Sunday Story…Change your Mind

Years ago I helped sponsored a thing called Change your Mind day. It was a day dedicated to practices of mindfulness and meditation. Things like Yoga, chanting, talks about changing the world and things like that.

Did anyone change their minds because of that day? I have no idea. But the question is simple: What will it take for You to change your mind? Honestly, we all have things we don’t believe…things we think are not true. Maybe these things can be proven to be true but you still don’t believe it. What will it take to change your mind, shift your outlook?

Your disbelief is unique to you. The reasons for it are known to you. You are adamant about believing what you believe. But what if, someway, somehow, you could be convinced you are wrong and the correct belief is 180 degrees away from where you are currently?

The place to start is here: What has to happen for you to change your mind? Who needs to say it? How will you be convinced that you need to change your mind? What will be sufficient for you to go from not believing to believing?

Once you have this as your jumping off point…knowing what it will take to Change your Mind…changing your mind just got easier.

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

Sunday Story…The tie goes to the runner

Why is that? Why does the runner win the tie? Really, it’s a tie. Why doesn’t the baseman win every other time? Who determined that the runner gets the benefit of the doubt? Because a tie means the outcome is in doubt. We don’t know who really won. But we have arbitrarily or capriciously determined that the runner should get the benefit of the doubt and win the tie.

Or is it really that capricious? Maybe the runner gets that benefit of the doubt because they are the one in motion…they are the one in action. Maybe they are actually earning and worthy of the benefit of the doubt. By virtue of the effort put forth the runner gets rewarded when the outcome is a tossup. On several levels, this makes sense to me.

When I am handed the benefit of the doubt it is a gift to be prized. I need to capitalize on the gift I have been given. When you get the benefit of the doubt you really need to keep moving and do all the things you can do to keep earning that gift.

Take the gift, say thank you, and then work overtime so you don’t waste it.

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

Sunday Story…Perfect

People often come to me and tell me they are going to join the box when they get in shape. I used to hear the same thing when I was a Martial Arts instructor. “I’m going to get in shape. Then I’ll be ready to do (fill in the blank). Never mind the fact that joining the box and the martial arts school is designed to get you in shape.

This is true of many things. I don’t want to (fill in the blank) because I want to get really good first. Or I want to be able to do it like so and so. Whatever it is you want to do you aren’t going to be any good at until you get in there and start. You will never be perfect. Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and Wayne Gretzky are all very good at what they do but they aren’t perfect. But to get good you will need to go ahead and do it anyway, perfection be damned.

Writers write, Dancers dance, and drummers drum even when it isn’t very good. Often I sit down to pen this to you every week (for over 10 years now) and I have no idea how it is going to be received, if it will be any good, or if I can even write anything at all. Yet, here it is, once again.

Don’t let the drive for perfect get in the way of practicing your craft. You may never achieve perfection but maybe you will get really good at the process of perfecting your craft. Shoot for perfect but don’t let perfect interfere with getting the job done.

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

Sunday Story…Get Back Jack

Getting back into your groove is not easy. And a large part of the problem is the motivation to get back to the starting line.

Here’s what I mean...before CoVid I weighed all my food, weighed myself every day, never missed a workout, had a plan for my fitness, and paid close attention to all the things that helped my recovery and recuperation.

After CoVid...not so much. I stopped weighing myself and my food. I skipped workouts. My workout goals and plans just didn’t seem to motivate me. It felt pointless. I even stopped analyzing my recovery data.

In 60 days I lost my routine. I lost my motivation and my reasons to keep doing what I was doing. I felt rudderless and powerless. I suspect this is because of the nature of the crisis. It was out of my hands. I have no agency to do anything about this trauma...it is going to continue no matter what I do. I can do what I can do to keep myself and the people around me safe but I can’t do anything to solve the problem.

I don’t do well with helplessness. I don’t do well with uncertainty. I don’t do well with powerlessness.

I have the power to control my reactions, my feelings, my decisions about what to do in the crisis. I am going to execute that power. I am going to re-create my routines and my plans. And then I am going to follow them. This is the power I have. And the power you have.

Look out, Jack. I’m back.

