The Making of a Super Hero

Posted on July 14, 2018 Written by Thomas Matt Leave a Comment

We raise our children to be pillars of society, those stalwarts that stand the test of time. Like Luke Cage we hope for the best as Mike Colter shares in this excerpt from Emma Brown’s article–

“Luke is one of the more redeeming characters that I’ve played,” explains actor Mike Colter, star of Netflix’s new superhero drama Luke Cage. “He has his issues, but for the most part he’s a no-B.S. kind of character. He’s a straightforward kind of guy, and he doesn’t take a lot of nonsense, doesn’t suffer fools,” he continues. “I think there’s a lot of places we can go with him and I hope to develop him even more.”

As we grew up, and believe me we watched a ton of television, (remember way pre Internet) we had Adam West as the “Wham-Bop-Crunch” man of almost steel-

Or going way back in the day we had George Reeves as the television ‘Man of Steel’ (black and white version) Superman-

We had of all people Bill Bixby-

Seriously, Bill portrayed Bruce Banner playing the Incredible Hulk on the television series from 1977-82 (yep five years) national television.

Well of course everyone remembers that Bill somehow transformed himself into Lou Ferrigno-

Lastly we have Wonder Woman and that first honor actually belongs to a truly awful 1967 TV show starring Ellie Wood Walker that was taken in a campy sitcomy direction. Thankfully, things were destined to get better seven years later—but not by much!

No comparison to my favorite (even though Gal Gadot does a pretty solid job) Lynda Carter was the total bomb-

Our latest Super Hero, and this one is a ‘Man’s Man’ is, drum roll please Tyler, ‘Mr. America’ Swedburg,

Lord help me!

Squats, the key to Leg Health

Posted on July 12, 2018 Written by Thomas Matt Leave a Comment

“If you don’t squat, you ain’t squat.”

Unknown

The squat is the single most important exercise we do in the gym. Why? Because life demands that we do it numerous times each day, standing up, sitting down, getting out of a car, you get the picture. So it’s vital to establish a good foundation for this movement pattern.

My squat has been described as “the worst thing ever” by my own daughter! I am determined to fix this and make my squat better.

I worked with a student at MSU to determine my problem doing a deadlift. He quickly saw that my squat was horrible.Déjà vu;dang heard this before!

Open the hips, increase hip flexor mobility and I have it. Well maybe, it turns out I had other imbalances that were also inhibiting the squat move. My erector spinae, the long back muscles next to the spine needed work as well.

If I was ever to be decent and maybe good at a lift like a deadlift, my squat must improve and my back must become stronger. Bad form such as leaning forward while squatting is a back injury waiting to happen.

Look up “Butt Wink”!

Like any exercise, it’s important to make the squat work for you. No pain, no gain is not in this equation. Stretching and strengthening your hips and large back muscles is a slow process, and it all revolves around great form.

“If our patterns are off, we become limited in our range of motion or get weaker in the muscles we need to stand up and sit down safely,” says fitness expert David Jack. “We’ll begin to compensate and use other muscles we shouldn’t in order to do everyday movements.”

Bad habits creep up on us. Work on these, slowly!

Set your feet, face a wall, make a prayer hand movement
Keeping your eyes forward, chest up, and heels planted move down, lower slowly, not leaning into the wall
Once you squat as far as comfortable, push through your heels to return to standing.
Spend time performing static stretches of the calf and hip flexor

Have You Ever Had the, “I’m In Over My Head Feeling”?

Posted on April 26, 2018 Written by Thomas Matt Leave a Comment

‘Imposter Syndrome’

Understanding and Responding to

On March 29th, 2018 I attended a lunch/keynote at Michigan State University, it was greatness! The topic was talking about the ‘Imposter Syndrome’ and was presented by Dr. Valerie Young, who is an expert on this topic.

Below are my notes from the lunch.

Success can separate you from people/ Women and men have different levels of competence Evals/ women much higher, 75% of people have this feeling at some point in their life!

Quote-

“I am burdened by great potential”

Linus

Formula for change-Info + Insight + Tools

Pauline Clancy & Suzanne Ives- Imposter “Syndrome”

Talk our success up to luck and other things/due to many other factors/and the incredible amount of reasons and creativity to not give ourselves credit, other than the real,

Problem is we worry about being “Found Out”/ very common

WHY!

