This post might seem a little depressing. In truth, it's kind of a mini-series within the series, so it ties into a much happier and uplifting post! Don't worry, everything works out...look, a meditating kitty! See? Told you.
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| Hopefully this makes up for the semi-depressing post |
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
- You are the author of every next moment
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| Nick on the verge of deciding he wanted to quit life |
"Your own worst enemy lies within."
The Survivor’s Take: Nothing hurts you more than your own negative
thoughts.
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The Runner’s Take: The
mind is the culprit of quitting.
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Survivor’s Tales: After suffering through cancer and GVHD and just
barely escaping from the hospital with my life by the thinnest edge, you
would assume that I would be thrilled to be out in the world, that I gained a
new appreciation of life. No. Instead, I looked at the scars and my bloated
figure and felt an intense black hatred for myself bursting through to infest
any hints of happiness and gratitude that dared poke its head up. As a result
of this self-loathing, I began to heavily abuse my medications in an attempt
to blot out conscious thought and all the pain that came with it. I could
have chosen to be happy about surviving, but instead I wallowed in agonizing
self-pity and righteous self-hatred. I chose that of my own volition, angry
and hurt by everything that happened to me, disgusted by my appearance. I chose
that path. But as we’ll see in this next post, although you can make yourself
quite miserable with just the flick of a thought, you can also instill a
great deal of satisfaction in the same manner.
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Mountain Tales: It
was 3:30am, some 19 hours into the Ronda del Cims. Carles (3rd
place) and I were deep into the race and had accumulated over 30,000 feet of
gain. We were far from the finish and battling through the night together.
Passing a stream Carles looked at me and said “Quince minutos llegamos.”
Fifteen more minutes and the two of us would be at the mile 85 aid station,
Illa. Thirty minutes later, Carles glanced over and said to me “Cinco minutos,
seguro!” Five minutes clicked away with no aid station in sight. The two of us
hurt, our pace was fading, our energy dwindling and our morale all but
vanished. “Does Carles even know what he’s doing?” I could feel my body
weaken as the poisonous thoughts continued to fester in my mind. I stopped. I
had to change my mindset. I looked up at the full moon, pine trees blocking
off the distant high peaks, and I felt alive and blessed to be wandering through
the Pyrenees. I smiled and resolved that the damned aid station could have
been hours away, it didn’t matter. I’d made peace with my own worst enemy.
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| Andrew's worst enemy lies within and a little to the right |
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.
Nick Hollon
Andrew Bundy
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