avatarakali

The more I train the more energy I have. It’s released through when I am not training. I did an Olympic distance triathlon for the fun of it this weekend, sharing the even with couple of dozens of fellow triathletes. And while being out there I was wrapping my mind around one phenomena: an amazing thing happens as I start sharing these sparkles of energy with people around me –  they carry it on. They take their steps forward, reflecting the spark , turning it into something actual , real. I hear “I started running cause I read your blog” ( the Russian one) or “I did 5 miles today after we talked”. This energy exchange goes in both directions

Once, at a day when I was a bit down, a Shawna asked if somebody would join her for a run in morning. I didn’t plan any massive workout for that morning, it would probably be some 3-miler with whatever pace. But then I got myself out to the Riverside and saw one of the most amazing summer sunrises. I shared the run with the friend and eventually almost PRed at 5 miler.

The idea of the Happyness Jar night , the gathering people I met at my place worked out even so much better then I could imagine

For all the evening my home was filled with laughter, talks, sharing food, sharing stories, plans, past travels, sharing – LIFE.  Friendly hugs – “Clapping of friendly angel wings on my shoulders ”.

I kept thinking: my life is so blessed with the chance of meeting people close to my heart at this point of my journey. I was listening to all the talks, feeling my friends presence around close to me, thinking – it’s pure magic! It’s the only real thing out there – eyes shining with happiness when we meet, girls chatter, guys exchanging meaningful stories and experiences, laughter and quieter moments when someone tells their stories.

Last night the world was shocked by passing away of an amazing extraordinary person, Robin Williams. As I browsed through the Facebook feed, I didn’t get it at first, why does everybody quote his saying

I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone, it’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel alone.

Read on about sharing LIFE with people, lifting people up and the brightness of sparkles ignited

Read More »Energy levels and sharing the LIFE on

Elizabeth Gilbert introduced the idea about happiness jars in May 2013. Later on she followed it up with with some more elaboration on what Happiness… Read More »“Positivity Challenge”-2. The Happiness Jar – it’s all about people

“Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual.”
Ernest Hemingway

“If life gives you colors, paint your world” 

Another flashmob rocked Facebook these days: “Positivity Challenge” – people post 3 things they found positive at a given day. A friend and an author of the blog  buildingblockblog.blogspot.com shared 3 positive things of her day, asked for 3 things I found positive.

My ideas of the day were:

1). 6+ months of IM training exposed more of LIFE for me then years of no training or just marathon level / half-iron training later on. The daily demand to balance of work, social and personal life and training is all times high these days, and I love this load. It makes me cherish every second, be mindful and present, and tuned and optimize my activities all the time!

2) people. Met some awesome people through the triathlon training. I can keep on going forever on this one: it’s the main point, actually. The kind of people I met through IM training for now – I would have never get to know there are such people and that there are so many of them, Incredible, talented, hardworking type A-s from all sorts of walks of life

(please see the list of blogs by ironman athletes below) 

3) nature: all the nature elements – water  at swim; air on bike; earth on run , experiencing nature every single time I am out there training.

Trail running at waterfalls – water, air, earth…

All combined, this weekend I’ve experienced life, I’ve shared it with people, I was out there in nature – again.

Read More »The power of “Positivity Challenge” + list of tri-blogs

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
Mark Twain

I have a well developed sense of self-preservation. By now. I wasn’t always like that cause of one-sided type of courage:  the courage of naive unawareness. I did my share of climbing the trees, playing at railroad tracks and all other sorts of urbanatlon when I was a child. (I grew up in a country where the hype about kids safety was not yet known).  I also tend to get into all sorts of adventures regardless the possibility of a traumatic outcome. Just out of the reckless nature of unguarded curiosity unchained by generally accepted social guidelines. Or probably out of the passion for finding trouble. (Who knew I would make a profession out of it: software testing.)

But that’s not the type of courage I would like to talk about now. I tend to believe that

• Courage is not a naive unawareness
• Courage is not a brave-heart walk of self-righteous and self-confident genius with no fear or doubt.
• Courage is also not something directly caused by unavoidable obligations. Social or practical duties might cause a person to act bold, but it woun’t necessarily be an example of courage, as far as I am concerned.

Courage is a choice. It’s an expression of freedom of will.

I woke up at pitch dark. At the time when some people go to sleep on Sunday nights.

Read More »Courage and inspiration

te·nac·i·ty

With all the long weekend for the 4th of July coming up:

How often do you find yourself waking up wishing to sleep more?
Trust this sleep deprived triathlete going through the 20 hours training week – I know what it feels like!

However: each night I can’t wait to wake up – again. “When the reality is so much better then your dreams” – said somebody. I know I might have had less sleep, or have a grueling workout scheduled. Or a couple of early morning conferences to attend with another side of the world. Or some personal items to respond to. But each morning I wake up with a smile. Eager to get moving. Anxious to find out what’s next. I don’t press on snooze on my alarm (unless I don’t remember that I did! )

I’m an early bird. Lucky to get the best part of the day: when all the world is not yet there, but I am.

Like – here:

The saturated colors of sunrise , at a  run up the Stone Mountain one morning:

taken me 14 min , and I want to do it again!

The clean morning air highlighted by glares of the rising sun – peace on Earth…

What helped me to pass through my 50Ks (Nashville 2013, Destin 50 and Dauset Trails 30 miler on June 7th) is the understanding – you just keep moving forward

Read More »Tenacity, saturation and minimalism

Mary: Let me ask you something. Why are you alive?
John Preston: I’m alive… I live… to safeguard the continuity of this great society. To serve Libria.
Mary: It’s circular. You exist to continue your existence. What’s the point?
John Preston: What’s the point of your existence?
Mary: To feel. ‘Cause you’ve never done it, you can never know it. But it’s as vital as breath.And without it, without love, without anger, without sorrow, breath is just a clock… ticking.
(c) Equilibrium

Let me elaborate a bit about the blog.

The previous record was intended to show what the blog would be about. Turned out the main impression was not shared precisely: work, sports, hobbies – these are all my ways to express the reason I started this blog. My wish to share my passion for LIFE. The ever-present thirst for it. The wish to have more of real, strong, no-kidding, bright, juicy, meaningful life around me, to observe every second of it mindfully and return it enhanced, improved and multiplied back to people I get in contact with, to my work, to my personal projects.

LIFE – the essence of it all, the reason and the purpose, the target and the vital force behind the humming jet rotating somewhere inside.

The quote from “Equilibrium” hit me when the movie was released, in 2002, helped me to identify in words what I’ve felt for the lifetime before that. Defined my lifeline.

There are other quotes I would like to share though. I’ve collected them at my Facebook page, they remain there berried under daily flows of statuses, pictures shared, chats.

Let me carry them out here to be shared.
Let me know if any triggered any association or a thread of thoughts in your minds.

Read More »The blog about LIFE: enjoy your coffee

It’s about the time to define what this blog will be about. It will be my way of sharing life with possible readers. It will… Read More »Disclaimer: what this blog will be about