Friday, June 13, 2008

Where do You Want to Go Today?

After I wrote my "Last blog from Japan" I went for a ride. I really wanted to enjoy the last ride of June before I headed out to be present (and away from exercise) for the next two weeks.

I loved being present throughout my hour, coming and going between thinking of stuff, my breathing, and bringing myself back to my breath by envisioning "a swinging gate" (this is a good way to "see yourself breathing"). Sometimes to see breathing is difficult because it is an autonomic thing, just like our heart beating; we don't control it, and our body knows how to do it without us even thinking. So to actually think about it... can be tough.

Anyway, just before the hardtop turned to gravel 20 minutes up, I happened to see Mr. Tanuki again. I heard him rustling away on the roadside. This time we spent some quiet time breathing and staring at each other. It was nice to watch Mr. T watching me.

As I was riding further up, and being aware of my present moment (you really need to be present to avoid hitting the sharp shale rocks on the road), something occurred to me...

Decades ago when I first started riding (and cyclists will understand this), I learned the following deceptively simple concept:

"Look where you want to go, not where you don't want to go."

Sounds pretty obvious, right? I mean you watch the road as you are riding, not staring off into the trees and the cliffs around you... Yeah. But guess what? That's not what this means.

Let me put it another way:

"Don't look where you don't want to go."

Let me explain what I mean with a very REAL example, and none of this NewAge Wackhead metaphysical existential crap...

When you are riding, there will be many things in your path that you need to avoid, such as glass, branches, rocks, and other things depending upon where you ride. This is true on-road, or off-road as all cyclists will attest to.

Usually when you ride if you are aware of what is going on in front of you, you will see these objects of destruction in your path. Here is where it gets tricky...

If you see the rock, and think "there's a rock! It's sharp! It could damage my tire and make me crash! I need to avoid that rock at all costs and make sure I don't hit it!!"...

you WILL hit it.

Yes, you will. Guaranteed.

Really, you will!

Even as you are staring at this rock screaming, "Noooo! I must avoid it!! I must! I ---- bang!" and you will run over it. (I did just that today).

It's weird, but it really happens.

The goal, of course, is to avoid this rock or debris. In order to do that, what you really need to do is the opposite of what we might think to do. You need to note it, accept that it is there, and then let it go. Instead of fixing your efforts on "avoiding the rock" you must instead focus your attention away from the rock, and on a clear path where the rock is not. Even if the path seems difficult, if you focus on the clear path, you will avoid the rock.

And now I take you on the path back to our breathing, and to that NewAge Wackhead stuff....

Take the rock in the above example and convert it to something that is in your way, a barrier, or a trouble, or a problem that you may have in your life. You need to circumvent that "rock". If you focus your energy on the problem, if you fix your attention on it (as in complaining about it's existence, how it is hampering, harming, causing you undue grief, etc.), your problem will loom up directly in front of you and slap you in the face. You will not be able to avoid that problem, but instead will only create a bigger problem than you previously thought you had.

What you need to be doing instead of focusing on the problem (i.e. ranting or complaining or bitching about it), is to recognize it, note it's existence, and then immediately "let it go" and take your attention away from it while looking for a clear path around the problem.

If you do this, you will always find a clear way to get around, or out of any problems you are in.

The road to your goals may be fraught with danger and hazards, but if you note their existence, and then let them go, stop focusing on the negative aspects, and instead pour all of your energy and soul into moving forward and picking out a clear path... you will succeed.

This is the thought that came to me today when I ran straight into the rock I so desperately wanted to avoid. As soon as I hit the rock I wanted to avoid but was fixing my attention upon, I stopped, and immediately recalled my early training regarding where to look and where not to look.

And then I thought of this comparison to the real world, and how "the rule" still applies.

Whether you are navigating rough terrain out in the wilderness, in the urban jungle, or whether your journey is a trip through life, always remember to look where you want to go, not where you don't want to go and many of the problems that you perceive will cease to be. It really works!

"I choose to see things differently".

I love you!

Cam

20 comments:

  1. THIS is a fantastic blog Cam! I have noticed... riding.. and in life.. that this is true.. it's the basic law of attraction. Great blog, you.

    I love you!

    See you soon!

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  2. It fits in perfectly with the law of attraction. That which you focus on is what you attract. So if you're thinking don't hit the rock, don't hit the rock, don't hit the rock... of course you're going to hit the rock. The inner self doesn't hear the "don't"... only "hit the rock".

    Someone pointed out something to me years ago and i don't think they even understood how or why this works , but i do... NOW!

    What i thought of as a "neat trick" is this...

    Say you have a full to the brim cup of coffee and you have to walk back to the table with it.
    Did you know that the closer you look at or watch the cup, the more your hand will shake and the coffee will spill.
    But if you look up, look "where you want to go" the coffee won't spill... or won't nearly as much.

    I've been amazed for years at how well this works.

    Who knew!

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  3. I KNEW IT! I KNEW THINGS WOULD START TO FORMULATE FOR ME IN MY MIND.

    I want you to glean as much from this journey as you can my friend, just like you talked about in your previous blog. And then I want you to remember a conversation we had a while back about when I said that there was something to do but that it hadn't formed its picture in my head yet? You remember that conversation? Well, my "looking through the glass darkly" is beginning to come into clear focus!

    I will do my "breathing" while I wait patiently to be able to sit down with you face to face and discuss this further.

    Great blog!

    I love you.

