Engage your Core Some More

Zip it up. Engage your core. However you say it in pilates, those interior muscles which are hidden from view need to be tensing and strengthening so they can take the stress.

Tricky. Very tricky.

I am struggling to achieve some success in this elusive form of exercise, because I believe that if I can strengthen that inner core, I will be much better equipped to withstand any twists or jerks or turns which might otherwise result in slipped disks or other muscular injuries, especially to the back.

The back is so central to every move we make, and even to our resting positions. I have learned painfully over this last year how integral it is to every move I make, and every resting posture I choose. If the back is sore, pretty much everything hurts.

Spiritually I am also trying to engage my core. Exercising my faith through reading the Bible, praying, reading spiritual books and discussing them with friends. Identifying and recognising what my core values are as a Christian. Very tricky as well. Hard to see progress, just like with pilates. But also just like with pilates, if I don’t have a strong spiritual core I am in danger of serious injury. Emotional stress may result in spiritual pulled muscles or slipped disks.

Mentally I am trying to engage my core, by embarking on learning a new language. To learn Russian, I first need to learn a new alphabet, so I am still at that basic, infant position, trying hard to master the strange symbols and make the foreign guttural sounds. Keeping the brain active and challenged and learning new things is important, we are told, for future mental agility.

So, 2015 is the year of engagement of my core. Cores. Only by the grace of God can I strengthen all those muscles – physical, spiritual, and mental, but that is my goal. 

Watch this space...

The camera never lies

I’m sure the camera does lie ...

The expression used to be, ‘the camera never lies’. I know that isn’t true anymore, what with Photoshop and airbrushing and so on. 

I just got my picture taken in one of those photo booths where you get four printed out for official use in passports or documents. I wish the camera had lied, just a little bit! I look as old as the hills. Sorely in need of airbrushing.

Part of the trouble with those official pictures is the requirement that you keep a straight face. I look like I’ve been in a police cell. I don’t understand the reasoning. My default reaction to meeting someone, for instance at a security barrier in an airport, or getting on a bus, is to smile. If the official is comparing the living and breathing me to this grumpy old lady in the picture, I hope that they have trouble seeing it’s the same woman. 

I am so grateful that God looks at what’s on the inside rather than at my outward appearances. As youth fades and the years take their toll, I am praying that the inner me is looking increasingly beautiful! I know that doesn’t happen automatically; grumpy old men and women are a dime a dozen. 

I’m determining that that is not going to be me. I am going to make every effort to stay as close to God as I can, so that the core of my being reflects something precious made by God, even as gravity pulls me down. I want a radiant inner life to reflect God to the world, however I appear physically.

By the grace of God, I will manage it, but not by my own efforts. That’s for sure.