Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking And Be Antifragile

by Leave a Comment

Everyone wants to be indestructible like Superman! Do you say you don’t? Ok then, almost everybody wants to be indestructible. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen for you in this life.

On the other hand, you can make yourself antifragile by hiking mountains. In Taleb’s book, he says he likes deadlifts. They are good, but hiking is better!

Uneven Terrain

Mountains are not treadmills or even streets with hills. The surface is varied. Your body needs to adjust to rocks, stumps, mud, and blown down trees at times. This makes your body ready for anything.

The surface is varied as I said, but you are also going up for a long time and then down which adds even more variety to your workout.

Your Mind

If you walk around your neighborhood it is always the same neighborhood. Mountains change every week. A tree falls, a rock tumbles into the trail, and different people are on the mountain. Weather is typically more severe in the mountains. All these stimulate your mind and make it antifragile.

Just figuring out the logistics for a climb is a good exercise for your mind and keeps it strong.

Testing Yourself

Every time you climb a mountain it tests your ability. You find out of you still have what it takes. This contributes to you being antifragile. It surprises your body and mind.

If you are going to remain that way you need to test yourself over and over again. This is not a one-time thing or you will regress and become more fragile. You will break easily. Climb Different Mountains

This is something I need to work on more. I tend to hike the same mountains. It makes me more fragile. Last year I did climb some new ones so I became more antifragile that year, But I need to keep at it.

This is a good admonition for everybody. Change things up in your life. Drive a different way to work even if it takes a little longer. Change your routine.

Become ANTIFRAGILE! Go Hiking!

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty-Eight

by Leave a Comment

Jen Sincerco doesn’t seem to be shy. Her book’s title speaks to that. “You Are A Badass” carries an extroverted punch. Even the subtitle gets you excited to hear more. Look at this, “How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness And Start Living An Awesome Life.” See, it isn’t how to stop doubting yourself. That would be far too timid and shy.

This is a motivational book with lots of good reminders for all of us. As with most decent books it contains stories. The best one in this book is Jen’s.

Risk

Sincerco says she wanted to make money but also get over her fear and hatred of it. So she attended seminars and then hired a coach by running up credit card debt. Seems familiar to me. At least running up the credit card debt. But that is some serious risk-taking.

What would Sincerco say to that? Well, here is a quote, “If you want to live a life you’ve never lived you have to do things you’ve never done.”

All Of Us

We all have a conscious and subconscious mind. The problem is the subconscious mind has no filter. It takes in whatever you expose it to. Think of your brain as a house with no doors or locks and your subconscious as a room in it. Sincerco doesn’t explain it that way. I do. So, what if people were coming into the room in your house without you being aware of it. Then they start whispering in your ear and you start doing what they tell you to. Spooky.

Ok, back to Jen’s take on all this. She says the following:

“Our subconscious mind contains the blueprint for our life. It’s running the show based on the unfiltered information it gathered when we were kids, otherwise known as our “beliefs.”
We are for the most part completely oblivious to these subconscious beliefs the run our lives.
When our conscious minds finally develop and show up for work, no matter how big and highfalutin they grow up to be, they’re still being controlled by the beliefs we’re carrying around in our subconscious minds.”

Jen says that the first step is to become aware of these beliefs. Then later in the book, she goes deeper.

The Universe

Nobody in today’s secular world wants to use the word, God. In fact, Sincerco refers to the “G” word as if it is a profanity. How sad that is. However, she quickly translates “God” to “Universe” and “Source Energy,” and continues. So if you are a believer just translate it back again.

She says, “we are all connected to this limitless power.” Then she says “the Universe is made of source energy. All energy vibrates at a certain frequency. This means you’re vibrating at a certain frequency, and everything you desire and don’t desire, is also vibrating at a certain frequency. Vibration attracts like vibration.” That’s pretty good! She equates low frequency with negativity so we need to increase our vibration frequency. And then she tells us that, “The Universe will match whatever vibration you put out. You can’t fool the Universe.”

Finally, she says, “In order to truly raise your vibration you’ve got to believe the everything you want is available to you. And the best way to keep this belief strong is to stay connected to Source Energy.”

Self Perception

“It is just as easy to believe we’re awesome as it is to believe we are giant sucking things.” So as Chapter 6 says, “Love the One You Is.” No more self-deprecating humor. “Don’t compare yourself to others…Comparison is the fastest way to take all the fun out of life.”

“You are responsible for what you say and do. You are not responsible for whether people freak out about it.” “What other people think about you has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.”

Purpose

Here is one I really liked. “When we share what we were brought here to give, we are in alignment with our highest, most powerful selves.” Not sure what you are here to give. Take some action Jen says because action reveals things that thinking doesn’t.

“Tap into what brings you great joy instead of what you think you need to do to survive.” Great advice!

Thoughts and Beliefs

“Your thoughts and beliefs dictate your reality.” I sure wish I could remember that every second of every day. Whatever it is for you. Whatever your beliefs happen to be here is the truth: “AS LONG AS YOU FEED THE BEAST IT SHALL LIVE.” Capitalization is mine. She continues by emphasizing that you have to change the belief before the evidence will appear.

The more I learn about the brain, especially the subconscious, the more I am convinced of the above. Tony Robbins is big on “limiting beliefs.” He teaches you how to change them. The important thing to remember is to continue to change them and continue to condition yourself.

“Lead With Your Crotch”

Ok, Jen gets a little graphic. That is the title of chapter twelve. She is very funny. However, she makes some excellent points in this chapter.

