Uncovering your 'highest self' is one of the objectives of this site. Today, I want to discuss how pursuits in the Athletic Arts can profoundly influence your trajectory on the path to your highest self, but also how they can easily move you in the wrong direction.
At their root, athletics are practice for life. It doesn’t matter what sport it is – each of them have their own challenges and lessons.
Every single one of these lessons transfers over to life, and currently I am focusing on being mindful of that fact.
When your boss or best friend is angry with you and loses their temper, you should be able to breathe deeply, control your nervous system, and know that it's nothing compared to what you have been through in your sport. You should be able to call upon calmness, see the field as it is and focus only on the task at hand - how to best handle the attack from your boss or friend, and use your positive energies to transform theirs as well, making them better people in the process. The idea carries over to all sorts of stressful life-situations.
It seems to me that quite often we forget the reasons that we involve ourselves in sports. It is easy to get caught up in 'being the best' at our sport, achieving a personal goal, or forgetting to practice the valuable lessons that we learn from our sports outside of the sports themselves.
This week, try to be mindful of this idea, and see if it helps you enjoy your sport more, forgive yourself when you fail at a sport-oriented goal, and to become your highest self.
What sport do you partake in, and how has it brought you closer to your highest self?
- - Yogies learn to control their nervous system and breathe deeply under incredibly physically stressful poses.
- - Climbers learn to overcome their fear and move purposefully and deliberately up the wall.
- - Ultra-runners push past pain to reach a ‘zone’ state in which they transcend earthly needs and pain and that can even take them on 'vision quests'.
- - Quarterbacks and linemen alike learn to work together seamlessly for a greater cause.
- - Golfers learn to play the wind – they recognize that, as Steven Pressfield notes, “A level playing field exists only in Heaven.” (from The War of Art)
Every single one of these lessons transfers over to life, and currently I am focusing on being mindful of that fact.
When your boss or best friend is angry with you and loses their temper, you should be able to breathe deeply, control your nervous system, and know that it's nothing compared to what you have been through in your sport. You should be able to call upon calmness, see the field as it is and focus only on the task at hand - how to best handle the attack from your boss or friend, and use your positive energies to transform theirs as well, making them better people in the process. The idea carries over to all sorts of stressful life-situations.
It seems to me that quite often we forget the reasons that we involve ourselves in sports. It is easy to get caught up in 'being the best' at our sport, achieving a personal goal, or forgetting to practice the valuable lessons that we learn from our sports outside of the sports themselves.
This week, try to be mindful of this idea, and see if it helps you enjoy your sport more, forgive yourself when you fail at a sport-oriented goal, and to become your highest self.
What sport do you partake in, and how has it brought you closer to your highest self?
