discipline training fitness Simon Whitfield triathlon Archives

Heart, Integrity, Respect, and Team at the Olympics

Sunday morning was a great day for Canadian Athletes as the Olympic Games came to a close. As I went about getting ready for my day, I found myself strangely transfixed by the Marathon. Then, as the screen split into two and CBC began broadcasting the closing press conference of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC),…

Whiplash

You know you have seen an effective movie when you are still thinking about it three days later. Recently I watched the movie Whiplash, directed by Damien Chazelle; starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons (watch the trailer here). The movie is intense and at the end of it I commented to a friend that I…

Attitude

I went for a run yesterday and as it had been a few days since I had been out on the streets of Calgary, my muscles were complaining and suggesting that I was not going to make the full distance I had set out to achieve. I soon recognized this for what it was, a…

Spiritual Exercise

Spiritual exercise for today. Read 1 Corinthians 9:11, 2 Corinthians 11:21-30, and Philippians 2:5-11 (they are quoted here in the New Living Translation) and then consider these questions. “To what am I entitled?” “In what can I boast?” “What privileges am I willing to give up?” 1 Corinthians 9:11 Since we have planted spiritual seed…

7 Habits and 12 Things

I like succinct lists of behaviours that will help keep one on the right track. I have sometimes placed such lists on the wall in my office where they remind me to keep focussed. One of the most minimal of these is one I have seen as a screen-saver on a laptop: “Get-up, dress-up, show-up.”…

No Man is an Island

“No man is an island,” wrote John Donne in 1624. His poem by the same name suggests that the things that each of us do affect others around us. We are all part of the community of humankind and what I do has an effect on the whole. I thought of this the other day…

Discipline

Those of us who live as followers of Jesus are constantly seeking to pay attention to spiritual realities as we live within these physical realities. This paying attention to spiritual realities has at least two aspects to it: one, putting aside distractions and two, being intentional about pursuing spiritual growth. Distractions may be things like…

Ernest Shackleton

It is often recounted that Ernest Shackleton ran an ad in the paper seeking men who would join him on a Trans-Antartic expedition. The ad is thought to have said, “Men Wanted: for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honour and recognition in case of…

Simon Whitfield

dad who loves dancing with his little girls. oh and the relentless pursuit of athletic excellence. http://simonwhitfield.com Even as Simon Whitfield crashed in the Olympic triathlon he had already shown himself to be a fitting representative of Canada. Long before he started the race he had spoken in ways that showed that he took it…

Transforming Our Social Dimensions

I have been reading Dallas Willard’s book Renovation of the Heart again. This time I am reading it with a small group of men who have decided to read it and talk together about it once a week. This week’s chapter has to do with our social dimension. The chapter is full of great concepts…