Jamaica, IMF, China and the Environment

Will Jamaica ever progress as a country, can Jamaica ever achieve any sort of economic or social progress under our current political system. I am beginning to believe we are stuck in quicksand, caught in a quagmire and being pulled with equal force from opposite ends. Our Political class and their operatives are clearly in this for selfish reasons only, the Jamaican people for the most part represents only a means to an end, we are the football on the field of life being kicked every which way till Sunday.

The purpose of all political oppositions, regardless of which party forms that opposition, is to oppose anything and everything proposed by the sitting Government regardless of which party forms that Government because the concept of bipartisan agreements, in the national interest simply does not exist in Jamaica, the Jamaican people practice and mastered the fine art of being like crab in a barrel. The PNP and their operatives when in opposition opposed every single thing the JLP Government did and the JLP and their operatives now in opposition is opposing every single thing the PNP Government is doing.

Everybody in Jamaica wants foreign Investments, they will go on and on at length about how the Government needs to attract foreign investment and foreign capital to our shores. But they only want foreign investment when their party is in power. If their party is not in power then foreign Investment is not called foreign investment but foreign sellout as they declare “look how the government a gi weh Jamaica”… The fact is, a country like Jamaica will never get foreign investment solely on our terms, we are not that cute, the Government must negotiate with potential investors and we must decide if the terms are beneficial to Jamaica and we must be prepared to walk away, if they are not.

With regards to the IMF, I have never read anywhere that said an IMF delegation came to Jamaica and beg our Government, pleaded with them on bended knees, to pretty please sign a loan agreement and they will give us money. I remember when it was announced in the 1990's that Jamaica was finally IMF free, that we had terminated our agreement with the fund, removed the shackles and regulated them to that dark place in our history.

After which we carried on without the IMF for several years until after the general election of 2007 when the new JLP Government declared that they were going back to the IMF to seek a loan. I remember my shock and horror when I first heard the news. I walked around and debated with everyone why this was a bad idea, stated that I had lived through one IMF agreement after another and how it was like hell on earth but the young pups was not having it. They proclaimed that an IMF loan was cheap, easy money and that is what Jamaica needed to recapitalize. I tried to tell them that IMF loans are never cheap, the terms are always harsh and the hurdles high but they dismissed me.

The Bruce Golding Government then signed their IMF agreement and the IMF deposited 400 million United States dollars to Jamaica's account, even before the first IMF test. It was like a carnival on that day as JLP supporters sing praises and rejoiced from the mountain tops, “Saved at last, thank god almighty we are saved at last”, even young PNP supporters were happy as pigs in shit because they also had never experienced IMF Austerity before. Another 400+ million United States dollars was also deposited from various other international financial institutions based on agreements between these institutions and the IMF, Jamaica was rolling in money, like a crack whore with free access to drugs in a Colombian drug lab.

The exchange rate which was rising at the time before the huge IMF financial payout immediately began to fall as the supply of borrowed United States dollars flood the market. Imports became cheaper and cheaper as Jamaicans looked to the heavens and shouted “Thank You Fada!” as they splurged like there was no tomorrow. They imported everything and anything, from Human Feces Fertilizer, to Range Rover, Blackberry, to Beef patty, Banana Chips, Hennessey, onion and red peas not to mention water from Trinidad. Given the choice between eating local food and eating imported food, Jamaicans will almost always choose imported food and it got so bad that no one was buying food from Jamaica’s farmers anymore. There was a glut of cheap local food on the market as the people imported Kale and Jolly Green Giant spinach over home grown callaloo. It was then that the Minister of Agriculture decided to start the “Eat what you grow program” to help out the farmers…

However when the time came for the then government to implement the IMF agreement they choked, I can only assume that the Government either did not read the agreement or had no intention of implementing anything, like a purse snatcher in a crowded market, it seems they intended to grab the money and make a run for it. I will never understand reading an agreement, signing an agreement and then breaking the agreement you singed but that is what the Government did. I would think that if the agreement was not to your liking then you would not have signed it BUT the pull of cheap US $800 Million was too great and election was upon them and with US $800 million the Government thought they could create a matrix like illusion of progress in order to win the next general election. Anyway Jamaica failed their first IMF test and the entire agreement broke down, the general election was called and the JLP lost, so out went one set of morons and in comes the next set of idiots.

