Release all ideas of resistance to the stresses of modern life. It's impossible. But there are concrete steps you can take to master your mind, body, and the body of all your affairs.
The Best and Worst of Times
On one hand the world we live in today is rich with opportunity…never has more information been available with so little effort.
On the other hand, we are bombarded with messaging designed to induce specific behaviors: buy this product, vote for me, and check your privilege.
Recognize that much of this is “paid programming” to invoke a fear based reaction.
Fear is palpable in the body. Even if you’re uncomfortable with the idea of admitting to having fear, a warrior must embrace it.
Resistance is futile.
Everyone has fear, particularly those that lay their lives on the line. Whether your occupation involves physical conflict or not, the effects of stress on the body can be subtle.
Stress is a silent killer. It creeps in even when you think you’ve mastered it. Stress is based on fear: Being afraid of not having enough time, enough resources, enough support, or enough courage to do, be, or have what you want in life.
There was a time I thought I was above all this. I thought training in martial arts, dabbling in meditation, and exercising regularly was enough to deal with the stresses of being a full-time street cop and part time soldier.
I was wrong. My body let me know it too but, of course, I ignored it. So the signals got stronger yet I was too busy saving the world to pay attention.
I was so focused on fixing the world “out there” that I ignored what was going on inside at a physiological level. Dysfunction showed up as tension in the body and, ultimately, immobility and injury.
Ignorance Is Not Bliss
I’m paying for this ignorance now. I have to laugh at the folly of trying to fix the world and how much it cost me in terms of physical pain. I also now see all the missed opportunities I had to quash these internal problems before they became critical.
The world doesn’t need saving and being afraid based on the deliberate manipulations of mass media, advertising, and other schemers is the height of folly. Being a crusader based on these manipulations is a fool’s errand.
Good thing we can choose to be different. The ability to choose comes from awareness. The greatest challenge to making skillful choices is our own resistance to doing what we intuitively know is right for us.
We can choose to deliberately release resistance from our mind and body. It's actually an essential skill.
Because we are constantly bombarded with fear inducing messages and because stress surreptitiously manifests in the body, we have to actively seek it out…and obliterate it.
Fear based stress or tension in the body is white noise in the mind, it reduces your ability to think clearly. For a warrior, clearing the body of tension is essential for maintaining situational awareness.
With greater awareness, our ability to respond to signals increases. We become more response-able. That is how we can master our lives. We can have greater choice as to what we devote our time and attention to.
Reducing stress and increasing our awareness is simple, but not easy. Again, it takes deliberate action. In other words discipline, but that’s is at the heart of all martial arts.
I have no shortcuts. The formula remains the same: physical exercise to wring stress out of the body and meditation to increase awareness. Awareness is, in and of itself, transformative.
For physical exercise, I recommend Primal Stress, a workout program specifically designed to eliminate dysfunctional adaptive patterns from the body and put health first in fitness.
www.everydaysamurai.life/primal
For situational awareness, I recommend the Zen12 meditation program. Increase your ability to choose what you focus on by letting technology give you the results of a trained monk in as little as twelve minutes.
www.everydaysamurai.life/zen12
Make fitness and meditation part of your daily discipline and, rather than resisting, channel the stresses of life into the fuel of your success.
To your empowerment!
Ken Yamarashi
P.S.: Sure, I too am trying to induce you to buy products, but only if they serve to empower you. Exercise and meditation are the tools of mastery and these programs will help you exert sovereignty over your life. Right now empowered individuals is REALLY what the world needs more of!
Exercise: www.everydaysamurai.life/primal
Meditation: www.everydaysamurai.life/zen12