As the aging clock continues to tick away, the body really starts to feel all of our mistakes from the past. Worn out knees that don’t like to bend much anymore, to ears that were exposed to too much rock and roll and shotgun blast. Whatever the past culprits are in your life, I’m sure you will agree it s _ _ _ s! For you younger readers, just you wait!

One of culprits from my past is posture, or should I say lack of good posture. A life time of walking, running, standing and sitting can be rough habits to change. As a forester, always walking through heavy brush, I never got the tracts that look like National Parks; I have come to discover that I walked through the woods much like a fullback running through the line of scrimmage.

When a fullback runs through the line of scrimmage, he has his head down, his body is bent over, so he stays low. A low center of gravity makes it more difficult to knock him off his course. Foresters do it to fend off briars and to prevent eating too many spiders. Once through the line, the fullback lifts his head, spots the open field, turns on the after burners, and dashes towards the goal line.

The problem I had was once I was out of the woods, my walking posture didn’t change. When I was younger, the body adapted. Today, there is no adoption! I think every muscle in my body has to be re-trained to accommodate a better posture and a better back. With all that being said, I was walking the other day, it was a long day, and I noticed my head dropping to days of old. I kept telling myself, “head up … head up.”

Then of course, as I often do, I wondered: How often as we walk, run/walk through life, do we put our heads down, our bodies bent over ducking and dodging the obstacles of life so as not to get knocked off course? We can become so accustom to this posture that we become stuck there, forgetting to lift our heads, looking for that open field, never getting a chance to turn on the after burners and race towards the goal line.

Jane and I hope that you will take the time in your life to check your posture – is your head up? Are you able to spot that small piece of open field that’s out there? Once you spot it, run, run as fast as you can to your goal line.

We assure you, the only time cows lift their heads is to stare, and momma said, “that isn’t polite.”

Don’t be a Cow! Lift your head, look around and check your posture!

Joe