Sunday Story…Overwhelm

It’s amazing how much “stuff” there is out there. Just the other day someone sent me a video of the man who just set the 5K running record (12:51 for 3.1 miles!) and then shortly after that I saw another video of a man doing a plank for over 8 hours. Of course, I got those because of my interest in human physical endeavors. But there is no way I could work my way through all the videos on YouTube about running or planking. It is just too much stuff, almost infinite.

This has always been true by the way. Thousands of years ago there was a lot of stuff too but we didn’t know it. The world has always been infinite compared to just one human person. There is no way for us to process all of it, there never has been. What we do is adjust our vision to see what we need to see in order to not be bored or overwhelmed. This adjustment takes place as needed if we are on our game.

Remember when you got your last new phone or computer? How hard it seemed? How you thought you would never “get” it? That feeling of overwhelm is so uncomfortable that all we want is to find firm footing on the subject. Eventually, that is just what happens. And it happens because we force it to happen. Living in a state of overwhelm is not only uncomfortable it isn’t productive, effective or efficient. So we find firm ground by ignoring enough things, by being intentionally and blissfully unaware of all the stuff that feels like quicksand.

There are things going on right now that are taking place without you or your input…a whole world of things if I had to be more accurate. There is no way for any of us to have an awareness of all the information. I am pretty sure I don’t know everything about my phone and I am happy about that.

The bottom line is this: find your firmament and do your thing. Don’t be overwhelmed! It’s a choice.

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

Sunday Story…Perfect

Doesn’t exist. Yet many of us think we can be perfect. Or that we can do the thing perfectly. You can use a tool; to make what appears to be a perfect circle…maybe put a coin down and trace it. But when you look really closely or increase the magnification you will see that your circle is less than perfect.

But you wanted to create the perfect circle. And you didn’t. And maybe you never will and maybe you can’t…as in it isn’t possible for anyone. Now what? Give up and stop trying to make any circles at all? Too often I see people who are not willing to keep working if they can’t be perfect. They give up, they quit, or they stop working completely. If I can’t be perfect I don’t want to be anything at all.

The path to perfection is paved with the bricks of better. You get better at what you are doing. You get better in increments. In the beginning the increments, the jumps in improvement are large. As you get better, as you improve those increments get smaller, the jumps are less noticeable.

Here is the startling thing about that…those tiny increments, those tiny improvements are every bit as satisfying as the massive jumps are! Because they don’t show up as often they may actually be cause for more celebration.

Want to be perfect? Practice at being better! Better is better than perfect any day because you can be better, you can’t be perfect it doesn’t exist.

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

Sunday Story…Hard Work Beats Talent

When Talent doesn’t work hard. It takes work to develop a skill. It takes a dedicated, programmed effort to get better at something. I can be born with a talent but I will need to earn a skill.

Talent, if you will, is something I am born with. Skill is something I grow and develop. That being said if there is one talent I would like to be born with, it is the drive to get a skill. But once I have that, once I have done the hard work to develop any skill, I have what it takes to develop another and another and another.

It is true that hard work is its own reward but developing new skills carries even more satisfaction. This is true especially of the intangible skills…compassion, generosity, kindness. It is hard to be compassionate. So work at being compassionate. Generosity requires a shift in mindset…go to work on having a generous mindset. Kindness is a practice that requires, like a garden, tending and attention. All of those things will need hard work to develop the expertise to do them effortlessly.

We work hard to develop strength in our bodies. We concentrate on developing skills to improve our performance. Maybe we should work just as hard developing intangible skills. Maybe you can’t Google “developing compassion” the way you can Google “get bigger biceps” but the template is out there if you care enough to do the work.

Hard work carries a great reward…Developing skills may carry an even greater reward. Use your talent to work hard. Cultivate a mindset of learning and developing skills. It will pay dividends far in excess of the cost of hard work.

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

Sunday Story…The Tyranny of Noise.

We live in a world full of distractions…full of noise.
At night the stars are dim and hard to see…too much light.
The traffic noise from planes and cars is incessant…too much noise.
The barrage of information streaming at us is never-ending…too many words.
The entertainment choices are myriad…too many to choose from.
We have conceded the liberation of our minds to the tyranny of noise.

