Mark Cigos

I badly needed to add to Friday’s blog posting, so here goes. Enjoy.

When I started this blog, it was born from thought, it was created from the ideas spinning in my mind. Or so I thought. As I go into the fourth month of building this blog, I can’t help but feel more and more each day that all this stems from something a little deeper, something closer to the core than the outskirts of thought. As I was jogging this morning, it started playing louder in my mind – I think a lot, but not all of what I think of gets done. Not all of it becomes reality. What does become reality is what I feel driven towards subconsciously, like a magnet, which then propels me to think deeper, clearer and more sincere. This is what I like to think of as putting your heart into it – passion, desire and enthusiasm. This is where I believe it ALL begins.

Then comes thought AND then comes the almighty ability/necessity to move.

Try and do anything in life without putting your heart into it, for any period of time, especially a lengthy one, and tell me where you end up. How does it feel? How long did you tuff it out? Did you feel energized while doing it? Passionate? Like nothing else in this world could matter while doing it? You’d do it for free? Time passed so fast you thought you were on an illegal high? Unless you’re lying to yourself and me, there’s no way you gave it everything you had and there’s no way you’d do it again if you were given that time back again.

Which brings me to this – you’ve got one life to live, do what you love and only do what you love. Sure life will throw you minor curveballs in which you wish you didn’t have to swing at – but that’s life. The great majority of your time should be spent on doing what you love. If you love something, then start living it. Start thinking, start dreaming, start wishing, start planning. Then of course, ultimately start doing.

A recipe for success? – only you can determine that. I don’t believe anyone shares the same recipe for success, I only believe that there are general categories in which we must look into in order to get a better idea of how and where to dig deeper. In my case, I now find the how and where in my heart, my mind and my ability to move. 

It’s been a long, drawn winter up here in Montreal. And now, it seems as if spring has finally sprung. It’s knocking hard at our doorstep. The snow is quickly melting, the roads clear of ice, the joggers and bikers out in droves. You can feel the rejuvenation in the air, the energy, the enthusiasm, the relief. I personally love winter and all that snow, BUT CHANGE IS GOOD. And its time for a change.

So begins spring, so begins the cleaning and so begins the clearing.

Spring is a time for clearing the mind and body. It’s a time to come out of hibernation, stretch and open up your senses. It’s an ideal opportunity to take full out advantage of the roads, the bike paths, the parks, the activities and festivities all around us. For many it will be a time to practice yoga and meditation in a quiet park. For some, an ideal opportunity to load up the iPod with new tracks and hit the pavement. It’s a chance to get out of that sedentary hibernation mode and enroll back into that active lifestyle you’re accustomed to. Its detox season for the mind and body.

For a good friend of mine it’s a list of things like – taking out his bike and racking up 15km per day, in the process shedding some weight he packed on over the winter. Its also a chance for him to clear his mind. As a writer, the warmer temperatures can broaden his choice of office – whether it be writing on a park bench at the top of the mountain or come May, letting the creative juices flow onto paper as he cruises on a small boat across a peaceful lake.

Whatever your method of cleaning/clearing, be sure to do it. I know you will. How could you not? The attire gets skimpier in the spring/summer. The toned and buffed bodies resurface and the glow on people’s faces brighten. The air is fresher, the vibe is vibrant. Its contagious, infectious – people outdoors living. Really living.