of things often relates to fish - I imagine many men from Minnesota can relate). David was so small, he fit completely in my Dad's large hands.

Though the walleye-weight didn't leave my Dad's mind, he also worried that David was too small and premature. My Mom was (and still is) a big advocate of breast feeding, so she tried to breast feed David immediately, but he wouldn't eat, so they started pumping milk and feeding it to him via bottle.

My father skipped school that whole week, but went to football practice. I suppose football practice reinvigorated him. Also, I suspect he went because his team had a game against one of their biggest local rivals (a stronger, better team), Hibbing, and because my Dad loved coaching so much. So, he would take breaks from sitting with David and my Mom, who were still in the hospital, to coach football practice.

But still, he had no idea what the players were talking about or planning regarding his newborn son. You see, everybody knew about David and how worried my Dad was that he was going to be okay because he was so small and premature.

Friday night was game night and Central was playing Hibbing (the better-ranked team), at the big, outdoor, city-wide high school stadium. My Dad's team, Central, won the coin toss, so they received and scored within the first three minutes. After scoring, senior Jay Weiderman came to the sideline and told my Dad, "That one was for little David." Throughout the game, players would come to my Dad on the sideline with words of dedication and encouragement: Rocky Erickson said, "Relax, Coach, we're having a good time out there." During the third quarter, defensive end Bobby Storm said, "Don't worry Coach, they're not coming around my end."

Central won sixteen to nothing. Sixteen to ZERO!

At the end of the games, the players hang out a little, then pile onto the bus to go back to their home school. The coaches are typically last on the bus, as they make sure all the equipment got loaded and nothing's left behind.

As my Dad walked to the bus with his offensive coach Kestler, he noticed the bus was sort of rocking. He hears three rhythmic words in conjunction with the guys stomping their feet and pounding their fists against the bus seats. It takes him a moment and a few feet to realize what his players are chanting...


"David! Paul! Strand!"

"David! Paul! Strand!"

"David! Paul! Strand!"

My dad slowly stepped onto the bus, realizing all those players were chanting his newborn son's name; dedicating their victorious game to his son...  tears streamed down his face.

Afterward, he drove to the hospital to see David. By this time, David was strong enough that my Dad could hold him. He held little David in his arms and told him the whole story of the game and how the players dedicated the game to him. For three weeks David was in the hospital, and my Dad would go there several times a day to bring him breast-milk, and to hold and see him. (My Mom did too, but this is really a story about a father, his son and his team.) Every Friday my father would visit David after his football games to tell him about the games.

That was almost thirty years ago now, and still, the memory is vivid for my Dad. Those players will always be remembered as being a part of dedicating their game to David Paul Strand. It didn't matter that Hibbing was the better team. That night, they weren't. Purpose has a powerful effect that way. So does dedication. Not the state of being dedicated, but having a purpose that is dedicated to something or someone figuratively bigger (since David was literally smaller than...well, everyone), than you, your desires, or even your whole entire football team. In that way purpose and dedication are limitless, timeless and powerful beyond measure.

David is getting married in August. I hope at least one of those players will be at the wedding.

I know I will be. And when I'm sitting in the congregation of the wedding, I'll be thinking...

"David! Paul! Strand!"

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Hypnotherapy, Mother Nature, and the End of the World

I’m learning hypnotherapy. No kidding. I’m not sure if I ever would’ve guessed that my life’s path would’ve led me here, but here I am.

I’m still in the early stages of becoming a certified hypnotherapist, so I can’t make you act like a chicken... yet.

And actually, that’s just a show by a Hypnotist, which is very different from a Hypnotherapist.

The best I can sum it up is this: A Hypnotist is pretty much a carnival act or show, where they pick the most suggestible people to do entertaining and odd things. A Hypnotherapist actually helps people reprogram their subconscious minds through relaxation and hypnosis and the client is always aware and consenting.

I think that’s about right.

But this blog is actually about something else, well... mostly something else.

You see, in my hypnotherapy class last night we covered imagery and visualization, a powerful tool used for everything from stage freight to fear of public speaking, and to athletes aiming to boost their game. Guided imagery allows people to overcome great fears, and also accomplish great success where conventional training was falling short. In this group, professor-guided imagery last night, she led us all through a very calming, grounding imaginary world and asked that we all go to our “favorite place."

Afterward, virtually everyone who shared something about their particular “favorite place” had a locale that was near to, about or had something to do with water.

Oceans, rivers, streams, lakes or in my case, a fresh-water waterfall feeding into a very gentle brook, were some of the places people described.

So why are we all so drawn to water?

