Creating Myself in the New Year

Once again it is the beginning of a new year. At least for those of us that consider this New Year's Day and consider the passing of one day to be a good time to look into the new year. Often the new year brings both celebration and resolutions. Resolutions are those things we plan on doing in the new year. Instead of doing something this year I decided to be something this year. Instead of creating a resolution I decided to create myself as a possibility for the year. ...

Last year I did have a resolution. Like many new year's resolutions, I didn't do what I said I would do. Looking back at last year's resolution I realize that I am out of integrity and decided that the reason was in my being.

My being around last years resolution was that getting back in the wrestling ring would be a good idea and that I would have some fun doing it. However, that isn't far off from my being in most of life. So for the past few weeks I have been doing some digging around inside of myself trying to find a being that excites me and would call me to be the true me who often gets covered up by being reasonable.

Today, I am creating myself as the possibility of love, being extraordinary in the face of no agreement. For many people who have not taken some of the ontological courses and seminars put on by Landmark Education this might make very little sense so let's take it apart. Though it is very possible you can understand this from your own life experiences.

Creating myself...
Often times we think to ourselves,"I am who I am". When asked to explain who we are it requires us to use words. Different people might use different words to describe us. So to different people who use words other than those we would use, we are actually different people. Sometimes, other people's perspectives on who we are can change our own perspective on ourselves. In that way, other people create who we are. For me to create myself I just declare who I am with words for other people to read.

...as the possibility...
To be a possibility allows you to not only be something( i.e. generous, loving, compassionate ) but to also be a space for it. Being a possibility calls you into being and yet makes it okay if sometimes you forget yourself. Other people around you are often times drawn into your possibility.

...of love,
I've heard love described many ways. I've watched a lot of romantic comedies and heard all of the cliches about love. When I say love it means accepting people for who they are and for who they are not. This is what some people who do not use this definition might call unconditional love because by its very nature it can not be conditional. Acceptance is a powerful possibility to stand in.

being extraordinary...
This could also be said "being unreasonable( with myself )." I use being extraordinary because it calls to me more powerfully. Often in life the only thing that stops us is ourselves. We make up reasons that don't really matter to keep ourselves from taking actions that could have a positive impact on our lives. Being reasonable keeps us from making the simplest of requests. To be extraordinary I am required to be unreasonable, especially with myself.

...in the face of no agreement
In being a new possibility we find that people in our lives often act as roadblocks. They say words like no, can't, impossible and that can be pretty difficult to deal with. So its important to remember all the ways we can move forward in the face of no agreement. One way is to do it yourself. This is the most difficult way to get things done but sometimes it is the only way to go. Another way to move forward is to find people who agree with whatever it is you are trying to do. This is a good option as well. You could listen to the people saying no and find out why. Perhaps they can support your possibility in some other way. The most powerful way to move forward is to enroll other people in your possibility. Make other people believe in your dreams. Then they will be driven forward even when you are not around. While this may be the easiest way to get things done( related to your possibility ) it can also be the most difficult to accomplish. However, by being a powerful possibility you can be the space for amazing things to occur.

Originally posted by Socrates:

To be is to do

Who I am is the possibility of love, being extraordinary in the face of no agreement

Biased/Edited Media

The following video shows a clip that aired on CNN's Death Grip:Inside Pro Wrestling

Now the WWE has been bit before by media agencies that edit what the wrestlers say so that it comes across more incriminating. I believe Mick Foley mentioned in one of his books how he should have had a WWE camera at the taping so that the true version could be available for people. Read on for the unedited version from the WWE camera. ...

In CNN's defense, Cena did say this in regards to the question. However, the reason he answered that was missed because it was edited out. Not to mention they did not show the first thing he answered after the question was asked, "Absolutely Not."