Perfection/for kids, praise is like oxygen

Scholarly isolation

Highly competitive/tenure process/ highly educated environment

Every organization has their own culture/hierarchy/putting things into context

Pressure to represent/ Being the youngest/ Being the oldest

Stereotypes about competence/you are not as good, or not good enough

Adequate

Competence Bias/Ingrained/this is where Valerie wanted to focus attention

Common source/if you ask for help, people with imposter syndrome feel shame

Perfectionist – plenty of room for shame/ perceived failure

Natural genius –

Soloist-

Expert-

‘Super’ person-

Keep the hunger, but let go of the shame of ‘not knowing’

Formula for change-Info + Insight + Tools

Become aware of you imposter/confidence PATTERN (Whenever I am in a situation where). I usually experience feelings of. And then the negative inner voice starts yapping, What do I typically do,,, example//qualifiers
Recognize imposter behaviors-Coping strategies,,,, Unconscious/fly under radar/safer//procrastination///never start,,,, or finish///// Over working/over preparing to cover supposed ineptness
Understand what you’re getting out of this/what does this help me avoid//what does this protect me from///what did it help me get
At what cost/what will happen if I never change this pattern//what price am I paying///What opportunities and what experiences might I miss out on?

These all work, but at a price!!!!

Talk about the Cure-3 things

Show up
You cannot share your way out of imposter feelings
Normalize imposter feelings, there are 70% of people who feel that way,,, Talk yourself down faster,,imposter ‘moments’ not ‘life’
Reframe- stop feeling like an imposter, stop thinking like one, keep getting better, constructive feedback is a gift, give me information that will make me better,,,,no one wins them all,,,,,failures and setbacks happen—it’s what you do with them///Non-imposters know—smart is highly overrated//Always a learning curve///the more you do anything, you’ll get betterment////No one excels at everything!!!!!///Winging it can be a skill/you cannot know everything ahead of time-or ever////its ok to say, “I don’t know”/////Reframe——-FEAR!///Keep saying “I am excited////your body does not know the difference between fear and excitement
Keep going——-REGARDLESS!//// everyone loses when bright people play small

Risk Being Seen

Posted on April 14, 2018 Written by Angela Joseph Leave a Comment

In every relationship, whether with lovers, friends, family, professional peers, and strangers alike, we are offered the opportunity to be seen. The risks that are taken and the worthiness that is cultivated every time that we allow ourselves to be vulnerable are writing our story of victory or victim! My thoughts go to many of the books that I have read on the subject of vulnerability and the lack of it that exists in our culture today. My question is do you feel that space within that longs to be felt, and constantly asks to be seen, and do you allow it to come forth? In my humble opinion, I believe that our mental, physical and spiritual health depend on it. The gift is not just our own, but everyone that we come in contact with gets the best that we can be, the truth of who we are, and this will create a life that feels aligned and purposeful. Relationships change, confidence rises, and courage roars!

The pressures of this culture and the mass marketing message is that we are not enough, we are too this or not enough that, and this message alone can keep us dimmed and stuck in self doubt. If you look deeply, and spend a few moments connecting to your inner voice, it is likely that the chatter is less then empowering and loving. Working with clients over the years to shift their current experiences, we often sit looking at each other as they come to realize that their greatest enemy is themselves. That inner critic that keeps saying that you are not ______enough, fill in the blank (pretty, skinny, smart, successful, wealthy, deserving, etc.) . I am here, right now, to tell you that it is not real and that you can begin to show up and heal this issue, with honesty and courage. As I began to grow my own awareness to my own fears of beings seen, I had many moments of terror! That terror was there to teach me that I was scared of being seen, being criticized and being ridiculed. It taught me that I was being brave and that this new way of expressing my truth was courageous. It was there to show me that my fear was suffocating me. It was there to remind me that no matter what anyone else thought of me, I had to trust myself and show up. My whole life depends on it now, as I could not accept anything less with this understanding. My inner critic will show up, but no longer does it have any power over me. I have learned that it’s an old voice of irrational fear. The realest fear I have now, which motivates me daily, is that I would ever stop risking being seen.

We can be honest, courageous, and vulnerable with others when we are able to practice this with ourselves. The willingness to accept that vulnerability and being seen is in fact our path to solid, strong, and valuable relationships is one key. The willingness to know that we are worthy and that we matter is the second key awareness in being truly seen. The willingness to look at our lives and know that if we are feeling exhaustion, anxiety, fear, unworthy, worry or even feeling physically ill, we do have the capacity to change these experience, one moment at a time. Every room you walk into, every conversation you enter, every letter you write, every person you encounter, is the perfect space to practice showing up, being authentic, being seen and stepping into the courageous active energy of being loved, or disliked for who you are. What we choose to do in our moments is what matters the most. What we choose to express in this world is up to us, and when you look at statistics, the most positive, inspiring, and influential people are those that have dared to showed up, courageously, and have walked their talk, and shared their journeys, because they knew it mattered!

Take a moment today to look in the mirror and really look at the eyes looking back at you. This person that is staring at you is dependent on your bravery and your courage. This person deserves for you to get real about what matters and what doesn’t. This person matters. This person wants you to show up and be seen. Breathe.

Angela N Jospeh

Wellness & Lifestyle Coach