Reach for It

Categories: Uncategorized Apr 22, 2018

And now, some thoughts from Mark Limbaga, OS Certified Professional-Pro and friend….

It’s been three-and-a-half months since my son was born and in that short timeframe, I have learned so much about development by simply observing my son move, behave and be on a daily basis.

One thing he does really stands out to me. He is always reaching, always attempting to grab something. It’s been fun to watch how over the past months his fine motor control, in terms of reaching for, grabbing and holding objects, has drastically improved.

A physio friend of mine told me the mere act of reaching is part of the developmental sequence. A baby has the inborn intent to get from where he is to a different location and it starts with reaching.

Life is beautiful, right? Watching my son learn to move has taught me something; we are all seeded with the intent to reach for more, to want to become. And it starts very early in life, with reaching as a form of goal setting.

And as it is with my young "prince", it’s a process. We reach for goals or success, we reach to become more than we are, or to discover who we are. Usually we aren’t able to firmly grasp and hold onto the things we want initially, but if we stay intent and keep reaching, we are likely to get or find what we are reaching or looking for. But it starts with that first reach, that first desire.

In a simple explanation of how this can work, let's say you are aiming to work up to doing 10 pushups and you can only do one at the moment. In your mind though, you want to eventually be able to perform 10. With frequent practice, your technique and your strength will improve. Over time, your reps begin slowly adding up, you become able to do 5-6 pushups with relative ease and you can now clearly "hold" in your mind your end goal of 10. A few weeks later that once herculean task of doing 10 pushups is accomplished and soon after that performing 10 pushups is now something you can do daily with ease.

Reaching and achieving works like this in many areas of life, it’s not relegated to the world of strength training. But the secret to success, in all of these areas, is found in the wisdom of a child: Get the intent (desire), reach for it, persevere, show up every day, and don’t stop until you get that bottle. It’s that simple. I think fatherhood is going to be one amazing ride for me….

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