What is a soul mate really.....

   The concept of a soul mate is pretty interesting.  Apparently the term comes from some myth about the gods splitting the original humans in half and each human then longed for their "other half".

     A few months ago there was an interesting video on the subject that said that people with the belief in a soul mate had more problems in their relationships than those who weren't invested in that ideology.  Makes sense.  I guess their always looking for the bigger better deal.

     In my opinion, a soul mate would be able to meet your needs in a wide range of areas:  sexually, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically, morally, socially, politically, and etc.... Is that too much to ask from one person?  I mean really.


     The saying opposites attract is often very true.  Are they soul mates???

     And look at arranged marriage cultures.  In Amish, Hindu, and Orthodox Jews the divorce rate is 1,3,and 7%.  Are they picking soul mates?  Just because they stay together though doesn't mean they're happy either...but I'd bet plenty are.

    So a few months ago I made the hypothetical example to a friend that I had everything going well with my marriage, my wife and I were on the same page with everything except religion/spirituality.  Then I said, "if you and your wife had the same issue, would you mind if I met with your wife once a month to go over a bible study or go to church?"  And he said that he would be fine with that.  I said, "are you sure?  You wouldn't feel threatened or upset that you were not fulfilling her in that area, that you two weren't on the same page?".  He said, "no I'd think it was cool".

     So for fun I shifted it to sex.  What if everything was going great except there were some sexual things that just didn't line up perfectly but all in all it was mostly good and the same applied to you and your marriage.  Would it be okay if I met up with your wife once a month in that area??  He said, "no of course not....".

     So it was all a funny hypothetical, but at what point does not being enough in ALL areas of compatibility become an issue.  At what point do you say that you "deserve" to be fulfilled in all the areas of your relationship?  If you believe in a soul mate, then you probably think you are "settling" in a relationship if EVERYTHING isn't lined up and meeting your needs.

     I am married to my best friend.  Don't tell me something you don't want her to know.  And vice versa.  BUT, we also have a lot of areas that we differ in.  We have areas that I think she goes too far and she thinks I don't go far enough.  We have our share of arguments and disagreements about things.

     Is there anyone out there that may be more compatible for either of us?  Maybe.  I guess I don't really think about that because I'm happy.  I suppose that I've learned that since there are no perfect people, that would mean that there are no perfect relationships either.  And so in the end maybe it comes down to this: soul mates accept each other.

     I accept her and she accepts me.  I "know" her and she "knows" me.  And she and I STILL accept each other.  I think that maybe that may be my definition of a soul mate.

     Someone who knows you really and accepts you.

Prayer is the drop of water-the answer is the tipping bucket

     I've always been fond of this analogy about prayer:

     We should think of prayers as drops of water.

And we should think of the thing we are praying about as a bucket that needs to be filled up to a tipping point.


     We don't know how large of a drop our prayers are and we don't know how much water it takes for the bucket to tip.  And so there may be a million folks praying causing drops to pour into the bucket, yet the bucket may be ENORMOUS.  Other times we may experience the immediate answer to prayer right when we pray (Large drop?  Small bucket?  Both?  We don't know.)

     Sometimes it feels as if our prayers are useless.  Like maybe we are putting the same thing out there over and over all to see no tipping point.  Are they useless?  How do we know that our prayer isn't going to be the final drop that tips the bucket?  How do we know that our prayers haven't filled a part of the bucket early on, seemingly going unanswered, only to see the tip occur much later?

     So prayer is measured in its effectiveness not in answers and outcomes but in the act of doing it.  It's the faith in knowing that you may not get your answer but you are filling the bucket the best you can by taking your concerns to God.  In this light, prayer is never a waste....

     (Personally I think little kid prayers are HUGE drops....)

Bottom up squat warm up

     I warm up for squats the same way every time.  It takes under 10 minutes or so and I never have a problem with squats since doing this.  If I skip it or cut things out, I tend to have a few issues (getting too far forward, tight hips in the bottom, quad strains, etc...)

ANKLES

Banded distraction for a minute or so each side.



I usually will not use a plate for this, but you can.  I roll the knee gently to each side and will step on the band near my ankle with my free foot to give it more tension the last 30 sec or so.

Getting my ankles mobile allows to be stay MUCH more vertical in the torso during the lifts.

KNEES

I love a couch stretch.  Usually same thing, a minute or so each side.


I feel this lengthens the cross bridges in the quad muscles and really helps avoid strains from the heavy eccentrics that come from full depth heavy squats.

HIPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbozu0DPcYI  Ido Portal...need I say more?

Here's a less than 3 minute video showing the Ido Portal Squat routine 2.0.

I run through all of the poses for about 3-5 minutes, depending on how they feel.



I LOVE this warm up for the hips.  It is hands down the best I've seen.


There are other stretches I've played with over the years but its come down to these 3 things as the best and most efficient for me.