You Don't Need Anything More

By David Valentine, co-founder of Rethink and partner/board member/practitioner of the Veritas Lifestyle and Veritas Life Adventures

If you were just thinner…if you had a girlfriend, got a raise, made a 4.0, won state, got the newest iPhone, had more sex—you’d be happier. These are the messages we’re sold everyday, usually with some innovative dish soap (how innovative can dish soap be anyway?). The reality is you don’t need anything more than what you have right now to be fulfilled.

You may be thinking, “Come on. Do you know my life? A little extra cash would go a very long way.”The reality is…none of those things would actually fill the void. None of them would bring about the promised fruit, because they bring happiness for a while until that happiness runs out.

The secret to a fulfilling life is contentment. And contentment starts with an evaluation of what you already have in plenty.

Are you healthy? Can you walk, run, jump? Do you have people in your life who genuinely care about your well being? Have you eaten today? How many meals have you had? Do you have a home to go to? Is there air conditioning in that house? How many cars sit on your driveway or in your garage? Is the water you drink clean?

If you’re reading this you have a body—and it’s capable of doing amazing things. More than likely there is someone, somewhere who deeply cares about your well being. It’s reasonable to assume you’ve eaten at least once today (since you’re reading this on the internet). You probably are reading this on your iPhone while sipping a latte at Starbucks in fact.

So…you’re healthy. You are loved, you are fed, clothed, and have a place to call home. Not to mention you never wonder if your water is safe to drink.

You’ve got everything you need right here, right now. The key is to recognize how much you already have.

You don’t need anything more. We already have more than enough.

Defeat Resistance to get what you want

By David Valentine, co-founder of Rethink
and partner/practitioner of the Veritas Lifestyle and Veritas Life Adventures

Everyday I wake up, the day has unlimited potential. I can choose to do what’s most important and life giving: Meditate, read, work-out, do incredible work at my job, and spend time with people who are most important to me. The problem is…as soon as I wake up Resistance meets me.

I capitalize Resistance for good reason, because I believe it to be a force that stands against us doing what is most important each and every day. Resistance wants to keep us from being who we are, and what we were created to do. You’ve met Resistance if you’ve ever tried a new diet or work out program. You know the voice telling you it’s too hot outside to go for a run? That’s Resistance in all of its glory. It’s the voice that employs some bit of logic to stop us from doing the things that will bring us the most satisfaction.

Here’s what Resistance tells me everyday I wake up, “You’ve got important work to do today. You run social media channels for a lot of your clients. It’s probably worth surfing the web a bit to see what’s trending to get your day started…. You need to write a few blogs today, but you need to get the perfect cup of coffee first, then find a good playlist to really set the atmosphere for creativity, your desk is a little disheveled clean it up first, maybe you need to read some articles to spur on your creativity…

Working out today, totally going to happen. You probably need to drink more water before you work out though. You are going to eat in 30 minutes, so you’re work out is going to suffer because you’re hungry. You’ll probably need to wait an hour to work out because you just ate.”

I’ve been working to beat Resistance everyday with one simple tactic.

Get stuff done.

Don’t wait until tomorrow, don’t surf the web, don’t wait until after lunch do it now. Get after the things that matter early and often. I write 3 pages every morning as soon as I get up. I wake up before Resistance does, and after he wakes up, to his dismay I’ve already accomplished something.

Today you can choose to beat Resistance by doing the things you were created to accomplish. Don’t listen to the voice telling you to put down the pen, pick up your phone, or pause before you work out. Today, get stuff done.

Disclaimer: A book I’ve been reading has been incredibly instrumental in helping in writing this blog. “The War Of Art” by Steven Pressfield speaks at length about Resistance, and how it stops us from accomplishing our goals, hopes, and dreams. I highly recommend it for anyone who is trying to achieve anything of significance.

