It’s time for a guest post. Occasionally, I feature tips and stories from other individuals who have helpful input about the mental side of fitness, training and life. All of the other posts on this site are written about me, so I like to share different perspectives (especially so that you don’t get too tired of my voice). I select witty and honest pieces, that give insight and advice.
Enjoy this post by Mark Denicola from CollectiveEvolution.com.
“There are countless movies we could all think of that feature a great deal of truth, consciousness and even powerful messages. One of the movies on that list, and one of my personal favorites is Peaceful Warrior starring Scott Mechlowicz and Nick Nolte. Based on a book written by Dan Millman, which was based on a true life story,
Peaceful Warrior is a powerful movie experience that I more than recommend to all of you that have not seen it yet. As a nice supplementary piece to the film however I have decided to put together a list of lessons that I took from the film and would like to share with you all.
- Old mentalities and past experience define our limitations – Who ever said that the highest you could jump was to barely touch the bottom of the mesh on your basketball net? Was it the set in stone voice of your heart/ soul? Or was it just what you have done the last few times you tried? Too often we let past results dictate what our bodies can and cannot do, rather than simply being in each attempt as a completely separate experience.
- Rushed/ busy mentality prevents us from experiencing the moment – We all lead busy lives. Lives that often result in us multi-tasking (eating on the go, talking while we work, etc.) This lesson simply reminds us to take some time to actually fully experience one thing at a time. No matter how mundane or complicated the task we might just be surprised by how much it has to offer when we fully give ourselves to it.
- Don’t run away from defeat, in fact stop evaluating everything as a win or a loss (success/ failure) – In the human experience we take something out of everything. It just seems to be a lot easier to value and enjoy what we take when it gets coupled with a favorable result. Imagine we didn’t evaluate all of our results and instead focused on what we took from the experience regardless.
- There is never nothing going on – Boredom. We’ve all experienced it at times to varying degrees. The truth of the matter is even in those most boring of moments there is plenty going on. Next time you find yourself bored take the time to truly observe your surroundings, realize that your very existence alone is quite the thing to be going on, and see if anything in particular calls for you to get involved with.
- Society/ media/ others love to thrust limitations on us, they only become true if we accept them – People can say whatever they want and say that its based on whatever they choose to credit it to. It only becomes a true part of your reality if you truly accept it. Think about the countless number of people who have defied what we previously thought possible, imagine if they let our previous definition of it not being possible stop them from showing us otherwise.
- Everything has a purpose, it’s up to us to find it – Even the most difficult, challenging or emotionally engaging experiences in life have a greater purpose and servitude to our existence. It’s our choice whether we want to look internally and find it or continue to dwell on the outward experience it created..
- Don’t give up what you love, find love in what you do – The idea of giving up something that you love only stems from a disappointment in how it has worked out thus far. Rather than letting the past bury you, find the love in what you do and realize that no matter how it plays out it is a part of you.
- “What if I can’t do it?” That’s the future, throw it out – All we have and can impact is this moment. Why would we let thoughts about a future moment hold us back from doing something that in this moment we would like to do.
Whether all of these lessons were intended to be shared through the book/ film or not, they definitely stood out for me.”
Mark Denicola is a writer for the Joined the Collective-Evolution site. He joined their team in 2010 as a Writer, Director & Admin. Feel free to e-mail him with any questions, comments or to just connect: [email protected] — Check out his new CE YouTube series ‘These Guys’ featuring myself and Joe Martino of the CE team. — Visit his website: www.mark-denicola.com
Have you seen this movie?
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