She tells us to “just see what you can get away with.” I like that. It is a good philosophy for everyone but the criminals in society. Here is a good one, “Don’t just hand your life over to your circumstances like a little wuss. You can take your life wherever you want it to go, so go grab it by its nether regions and make doing the things you love a priority.” Can you imagine being married to a woman like this? That would be intimidating!

I loved this book and there is so much more in it. So go buy it now!

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty-Four

by Leave a Comment

This book by Barbara Hansen had a profound impact on me at a time when I was struggling so I am hoping it will be useful for you as well. With that in mind, I will highlight a few of my favorite parts of the book.

First, however, I think the author’s back story is important. She was paralyzed at 19 years old and spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair. She describes some of her challenges including getting out of bed every morning using an elaborate hoisting method. Then she loses her home in a storm. So she is very qualified to discuss overcoming adversity.

Internal Resources

Hansen’s main focus is on developing internal resources to handle life’s difficulties. She talks about creating a “steel core of spiritual strength. There are three important first steps she discusses: 1) Process the pain of the past 2) Choose our response to reality 3) Stop making ourselves victims. She says, “By changing our thoughts and attitudes we can modify our actions, habits.” This way we gain inner strength.

What I find interesting is that she does not tell you what attitudes you should have and says this depends on the individual as long as it “nourishes the soul and makes us better people.”

She says, “Memorizing inspirational and peaceful lines from poetry or scripture has given me the inner strength to get through life’s lousy times.” This is good advice. It does take a little bit of work to do the memorization, but it is worth it.

We All Count

Hansen quotes William George Jordan, in his book, “The Majesty of Calmness.” Jordan says, “ Man’s unconscious influence, the silent subtle radiation of his personality, the effect of his words and acts, the trifles he never considers, is tremendous. Every moment of life is changing to a degree the life of the whole world.” Consider that last statement! Every moment of your life is effecting the whole world! That is such an uplifting and serious thought. We all count.

Death, divorce, aging, being single are all reasons for feeling what Hansen calls, “terminally alone.” She calls for all of us to become aware and be the person for someone who feels alone.

Journaling and Books

Hansen doesn’t specifically discuss journaling, but she talks about “typing.” Here is what she says, “ At the end of the day I will often know that life is not right; something’s wrong. Having only this vague sense of discontent, I’ll not be sure exactly what I am feeling or why I am feeling it, but I know something is corrupting my peace of mind. Typing helps me pull my emotions outside of myself and place them onto the screen. The longer I type the clearer my feelings and ideas become, my paper psychiatrist has helped me face, sift through, and deal with the emotional pain that has periodically pounded my life. As thing gives form and focus to my ideas and feelings, I find I am no longer in the clutches of discontent. Talking to my paper psychiatrist gives me a clear awareness of what it feels like to be me.” She says this so much better than I did in my book, but it is one of four things that helped me deal with adversity. I called it journalling and she calls it typing, but it is the same.

She says books give her strength and pleasure. “The insights and inspiration I get from books “refill my pitcher” when my pitcher gets empty.” So grab a book. It can make a difference.

Faith

Hansen says that “faith in God gives us a desire not only to live but to live well unless we believe being alive makes the world a better place, we are going to have a hard time getting in touch with our spiritual core; unless we have faith in our own uniqueness, we’ll find it difficult to to have faith in a power higher than ourselves.”…”This faith in our personal spiritual value gives us staying power when life hands us rotten reality.”

I love the final sentence in her book after she discusses the importance of spirituality as an anchor in everyone’s life and the hope it gives us. Then she says, “This hope isn’t the certainty that life will turn out well; it’s the belief that life makes sense regardless of how it turns out.”

Bookish Weapon Number Twenty

by Leave a Comment

From now on I am going to see if I can tie my hiking post in with the book I am discussing. So this time I picked, “Claim Your Power, by Mastin Kip. It is a powerful book. There is no doubt about that. I got a lot out of it. Do I agree with everything in the book? No.

It is, as the subtitle says, “A 40 day journey to dissolve the hidden blocks that keep you stuck and finally thrive in your life’s unique purpose.” Here are some of the best ideas.

Finding Your Purpose

This was one of the best parts of the book. Kipp has you pay attention to your heart and then he says to remember when you were a child and ask the following question. “What is the earliest, happiest memory I can remember? Then accept the first memory that comes to mind. Then write it down and ask yourself the following: “Who was in the memory? What did I believe about life in that moment?” Then think a bit about that. Then ask what the next happiest memory followed by the same questions just mentioned. Then you repeat the entire process again and again and again. With the last one he has you list a most recent happy memory with the same followup questions.

Next you write down each of the five memories again. Then you go through a process of finding the emotions behind each memory. Then he drills down to your two “primary emotions.” You need to get the book!

Finally he has you fill in the blank for this statement: “I was born to_____myself and my Higher Power, and feel the ______that results while inspiring others to feel the same.”

How about that! Pretty powerful I think. I have done similar exercises where you go back to your childhood and I think they are very good at getting to who you are at your core.

This book is full of exercises to help you.

Your Soul’s Mission

Another section in the book takes you through the process of discovering your mission. It is very good. It s about how your purpose driven goals align with your Soul’s mission and discovering your special gift. He says it is what comes easy to you and I ask, what if nothing come easy to me? But that is another story. I liked some of the questions such as, “How can I turn my goals into a mission greater than myself?

If you, like me, say that nothing comes easy to you, one of the things you might consider which is not discussed in this book is a “talent stack.” It is a stack of skills that you might not find easy but you are pretty good at. If you want to know more about this stack check out the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams. That is how he became successful.