Every step, intentional

A 30 Days of Veritas Tale

By Grant Boatwright, ED Veritas Life Adventures

One thing I have always told the Seekers in the program is, “I will never ask you to do something I am not willing to do myself.” The same goes for my buddy David when he started this #30daysofveritas initiative. So in conjunction with his lifestyle transformation I am challenging myself right alongside him to push myself further than I have before, trying to outdo one another in honor, and keeping each other accountable in what to American’s seems an eternity of time: 30 days straight of the Veritas Lifestyle, no matter the circumstances. Like David pointed out, this would not be easy; no simple pill or instant gratification will see this accomplished, so the only thing to do to make it to day 30 is begin with…

Every step, intentional

My #30daysofveritas fell just before a long 2-week road trip my wife and I had planned for two years: journeying across southern US states from Texas, up the southeast coast, cutting across the Smokey Mountains, visiting her graduate school and family in the northern heartland of Indiana and Illinois, and finally circling back to Texas where we began. How in the world was I going to keep the Veritas lifestyle going on the road, driving for multiple hours a day, no home gym to work out in, and having to miss our church home group multiple weeks? Unable to feed my body what it needs, work it out, or feed my soul in the usual, easy, and routine ways I had formed around my house, I was going to have to get inventive.

Every step, intentional

So I packed an extra bag of small workout gear: bands, push-up stands, my new suspension TRX toy, and my body weight (plenty of resistance there) for my workouts. We got easy snacks full of nutrition and light on calories for the long car rides: dried seaweed (like potato chips but better), kind bars (for that sweet tooth), kombucha (for digestion), and superfood bars (for extra nutrition). And of course to feed our souls we got a inspirational yet hard audio book (Unbroken) to realign our perspective and see how a man in TRULY overwhelming circumstances found and kept his faith, soul, and will alive!

Every step, intentional

The first part of the trip went swimmingly. Woke up at 4 am to work out with Jashley and start the road trip off right. Didn’t buy any extra snacks at gas stations (really wanted those powdered donuts). Then the storm broke… literally. The setting was our 7-mile hike to LeConte lodge in the Smokey Mountains National Park, Tennessee; this is where we really had to remember

Every step, intentional

Just like the 30 days of Veritas, we had an end goal when we started the trail: the lodge.  At the end of the 7-mile trek, the lodge promised both a comfortable bed and equally comforting dinner. Along the steady incline, lined with beautiful ferns, towering pines and oaks, and even boasting a rainbow waterfall; the thunder rolled in, and on came the pouring rain.

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JGRainbowFalls

Every step intentional

Although we knew how long the trail was, and were fairly sure we were on the right one, the trail did not have any progress markers. To further compound our anxiety, we got a late start, 3:45 pm, and needed to be at the lodge no later than 6:45 pm or we would miss the very much-desired meal.

Every step, intentional

So with the thunder rolling around us, the rain blinding us, the slate rocks on the trial growing increasingly slippery, no indicators of how far we had hiked or how much we had left, Jashley accurately described our predicament as, “not being able to see the forest from the trees.” We had an end goal, but no way of knowing when, or if, we would reach it. Every bend in the trail looked the same, every tree looked like the next, and next, and next. Tired, moving slow, the incline of the trail only increasing, our wills started fraying. But this is why I train and why Jashley and I live the Veritas lifestyle. So, with my mind and will steeled, I encouraged Jashley (and myself really) to take it one step at a time, and make

Every step, intentional

At 6:30 we finally reached the trail fork I knew was near the end, just .6 miles of steep slippery slate rock trail to go (what the lodge staff called the hellish .6); and 15 minutes to do it. At 6:45 exactly we stumbled into the dinning hall, soaking, physically spent, and mentally haggard; but there, still waiting for us, was an abundant, steaming, mouth-watering meal. After dinner, the clouds broke, a beautiful sunset was arrayed before a breathtaking view of the valley below and we found a roof and soft bed inviting us in.

Leconteview

Every step, intentional

I want to tell you it was smooth sailing from there, but as I have always found in life, obstacles keep coming, trying to bring you down. However, I would not let my 30 days of Veritas falter.