While I may have lauded John Cena for making it through his match with a torn pectoral muscle, I am not a Cena fan. As big as Cena is, he seems naturally built compared to a lot of others. Including, I'll admit, my favorite Triple H a few years back. However, the media is required by ad revenue to make stories more selacious. They need people to talk around the water cooler about the subject. This is just one more example of the requirement in this world to look past what appears to be truth to see what is actually there. To do this requires that we think for ourselves and question everything.

Inspiration

Often times, inspiration comes when and where you are not looking for it. Inspiration may unearth a desire for you to take actions you have not yet taken. You may have noticed that much of my inspiration recently has come from parkour. Once again I found inspiration in parkour, but parkour isn't the only inspiration that came to me. ...

I found this recent inspiration on AmericanParkour.com. Demon, a traceur and member of the tribe from Colorado, got a chance to train in France with some of the Yamakasi. Not only did he get to go on this parkour pilgrimage, but he took the time to write about his account of the training.

Some of the inspiring parts of his post came from the way the yamakasi trained. Thinking of doing a drill eleven times as really doing 10 + 1. Making sure to do difficult movements at least 3 times instead of just once to prove to yourself that you can. Thinking that the real training, much of it mental, comes after you are physically tired. The usefulness of training by yourself or with others. This was all great information that has inspired me to train more intensely.

The suprising inspiration came not from parkour, but from the writing of the article. Many of my posts, including this one, are written fairly quickly while I have a break during the day. From reading many other postings online, it looks like most people do the same thing - even for professional sites. Demon's article was different. He obviously put a lot of time into organizing his thoughts and putting together an article that many different people could read and get something from. His writing of that article inspired me to work towards writing better posts in my own blog.

So as I go onto my 100th post, I will take the time and improve my writing ability. Even short articles can have a little extra time expended on them to polish them up.

Amazing!

I finally got to see the match where John Cena injured himself. I am not a fan of Cena, but I don't hate him either. Before this match I had respect for him. He is a tweener. And most tweeners don't get the sort of fan reaction he does. People either really love him or they really hate him, there is very little indifference. That is good business, and this match proved why he has been on top for so long, you can count on him. ...

I saw the match and his injury happened very early. It was a simple arm drag, but for Triple H it was just a simple step that sent him away to surgery. The match then went on for quite some time after that, and John Cena put up a convincing show while working with what he had left. He even did a back suplex that looked quite painful given the state of his shoulder. Making his STFU work for the finish, brilliant. My respect for Cena is way up.

However, it wasn't one person who made that match good despite such a drastic injury. First of all there was his opponent, Mr. Kennedy. Once he knew what was going on he did a great job of working him over, without messing with his arm at all. Then there is Orton, who also did a great job of taking care of Cena and still putting on a great show. Many people may not notice but this kind of thing is where the referees of the WWE really shine. He made sure both Kennedy and Orton were aware of the situation and taking care of Cena. Even Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross did a good job of not bringing attention to it and putting the focus on the actions that were taking place.

Bravo, the entertainers in the WWE are amazing.

Strength Training without a gym

Having been a personal trainer I get asked the question, "What should I do to get in shape?". Well that or one of many variations. Often I focus on the philosophy and psychology of training over the physical act. Training doesn't require any specific exercise to be done right. In fact, what is right for one person may be wrong for another. Some people don't have the money for, or have enough discipline to train without, a gym. It can take some creativity, but bodyweight exercises are the easiest way for someone to start getting in shape. ...

Some well known body weight exercises are:

• Pushups
• Pullups
• Crunches / Sit ups
• Squats

Going back to the psychology of working out, workouts are most successful when they are fun. Doing the above four exercises only is not going to be much fun in the long haul. So it takes some creativity and some times a little inspiration from others. Here is a video of some parkour enthusiasts showing their form of strength training, maybe it will inspire you.

So be creative, have some fun and move your body. That is what you can do to get into shape.

Failure is the BEST option

The cliché says,"Failure is not an option". In some very rare occasions this is probably a good mindset to have. Most of the time, however, failure is the best option. We should try to fail, and fail as big as we can.

