Woodpecker - Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Woodpecker

The yellow bellied sapsucker was a frequent visitor to our backyard shed.  He regularly drilled holes and awakened us with hit rat-tat-tat hammering.   Just yesterday we heard a loud thump at the front door, which looking through the front glass you can see our Christmas tree.  When I went to the door, there was the beautiful red headed woodpecker lying on the ground.  For whatever reason, maybe he was being chased, the bird flew head first into the door. 

Coincidentally, our friend recently sent a picture of a woodpecker in their backyard and my good friend just sent an Audubon society Christmas card that had drawings of woodpeckers and a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson stating,

 "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit".

Godspeed my friend.

With Love,

Coach K

Tom Kaufmann

 

Heal Yourself

Healing

We have the amazing capacity to heal ourselves.  With some very simple changes we can restore our health and vitality without the damaging side affects of pills and drugs.  The first step is to acknowledge the miraculous machine known as your body.  

We have our bodies we are far superior than any car or machine, yet we often fill them with junk food and chemicals.  We let them sit around on the couch and rust away instead of taking them for a spin around the block.  We take them for granted instead of treating with the respect and dignity deserving of the divine you. 

Begin to look at yourself as the new car, dress, or pair of shoes you just purchased.  You baby the car or dress, you treat them with TLC.  Time to treat our bodies with a little Tender Loving Care. 

We have the incredible power with simple changes to shift our health and well being in a dramatic immediate way.  Simply increasing our intake of vegetables and fruits will improve our health, I started blending spinach, beets, apples, and carrots once a week as a way to try and eat better.  Replacing soda with water can eliminate diabetes and reduce the risk of cancer, and other debilitating diseases.  

Look to incorporate power foods or supplements into your daily nutrition. Inexpensive power foods like cod liver oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, coconut oil, and so many others can rejuvenate and restore your health.  Once you get started, the snowball simply grows with momentum.

Begin a simple exercise program.  Just walk whenever you can or do jumping jacks while you watch TV. Grab one of those inexpensive resistance bands to help build and maintain your muscle tone.  I am a big fan of the jump rope, and after jumping for 35 years can attest to the amazing power of helping me overcome asthma.  

Nutrition and exercise have amazing restorative healing powers.  Before you reach for those pills, give power foods and simple exercise a try.   You are your best doctor, no one cares more about your health than you.  

Begin today and give yourself the everlasting gift of good health.

With Love,

Coach K

Tom Kaufmann

A Life of Fitness

A Life of Fitness

What do you call yourself.   If you had to label yourself, what would you be.  Yes, we have many roles and responsibilities, work titles and such but the most important label you can give yourself is fit. 

Fitness carries no guarantees or health assurances, but we must do what we can, we must do our best. And it starts with us, it starts with saying yes I can, yes I am.  Begin with a walk or an apple and let today be the beginning.  For those of you that enjoy a fitness lifestyle, help your friends and family members get started. 

We see all these ads for drugs, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, and such.  We must resist the pills, and start with our food and activity levels.  Do we want a lifetime of a drug cocktail with it's lethal side effects, or do we want to enjoy healthy vibrant living by simply eating delicious healthy foods and getting outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.  

These simple powerful choices are important for us all to start living our best lives now.

I am fit, I am healthy, I am

ALIVE!

With Love,

Tom Kaufmann

Coach K

Floating Leaves

The weary leaves float

to the ground

riding the wind

without a sound

Fall is here

beauty abounds

reds yellows

browns

nature

astounds

Thank You

Gratitude

A simple yet powerful daily habit is to express gratitude for everything in your life.  An easy prayer, mantra, expression, or meditation is the words Thank You.  

We can begin each day by saying Thank You for another day on this beautiful planet, for the honor to participate in the wonderful dance called life.  Formality is not required just the quiet, constant expression of giving thanks. 

Simply, humbly, we say

Thank You.  Thank You. Thank You.

With Love,

Coach K

Tom Kaufmann

Let There Be Peace

Peace

Yes, we see it every day in the news. It seems to come at us from everywhere.  What is the reason, why is it happening.  How do we stop it.  Well, it starts with the individual, with the family.  We must embrace peace, spirituality, goodness, kindness, and love. 

Our culture has adopted violence as a means to sell a product.  From television, to video games, to music, to movies, to sports we glorify violence. We must take another path for the well being of our children, families, ourselves, and our society. 

The same time the Oregon incident happens,  we see on ESPN a movie advertisement with a graphic commercial detailing the life of gangster Whitey Bulger.  Children see 100's of murders on TV before they are ten years old.  The top selling video games are Grand Theft Auto and Halo, Ultimate Fighter where men and women beat and hurt each other are treated as entertainment, the football games where multiple players are carted off the field with major injuries,  it appeals to our base emotions.

We know that as violence increases in our entertainment and sports, violence increases in our real lives.  Like the Romans gathering to watch the Gladiators duel to the death, or Christians being fed to the lions.  This increased violence leads to a degradation of society and unravelling of civilization. 

We have to remove ourselves and family from the gratuitous ubiquitous violence.  We have become numb and immune to tragedy.  It's everywhere, commonplace in our culture and society, and we have to make a conscious effort to disconnect from it to seek a place of love, light, and peace.  The idea that if we taught our children to pray and meditate for an hour each day that the world would be a more peaceful place. As St. Francis said, make me a channel of your peace, we need to start with ourselves and be more peaceful, understanding, and tolerant of ourselves and others. 

Don't be fooled by the media.  Most people are loving, caring, and peaceful.  We need to choose and focus on uplifting and positive experiences and entertainment. 

And as the saying goes 

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. 

With Love,

Coach K

Tom Kaufmann

You Are Not Alone

Loneliness

So many of us feel lonely, disenfranchised, or abandoned.  Even in these times of incredible social media, instant and constant contact, we often times feel isolated.

How do we banish loneliness. How do we feel a connectedness to life.  How do we feel we belong.

One of the answers may be to understand our divine nature and our part of human society.  We all have a role and a purpose.  We all have a contribution to make.  From simply loving someone, to helping someone, to sharing a talent, we have a unique ability to make the world a better place.

When we think of ourselves as part of the human race it's helpful to think of nature.  All the trees in the forest are connected, all the fish in the ocean is part of a larger ecosystem.  The air we breathe is circulated around the globe carried by a universal wind.

Nature is one large system.  And so is the human race,  we are connected, and it is important to know that you are loved.

When we see millions of people help flood, earthquake, and tsunami victims through generous donations, thoughts, and prayers for people that they don't even know we can begin to understand our human understanding and dignity that we are ONE.  One people, one love, one collective soul.

Yes, there a acts of human violence that try to fool us into thinking we are separate but just as nature as it's acts of violence, we must know that the underlying character is of beauty, energy, and grace.  Nature is to be respected, admired, and loved.  And so it is with us.

Start by loving yourself.  Yes, you are wonderful and worthy.  We love you.  It is natural to have bad days and bad times, but these will pass surely as the sun shines through the clouds and rain.

We all have a divine nature, a divine image.  Simply knowing that we are all part of God, part of this beautiful, wonderful, human experience is truly humbling and gratifying.  The simple prayer of saying Thank You for every day is a terrific way to start the day.

Know that you are loved.  Know that you are part of a larger human race that cares for you, that know you are valuable.  But most of all know that you are divine, that you were made in the image of God, that it is a blessing that you are indeed here on this wonderful place called Earth.

With Love,

Coach K
Tom Kaufmann