"Your Biography is NOT Your Destiny"

The following was written by  a member of my Crossfit Gym. To those of you who call me obsessed or preoccupied with Crossfit here is just a small sample of why I like this community. While it is true that I am getting fitter physically every day I am also getting healthier emotionally. We all have practices that make us feel better. This method, Crossfit, seems to work best for me.

 

FROM A MEMBER:

"In my volunteer work as a prison minister I work with men who are often struggling with addictions and their lack of self-worth. Contrary to common belief, not every person in prison is bad, but all of them are broken human beings.  Every once in a while I give the homily on Sunday morning and on one Sunday the Gospel reading was about preparing for Judgment. I borrowed a paragraph from Ben’s article, “Your Biography Is Not Your Destiny” from the CFNE website. In it he says:"

 “You are not your past. You are better than that. Don’t let yesterday’s events or today’s fears keep you from being the person you know you can be. Your biography is not your destiny. Most of society believes that we are our past. They believe who we are, and who we will become, has already been decided by our past. The truth is your past does not dictate your future. As human beings we have been given the ultimate power…The power of decision and choice. You control who you are and who you will become, by the DECISIONS and ACTIONS you take TODAY. You can be anything you choose to be, but you must believe in your decisions, and act upon those decisions with conviction. Don’t fall into the trap of the many, that your past failures will predict future faults. We can be anything we decide, as long as we act. Biography is not Destiny, your Destiny is up to you.”

The audience sat in amazement, one man in tears. They applauded and later many said it was the best talk they ever heard and asked for copies of it. I’m sure they don’t get to hear words like these very often, maybe never at all. I was thankful I had these words to say to them.

These are not just CrossFit words given by a coach to motivate his athletes. These are words to live by. We all have challenges – whether they are physical, mental, or spiritual – we all struggle. CrossFit lifts me up so I can lift others up. For me there is only one principle to live my life by and that is to be a loving presence to others. To be sure, I do not always find it is an easy thing to do."

Rita V.

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