The easy answer is that it’s because we’re made up of 60-70% water. Another easy answer is that water is necessary for our survival. Although we in the industrialized, bottled-water, clean-my-sidewalk-with-fresh-water West, don’t really feel the very real fresh-water shortage on this earth, so we shouldn’t feel as though our water-based survival is threatened, right?

Maybe it’s what water symbolizes even more than it’s necessity for sustaining life.

Some say that our favorite body of water is indicative of our sexual proclivities. That may be true. Some dream interpreters say that dreaming of water is symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment. http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/w2.htm

Who knows, really? Because all of these things are just speculative. That’s the challenge with spiritual explanations and soft-science pursuits. There really never is hard evidence, though some of the so-called hard-sciences are also found to have unreliable evidence in that most scientific studies are found to be affected by the mere observation of the scientist...

But back to water. What is it that so draws us to water?

Well, think of this. Water supposedly comprises 60-70% of the human body. But if you were to reduce the non-water matter of the human body down to it’s most basic form (basically taking out air and empty space), the remaining matter reduces down to what can fit in your two hands. That’s it. Cup your hands together and take a look. Doesn’t seem like much. So water really is a major part of who we are.

But what does this mean about what water is?

We use it as something to drink, to swim in, to cook with, wash with, or bathe in, and even to gestate in (since amniotic fluid is primarily water). But is there more?

According to Masaru Emoto, there is much more than the naked eye can see. Just as we respond to sound, touch, smell, taste, and sight, water responds to virtually all vibrations.

Existence is vibration. When we separate something into its smallest parts, we always enter a strange world where all that exists is particles and waves. The fact that everything is in a state of vibration also means that everything is creating sound. And as sound is created, there is a master listener to receive the sound: water. Why would crystal formation be affected by music, and why completely different results would be reached depending on the spoken and written words water was exposed to. Water, so sensitive to the unique frequencies emitted by the world, essentially and efficiently mirrors the outside world. Music and spoken words are vibration; they are easily understood and interpreted by just about anyone. Sounds like the chant created by a human voice at a Buddhist funeral create a healing frequency. From Hidden Messages in Water

Water has a memory and carries within it our thoughts and prayers. As you yourself are water, no matter where you are, your prayers will be carried to the rest of the world. From The Secret Life of Water

Consider this as well:

Emoto discovered that frozen water crystals respond to words spoken to and even written on paper and "shown" to water.

Water that is shown lovely words like LOVE and GRATITUDE make beautiful crystals.

Words who are told "You are a fool!" make malformed ones!! From The Lovely Words Poster

This is compelling reason enough to not only speak more kindly to myself, as I suspect the water within us does not differentiate between words spoken internally - as they undoubtedly create a mental vibration - and the words spoken aloud. The internal ones, in fact, might be more potent. But this is also a highly compelling argument for feeding and surrounding ourselves with more positive messages and influences. All this concrete, noise and manipulation of our natural environment...well the water within us probably does not respond well to all of this unnaturalness.

But please, weigh-in for me. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

One last parting thought.

For thousands of years, humans lived in relative harmony with nature. Not only was nature-worship part of our existence, we didn’t have the technological means to manipulate nature for our dwellings and use. Only in the last 2000 years or so, and more remarkably in the last 100-200 years, have humans enacted any real dominance over nature. (Clearly nature still wins in the case of “natural disasters” we’re increasingly experiencing.) This 100-2000 years is a small fraction of time considering Homo sapiens have been in existence on this earth for an estimated 90,000-120,000 years, and our hominid ancestors an estimated 230,000-350,000 years (depending, of course, on the anthropologist and source). Here are two I used: WikiAnswers & HistoryWorld

So we’re still beta-testing this whole, "we manipulate nature for our use” philosophy of living. And maybe none of us will be around when we fully realize whether or not this philosophy will be the demise of our natural environment or of us.

But as much as I love my life, my loved ones, and humankind (however frustrated I may be at times by my fellow humans), in this wager, I must put all my money on Mother Nature.

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• Food should be As God Intended or Why isn't everything we eat organic?
  