The Peoples National Party promised the people a different path but ended up right back on the same path as the previous Government, back into bed with the IMF, on bended kneels asking for forgiveness and a new deal with a promise to implement the agreement to the letter this time around. By now the IMF had learned a valuable lesson based on their experience with the last Government... that you never, ever, ever give Jamaica a big lump sum of money based on promises..., no big money let off. This time it was going to be different, the IMF would deliver the money in small drips but only after Jamaica jump over a series of hurdles and water obstacles, no more hundreds of millions but a 20 million here and a 30 million there... lunch money.

First IMF Test Results under the Second IMF Agreement

Today August 22nd, 2013 it was announced that Jamaica had passed the first IMF test, we cleared the first couple of hurdle with only 295 to go. The IMF declared that they will now deposit another 30 million United States Dollars into Jamaica’s account, which should go down like honey and pass through Jamaica like laxative. As a result of the IMF Austerity measures Jamaica's exchange rate is now 102 to 1, this however is by design since the IMF wants the exchange rate to reach a more realistic position and not propped up by borrowed money, however based on what I am hearing, I believe this did not go as far enough for them but it will do for now because various IMF news reports stated that in real terms Jamaica’s exchange rate should be around 120 to 1, due to the lack of economic activity. I suspect that it will be around 105 to 1 by November unless we experience some growth and earn some hard cash soon.

In other news imports are down, this also is by design and part of the IMF’s import substitution strategy, since Imports are now more expensive as a result of the high exchange rate. The hope here is that people will begin to consume local output, support local production and grow the economy. Austerity measures almost always come with a price and as a result of cuts in Government expenditure Jamaica's economic activity is estimated to have contracted by 0.7 per cent, …“it was the fifth consecutive quarter of negative growth, indicating that the Jamaican economy continues to be in recession, with little expectation of growth beyond 0.5 per cent for the remainder of fiscal year 2013-14.”... The Unemployment rate increased to 16.3 per cent at the end of April and inflation increased to 9.7 per cent in July. However the net international reserves increased to just over US$1 billion by the end of June.

Jamaica Outperforms Projections - IMF
At the same time, the mission, which conducted the first quarterly review under the four-year extended fund facility (EFF) during the past week, reported yesterday that Jamaica's fiscal performance for the last financial year and the first quarter of the current year outperformed projections despite declines in several key areas.

Jamaica At The Bottom Of The Economic Pile: Aubyn Hill, financial gleaner COLUMNIST
Jamaica's imports still far outstrips our exports, As a country, we appear to be unwilling to curb our desire for foreign cars, clothes, hairpieces, flour and rice, and we continue to produce less and less for export.

Calls for a Jamaican Spring

I am seeing more and more partisan diehard supporters posting that what Jamaica need is some of what is happening in the Middle East, as if what is happening in the Middle East is a good thing. The Arab Spring is really a Arab Nightmare with hundreds of thousands of men, women and children killed, forced to be refugees and the region in a state of permanent perpetual civil war, yet people are talking about this is what Jamaica needs. Some of these young people are idiots with no concept of their own history because I have lived through many years of Jamaican protest and let me tell you, it is not pretty.

Yes back in the days we use to have peaceful political protest, I remember being involved in a couple of them myself, you write up some plaque cards and march to JBC where you deliver your message peacefully but at some point in our history the meaning of a protest was changed to mean a full scale riot and criminality. A politically motivated protest these days means unleash the Kraken, release the dogs of war, as smoke bellows up from the city, shots fly everywhere, stores looted, people murdered, beaten, roads blocked and people charged a toll for passage at gun point. Communities are held hostages, light post chopped down and everyone plunged into darkness with every intersection blocked with old cars and burning tires.

