Sunday Story…Sticks and Stones

Will break my bones but words…well words will hurt me in ways that are deep, hard to heal, and often times invisible.

My bones will knit together. My bruises will disappear. The blood can be staunched.

Words can cut much deeper than my skin, deeper than my viscera. Words can drive deep into my soul. Words can change my view of myself, my view of the world, my thinking of what’s possible.

And words can light up a room, open possibilities, create change, and make a difference.

Words matter. Words are power. Words aren’t benign. Words can be beneficent or malevolent. Before you spit your words out…maybe you should taste them first. Maybe you should gauge how they are going to land. Once spoken you can’t take them back. Like a rock leaving your hand, once those words leave your lips the course is set.

You are in charge of what you say. And you know, in your heart of hearts, whether those words will uplift or drive down their recipient. Choose to uplift or choose nothing at all.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday–stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…What? Me worry?

We often relieve ourselves of responsibility with the phrase, “it’s not my problem.”

But what if you accepted responsibility for the problem? What if you, your team, your tribe could solve the problem or influence it? When we are faced with big seemingly unsolvable issues (homelessness/intergenerational poverty/peace in the Middle East) it is easy to throw up our hands and utter “It’s not my problem.”

What happens when those big issues become my issues?
What happens when I accept responsibility to at least influence the intractable?
What happens if I change my belief system to say “it’s possible?”

It’s possible to
Make a difference
Create shift
Solve the unsolvable
Love the unlovable

You don’t have to know the how or even the why. You just have to know that it’s possible.

Take responsibility. It’s possible.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Done Me Wrong

We all have stories we tell ourselves about the bad experiences, the poor service, the people who done us wrong. If it happens in a restaurant we raise a hue and cry and complain and try to get some satisfaction. But we never really get satisfied and the louder and more strident our complaint the bigger and badder the complaint is.

You do the same thing in your personal life. Something happens to you. Someone does something that hurts your feelings, doesn’t live up to expectations, or abuses your trust. In your mind you are writing an angry letter. A letter so angry, so full of vitriol, so spiteful that when they read it they will feel your pain. They may even go home and kick their own dog; it is so full of heartfelt gut wrenching emotion. The more you put into the letter the more anger and spite the worse you are going to feel. You are reliving the event over and over with ever word in the letter. Every angry word, every bit of angry energy you apply to the situation worsens it until that creates a maelstrom of negativity that forces you to make decisions that affect your whole life.

Stop writing that letter. Stop right now. No one is reading it except you. No one cares about it except you. The person who done you wrong moved on. That person went on with their life. You are the one still carrying it forward. Put it down.

Re write the letter. Write the most positive, glowing letter you can write. Tell us what you learned. Tell us how that person taught you, helped, make a difference to you. Lay it on thick. This is the story you want to tell. And when you are done doing that then, and only then, can you say…”And when this happened I felt _________.” Explain what went wrong without all the angst and story behind it. Leave all the horrible consequences you think you suffered out.

This is how you change the past. This is how you move past the hurt and anger and vitriol of the wrongs you think have been perpetrated upon you. Re-frame your experiences, re-tell your stories, and re-learn the lessons from a viewpoint of positivity. This is how you change your life. This is how you move ahead after heart break and hurt. This is how you become great.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Why I compete

Someone asked me recently why do I continue to compete? What drives me? At what point is enough enough?

The answer, for me, is simple. I believe if you have gifts, skills, and talents and you don’t use them you are insulting your creator, the universe. If you have songs to sing, stories to write, or edifices to build and you don’t you are not living up to your purpose on earth.

I am good at doing physical things. It isn’t all I am good at but at this moment in time, after years of hard work and dedication, I am very good at this CrossFit thing. Not seeing how good I can be is an insult to the universe, not to mention a slap in the face to myself. Not doing all I can to reach the pinnacle would be a crime.

How good are you? How good can you become? What stories are you not telling? What songs are you not singing? You do not want to be on your death bed and have all the stories and songs and projects standing around looking at you forlornly saying,” We came to you to give us life. Only you could bring us to life. And now we must die with you. Forever.”

This is my fear. This is why I compete. How about you?

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Resolve

Promise yourself you will never give up.

Resolve is what is missing from our resolutions. Resolve is what is missing from our goals. Resolve is what is needed to accomplish everything…both big and small. We need to promise ourselves we will finish what we started. We need to promise we will never give up.

Resolve is what moves things out of the realm of a good idea and into reality. Resolve is the intangible that creates real results. Resolve is the magic that builds the impossible.

Resolve will get you back up when you get knocked down…over and over and over. Resolve is that one more rep, one more set, 5 more minutes of practice, and that steely eyed focus on the prize. Resolve to hang on for 1 more second, 1 more round, 1 more. Resolve to win.

Never. Give. Up. Never.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Fall Down

You often hear it said about certain things…”it’s like riding a bike.” What we mean by this is once learned we just need a little refresher to get back to a previous level of expertise. Easy to do, right?

Sure, but what is forgotten is the struggle it took to learn the skill in the first place. How many times did you fall off the bike? How long did the training wheels stay on? How many skinned knees and tears were produced? You had to want to learn to ride that bike.

Here’s another one you can’t remember but have watched your whole life. Learning to walk…everyone of us can walk (absent a physical impediment). Yet every one of us failed time after time on the road to walking. We fell. We got up. We fell. We got up. Over and over and over and over again. Today we walk, run, skip, hop, dance, and, generally, locomote all over the place.

So when I say, “it’s like riding a bike,” I don’t mean it’s easy. I don’t mean to take anything away from the process it took to gain the expertise. What I mean when I say, “it’s like riding a bike,” is that you have already fought the battle. Don’t re-fight the battles you have already won. Don’t get all up in your head about a skill you already own. Just smile and remember the joy you experienced when the skill arrived.

Then get on that bike and ride!

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The 3 C’s

You have probably seen this before:
Choose
Chance
Change

If you want to make a shift these are the 3 things you must do.

First Choose to do something. Make a decision to do something. Until you decide to actually do something whatever It is lies in the realm of good ideas. Move it out of a good idea and into the beginnings of reality by Choosing.

Second, take a Chance. You decided, now step off the edge. Take a shot at it. If it doesn’t work you can always go back to doing what you did before. If it backfires you will have learned at least one way it won’t work. No failure just lessons to be learned. Again, reality dictates that we don’t know exactly what will work so we must experiment.

Third, Change yourself, change your paradigm. Once you are doing things differently there is no reason to go back is there? Once you decided to get fit will you decide to be less fit? Once you decided to be more conscious about your dietary habit, are you going to go back to eating calorie rich and pathetic (crap) food?

So…Choose to take a Chance to Change. You can always go back (but you won’t want to!)

Thanks to Michele Rodgers for this week’s inspiration!

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sundaystories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412