I'm not saying that failure is all you should ever do, but it is a great tool to success. Watching my two sons grow up is a treat to watch. They are experts at failing, and learning from it - as all children are. When a child is learning to walk, they fall down a lot. What if the first time a child tried to stand up and subsequently fell down they decided to never try again? Or worse yet, what if they never even tried to stand up in the first place because they don't know how? Nobody would walk. We can learn a lot from children. ...

Sometimes we need to try stuff and fail at it to get a good look at a problem. Take for example someone starting parkour. They might try a vault and come crashing down in any number of ways. Many people might decide right then and there not to try again. Some people, might think to themselves "What went wrong?" and "What do I need to do to make that vault?". Still other might just keep on trying to get a some more looks at the problem.

The people who give up might do so because they are nothing like the people they see in parkour videos. They might watch video after video of people who make it look easy. The truth is those traceurs and traceuses bite it once in a while too. In fact one of parkour's founders, David Belle, is in a great video that showcases this point.

Watch the great David Belle fall on a simple( for him ) vault.

Everyone who has ever succeeded, has failed at the same task. Nothing comes so natural to people that they don't have to learn. Everyone starts out as a blob with flailing appendages and very little control. But we also don't think failure is a bad thing until we get a little older. Sure, it is sad to fail or watch someone fail, but it is inspiring to be or to watch someone turn failure around and into success. Be inspiring, fail.

Where's the wellness list?

The most recent controversy for the WWE involves "The List". A list of wrestlers who purchased products from Signature Pharmacy. Signature Pharmacy is the pharmacy under investigation before the Benoit tragedy that now has many, many microscopes on it. The people on this list are either dead, fired, suspended or losing current pushes. Personally, I think the WWE could do well to take all the steps necessary for the public to believe in the companies wellness program. These suspensions and firings are a good start but I've been paying attention to politics enough lately that I don't think it is the right tact for addressing the issue to the fans ( and some intelligent non-fans ). ...

Where is the wellness list? Where is the list of wrestlers who just work their asses off day in and day out and entertain the fans? Where is the list of wrestlers who failed the program and have worked hard to get clean. Where is the list of wrestlers who are on prescription drugs and the medical reasons they are on them?

That last one is definately unlikely, due to privacy issues, but the idea is transparency. The wwe needs to create a website called WWEwellness.com ( it is currently available ) and not only be responsible ( which they say they are being ) but show it clearly and irrefutably. If people refute it, take the necessary steps to cover the point that was brought up.

Steroids and other drug use has plagued the WWE since before it dropped the "F" for and "E". It has probably been an issue since there was an extra "W" as well. However, in those days people didn't know the dangers of some of the drugs that are being found now. In some ways, the drug use is a tradition that has been passed down from a time when people didn't know any better. Now we know better and it is going to take some serious growing pains to get clear of it.

Having been a wrestler, I know many people who think you can only make it if you are big, and that you can only get big through steroid use. I don't agree, even though the widebodies do tend to take center stage at the WWE. Any changes for the better will be uncomfortable for the WWE writers. However, I have faith that the talent, writers and everyone else involved are more than capable of coming up with something even better than they have now. Even better because they don't have this cloud constantly hanging over their heads. Plus the psychology used in the sport will be even better because that will, once again, be the focus.

Improving Your Vision

No, this post isn't about laser eye surgery. Instead it is about improving your ability to see possibility. In order to do this I'm going to take you along my own recent journeys into training for parkour. Since the philosophies of the art of movement relate so well to the rest of life, let's learn a little bit that we may have just forgotten. ...

When I first came across parkour I looked at moving from point A to point B a little differently. All of the sudden I started to wonder, "How else could I get there". From my initial introduction, I learned to at least look for other ways.

I started to take a look at how to start training for parkour. AmericanParkour.com has a page called "How Do I Get Started" and a section with tutorials on practical movements( members only, but its free ). After reading these I started wondering, how was I going to be able to practice? When would I have time? Where can I go? I was blocked by my current level of vision. I could not see any possibilites, and I was stopped.

