“I hope that it comes across that I take my work very seriously but I can’t be bothered with taking myself very seriously. That would be too silly.”
- Jesse Norma

Reflection:
Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense saw Dead people. My superpower is I see bitches.

Day after day, I work with the public. I never know who will come through the studio door and what baggage they are bringing with them. I have a well-trained eye for human behavior. It is ruthlessly introspective. I observe details most people miss and have a 96.3% accuracy rate for assessing a bitch properly. Then the hardest part of my job begins.

Each of us has had our share of bad days. When you are bitch, you feel compelled to share the bad day. (Being a bitch is a thankless job.) In my world, bitches come in all shapes and gender. Very similar to the spirit Bob in the show Twin peaks, it is an equal opportunity offensive behavior.

On my good days, I am genuinely compassionate and supportive of people, even the ones I can’t stand. I recognize that most people are living with some form of pain, myself included. I let go. On my spooky days, in a room of 24 people, I can obsess on the one bitch I can’t reach. I frustrate the hell out of myself.

“What’s wrong with that bitch?
Can’t he see he’s hurting himself?
Why won’t she listen?”

This is why I must check my own baggage. In a studio full of mirrors, the only image I am ultimately responsible for is my own. The expression it takes one to know one is prophetic.

Sometimes you get the bitch.
Sometimes the bitch gets you.
Sometimes you settle down and marry the bitch.
If it can be said Life is a bitch, strategize.

As an instructor, I am paid to deliver value. The central conflict is there is no agreement as to what defines value. The truth is just because someone shows up at the gym, it doesn’t mean they want “measured improvement.” They can have any number of motives, consciously and subconsciously. Most of us don’t understand why we do much of anything.

Thus, we have the meeting of conflicting agendas. Isn’t this how wars begin?

The bottom line is you can not offer “help” to someone who hasn’t asked for it. It will be greeted as condescending, or intrusive. Be your intention. Hold your plans lightly.

Intentionality is a powerful tool. It requires vigilance not to be punitive when you feel under attack. Less is best.

Here are some thoughts I reflect on daily, some days hourly.
- What one message would I like to impart today?
- When my button is being pushed, focus on my message not the behavior. Don’t forget to inform my face to cooperate.
- Let respect be the last thing I leave in the room.

Each day Life is unpredictable. Learn to be, what I call, the constant. The constant is steadfast in nature.

On varying occasions, I can only save one person today. I then put myself on the Life raft first. In a sea of crazy, one person needs to keep it together or we are all lost.

If I think less, be intentional more, therefore I am. If no one remembers a damn thing I taught them so be it. Not everyone hears things the first time. Now I have more psychic room and amazingly my superpower feels less otherworldly. I see human beings.

EXERCISING CONSCIOUSLY.
Erwin

Practice for the Week:
For one week, wake up in the morning and ask yourself: Who am I going to be today? 
Generate an intention.
At the end of the day, see if you lived into it.
At the end of the week, ask yourself: How did this week compare to last week?

Notice if your mood shifted.