When was the last time you were silent? I mean completely and totally silent. How long were you silent…no talking, no communication devices, no books, and no distractions at all? 5 minutes? 10? 20? A day? A week? Let’s be honest with each other…most of us haven’t been completely silent at all for too long. All the noise and distractions act as a comfort, a blanket we cherish so we don’t have to really look inside, really experience the world. What if suddenly you were forced into being silent with no distractions, no media, no phone, no books, nothing…just you and your mind alone, together with nothing to do?

For a lot of people, this is a recipe for madness, the first step into insanity. But what if by being quiet we could hear not only the song but the notes and the rests? What if by closing our eyes we could see? What if by shutting out the distractions more was available to us? What is there to learn by not striving, not constantly battling for more?

Slowing down is a practice. Listening to silence is a practice. Seeing in the dark is a practice. Being mindful is a practice. That means you have to work at it. And as we all know perfect practice makes perfect.

What is possible if we slow down and listen to the rocks move? Try it, you may be surprised!

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

Sunday Story…I’m

Hungry, tired, thirsty, cranky.

My father, when one of us boys would say “I’m hungry”, would often respond with, “Hi hungry, my name is John. It’s nice to meet you.” And of course one of us children would get a little flustered and try to explain that we wanted something to eat. He knew that, of course, but he was trying to get us to understand the difference between being and feeling.

I am 63 years old. I am a human. I am 5’8” tall.
I feel hungry. I feel tired. I feel thirsty.

There is a significant difference between those two sentences. Unfortunately when we conflate being and feeling we often become our feeling. If I arise in the morning and say to myself, “I’m tired” or “I’m cranky” our day will often reflect that state all day. Your being isn’t tired. You just feel that way. But the more times you say it that way the more likely you are to become that thing.

And who wants to be perpetually cranky, or tired, or hungry?

Own your feelings. Live your being.

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

Sunday Story…Commit

To your Commitment.

It’s simple, really. You say you are committed to doing x (getting to the gym every day, logging your food consumption, meditating every day). But are you really? What happens when you sleep in and miss your class? What happens when your day falls apart and you don’t quite get to it? And then the next day it’s something else and the next thing you know its 2 weeks later and you have failed your commitment.

That’s right…failed. But you weren’t committed to your commitment. Your commitment was a good idea, something you wanted to do, some gauzy dream floating around in the back of your mind. You weren’t going to do it no matter what. You weren’t going to do it come hell or high water. You weren’t actually committed to your commitment.

What’s it going to take to make the commitment to your commitment? To do it no matter what obstacle shows up? Got a busy day ahead? When you are truly committed you will do whatever it takes to get it done…WHATEVER IT TAKES. There is no obstacle that will cause you to fail. There is no challenge too big. There is no way for you to stop. You are a force of nature…An avalanche, a tsunami, a monsoon…you will stop when you are finished not when you are tired, or it isn’t easy, or you don’t “feel” like it.

Commit to your commitment.

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

Sunday Story…Habits

We all have them…some are “good” habits and some are “bad” habits. You will notice the quotations around good and bad…although there are some habits most of us always consider “bad”…smoking for instance,…and some most of us consider “good”…brushing your teeth for example…a lot of habits can be interpreted either way depending on your point of view.

I am not going to get into a discussion of what I think of good or bad habits. There is little to no cheese at the end of that tunnel so let’s not even go there. No, what I want you to understand is the power of your habits to give you more freedom. What! How do habits free me up?

Just imagine for a moment that you could eat the same food every meal (remember this is your imagination, no one could actually do that on purpose!) You would free up all your grocery shopping time, you would get really efficient at meal preparation, your clean up time would be minimal after awhile, and most of all your mind and intellect would no longer have to spend any time on your sustenance.

And this is where the magic resides. When we relegate the mundane to need zero focus and attention it frees up our mind to focus on the truly important. If you no longer need to worry about the tiny details of day to day life you can turn your laser-like focus on the things that are life-altering.

Habits require discipline and discipline gives us freedom. Use your habits to cultivate freedom.

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