Editor’s Note: Author Larry Indiviglia is Fitness Director at Coronado’s Island Fitness. At the time he wrote this article last August, Larry was undergoing his own Olympic struggle. In June, Larry, sick with a bout of the flu, passed out at the top of the stairs at his home. His son heard the midnight fall and found his dad, unconcious, at the base of the stairs. As he regained consciousness, Larry told his wife, a nurse, that there was no feeling in his hands or feet. “Don’t move!” she commanded, and Larry was rushed by ambulance to Mercy Hospital’s trauma unit. Fortunately, his spinal chord was not broken; subsequent surgery and Larry’s own rehabilatative therapy — and spirit — enabled him to return to his job as a trainer this October. Here, he shares his thoughts on the Olympic spirit and actions we can all take to embody them in our own lives.

On the eighth day of the eighth month (August) of the 2008th year, the XXIX Summer Olympiad opened in Beijing, China. Most of us watched in awe, as the world’s greatest athletes performed at the highest levels of their respective sports. Some biked, others threw, ran or jumped; still more swam, sailed, dove, danced. Some medaled: Gold, Silver or Bronze. None lost, all the athletes were winners. They were all winners because the Olympics are more than just sport. The Olympics is life imitating sport, and sport imitating life. The Olympic Creed, Flag, Flame and Motto symbolize this integration of sport and life, and when examined in further detail, illustrate how we are all Olympians in the Olympiad of life.

THE OLYMPIC CREED
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic games, developed the Creed partially from a sermon he heard by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London games:

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is to have not conquered but to have fought well.

Daily life is the every man and woman’s Olympics. We take part, we struggle, we overcome challenges and adversity. We have setbacks, we have successes, we train, we focus, we perform.

Action: For the next month, continue your good fight, your journey through life. Feel the passion, know your purpose, and experience the pleasure. Read the following affirmation in the morning upon rising, and before laying to rest at night: “I am an Olympian in the Olympiad of life. I will stay engaged, I will not give up, I will continue my journey and live a good life: I am a winner!”

THE OLYMPIC FLAG
It has been 88 years since the Olympic Flag debuted at the 1920 Games at Antwerp. Designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, it consists of five Rings — blue, yellow, black, green and red that represent the five continents of the world (Europe and Asia being one continent — Eurasia — and Antarctica not included). The Rings symbolize continuity and the human being, and are tied together by the white background of the Flag. As the Olympic Flag is displayed and flown, think of it as more than a symbol of athletes from five continents meeting together for physical competition. Visualize each Ring as a distinct center of your being: physical, psychological, spiritual, career, and family/social. Your emotional center acts as the “white” of the Flag in tying all of your other centers together. The Olympic Flag represents you: the person, continuous, flowing, one.

Action: Take inventory of your “centers.” Are you emotionally connected to all of your centers? Are they all integrated into your being? What centers need attention, perhaps change? Visualize yourself as a bold Olympic Flag, furling in a strong wind — there is balance, strength, movement, integration and congruence with the environment.

THE OLYMPIC FLAME
The Olympic Flame, reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, is lighted by the final “torch-bearer,” usually a special athlete of the host country. Its origins lie in ancient Greece, when a fire was kept burning, throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The Olympic Flame is a symbol of peace between the continents and the athletes. On a human scale, as it applies to everyday people, the Flame represents inner peace — an inner peace that permits you to focus, concentrate and display the poise of an Olympic athlete. One must achieve and experience true inner peace before outwardly projecting that peace to others.

Action: Light a candle each night. Take a few moments and reflect on your Inner Peace. Meditate, pray, listen to music, or practice visualization – feel peaceful. Concentrate on the involution of your soul – there will be a remarkable evolution of your spirit.

THE OLYMPIC MOTTO
The Olympic Motto is the headiatris — Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for “swifter — higher — stronger.” It was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin and was introduced in 1924 at the Paris Olympics (dramatically depicted in the Academy Award-winning Best Picture of 1981 “Chariots of Fire”). The motto suggests competition, but more so, hard work, focused training, goal-setting, a confluence of mind and body, boundless energy, a push for excellence, breaking down barriers, achieving peak performance. These actions are not restricted to the privileged domain of Olympic athletes. They are actions that any person can espouse: to feel better, believe they are better, and act better.

Action: As we close out the end of 2008, use this time to set some bold yet realistic goals for the year ahead; do not limit yourself. Write the goals down. Be courageous — seek a higher plane of living. Move swifter, strive higher, be stronger!

The Flame has been extinguished on the Beijing Olympics. The athletes’ time is over. Now it is your time — your Olympiad has just begun: Be an Olympian!

Larry Indiviglia, BS, MA, MBA is a free-lance writer and Fitness Director at Coronado’s Island Fitness. He can be reached at FITX77@aol.com.