Legendary Blog

We must constantly reevaluate what we do and not let habits and past wisdom blind us to new possibilities.

Apple just launched their newest operating system, OS X Lion, last week.  Like any new idea, people are excited about the change, but weary of its unfamiliarity.  Just like people who are fretful about the idea of switching from PC to Mac, the unknown holds an unsettling feeling for the potential of both positive and negative consequences.

But to ignore a source of innovation because of the possibility of misuse would be senseless.  In Mihaly Csikszentmihaly book on the psychology of optimal experiences, Flow, he writes, “If mankind had tried to ban fire because it could be used to burn things down, we would not have grown to be very different from the great apes.”

Embracing the unknown has been civilizations igniting force continually pushing it forward.  On a smaller scale, the very same ideology can be broken down on an individual level.  What is common and routine now, was at one time unfamiliar and unknown.

Using what was once a part of our tactics to crawl, lead us to stand on our two miniature legs for the very first time.  Entering a building full of classrooms, friends, and considerably taller, unfamiliar adults was our first experience of structured learning.

Julius Caesar and other generals would burn all their boats upon landing ashore when they invaded a foreign country.  It was a dramatic demonstration to their troops that since retreat was impossible, they must either conquer the country or die; there were no alternatives, there were no excuses.

This example, although extreme, is a powerful mindset.  Burning your boats is essentially removing all excuses.  If soldiers found themselves outgunned and outmanned they would have to come up with a strategy different then strength in numbers.  When the option of retreat is off the table, ingenuity and innovation become the new battle tactics.

When we commit to an idea, we must burn our boats.  Eliminate excuses.  The ideas are as endless as your potentials.  We shouldn’t spend time contemplating reasons why we cannot do something.  Instead we should create a list entitled: Why it needs doing.  At the top of the list sits three simple words, “because you can.”

When we worry we think of 100 reasons why something might go wrong.  We are so busy worrying, that we skip over contemplating the positive aspects of what’s to come.

To worry is to allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.  It is a keen focus on the adverse, instead of an open acceptance of the unknown.  It evokes emotions that match it’s destructive desires and suppresses our more constructive thoughts.

In his influential psychology book Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman writes, “The mental resources expended on one cognitive task, the worrying, simply detracts from the resources available for processing other information.”

It shifts our attention from figuring out answers to being preoccupied with worries.  These worries then become self-fulfilling prophesies, revealing the very reality they predict.

Worrying also removes us from the current moment.  A night with friends, family, or just some of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream, turns into flagrant anxiety and overwhelming stress.  This chaotic tag-team certainly has a knack for taking the funky out of Chunky Monkey.

Knowing that I need not go on talking about the destructive tendencies that surface when we worry, the question that still remains to be answered is, “What can we do?”

The other day I was challenged to a perspective: look at every single occurrence as something positive. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive.

As audacious as this sounded, it rang true to the Be Legendary theme, and I began to warm up to this being a possibility.

Still, doubts rolled back and forth, as this idea sifted its way through my mind.  Bad stuff happens.  This world can get ugly.  People have unfortunate fates.  How can any of this be positive?

In order to truly understand this rash perspective, I needed to toss the idea of good and bad temporarily out the metaphoric window.

Love your fate, no matter what it is.  Whatever strange, crazy, terrifying things happen look at it as an opportunity, a challenge.  What is occurring right now is what you need.  Any disaster you survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life.

Everyone has a different measuring stick for life and believes in different reasons for our purpose or existence.  But a common platitude among all beliefs is the idea of fulfillment.  These trials of life are the privileges that allow your own spontaneity of nature to flow.

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.”

These words echo from singer, life lover, and activist Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.  This is one of my favorite Marley lyrics.

The world around us is a creation made from our mind.  It is a projection of our perception facilitating our interaction with the world we’ve created.

Abilities and potentials are perceptions and perspectives our mind creates.  It is the puppeteer, conductor, and orchestrator of our world.  Whatever it believes or expects, it will do all in its power to make that prospection come to fruition.

Think about when we swallow a sugary placebo pill. We believe it is a potent antidote to our current illness and even though its just sugar we’re ingesting, we still get better.

With warmer weather on its way, I escaped the confines of indoors and took a trip to the local driving range.  I warmed up a little, and with a cool, fluid swing hit a straight 140 yarder with my 9-iron.  Phew, I thought this was going to be uglier after not touching a club for the entirety of the off season.

It is the tiniest parts of life that can make the the biggest differences.  A chess player won’t overlook the necessity of its pawns and a sprinter knows the importance of a tenth of a second.

A moment is valuable. Some more then others, but if we start to chuck them out the window like worthless pennies, we will most definitely neglect some of the most worthwhile ones.

Life comes at us in waves.  Literally, giant, oceanic, swirling waves.  Heaps of water crashing down, each with different breaking points.

A legendary life is living the individual adventure, your adventure. How do you do this? Follow your bliss.  The first key component is “your”.  What makes you happy? What do you enjoy? What really drives you intrinsically?

Following someone else’s path, as successful as they might be, will inevitably cause you to not reach your full potential.  It is missing the key ingredient of your originality.

The second component is “bliss”.  Happiness, pleasure, delight, ecstasy, all are words that take on the same meaning, but that meaning takes on a very specific significance on an individual level.  This shouldn’t be what you think your bliss should be or what others find it to be.  No.  It is what truly gets you going.  It is your sole understanding and comprehension of what you love.  Life is then transformed from an adventure - to your adventure, and that transformation is legendary, mainly because it is uncharted territory.