I kept going back to the pages and kept re-reading how to get started and the tutorials. I was also reading some good articles. One great that inspired me was "The Beginner's Mind". Watching my children learn everything they know from nothing has always been a pleasure. As we grow up, we stop learning from nothing and start to avoid knowledge we don't already posess. I got inspired to approach this from a child's mind and start from knowing nothing. There is only one place to go from there. All of the sudden things became clear. I shouldn't be able to do anything, I've never trained parkour before. Maybe I should learn to land first ( the same instructions from the "How Do I Get Started" article ). There are lots of places to jump down from.

So one day at work, I used my lunch break to go outside and practice landing. It went well. I was having fun. I got excited, tried a Kong Vault and landed on my hand. Having worked to gain weight as a wrestler, I was just over 230 pounds and most of that weight came down on my hand hard. I don't think I broke it, but it hurt for a couple weeks before I could use it normally again. All of the sudden I was asking my wife to open jars for me :).

That didn't stop me though. I could still practice the basic landing, without using my hand too much. So I did. Eventually, I got bored of landing and stopped practicing. I didn't know how to move on from that point. Once again, I was stopped by my current level of vision. Where was I going to train? When was I going to train?

In the featured articles section of AmericanParkour.com, there are a line of articles called Demon's Drills. These are some great ways of how to improve your physical and mental training towards parkour. They were all inspiring, but The one that got me moving was Muscle Ups and a related follow up Theme Training. Muscle ups were something I thought I could find somewhere to perform, at least a modified version. I started doing a few while playing with my kids at the park, which I am doing more now that I am training. However, I didn't feel I could train it enough to make that much difference. I wished there were some way I could do it at my gym. Well, the universe provided me that wish. I came in one Monday and they had moved some of the equipment around. This forced me to look at workouts just differently enough that I saw an opportunity to do modified muscle ups on the smith machine. This was great because I could start at a lower height that I felt comfortable with and then move the bar as high as it would go. It was a great plyometric workout and my vision improved.

Soon after starting this exercise, I started looking around where I live and work. One day I walked from the gym to work ( which I do from time to time ) and started to see more training possibilities than I had ever seen before. Ledges to do muscle ups and possibly kong vaults ( I still was a bit leary of that ). That day, I took my lunch break outside for some training. As I was moving around doing different muscle ups on the ledges, I ran up to a shorter ledge and popped myself up to the top without even thinking about it! It was almost a Kong Vault, and I believe it was higher than the place I hurt myself before. I was stoked, but my lunch hour was over so I would have to wait.

The next day, my wife needed the car so I would need to walk from the gym to work again. Insead of having her just drop me off at work, I asked her to let me drop my bags off at the office first. Then when I walked to work from the gym I had nothing keeping me from trying out some kongs, wall runs and tic-tacs. My lunch break consisted of this too. This is where I currently am and now I am consciously trying to improve my vision. Now I'm looking for the next obstacle for me to overcome. I've seen new places around work that I didn't even know existed. I'm still a novice and I most likely move slower and do less than many traceurs and traceusses out there, but that doesn't matter. Parkour is more an approach than certain movements, a philosophy to life that is practiced through the art of movement.

Below, I've linked a video put together by Demon of Demon's Drills called Vaults 102. Its a bit more than the basics ( it is a 102 class after all ) and it approaches vaults in an interesting way for improving your ability to overcome obstacles ( vision or ability to see possibility ).
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opUoIXgEdAk]
The good part is at the end, putting it together into a flow. Even more so, the good part is the text at the end of the credits, which you don't see in this version but here is a link to the full .wmv file at AmericanParkour.com.

Moving from point A to point B will never be the same.

A page I like to look at from time to time is called, interesting thing of the day. Recently it had an article on parkour, which I found extremely interesting. What is parkour? And why do I find it so intriguing? ...