So you young whipper snappers be very careful what you wish for because you just might get it, especially when Jamaicans love to emulate the world’s most dangerous unstable hotspots. You might just start something you cannot reverse because the last time I checked both parties have almost equal numbers of diehard cut throat murderers and what happen if no one is willing to back down and ready to go toe to toe for a prolong period of time. Not to mention you cannot get blood out of a stone, no amount of protest can create money that only comes from hard work.

Mission to China

The Prime Minister and her delegation are in China on a one week official states visit to negotiate some deals and sign some agreements. It was announced today that several bilateral agreements was signed by both Governments.

1. China would like to use Jamaica as a Logistic Hub to take advantage of the expanded Panama Canal when it opens in 2015 and a gateway to the region.
2. China would like to build a multi-billion-dollar Logistic Hub and a new Port in the Portland Bight Protected Area on the Goat Islands. The Government has insisted that the project will provide thousands of much-needed jobs. The preliminary estimates for this mega investment are between US$1.2 billion and US$1.5 billion.
3. An Agreement was signed and China will invest into several infrastructure projects paving the way for the flow of funds under the US$350 million Major Infrastructure Development Programme.
4. The Government also inked an a agreement on economic and technical cooperation, which will see China providing Jamaica with a 100 million yuan (US$14.2 million) grant, in aid to Jamaica.
5. China agreed to build two infant schools, one in Tower Hill, St Andrew, and the other at Morant Estate, St Thomas.
6. China agreed to dispatch a technical group to Jamaica for feasibility study on a teaching building project at the Confucius Institute on Mona Campus, University of the West Indies.
7. China will teach the members of the PNP administration the Drunken Master Kung Fu style and Roger "Po" Clark will be the Dragon Warrior.

Where we should come together in the national interest we are fighting among ourselves. I firmly believe the opposition should have been with the Government in China negotiating in the national interest from a Jamaica first approach but we are not wired that way.

Not Even the Great United States is Immune to China
"In much of America, Chinese investment is quietly booming, with over $10.5 billion of deals by Chinese companies in the United States so far this year, 2013 is on pace to be the largest year ever for mergers and acquisitions of U.S. firms by Chinese companies, according to Thomson Reuters data."

Human Development vs. the Environment

China have identified two location for the construction of the Logistic Hub and Minister Robert Pickersgill announced that consideration is now being given for the use of Goat Island One and Two as the site of the hub. They were first offered Fort Augusta but rejected it declaring that the area was too small, they wanted 3,000 acres of land to build the port and mega centre.

The problem is, these are environmentally protected areas and Environmental groups have announced that they will not give them up without a fight and are prepared to take the government to court. The Government declared these areas a protected site some years ago but now has come full circle on the matter. This project is huge and the environmental impact deep and destructive, flattening one island and using the 70 feet hill to dump up the wetlands between the two islands making one big mega island, where is sharknado when you need him.

The Lush Goat Island

I consider myself a soldier in the war to protect the environment and I normally give the Jamaica Environment Trust the benefit of the doubt, they have earned my trust, so if they say no way, hands off then I am inclined to side with them and fight to protect this area. We must find the right balance between the need for Human Development and preservation of the environment, I do understand that we must sacrifice some of our environment in the interest of human development, growth and employment but where do we draw that line?

Goat Island

This is not like the Aluminum red mud lake byproduct, which already exist, is toxic and serves no purpose… These are rich environmental locations full of life that needs to be protected. I do understand that people need work, poverty needs to be addressed but should we give up some of the environment to achieve this? A big part of me says no. I just wish the debate was free of politics, everyone trying to score political point and not acting in the best interest of Jamaica. As far as I am concern if you are political then you are by nature contradictory and hypocritical and being for or against an issue is based on Political Parties and not on principles, if you support an issue or is against an issue out of principle then politics is irrelevant. The pros and cons regarding this issue must be made available for all to see and to evaluate but in the mean time I am in Environmentalist mode.

