Today is the first day of Spring. Life bursts forth and begins anew after the cold darkness of winter. The dull brown of the lands will slowly change into the vibrant green of rebirth. The wheel of the seasons continues to turn.

I have to admit that I in the past I haven’t always been a big supporter of spring. Yeah, I liked seeing the approach of warmer weather after the frigidness of winter, but this season has always filled me with a sense of sadness on longing.

Spring meant that the end of the college year was near. It said that in a few months, the friends you had—those people who lived with and saw for seven days a week, the ones you shared your life with, your hopes, your dreams, your highs, and your lows—were soon going to leave you for the summer. It foretold of a time that you would be heading back to a place you once knew as home, but that it no longer felt that way to you.

This year, I eagerly anticipated the arrival of Spring—and when it arrived, I welcomed it with open arms. I have truly embraced this time of awakening. From last year to this year, something had changed within me and I view it as a change for the better.

That’s right, I’m going to start to once again proudly proclaim how much I love exercising now! The temperate weather and sunny days of the past few days had really got me itching to go outside and enjoy them. Practically every day this week I have been following this routine: jump rope and abs in the morning, a half-hour walk at lunch, strength and abs workout when I got, followed by another walk in the evening. I have felt so rejuvenated that I look forward to each day. No more melancholy sadness dogging my heels this Spring—I’ve got a whole new gig and I’m lovin’ it!

To celebrate the arrival of Spring, I added something new to the routine—running. You heard me right, I said running. I haven’t gone running since I was an asthmatic kid in high school when the coaches forced us to run around the track a number of laps in the dewy morning. I would say that I was a pretty good sprinter but not at all adequate for distance.

Until today. The sun was out. The temperature was a little chilly, but not too unbearable. I had just finished my jump roping and abs, and my body just urged me to do something more. So a spur of the moment decision got me outdoors and running down the street.

There’s a park nearby that has a nice trail around a small pond. That was the destination for today’s endeavor. I ran all the way to the park, all the way around the pond, and all the way back home, with the finishing touch being running up a pretty steep hill to the resevoir. The session was concluded with a nice walk back home.

It was so freakin’ amazing! I felt so alive and so energized, I really couldn’t believe that I had actually done it. And the best part was the asthmatic child wasn’t inside me any more.

The months of The Peak Condition Project and months of maintenance exercises, and the months of a healthier diet all culminated into this one super-fantastic moment! And I can sure as bet ya that this will not be the only one that will occur this year!

Welcome Spring! The dawning and rebirth of new life, not just in the world around me, but also of the world in me!

I’m not sure I like the concept of Daylight Savings Time. Sure, I’m all for having a bit more sunlight in the afternoon and evenings, but right now my morning is dark again. I’ve spent all winter like that—and between the dark and the cold it makes it real tough to want to jump rope first thing in the day

On the other hand, despite the blackness when I wake up, there’s a strong indicator that spring is on it’s way! The temperature is rising, the snow is melting, and the air is getting warmer. I have got this itch to go outside and be active—to walk or run or just jump rope—anything just as long as it is outside! (If you told me a year ago that I’d be a exercise junkie, I would have said you were on something. Amazing how things can change in a year’s time!)

Personally, I just wish they would leave the clocks alone. There is a natural rhythm to the day, and this whole “hour ahead/hour back” just really screws with the human body. Just leave me alone and let me sync up to the cycle that is the universe!

While surfing the net, I happened to find this quote:

One of the main characteristics of the Buddha, and one which we have present in all of us, is compassion. Compassion is often wrongly associated with being nice to people. In fact, there are times when it is not at all compassionate to be nice to someone because it just encourages them in their delusion.

Which is why I say to you, with the deepest compassion, that you are a complete dingbat….

