Health cannot be bought or sold

My friend Frank Forencich of Exuberant Animal just wrote a brilliant blog post about a recent Newsweek cover story.  You should ready what he had to say... right now.  I'll wait.

...

You back?  Pretty great, ya?  You should read his books.

I am a big fan of Ray Kurtzweil and I think he is right - the singularity is near.  But even when we have fully merged with our technology and have medicine that would seem like magic to us today - even then, true health will not be purchasable.  

That's because health is about much more than your blood chemistry and muscle tone.  It's about your relationship to the environment and the cultivation of your spirit.  Frank addressed the former in his post and I'll take a shot at the latter now.

Here's a business question to get things started:  What is the relationship between risk and reward?

The answer, as we all know, is that the two are directly related - an increased reward must come at an increased risk.  The trick is to understand and intelligently manage risks to maximize the chance of a favorable outcome.

The same holds true for vibrant health.  You must push yourself beyond where you were.  You must confront obstacles and do your best to overcome them.  You can only really value something you've worked for - if everything is simply handed to you the instant you desire it, you will always want more.  

This is not the same as "no pain, no gain."  Push too hard and you will injure yourself.  Push an injury too far and you will be crippled.  On a related note, do not force yourself to do an activity you hate.  If you cannot stand swimming, don't swim.  The challenge - and the joy - should come from testing your limits, not forcing yourself out the door.

 Arnulfo Quimare and Scott Jurek. Look at the joy on their faces.

Parkour is a great example of the risk/reward relationship. To the general public, parkour is high-risk, even dangerous.  What they don't see are the hours of training and preparation that go into each big jump.  The risk is certainly there and, to a large extent, is the whole point.  There cannot be growth (and therefore health) without it.  But a good traceur is never reckless.  I would write a lot more on the subject but I found the following video from Michigan Parkour that sums it all up nicely:

You cannot buy this kind of health from the doctor, a diet book, or a pill.  Technology may be able to some day grant you a beautiful body on demand and you may be able to "download" parkour abilities faster than you can say "I know kung fu," but you will never be healthy until you get out there and test your mettle.  If you honestly push your limits I think you'll be surprised at what you are capable of.  

Update on Monday, June 28, 2010 at 8:39PM by Colin Pistell

Tristan just tore me apart in the comments and I have tried to recover my honor with a reply.  Check it out below and let me know where you stand on all of this?

Hot like fire

To say it's been hot down here in Chapel Hill would be a bit of an understatement.  I think we've crossed into HAWT territory.

I am a cool weather person.  I like it when you need to put on a light jacket when you go outside.  Once the thermometer crosses the 90 degree point I revert back to some hard coded primal monkey behavior - all I want to do is lie in the shade, sleep, and eat fruit.

Training, therefore, has been a big challenge for me these past two weeks.  I feel slower and fatigue much faster. I tend to do better when others are out there to push me, so I was grateful to be joined by Sean on Wednesday. We had a blast, despite the heat, thanks in large part to some sprinklers.  Check it out:

The cake is a lie...

I am long out of the gaming industry, but E3 still retains some of its potency for me.  I lived in Los Angeles for many years and attended the event a few times.  I was wholly unprepared for the spectacle the first time - the frontal assault of color and sound is overwhelming.  I prefer to digest the media in a steady drip from the comfort (and relative silence) of my own home, but every year I get a pang of desire to be in the middle of it all once again.

I don't play many games any more but I will absolutely be firing up the console for this:

If you are unfamiliar with the original, educate yourselves.