(Started writing notes while on a plane and listening to music)
Don't be so judgmental
Don't be so hard on everything
Including yourself
It all meant more than I ever let on
Take a look back on the good moments and be truly thankful. They were all gifts.
Mind-Body-Soul
I wrote in the last entry that the three rarely meet and then "work together." All three, rare, but two of the three, often.
I've written a bit about ego and many other ideas along this line, I'm efforts to alter how you see the word "ego."
Many times we read it or hear it w a negative connotation, but that isn't accurate. Think of the word ego as a mask you can wear or a role you can play.
Imagine the ego as the minds mask that hides the soul.
Is it needed? In proper places, probably, but debatable.
So back to the top, Mind-Body-Soul... and why it's on my mind.... why it's all I see right now.
I don't know.
I just see people and I'm seeing more.
To me, our bodies are just tools for what the body and soul want and need. Maybe I subconsciously wrote BODY in the middle of "mind-body-soul," because there can be some tug of war happening.
On one side, we could talk about how the mind is our controller and give ourselves these traits of behavior and say "well I'm just a little ______," right?
The mind has this need to create "teams," and box in our thoughts so we feel like an individual.
But then we have to admit, the mind runs the show for most of us, probably 99.5% of the day.
The soul however, is searching for a different level. Where the mind is searching for control and order, to connect dots, the soul wants to be free and feel. The body and the mind can trap the soul.
Think of this.... do you know that thing you did where you didn't remember thinking about doing it? And I don't mean "driving to work," no one thinks about their actual drive, we just drive. I'm talking about a "dance."
The zone, flow state. When was the last time you moved your body in way that made you feel a way you almost can't explain, certainly not w one word?
Maybe dancing....
Maybe playing an instrument...
Maybe a kiss...
That was the soul finally running the show, right? And it felt like heaven. It felt effortless, it felt like the easiest thing ever and all the pieces just slid together like you're in the matrix.
(Damn, this would be so much better in person over some beers and tacos).
So pause.
My personal goal(s) is to find this state as often as possible. Is it an individual state? Can be, but can also be shared by a team of 2-100. Think about it.
Think about a yoga class, one that isn't run around pop music and a bunch of fortune cookie quotes, but how a yoga class was intended. Breathing w movement, in "line," w 30-50-100 others.... all w breath in line and actually meditating. I think there's some magic there and a state that can be found.
Thinking about the defense I coached this past season. I didn't write much during the season, I prefer the privacy. I really enjoy the conversations and moments and that it has its special space, the fields, no different than a yoga room or mat.
We had moments down the stretch where we peaked because they played without the mind. Their bodies moved automatically and not only were their souls assisting the body for their individual play, but there was one beat connecting all 11 guys. And it was absolutely beautiful. One of my most enjoyable moments as a coach, ever. I got to watch them from August, just kids, just good guys, and through time, through conversations (and some meditation), through a fire, they learned to get away from the "mind," and this is where they found pleasure.
This is why the tattoo reads "anything & everything." It's all the same to me.
(YouTube Dennis Rodman highlights, you'll see it nonstop, that's why I loved him so much. He's not thinking, he's playing basketball like Jimi Hendrix played the guitar).
I flew to AZ yesterday. So I had 5 hours to myself w no social media or game distractions. Just my book, my study materials for the new job and my music.
When I was a kid, if my parents weren't happy w my grades, they'd box up all my cassette tapes for the next grading period, even back then that was the only punishment that effected me.
So I'm flying.... and thinking... and decide to listen to some John Mayer. Now, you might be thinking of "your body is a wonderland," John Mayer, and if that's what you know, that really sucks. Mayer's guitar work is Hendrix meets B.B., sooooo soulful. Blues w some pop and just an electric sound that'll make you question a lot of choices. When he's riffing away, you can feel it... you can feel it's not his mind letting it loose w that tool (body and guitar), it's a deep, deep soul and he may admit he couldn't repeat things.
I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan. At one point I owned around 90% of those live bootlegs they released plus a good 20 of pirated cds and anything else I could find.
I could hear a version of Even Flow and know "Italy, 2001," for two reasons. 1) I'm a psycho about them and 2) the guitarist said "I don't know exactly what I'm playing... I know the song but then I go somewhere else."
Where?
The zone. Flow state. The soul taking over.
My point in this long winded, two thumbed rant (typing on the phone), is that we need to search for that x that help bring the soul out more often. We don't have to live in la la land, floating around and ignoring this reality on earth, but we also cannot live in our minds.
Let the bodies be the expression.
Open your mind and find that thing that sets a spark and makes your heartbeat skip one and you go "whoah... what was that jolt and can I have another?"
Right now, or today I guess, go do something that can help you find this feeling and try to tell me I'm wrong. Feel that feeling and tell me it isn't the best drug.
Mind off, soul on, let the body go and see what happens.