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

Sunday Story…A Fish in Water

A few months ago (seems like a lifetime!) I visited Costa Rica for a week or so. As you probably know the language of Costa Rica is Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish. I was reminded of this fact almost constantly. Street signs, menus, list of products, explanations in tourist spots…all in Spanish. All the people are speaking in Spanish. The dominant culture relies on Spanish.

When I left home I didn’t really think about the fact that I speak English. It’s my natural state. When in Costa Rica I was constantly reminded (by myself) that I speak English, not Spanish. I benefit from being part of the dominant culture and when I am not part of the dominant culture I struggle and I stress. Will I be able to make myself understood? Will I manage even though I can’t speak Spanish? Will I be taken advantage of because I am an English speaker?

I was reminded every day that I was living in a different culture, one that I was not really a part of since my ability to communicate was remedial at best. All the systems, the media, the standards were telling me that I didn’t fit in, that I didn’t belong. The people of Costa Rica weren’t doing that…they were kind and considerate and understanding of my clumsy attempts at communication. But the dominant culture had me at a disadvantage.

Now imagine the dominant culture can’t be fixed by something as simple as immersive language lessons. Imagine there is no change you can effect to meld into that culture. You will always be outside looking in, even when you have done everything the dominant culture asked of you. You are still at a decided disadvantage.

A fish doesn’t realize he is swimming in water. There is a lot of “water” in the world I inhabit. I don’t think about the fact that I speak English until I go someplace where they don’t. I don’t realize how unfair, counterproductive, and stressful all the “water” is to people who can’t swim in it. It is going to take a lot of effort to make it work for everyone. It is taking a lot of energy and work to see how it doesn’t work for everyone. The water is everywhere.

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

Sunday Story…Listening vs. Hearing

Hearing is easy…Listening not so much. Listening is an active process, hearing is passive.

Right now I hear a machine making some noise across the street. It’s a persistent rhythmic noise, yet intermittent. I don’t know what the machine is, I don’t know what it does, and I really don’t care. That is knowledge I don’t care enough to obtain.

Listening, however, is the process of understanding what the sound means. If I truly listen I will need to be engaged. I will need to be interested enough to inquire, to explore, to delve into the reasons, the emotions, and the wherewithal of the noise.

So many of us hear lots of things yet rarely listen. For many people the TV is on in the background all the time. It is background noise. You hear it, it is relatively soothing, like a white noise droning on. You aren’t that interested in it…it’s like the machine across the street, I hear it but I don’t care enough to discover anything about it.

Listening requires me to focus and a commitment to discover what is behind the noise, the intent, the emotions, the experience behind what is making the noise. The scary part of listening is that I might find some things that make me uncomfortable. I might get exposed to things that I have been trying to ignore and avoid.

Before you say I hear you, ask yourself if you are listening.

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
― Stephen R. Covey

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

Sunday Story…Right or Connected?

All in or all out. Take it or leave it. If you aren’t with us you’re against us. The cancel culture.

I get it. There are times that call for action, not talk. There are things that are so egregious that they cry out for taking a stand, putting your foot down and crying, “No More, Never again.”

Here’s a bit of a sticky wicket, if you will…if I get mad and cut all ties with the offending organization, turn my back on the offender, or refuse any and all attempts at reconciliation there is no way I am going to have a say in the necessary reforms or rehabilitations. If I walk away I can’t participate in making things better and seeing a real and meaningful change take place.

Leaving in disgust, throwing my hands in the air and walking righteously out of the room is certainly one strategy. I will be right. I will be on the correct side. But I won’t be connected to any strategy to fix the problem or make it better.

I could just grin and bear it, live with it or hope and pray it magically gets better. Unfortunately doing that rarely results in anything happening other than the status quo remaining the status quo.

I am part of the problem if I just grin and bear it. If I want things to change I am going to have to dig in, stay connected in the face being unhappy and do what it takes to find and implement solutions.

I can always walk away if I need to. I can always put my head back in the sand and hope it goes away if I just ignore it.

Complaining about a problem doesn’t really move anything forward. Find a solution; try to get a coalition of like minded people together to work on it, spend your time implementing some strategy to make things better. You will find it way more satisfying to solve the problem then you will bitching about it.

“There is a field beyond right and wrong…I will meet you there.” Rumi

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