China Idea of Development

Demystifying The Logistics Hub
Minister of industry, investment and commerce, Anthony Hylton has shrugged off sceptics of the much-touted logistics hub, saying there are investors willing to pump huge sums into the US$8 billion project.

 In China the fish floats to the top

 The average Chinese lungs has evolved to breath in everything else but pure fresh air

China is not a country that cares about the environment nor are they acting in Jamaica’s best interest, well none of these types of countries ever acted in Jamaica’s best interest, certainly not the United States of America or Great Britain. We are old enough, have been on this earth long enough to know that we are only a means to an end, their end. We have lived through Slavery, Colonization and the Cold War and have been used and abused by these blood sucking first world countries at one time or another. So every one of us knows that China is looking out for China’s best interest and this is a negotiation, the government must fight for Jamaica's interest, we know we must give up somethings but we must also get somethings from the deal and the cost cannot be too much, we must be prepared to walk away.

If we appear too needy and cheap then we will be used like a crack whore who has not gotten her last fix for some time and right now our Government is needy, hurting, emotional, sensitive and fearful, yes people our Government is a Crack Whore who have not hit that pipe for some time now and will do just about anything for a quick fix.

Selling Our Birthright: Peter Espeut
The Chinese have declared the Goat Islands to be their preferred site to establish a huge port and logistics hub. The discussions have taken place in secret, but the scuttlebutt is that Great Goat Island is to be levelled, and the 100m-high hill pushed into the sea to cover the wetlands between them, and to create a huge island on which the logistics hub will be built.

 The Chinese version of Hellshire Beach

When it comes to the environment the average Chinese would live on Saturn’s moon Titan and suck Methane for money so I would never listen to the Chinese when it comes to the Environment.

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The Great Jamaican Debate: Who Should Rule!!!

The great debate in Jamaica is a never ending debate, the debate as to which Political Party is best suited to lead Jamaica and this debate is as old as Jamaica itself. Jamaica is no stranger to being ruled by different factions over the many hundreds of years. First the Taíno Indians, also known as the Arawaks ruled Jamaica but suffered continued attacks from the warlike Carib Indians who wanted them for dinner. Then the Spanish conquered the island claiming that they discovered it and proceeded to exterminate every last Indian on the island. It was the Spanish who first introduce Africans to Jamaica in order to replace the Indians they systematically wiped out.

Then one sunny Jamaican morning in 1655 on the 10th of May another band of European scavengers turned up on our shores, it was two Spanish settlers who first spotted the huge fleet just as it rounded Point Morant... this was the English Armada which resulted in the invasion and the start of the war between the Spanish and the English. In the end Jamaica was conquer by our colonial masters the English and the Spanish was sent packing. Throughout the entire Caribbean the Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English was engaged in one war after another trying to decide who "discovered" what and controlled what. Almost everywhere the Spanish and Portuguese went they discovered gold which made the English green with envy, they wanted some gold of their own, so they set out to "discover" distant lands but they were never that lucky, they found no gold.

It was then that they decided to take gold from the Spanish and Portuguese, it they could not find a land mass with easy gold for the pickings then they would take the Spanish Gold. It was easy work, sit back relax and let them do all the hard work of invading, murdering the natives and extracting the gold then attack their slow over burden ships as they made their way back to Europe and take their gold, easy money and how the Empire got started.

In one incident after much murdering, enslaving, raping and pillaging by the Spanish in South America they woke up to find English Armada sitting just off the coast, guns pointing towards shore and without even firing a single shot the Spanish decided to just give up and give in, they gave the English all their Gold because the alternative was not worth it. Which is exactly how the British took Manhattan, the Dutch woke up to find the British Fleet heading into New York and not having any stomach for a fight they surrendered their possessions and head home. The Dutch were Traders not fighters and in the end traded their lives for Manhattan, New Amsterdam then became New York.

