The Body's A Machine

"If you always quit when you are merely tired, you will never gain. Once you let the body tell the mind when to quit, you are whipped for sure. You cannot gain by listening to the body. We can become much stronger if we drive the body. We use about one-tenth of the available strength of our bodies and less than that of our minds!" - George Patton

I've continued to lift weights three days a week after vacation. It's paid off some, as I'm wrist curling 45 pounds (up from 30) and bench pressing 130 (up from 115) after six months. Sometimes I notice my mind tiring and my body following suit shortly after. The mind effectively poisons the body's confidence that way. One thing that's been effective is to fix my mind on the thought that it's floating separately from the body, watching a machine pump iron the same way that I might regard a car while driving up to my Mom's.

More recently, the sweltering 90 degree heat this past week batters a body, but while others complained I made up my mind to ignore it and just accept the sweat pouring as if it was some gentle rain.