When fitness becomes a source of Joy

When fitness becomes a source of joy and peace, you would have arrived. 

Generally, staying fit is perceived to be a task. A struggle.  We think workouts and exercises to be something that’s going to tax on our time.  It is a general thought process to consider exercising to add no value in terms of our financial or social status.  Therefore, we categorize it as a non-productive task.   Therefore, we attempt to avoid it as much as possible. 

If we are not fully avoiding it, we are still looking for ways to get away with the minimum.   The banners, hoardings and the advertisements are filled with false promises to deliver it to you, the weight reduction magic, in minimum number of days or weeks.   And guess what, there are a lot of buyers we are willing to believe in this myth.  Even scientists and fitness experts are very vocal to come up with minimum efforts needed to keep ourselves fit kind of theories. The simple reason: they have the ready audience.

I am often left to wonder why we humans have relegated one of our core functions of movement and physicality to the background.  This self-denial has been adding a lot of misery to the human kind. As a result of this self-ignorance, the world is today filled with the so called lifestyle diseases. The diseases that could have been avoided by simply following the rules of the nature.

The lifestyle diseases imply that these are those diseases that are induced due to our erratic living.  Irregular sleep hours or deficit sleep, long hours of sitting, binging on junk food are just to name a few. We live in a world that’s been industrialized.  We have produced a lot of goods and services to make our living more comfortable.  And more luxurious.  But unfortunately, in the process we have forgotten that we are only as mortal as other living beings with a limited shelf life.

We have become opaque to the fact that we don’t need so many luxuries.  These luxuries are infact spoiling our health and the overall well-being.  We have removed the struggle part that we do need to keep ourselves fit.  We have a mindset that is pro-consumerist.  But, merely consuming these industrial goods without exercising caution and discretion, do we realize, is leading to our chronic stress? 

Imagine, if fitness activities became a source of joy and fun. Imagine if people gathered to enjoy the spirit of movement and running. We seriously don’t need so much dependence on our gadgets.

Fitness activities should become a source of joy.  We must celebrate our natural gifts, the body and the mind, by putting the primal focus to their well-being.  We must cultivate the habits that allow us to move, lift, push, pull, give thrust, throw etc.  The home chores like cleaning and dusting, mopping and washing are free tools available. And our attitude must change towards them as uplifiting and spiritual.  

You may feel proud to give lack of time as the excuse for not working out.  But the harm that you may be doing to your body may become irreversible if not plugged on time.  Let your ego not come in the way of you becoming the best version of yourself. 

Treat yourself to the fun and joy of exercising and working out.   Avoid over mechanizing your lifestyle.  Keep it a little rustic like those of your grandparents. Cycle, run or walk as often as possible.   Let your lungs and heart feel that you need them! Your body is created to move.  Move as much as you can.  Not as much as you should. 

Develop a liking for some sport.  Sport is nothing but celebration of our limbs.  The magic that our hands, legs and the whole body can create and make us experience the divine blessings, feel that.  Don’t restrict yourself to the minimums.  Go far as much as possible. 

Don’t lose the power your body is blessed with, by sitting all day long.  Get up and move.  Allow these movements to bring you joy and peace.   Allow the physical activities to become the source of joy and fun and peace and happiness.