If you check out the wikipedia article on Parkour, it says:

(Le) Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) or l'art du déplacement[1] (English: the art of displacement) is a physical art of French origin, the aim of which is to move from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body.

That sounds neat. As I have mentioned before I am drawn to things of french origin. I am also an artist and appreciate it in many forms. As a wrestler and former personal trainer the bit about using the abilities of the human body was a bonus. Given that hat trick I had to check it out for myself.

Being the true netizen that I am I promptly made my way to the google video search ( which I have "v" set up in my address bar to do the search in Opera ) and put in Parkour. There are many great videos there that show it as an art and/or philosophical practice as well as videos showing how bad ass people think they are. Then of course there are David Belle videos. Being one of the creators of the parkour movement he obviously has some great practice. He does a good job of showing off both sides of the art.

Here is a great documentary showing off some of the movements in a small space that people use to train:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkHPQPozDRs]

Here is a clip of David Belle in action from the french movie District 13:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01du2W6VJis]

If you are interested in finding out more and you live in the US, a good place to start is American Parkour dot com. On another note, if my sister or any other Madonna fans are reading this - parkour was featured in Madonna's "Jump" video.

Ok smartypants, what's your answer?!

Last week I wrote a blog article about snopes.com. The idea for the posting came from an e-mail I received regarding another gas-out. As stated in my post, I replied to the e-mail explaining the misconceptions of this e-mail. The person who sent it to me was my wife and she didn't quite appreciate the know it all attitude I probably took in my response. This morning on the way to work the topic came up again and I tried to make my point again. Basically the conversation came down to her asking me, "Well, then you come up with an idea that will lower the price of gasoline". Well, I guess I asked for it but here is my online rebuttal. ...

If you checked out the articles about the gas out at snopes.com, you might have come to the realization that this idea does not affect the oil supply chain as mentioned in the e-mails. If you read the articles and allowed oil consumers, and thus yourself, to be fallible, you realized a gas out doesn't work because you aren't willing to take on a hardship to show how much it means to you. In order to make a difference that the oil companies would notice, you have to reduce your own consumption of gasoline and assist others in doing the same. Many of these ideas are already out there so I don't need to come up with them myself.

• Ride a bike to work( or walk/jog ) - In this way you limit the influence the gas companies have on your daily mode of transportation. How much do you spend each week in gasoline? How much does a bike and all the accompanying paraphenalia cost? How long would it take to pay off if you aren't buying as much gas? Don't forget, you'll be keeping yourself in better shape as well.
• Car Pool - This takes a certain amount of organization, but it can help. If you work in a company that has a lot of people, or even in an area where a lot of people work this may already be set up. This might not only help you save money in gasoline but also help make new friends and acquaintances.
• Ride the Bus - Or some other method of mass transportation. Bigger cities usually have better mass transit options, the more of us that take advantage of them can only have them improve though. Some mass transit options don't even use gasoline for energy! Get involved and we can have better options in mass transportation.
• Use a car with good gas mileage - Don't fool yourself on what good gas mileage is either. Less than 30 miles per gallon might be good for a 6 or 8 cylinder but nobody said get good gas mileage for a sports car. If you must buy a vanity car, there are options in electric cars out there, but they are still pricey at this point.

There are definately other ideas as well but the main point is use less gas. When it comes to a true boycott, you end up taking on a hardship to make your point. During the civil rights movement bus boycotts and sit ins weren't convenient to the people participating in them, they were hardships they took on. By taking on these hardships people finally started to take notice, usually because it hit them in the pocketbook. If you want to make the oil companies realize you don't like their pricing strategies, take on the hardship of not buying, or in reality buying less of, their products. While your at it, assist others in doing the same. That will lower gas company profits which will make them change their ways. Of course, if you change yours, you might never go back :)

Since there are other ideas out there. Please share your ideas in the comments. Anonymous posts are accepted, but please respect the other readers.