My sister in law, Carrie and an 86 year old nun (dubbed the Iron Nun) have got me thinking about the power of beliefs, attitude and commitment.

The 86 year old Iron Nun is featured in a new Nike video. The video shows sister Madona Buder running in the early morning. “Good for you!”, the video says  Then she’s swimming in the ocean.  “Wow, she's still active for her age!”  Then she’s biking up a winding mountain road!

But THEN... she’s running into the ocean to compete in an Iron Man. And screams, "the first 45 didn't kill me!"

Wait, what?!

She’s completed 45 Iron Man races!

And what about Carrie?  Well Carrie just completed her first Iron Man three weeks ago.

In case you don’t know, an Iron Man consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and THEN 26.2 miles running. That’s a full marathon after swimming and biking 114.4 miles!

I am simply in awe of Carrie’s achievement. She bought her road bike just about a year prior to doing the Iron Man. When I remarked about how impressed I was, Justin said, “that’s one thing about Carrie, she always does what she says she’s going to do!”

It's a show of commitment, mental resiliency and really powerful beliefs.

It takes an enormous amount of commitment to train for an Iron Man.

It requires extraordinary mental resiliency, because beyond the physical exhaustion, you have to master your thoughts so you don’t defeat yourself.

It takes a firm belief in yourself to move towards a goal like this especially when you’ve never done anything like it before.

And the Iron Nun?  Well I’m just massively grateful for her.

Sister Madonna Buder is an extraordinary example of the power of belief.

In contrast, let’s examine for a minute what most people believe about aging.

How many times have you heard or said things like...

• “I’m too old for____”

• “I just don’t _____ like I used to.”

• “I have _______”  (insert ache, pain, condition, discomfort - arthritis, plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, bad knees, bad back… etc.)

• Or any of the pathetic birthday greeting cards telling people how their health and zest is running out. They make me cringe.

Have you subscribed to the notion that the aging of your body is inevitable?

Here’s an 86 year old woman who has completed 45 iron mans. What does she believe about her body and aging?  What does she believe about health?

I CAN GUARANTEE SHE BELIEVES THAT HER HEALTH IS HER OWN CREATION.

And I bet you she believes that her body is strong and resilient, and that it'll keep going as long as she has a desire for it and as long as she takes care of it.

What we believe about our bodies shows up in what we experience.

Would you rather believe you can or believe you can’t?

As Henry Ford is credited for saying, “either way you are right.”

The challenge is that deeply ingrained beliefs are not so easy to change. And when our body is showing signs and symptoms of limitation, it’s hard to think otherwise.

But what if your body is listening?

What if it can change?

I just recently put together a workbook and video class on how we can activate the body’s healing and youth-promoting abilities. I want to share it with you in case you're up for learning about scientific fields that are showing how the body responds to our beliefs.

Activate Your Genes for Healing

You’ll also do some writing exercises to discover more about what beliefs are active for you, and learn about techniques to change the beliefs that keep you in rickety health.

I have HUGE thanks and awe for the Iron Nun.

Thank you for being one of the trailblazers that is defying all conventional notion of what an 86 year old is capable of doing.

I am committed to living well past that age in FULL use of all of my faculties and in better physical shape than I am now.

In fact, I intend to be healthier and in better shape every decade of my life than I was in the previous one. So far I’ve stayed true.  

And I'm massively impressed by Carrie.

I don't plan to do any triathlons any time soon, but it gets me thinking about what are the goals I'd like to commit to and accomplish them no matter what. Writing a book is one.

What do you believe?

What do you intend?

What would you like to do?