**Armada is the Spanish and Portuguese word for naval fleet but the word Armada is way cooler than the word fleet... Other names I love are Bismarck battleships and HMS Dreadnought... wicked names... 

Fast forward to present times and we are still being invaded and conquered by different factions both local and international but instead of guns, spears and battle armor they wear slick expensive suits, armed with Ivy League education, mastered the gift of the gab and backed by Multinational Corporations who are the modern day version of the Dutch West India Company and British East India Company. Historically these companies used local leaders as their front men after trying and failed at direct rule because It seems the locals prefer to be oppressed indirectly by people who look and sound like them, so the English was content with ruling from the behind, pulling the strings and reaping the rewards, a tradition that continued to this very day via the World Bank, IMF and United Nation to name a few.

Our independence and freedom exist within the framework created by these bodies. So who control these world governing bodies? That is a question everyone is trying to find an answer to. Some say the United States of America controls the world governing bodies but who control the United States Government, in fact who control all Governments? If one followed the money trail one would find that it leads back to the Multinational Corporations who bought the entire world, lock stock and barrel, they are the Ferengis of our time, greedy, untrustworthy little trolls.

There is no longer a dividing line between our Governments and the Multinational Corporations, the Government of a country works directly for and in the Multinational Corporations who controls what you eat, think, love and hate, they decide when war starts and when war ends.

Perspective: JLP = PNP = Jamaican People or JLP vs. PNP vs. Jamaican People vs. Jamaican People
 

It is really irrelevant which Political Party makes up the Government of Jamaica because the medicine is and will always be the same, …it will be Bitter and Toxic!! Simply because of the actions or lack of actions of the Jamaican people... because of our greed, selfishness, lack of insight, indiscipline, lack of innovation and imagination we have allowed the infection that plague our country to run wild and spread deep for many decades and now the patient must undergo invasive surgery to remove this cancer.

The fact of the matter is the IMF is not going to change its terms base on which Political Party makes up the Government of Jamaica who I must say, is just along for the ride on this IMF roller coaster. The IMF solution and the IMF terms are set in Rock Stone as no one is willing to lend us money to prop up the Jamaican dollar so we can import more feel good garbage and if they do lend us money for that purpose then the rate and the terms will be harsher… The IMF terms are the same terms presented to the JLP after their IMF agreement and they failed to implement them simply because election was upon them and they did not have the balls to do what was right. Back then the IMF gave Jamaica US $400 Million in direct loans and another US $400+ Million from various other financial institutions as a result of the agreement and even before the first IMF test and we had a jolly good time with that money. We imported like there was no tomorrow as the influx of US $800+ Million was like a shot of heroin into Jamaica’s import Junkie life blood, this resulted in artificially reducing the exchange rate and allowed us to splurge while we sing praises to the Government of the day, not realizing or not caring that it was the wrong thing to do.

I have noticed that the Jamaica Labour Party is NOT campaigning on the high exchange rate or on any of the requirements dictated to us by the IMF because they cannot promise a different path. Both the JLP and the PNP cannot say they will artificially reduce the exchange rate, higher more people in the public sector or pay out more in benefits to social programs, they simply cannot go against the current IMF mandate and they do not have an alternate path and have long since ran out of any ideas. They are all just blowing smoke and whistling Dixie, jumping around like circus clowns, posturing for their idiot voters.

The PNP had promised a different path before the 2011 election only to realize that the path is not open for negotiation with the world financing bodies, who has clearly had enough of our promises and failed implementations not to mention they have their hands full with more important countries and economies and realized long ago that if you throw money at Jamaica, Jamaica will squander it, keep a big merriment party and live for today, we are a money sucking black hole.

