Sometimes the best way to be helpful isn’t to ask how you can be helpful.
…It’s to look for what needs to get done and to get to work helping to get it done.
This is as true when you’re being temporarily hosted by a family member who’s doing it all as it is when you’re being temporarily hosted by this planet who’s being exploited for it all.
P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.
As a martial arts instructor, it’s important I keep my body in good health so I can lead by example, demonstrate proper techniques, and perform when needed.
Building resiliency in my body so I’m able to do that, however, doesn’t mean I avoid anything and everything that might lead to injury—under the guise that if I never do anything hard, I’ll never get hurt, and if I never get hurt, I’ll be “resilient” and able to keep performing.
Building resiliency actually means I expose myself to all the challenges (in a smart, healthy way) so that my body can adapt and prepare for more of the same the next time.
Sheltering ourselves from things that are hard doesn’t make us more resilient—it only makes us more vulnerable to injury. Because eventually, as we avoid challenge, our bodies become frail, and frail bodies are the ones that are injury prone. Plus, it’s harder to recover an injured frail body because it’s weak all over—not just in the injured area.
The resilient person does hard things often; things that are uncomfortable and challenging; things that frequently push their body to its limits. And when they’re smart and deliberate about it—it leads to armor, not injury. Armor that allows them to lead by example, demonstrate high level techniques, and perform with their full life force when needed…
Because they’re strong all over.
P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.
Most of us allow our insecurities to taunt us and control our mind:
Those who can make the mental switch from being taunted by their insecurities to being guided by them, however, will unlock not only a more rewarding path forward to follow, but will simultaneously eliminate “bugs” from their system that were misguiding them all along.
What does being guided by insecurities look like?
P.s. My guide, The Art of Forward (Direction > Speed), was written to help you take a closer, more complete look at doing precisely what’s discussed above: calibrate your inner compass. More info here.
There is an intimate connection between learning something new and presence.
Lately, I’ve been finding myself entering deep, meditative-type states when doing tasks that are completely novel to my normal routine.
I’ve been learning new martial art styles, playing organized basketball, doing Baptiste yoga… and in each situation find that because I have to hyper focus on the minutiae, my mind empties of all other thoughts.
When I’m carefully coordinating strikes with blades in my hands, or trying to read the defense as I lead an offensive play on the court, or try and move my body in accordance with a class of perfectly in-sync seemingly preprogrammed yoga robots… it’s as though there isn’t enough computing room for anything else.
It’s when I’m in that fully immersed space, as a beginner, where I’m able to keenly focus on what’s happening, where I am, through all of my senses. Which, coincidentally, leaves me in a much better place to handle whatever was on my mind before as it gives my brain a rest, a recharge, and a boost into the rest of the day.
Would recommend.
Imagine you had a GPS system that slowly lost its calibration.
When freshly updated, it’s precise to the centimeter.
But, when left ignored too long, it starts deviating in miles.
This is how our inner GPS system works. It’s not a calibrate “once-and-done” kind of system. It’s more like your smart phone and needs frequent software updates to keep it precise and up-to-date.
Now, you don’t need to do every single update (I know I don’t). But, if you skip too many update opportunities… that’s when centimeters start turning into feet which start turning into meters with start turning into miles…
The difference between outdated phones and inner GPS systems is you won’t be able to notice an outdated inner compass as easily. The only way to check the inner calibration of your compass is to do careful and deliberate inner work. Which is, in many ways, counter-modern-culture.
If you can’t remember the last time you calibrated, it’s likely you’ve skewed off course—and possibly in a big way. How much can only ever be determined by you.
This isn’t to say that inner calibration is needed every day—but, it sure doesn’t hurt to do some calibration daily.
The bottom line to meditate on today is this: inner calibration needs to be a regular priority—are you making it one? …Because the destination of your life depends on it.
P.s. Need help calibrating your inner compass? The guide I recently created, The Art of Forward, can help.