When one of our friends could no longer host us, and as I was stuck in a 4X4 hotel “fitness center” I still got a good Insanity Max workout in. When, at a local park near my cousin’s house I tried to get some sprints in (via David’s inspiration) I misstepped, rolled my foot to the outside, and heard an old injury return in the form of two quick pops. My high intensity plyometric and run training on the trip was finished. For every step forward, it seemed like I was doomed to take four back; but I was determined to push forward, nurse my foot back to health, and make

Every step, intentional

I am now reduced to yoga and Tabata style controlled movement interval workouts. The foot is healing. Despite the temptation to eat out since we are technically on “vacation,” I kept up with my Shakeology meals and healthy eating. Then we get a phone text. My mother-in-law took a bad fall at work and fractured her femur; the news is still coming in. Needless to say it was a kick in the gut, especially after such a great day of work and presentations the day before at Jashley’s grad school. However, with consistent prayer and pulling together I know this will work out in the end, as long as we continue with

Every step, intentional

And so, my 30 days of Veritas tale continues. It has its valleys, and its peaks; and through it all I know I have Him with me. He tells me to take courage, that He will never forsake me (Joshua 1:5-7), that He has plans for me; which He promises to see to fruition, to benefit me, and give me a life of abundance (John 10:10, and Jeremiah 29:11). I am confident now that the good work I am doing during my 30 days of Veritas and beyond will not return void; that whether in my body, my mind, or my soul, through Christ I will see His work in me accomplished (Philippians 1:6).

In summation, I am seeing my body tested, but growing stronger. I am seeing that you CAN eat healthy on the road. And in all this I continue to see my faith and spirit awakened more each day. All I need do is continue with what I started, one foot in front of the other, keeping…

Every step, Intentional 

Now I ask you, what will your #30daysofveritas tale be?

"Hi. I'm Cassie, and I'm addicted to sugar."

by Cassie Byard

Women's Director at Veritas Life Adventures

  Sometimes when I tell people what I do for a living, I wonder if they mentally look me up and down and think, Seriously? You teach kids holistic health? But... I’ve seen you eat pizza. And didn’t you say you’ve struggled with depression? Also, you have more than 15% body fat. And love handles. And I can see your cellulite through your jeans.

Let me be clear: I’m not saying I think I’m fat. I’m actually quite happy with my body, but I recognize that I may not fit the bill for some people’s idea of a holistic health advocate. I’m not trying to make a point about whether or not I physically look the part (that’s for my next blog :)). What I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t take long to look at me and see that I have not “arrived.”

I am not the perfect model of health. Not because I have love handles and like pizza, but because there’s no such thing as the perfect “model of health.” Health is a not a final destination that can be quantified and then attained, especially if your measuring stick for success is acquiring a specific body type. When I talk about health, I’m talking about treating body, soul, and mind with care and respect. And let’s face it: I do not always make choices that respect my body, soul and mind.

Like the rest of us, I am on a journey. Every day I am faced with choices to respect myself or to stumble and try again tomorrow. Some of these choices are easy for me. I could even say I’m good at making some self-respecting choices consistently. But I also have lots of areas of struggle, and always will, because I am on a journey that doesn’t have a final point of arrival.

This isn’t to say we can’t have goals along the way. Maybe you’re determined to finally run that 5k or that marathon, so you make specific body-challenging choices for a season. Maybe you’re like me and want to break that sugar-happy habit, and certain boundaries and accountabilities need to be established for your body's benefit. Perhaps your stress levels are through the roof and it’s time to prioritize some serious rest and revitalization. Maybe that Netflix account is sucking away life and creativity, and your mouse or remote needs to be decommissioned for a while. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, go for it and be proud in both the process and attainment of your goals! But please don’t think it means the journey is complete.

We do not make this journey in order to “arrive” somewhere, or in order to attain “perfection.” We push on because as we learn to respect and love our bodies, souls and minds, we find ourselves fuller, healthier and better able to love and respect other people, too.  Sometimes it's rough and sometimes it's smooth sailing, but always it is a journey that urges us to move, invites us to keep on keepin' on, and promises reward and fulfilment simply through participation.

I have not arrived, for there is no arrival; the journey is the destination. But it's a worthwhile journey, and I invite you to join me on it!