The JLP cannot bring anything radically different to the table, just like the PNP could not bring anything radically different to the table after 2011. Whatever growth program both the JLP and PNP are planning, if any, must be done within the guidelines of the limited IMF agreement and terms which is standing firm. This is why I do not care which Political Party/faction makes up the Government, they are in fact, just hamsters on a wheel and despite all their promises and rage they are still just a rat in a cage.

The Real World Boss!!

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New Phase: Health, Wellness and Fitness

 “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
-    Leo Tolstoy.

Last week, I touched upon the need to revisit our reasons for making choices in our lives, whether it is going to a gym, going on a diet, choosing a path for your life, or deciding whether or not to marry someone.

The question is, after we revisit our reasons, what process are we going to employ to be able to make better choices?

Basically our values; what we think important in life, is one compass that we can use to point us to our priorities, however most of us aren’t even clear on what our values or priorities are.

The perspectives of Taoism and Abraham Maslow/Carl Rogers’ Humanistic psychology complement each other and offer a basic answer.

These two views (small bias toward the Taoist view) believe one’s hierarchy of focus should be self, environment, loved ones, and passions/talents, these all give aid in developing one’s full potential as a human being.

Rogers maintains that we behave as we do because of the way we perceive our situation. "As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves."

Rogers’ position is that when someone is in touch with the here and now, and his or her subjective experiences and feelings are continually growing and changing, one is creating an environment to be self-actualized.

Taoists, on the other, hand focuses attention on the mind and body through diet, exercises, and mindfulness and stresses conserving personal energy for one’s own health and longevity instead of focusing too much on society’s many energy draining “distractions”.

If you are in touch with yourself; and learn to understand and ultimately trust your feelings, instincts and gut-reactions, you will know what’s right or wrong for your body or your life for that matter, it won’t be about blindly following what someone else says because they are the “authority”.

If you are in touch, you will instinctively understand what you are lacking or what you are overindulging.

It applies to your loved ones as well; if you are in touch with your loved ones and pay close attention you will develop an instinct to be sensitive to their needs.

Our relationship to our environment whether natural or man made follows this principle as well.

Case Study: MARTINO.

People seem genuinely shocked when they see me sore from a workout, working on a kink in my neck or back or sniffling due to a cold, It’s  as if the requirements for become a fitness coach were accelerated healing, super strength and an inability to get annoyed.

To the contrary, I am as human as anyone else, I have to work hard on maintaining my fitness even after 35 years of regular physical activity, compared to my agility, speed, and endurance, my strength is disturbingly lacking, I often have issues with eating the right way with regards to what I want to accomplish and my emotional shortcomings are many.

Physically:

My activities as an aging breaker and martial artist along with my bad posture and poor sleeping position have begun to catch up with me. The years of abuse have caused my neck , shoulders, rhomboids and groin to be in spasm frequently, leading to headaches on occasion.
I’m hoping that once I give up the activities (in time) the discomfort won’t be so bad.

Nutritionally:

I don’t cigarettes or weed, I don’t drink alcohol (not wine, not beer, not even wine cooler, blech!),  Cake or ice cream, I’ll have a bit occasionally, but will pass most of the time.

BUT SODA!!!

It is no secret that I am a COLD soda junkie. It is a fight I acknowledge every day, Chubby (jeez! THAT should be illegal!), D & G Kola Champagne and now they got these brilliant Trini drinks, Apple J and Angostura Lemon Lime & Bitters. I try not to indulge, except if I’m eating out with friends or get offered a drink, if everyone’s drinking.  Sometimes I fall off the wagon, but I fight to get back on, and I’m ok for a time… ah boy..smh.

Emotionally:

A couple of years ago, I wrote about an episode of high blood pressure that I tackled. That was about 5 years ago, since then it’s been a litmus test for reflecting on my current behavioral patterns. My blood pressure fluctuates between normal and mild hypertension regularly.

My personality may be an indication. The combination of tendencies to maintain relatively high standards with my undertakings, my obsession with understanding the mysteries of the human condition, my compulsion to always question the status quo and my need to be a “fixer” puts me in a state of constant elevated stress which as you can imagine does wonders for my blood pressure, not helping is my deplorable 5 hours a day sleep habit.