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• The Cove - Louie Psihoyos' Oscar speech & a guide on how to create change...
• My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal
  
• My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good in Bed
  
• The Hawaiian Islands and Washington D.C.’s sand-paper circle-jerk about Health Care
  
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• The One-Date-Wonders!
• I had to learn SIGN LANGUAGE when I moved to Los Angeles
• Guys can make a game out of anything
• Hello? The power of CONNECTING and how technology has changed things
  
• Popping the question is better than porn!
• Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage
• Songwriting is like SEX
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall - Inspiring a inspiring all of us to be more in the FLOW
• A moment of silence for all the plastic surgery ca...
• Ricky Gervais should be the new Simon on American Idol
• Muscle SURPRISE! The key to physical, mental & emotional fitness
• I think my boyfriend's a snake...
• Release... Sweat & Power
• MY FAVORITE THINGS! - Vibram's Five Fingers
• Dick Morris... How do you sleep at night?
• Rusty DePass, Gorillas, and Obama, oh my!
• Michael Jackson - Troubled Genius

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• Please Don't Leave Me
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Release... Sweat & Power

I remember years ago a yoga teacher, her name long since forgotten, though it might've been Joy or Hope or some other happy-emotion-turned-baby-boomer/yoga teacher-name. Anyway, I recall Hopejoy saying something like, "Women need to sweat every day. It's a necessity." My nineteen year old brain went into analysis (a habitual thing women seem to do - the habit of which is one of the more sticky things to release though well worth it), and I looked at that sweaty concept from different perspectives, thinking, yeah, I guess do feel better on the days I sweat. I wonder why that is. Is it hormonal? Is it biological? Is it for the lymph? The skin? The sex-drive? The mood? Hmm, what exactly is it? I'm not certain. Hopejoy breaks through my mind's rant, and I'm coming into child's pose delayed slightly by my thoughts.

One thing is for certain, I have more dirty clothes and laundry to do than ever before. Though I'm also certain it's worth it.

Having a few years on that nineteen year old girl (boy I must've thought I was a woman, but such a girl I was, granting that I might've been more mature than many nineteen year olds, still, I was such a girl. I think all of us women have a girl in us for our whole lives, but especially until we're around...30), but these years have granted me many things I'm only half-aware of and some, thankfully, I'm more aware of so I can remember to be grateful and here's what I know as of today about women and sweating and, with some of the wisdom life experience provides, power.

Sweating, at it's most fundamental, is a release. And if your light-bulb hasn't illuminated yet, think of it this way...orgasm is a form of release. Girl-friend talking/venting/sharing is (usually) a form of release. Dancing, screaming, yelling, menstruation, laughing, crying, and tantrums are all forms of release. All should be celebrated in my opinion, but more on that later. Sweating is GOOD. One of my major life experiences happened almost 100% because I was in the middle of releasing which included tantrums, screaming, pounding my fists, releasing binds of old thoughts/judgments/beliefs and generally freeing myself...or releasing of things that had nothing to do with being present. Sweating can help you be more present. Increasing your heart rate can help you be more present. So the release leads to being more present, which any spirituality or religion will tell you is good. But if you don't already know it, take a deep breath and a moment, and check in with yourself and ask the question, "Is it healthy for me to be more present?" and you'll get your answer.

What else? Ah, yes. Power.

Besides sweating every day, my workouts of late have reminded me the importance of feeling powerful. For everyone, but since we're on the feminine this time, I'll stick with that. Feeling powerful (in a healthy, confident, vibrant, alive way) is always good. Doesn't mean you can't chill and relax and let others lead or take charge (in fact there's power in that). Feeling powerful is a fabulous feeling.

We are bombarded with images of women - athletes, celebrities, models, who have bodies that are not only surgically and/or digitally enhanced, but remember, these women make a living based on their body and/or appearance, so it's part of their JOB to have beautiful bodies. So forget about them for just a moment. If they're not surgically enhanced, they're digitally-enhanced (projection and self-image shifted dramatically with photoshop), and if they've opted out of the former, they at least have dedicated a decent portion of their day to work-outs with expert trainers not to mention stylists who help them with clothing, makeup and hair so they look, well, worthy of idolatry. Remember that as you strike them from your mind for a moment.

Instead of comparing yourself to any of them...

Think about you. Your body. How much it has been through. How it's still kicking and ticking through everything. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally. I separate these things with language, but they all blend together in our human experience. Even if you've had health or physical challenges, your body has been doing it's absolute best for you.

Exercise to honor your body. Exercise to release. Exercise to sweat. Exercise to feel powerful. Forget about weight-loss or waist-size or clothing-size. Yes, exercise can lead to a more fit and toned body, and it can also seem like a pain-in-the-butt when all you really want to do is eat a pint of hagen dazs and watch Sex & the City reruns, but think about how good it will feel to sweat and release your day. Think about how good an orgasm feels, because the release from exercising is a version of that, albeit more subtle, but still, we need these releases. Think about how good you feel when you feel confident and powerful. Let that be your motivation.

Release. Sweat. Power.

Let me know how it goes.