Cultivation

Lifting weights in the morning is a good time to be in thought.

Those barbells I lift are for my health. I want to be healthy. And if I look better, all the better.

I thought, maybe that's my problem, that I don't care as much as about my physical appearance as I should. This isn't to say I am a slob. I dress reasonably well. I've been told I'm a good-looking guy.

But there is something I know. Physical appearance lessens over time. Bones get brittle. Posture stoops. Brisk gaits become shuffles. As my doctor said, we can flatten the downhill slope.

The muscles I cultivate every day are the spirit and the heart. I build them, bit by bit, piece by piece, moment by moment. These are the muscles I want more than anything.

I know, I can entice a woman by my physical appearance. I can't keep her if my spirit and heart aren't stronger than my biceps.

And yes, they are.

My body is going to wear down. I'm fine with that. My physical energy wanes.

My heart and my mind will not wear down, if I have anything to say about it. My psychic energy is refueled every moment.

My body is a container for what truly matters, what I can truly give--my heart and my spirit.

I think of my grandmother, her gait slowed, stooped over, walking with a cane. Her physical body is betrayed. Her mind hasn't. She still has some toughness to her, and her heart is still tender.

What she still has I want to cultivate every day. I want to build muscles that don't wane.

What I am building, is being built to last.

Namaste