Bad habits over time WILL eventually catch up with you and you’ll have to pay the piper i.e. suffer the consequences. 

Whether it’s bad squatting, bad posture, treating people badly, putting garbage in your body , investing in destructive relationships or living in New Kingston (hee hee). You have to be watchful on every level to ensure that our behavior and habits reflect what we really want in the long run.

We are all beautiful works in progress but an awareness building process will give us the direction we need in our lives.

Have a great week,
Train hard and have fun.

P.S. For those of you who have neck pain due to bad sleeping position I've attached a picture to show how pillow positioning can help...

........

New Phase Health and Fitness Coaching

Jamaica,   Health, Wellness and Fitness

Breakboy NRG...

More about → New Phase: Health, Wellness and Fitness

Health, Wellness and Fitness

It has been a while, maybe 6 months or more since I’ve written anything, if you remember my last post paid homage to my grandfather who died in December.   Since then I’ve been more or less looking at my life and reassessing some of my views and approaches …  questioning a few things in particular.

My duties as a home school dad over the past two years has really forced me to try to understand what it really means to be a good father and by extension a good teacher (they are one and the same, aren’t they?), There are so many things that I want my children to learn about “navigating the waters of life”, I want to be able to instill in them an ability to find solutions to problems, to communicate effectively, to care for their bodies, to be kind and considerate, to fundamentally understand and love all people while having the wisdom to discern abuse of that benevolence, to understand addictive behavior and to understand money as a tool and not an idol and to be able to stand up for themselves.

I have come to the conclusion that the only way that I can accomplish such a monumental task is to understand that young children learn most effectively by example and repetition, in other words I have to be an example of what I want to teach.

This requires soul searching on my part, over the past 6 months or so one of the questions that I have been pondering, is the real value of what I have chosen to do with my life and trying to clarify it.

In the past few years, I have noticed both foreign and local reports of fitness aficionados passing away due to heart attack, cancer, suicide or drug overdose. The reports usually are worded something like….”X was energetic, fit and ate in a very healthy way”

As someone who wants to lead by example, I felt a need to reassess my views as a fitness professional and ask myself what it is that I truly believe.

Do I really believe that eating right and working out will help someone live longer?

What am I really selling to people?

Is it health and longevity, looking good or being a “fit” person?

I am very interested in active, functional, medication free longevity.  As someone who makes a living promoting “a healthy lifestyle”, I find it increasingly interesting that many people who  don’t practice this “way” sometimes live very long, productive, happy lives and  to the contrary, those who claim to, don’t.

Is this important?

THE HEALTH AND FITNESS INDUSTRY

The health and fitness industry is a global multi-billion dollar industry, the marketing is space age and the players can coax huge amounts of money out of your pocket without giving you absolutely anything in return.  The industry profits from telling people half-truths, preying on people’s insecurities and selling unrealistic quick-fix solutions….but guess what? The even bigger scam and much more profitable (by more than double) is the diet and weight loss industry, cuz, well... people would much rather take a pill than exercise.

People selling diets or that new “pill” or “system” don’t tell you that the success rate of sustained weight loss on these “miracle” plans are as low as 5 percent.

Gym owners don’t tell you that only 20% of the members are using the gym 80% of the time, so the huge amount of income generated at the start of the year due to New Year’s resolutions is largely charitable.

The health/fitness/diet/weight loss industries uses body image anxiety and the tremendous global chronic disease epidemic to sell their products, whether science based or not, to the public.

FEAR

I have a problem with basing decisions on fear, I believe basing decisions on fear will always cheapen your experience of life, but it seems like the paradigm of fear or inadequacy fuels every institution in modern society …. Whether education, religion, our career choices, our financial planning, even how we raise our children.

