Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Adaptation

While training with Dim from Montreal he taught me "if you know you can make a jump, you have to." Of course safety is always in mind, but there are so many things besides safety that can turn us away from something we know we can do. If we can better observe the situation with the goal to better understand what we are capable of then we allow for further gains in the process of adaptation.

It's this process of adaptation to our environment that is a key element of Parkour. We take things that are hard and train them until they are easy, and in this way we grow. This method is not exclusive to parkour, it can be applied to all aspects of our lives. The goal of this experiment is to modify the mental environment to encourage adaptation.

It goes to say that these mental jumps, the ones that we know we're capable of, should be taken in stride. If we seek challenge, and do only things that make us stronger, and understand that we can learn from all things and so become stronger, we become infinitely capable. The only risk is that we might learn something.

"You only learn when you're uncomfortable." We can grow from this constant search for challenge, to bring discomfort towards our understanding. The adaptation is what we've achieved when we overcome confrontation, wherever we may find it. The goal is to (paradoxically) seek peace in chaos.



Let us become adept at adaptation,
to look for opportunities to leap in any direction
(and understand that every moment is an opportunity)
and in so to always strive

to find peace in chaos .



Stay Positive
Be Proactive

Love

-Jesse
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

You're great, this is easy!

You: are great. This: is easy

DSCF0575

So in talking with Bryan about some aspects of my previous mindset I mentioned the self-degradation as a means of encouragement, essentially telling myself that I sucked, that whatever I was doing was too hard, and then I would strive to prove myself wrong.

Through the search for eternal energy I now believe the answer is in proactive positivity. Instead of proving myself wrong, I now believe in proving myself right. Just saying this in the middle of a tough time brings a smile to my face, so I hope this message can spread to everyone.

Be proactive
Stay Positive

Love
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Jesse week 1

Insight
Slow start but I'm moving in to some perfect days for it.

Physical:Learn to Juggle
I've only messed around with this so far, but it's growing in my mind.

Structural:visualize/meditate nightly
I've been meditating, trying to focus in and focus out. Looking to talk to Rick about the techniques he's learned.

Mental:Write left handed
I've been writing left handed, funny enough the handwriting looks the same or better than before I tried to improve it with my right hand the first month. It's so counter-intuitive though, it's mentally jarring just thinking about it, so I try not to.

Social:Don't be late
I had chosen for this to be a daily letter, and that is symbiotic with learning to write with my left hand, but I decided today while I was on my way to being ten minutes late or so that I would make it a point this month to be on time to all appointments.

Musical:Get video of my songs/words
No videos yet, but I did write a new poem, so I'm looking to get that up

Creative:Draw something daily
Drew plans for obstacles today, left handed!
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