Hi blog,
One more than halfway there! (Insert song here) Sorry, I had to hum a few lines of Bon Jovi. Shall we get on with it then?
Top Ten Zen
Andrew and Nick have compiled a list of Zen-like
philosophies comprised firstly of a quote, an interpretation of said quote, and
finally a story to drive their point home. This list can aid you in doing
anything from completing a 100-mile race to surviving cancer, or obtaining any
goal you set your mind to.
Here are the previous posts for those who missed them:
- The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- Body follows mind
- The faster you hurry, the slower you go
- You are not bound by your past
- Life is only available in the here and now
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| The author of every next "S" |
"You are the author of every next moment."
The Survivor’s Take: You
get to decide how to handle your future, no matter how glum or bleak it
looks. You can either choose to think poorly or you can resolve to think
positively in every next moment.
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The Runner’s Take: Events
are just events, nothing more. How you react to that climb, that descent or
that long stretch of road is entirely up to you.
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Survivor’s Tales: When I was first diagnosed with leukemia just three weeks
before I should have graduated high school, I was understandably a little
bummed out. After all…I had cancer! For the first day of officially being a
cancer patient I was numb and quiet and said next to nothing, just nodded
occasionally. However, by the next day I wrested my mental faculties away
from the shock and started to think about what would be happening to me.
“Well,” I told myself. “You can either be abjectly miserable and have a
crappy time, or you can approach this with a smile and a middle finger toward
your stupid bone marrow cells.” I opted for the second choice, and sought out
a silver lining. Well, I didn’t have to take any finals! No teacher would
dock points to poor ol’ me for not showing up to take the tests because I was
being pumped full of chemotherapy drugs. I seized upon that (amongst other
positives) and chose how I would feel in that next moment and all the ones
after it.
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Mountain Tales: 20 hours into Ronda del Cims I was coming off of
the backside of the longest climb of the race, Pic Negre. The trail was a
quad murdering combination of steep talus slopes, scattered rocks and cold
biting wind. I’d kept 5th place up until this point but I glanced
back and could see several runners closing in on me up from above. I took a
step forward and smashed my entire right foot sideways into a rock, knocking
it loose and groaning loudly as it whacked into my left ankle. Initially, it
hurt. But I immediately thought back to the above quote, “I decide.” I
whispered to myself. I tried hard and managed to forget about the pain.
I lifted my head up high and could feel my legs cramping and my stomach
growling. I loved running the descents back home, so what was the difference
now? “There isn’t one,” I told myself. Faking a smile, I drifted down into
the trees as the lights of my competition faded behind me.
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| Nick decides one finger is enough |
Of course, just because we are sharing our own extreme
examples does not mean that these philosophies are all strictly for extreme
situations. We share these because they can be used by anyone in the proper
situations and we invite you, dear reader, to take these helpful tips into the
world to use as you see fit. Feel free to hoard them or share them with others.
It is both of our hope that these do some good somewhere, and so we wish you
luck in your journey of a thousand Zen-filled steps.
Andrew Bundy
Nick Hollon
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