Yes, the quote is funny and it brought a smile to my face. At the same time it made me think about the concept behind the word “compassion”. Like the speaker says, I think many people do equate “compassion” with “kindness”. After all, when we are showing compassion towards someone, aren’t we really being kind to them? Not really.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word compassion comes from mid-14th century Old French compassion, from Late Latin compassionem (nominative compassio) “sympathy,” from compassus, past participle of compati “to feel pity,” from com- “together” + pati “to suffer”. Meanwhile, The Oxford Essential Dictionary: American Edition defines compassion as: “pity inclining one to be merciful.”

Compassion isn’t really about trying to be kind to people; it’s about feeling pity and showing mercy. Realizing this equation helps to understand this quote from Buddha: “Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering.”

You can’t substitute the word “kindness” in that sentence, because it doesn’t make sense. How does “kindness” counterbalance “suffering”? It doesn’t. If fact, sometimes kindness can cause suffering. Think about it. Have you ever had a time where you were feeling down in the dumps and had a friend try to show you a little kindness? How did that make you feel? I know for myself that many times their little act of kindness actually made me feel worse that before. Kindness doesn’t offset suffering.

On the other hand, if you use the word “mercy” in place of “compassion” the phrase balances out. If something is suffering, we can take pity on it and show it mercy. It is through mercy that we can the appropriate action, like showing kindness, or help shoulder the weight, or provide comfort, or even admonishment (though calling a person a “dingbat” may not be the best approach if you want them to see the error of their ways).

Of course, compassion isn’t only something that you do for others. Sometimes you need to perform a little compassion on yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Don’t be harsh on yourself if you’re feeling depressed. Let yourself be imperfect. We all have flaws. As the Dalai Lama says: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

Tonight was good, but tiring. I jumped right back into my full exercise regimen after a week or so hiatus. I had meet some important deadlines at work which, of course, meant that it was an opportune time for me to catch a cold. There was absolutely no way I could take time off from my job, so I had to cut back on something else in order to allow my body to recover. That meant backing off the exercising for a bit.

I feel a bit out of sorts when I don’t work out. I had been part of a rigorous regimen during the months of August, September, and October as I participated in a wellness program called the The Peak Condition Project. Basically, this program is:

“a 90 day plan that gets participants into the best shape of their lives. Using the simplest of materials, adherence to diet, classic kung-fu training techniques, and the power of social networking, PCPers achieve the physiques they’ve always dreamed of, while gaining the knowledge to maintain their success long into the future.”

Although I “graduated” from the program back in October, the things I learned during that time haven’t left. After 90 days it became a part of me and my day-to-day life, like breathing. If I skip a day of exercising, or I don’t eating the properly, or I fail to write a blog entry I feel out of kilter—that something is missing. I don’t like that feeling.

Back to the cold. At first I tried to keep up with my exercise regimen. The first day I managed to complete the whole routine and I ended up really exhausted. The second day I tried cutting back a little, but my body needed more rest that I was giving it. Finally I ended up with jumping rope and ab exercises in the morning for about a half hour. And that’s the way it stayed until tonight. My cold is nearing the end, my deadlines have passed, and I just had far too much energy that needed to be expended.

My exercises are done, I’ve rebalanced my food intake, and I’ve completed my blog entry. There’s only one thing left to do to make it perfect day—get to bed! Sleep is very important for a healthy body and it’s time for me to get my dose of zzzzzz’s.

I just spent the weekend recreating my blog after most of the information was lost when I transferred my domain name from one host to another. Yeah, I really should have backed-up everything but a person tends to trust a company when it says that all your files will move over to the new one. So basically I was starting from scratch.

But that was okay. I wasn’t satisfied with my blog the way it was previously. There was just something that felt off about it and I couldn’t point my finger to exactly what was causing that feeling. By some serendipitous moment, everything disappeared and I suddenly had a blank slate and needed to start over. Gotta love it when the Universe steps in!

So here I am, back at the beginning and feeling a bit more confident that I did the first time around! This down-time allowed me to learn about the programs and control panels I’m using to manage this website, so all-in-all the disappearing act that my files performed was a benefit instead of a hindrance. Sometimes personal growth needs a catalyst to start the chain reaction of events which will encourage development of something better.

Thus begins a new chapter in the life of this blog. Welcome!