This is all to say we need to revisit our reasons for going to the gym or any choice we make for that matter, The first thing that a new client usually sez to me is “I want to lose this belly” or “I’m getting too fat” or “I’m going to a wedding in three months and my ex-girlfriend is gonna be there” …so FIX MEEE!

The first thing anyone should understand is that when it comes to your body, mind or spirit, any problem that you have is probably either created by you (your behavior) or by your parents/nurturing environment (conditioning) or a combination of both. Your own self searching and behavior modifications is more than likely where the solution lies and not with any magical place, pill or person (I like that!).

NEW PHASE FITNESS

I believe in being active, and strong, and agile, and durable. I believe in paying attention to your body, improving our shortcomings and treating your body with love, this means doing what you love, having fun, getting enough sleep and putting the best things inside, I also believe in loving people, spending time with positive people and respecting our environment, if I live longer as a result of these beliefs then fine, if not then so be it.

It’s never about quantity but about quality.

THAT’S IT!

I BELIEVE IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR POTENTIAL.

Every day in my life I experiment; my diet, my meditations, my workouts, my thought processes, my choices,  I make mistakes, I observe, I make adjustments. I tell you.

I observe you all, I question, I touch, I listen and I learn…We share.

With me, there is no tried and true science for everyone, we are all guinea pigs, what works for you may not work for me and vice versa….but we share anyway and inspire each other and give each other hope.

Hope.

We face the same kinds of problems, if one can triumph; there is a possibility that we all can.

My mission statement is to provide quality service that is informative, enriching and effective, motivating you toward your health/fitness goals and giving you endurance and strength for your many endeavors.

This hasn’t changed.

I continue to search for the truth, If I think it’s BS and/or part of a scam I’ll tell you…I continue to seek long lasting happiness, health, vitality and longevity for myself and everyone else, I know these things aren’t located at 89 Hope road, any gym, any church, hospital or doctor’s office, these qualities reside in each of us, we just need to be determined and committed to find them.

If I find it I’ll let y’all know where to look..If YOU find it first, don’t charge me too much…

I’m BAAACK…get your asses in gear!

Breakboy NRG...

New Phase Health and Fitness Coaching

Jamaica,   Health, Wellness and Fitness

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Emancipation Day, August 1st

The Picture might be funny but it gives me a lot to think about. Slavery was something that was done to us, we did not have a choice, it was forced upon us however most of the other stuff represents things we did to our selves...

I have never said Nation Building was simple, I am very much aware of all the global forces affecting us, having lived through the cold war but trying to deflect Personal Responsibilities and pretending as if we are completely innocent with regard to the state of the country today, is disingenuous to say the least. There were times in Jamaica’s history when we blindly Yinged when we should have Yanged, decisions made out of pure selfishness and greed and we must have the big hairy balls to stand up and identify those moments in our past that placed us in this position we find ourselves today, it is time to man up and take responsibilities.

It is way too easy for us to blame everyone and anything but ourselves, It’s Slavery fault, It’s the British fault, its America’s fault, Its IMF fault, it’s the World Bank fault, it’s the JLP fault and it’s the PNP fault, it’s always someone else’s fault except the man in the mirror because it seems we are a nation of Retards not capable of making the right decisions and may I add highly educated retards because our people can boast with the best of them about how much degrees they have under their belt. No one forced us to consume water from Trinidad or to import beef patty from Florida, we may sign various agreements but we should have the discipline and common sense to make the right decisions for the good of the Nation, in the Nations interest.

1. Independence and Freedom means absolutely nothing without a strong sense Responsibility and Discipline. 
2. Equality, Social-Justice, Self-Reliance and Discipline are wonderful principles to live by and we should try to instil these principles back into our society.
3. Political Tribalism will be the death of us, as we are way too small and too poor to survive this crab in a barrel mentality.
4. Jamaica is a country with so much potentials, we could achieve so much as a people if we apply our selves but we do not think or operate as a collective, for the collective good.

More about → Emancipation Day, August 1st