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  4. I love it when you talk "New Age Wackhead stuff" and when you don't. :) what you have said here makes sense to me. With my head being in a fog the last 3 days that is an amazing thing! Love you and your infectious smile.
    Peace.........M

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  5. Good god Man.....get outta here already.........BTW... breathe some of that hot air out!!!

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  6. This isn't the new age whack-head stuff I told you that you were spouting, this is common sense and a simple way of living, this is stuff I began learning when I started studying aikido, aikido is probably the most elegant of the japanese martial arts, and there is so much more to it them combat.

    I began studying this when I was 15, This has been under your nose all the time you were living in japan, this was stuff I was taught in do-jo's here and over there during those hot summers when I would spend a month in kyoto. Your in a country of wonderful sensei's that I truly believe know more then half of these books that seem to pop out of nowhere every other couple of week

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  7. shit Camster
    you got sum profound words there
    gotta stop looking at unemployment
    gotta envision my new job with the census department
    yeah
    my new job...

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  8. Kristen, that's all true, but Cam only began his explortion a little over a year ago when i and others introduced him to The Secret.

    I do appreciate and find the martial arts a beautiful and gentle self defense, but i did not have the personality or financial wherewithal to seek out such training.
    However, libraries and bookstores are readily available and it's much easier to sit at home or anywhere in the world and read.

    Having said all that, i did notice a new Hapkido studio right next to my favorite Thai restaurant. Don't know it's relation to Aikido, but it is said to be the most gentle, non-violent of the martial arts.
    However, i did practice Tai Chi Chuan while in massage school ,and i can NOT imagine any more gentle.

    Maybe i will venture in there next week. ....

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  9. Well my post was pointed toward Cam primarily since he has been in Japan since they mid 80's and now that he is open to new ideas and concepts taking to some sensei's might be enlightening.

    The problem with books is that they are mainly opinions and most of the time they will contradict each other. When I started Aikido at 15 I began classes at the Japanese cultural center in my town I grew up in it was very inexpensive. I still practice weekly and belong to a dojo in Pasadena. As for The Secret, while its novel in its approach, to me its "pop" quality is too "thing of the moment" too much quick fix. and sadly quick fix is big in this country, I should know I'm in California, more fads come and go thru here then you can keep track of.

    As for Hapkido, its a Korean martial art its roots are based in jujitsu or a form of jujitsu. if you interested in it look into it, you will be surprised what you can learn from these practices besides the combat, but be prepared at times for bruises and aches and pains, but then its part of the "Journey" you have taken, it can be amazing, at least it has been for me and still is for the last 25 years with Aikido.

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  10. Couldn't of said it better myself.....

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  11. Thanks, sadly Ive been victim to a few of them in the past, but you learn

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  12. I really enjoy getting on here in the morning and seeing what different individuals have to say or are thinking. Take Cam's Blog.. If you really want to see yourself BREATH come to Manitoba in January
    It could be an experience of a life time. Jen is right when she mentions the coffee cup analogy but as she gets older she will learn not to be so greedy and not fill the cup up to the brim. It is allot like playing golf. You look where you want the ball to go.! There it is in a nut shell.!

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  13. Mmmmmm Manitoba in January, Sadly growing up in Southern California, our winters are really mild, if we even have them we do get snow in our local mountains, usually after one of the northern storms makes its way down from the pacific northwest, but Im not really into artic conditions, I do like to ski, but when the clouds come in and wind starts blowing im off the slope and in where I can get a nice hot cup of tea, soup, or cocoa and then later soaking in a nice hot bath. your of much heartier stock then I =)

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  14. I'm here in Detroit... soaking everything in... and all the horribly obese people are blinding me!

    How's THAT for down to earth reality, JI?!?

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  15. ( I found this little blurb online, it was amusing!!!)

    Fat State, Red State; Thin State, Blue State

    The Trust for America's Health has released data on obesity rates by state. The fattest state, as measured by the percentage of obese residents, is Mississippi, at 30.6% (giving them the dubious distinction of being the first state ever to break the 30% rate in the survey). The thinnest? Colorado at 17.6%

    Let's look at the states by how they voted in the last presidential election, from fattest to thinest:
    1. Mississippi - Bush
    2. West Virginia - Bush
    3. Alabama - Bush
    4. Louisiana - Bush
    5. South Carolina - Bush
    5. Tennessee - Bush
    7. Kentucky - Bush
    8. Arkansas - Bush
    9. Indiana - Bush
    9. Oklahoma - Bush
    9. Michigan - Kerry
    12. Missouri - Bush
    12. Texas - Bush
    14. Georgia - Bush
    15. Ohio - Bush
    16. Alaska - Bush
    17. North Carolina - Bush
    18. Nebraska - Bush
    19. North Dakota - Bush
    20. Iowa - Bush
    20. South Dakota - Bush
    22. Wisconsin - Kerry
    23. Virginia - Bush

    These are the fattest 23 states. Twenty-one of them, totaling 209 electoral votes, went for Bush. Two, totaling 29 electoral votes, went for Kerry. But it's worth noting that in Wisconsin (#22 on the list) Kerry's margin was a razor thin 11,000 votes (50%-49%), while Michigan, the only non-Bush state in the top 10, was also competitive, falling to Kerry by just 51% to 48%.

    So what are we to make of this? Is Karl Rove manipulating the minds of obese people with subliminal messages in Bush commercials? Why would heavy people be

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  16. continued ,,,,,,,,,,

    be more likely to vote Republican?

    Is this odd, given that data also shows - according to this guy( http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/000400.php) - that Republicans tend to lead more active lives than Democrats. But maybe we can truly say that Republicans are "fat and happy."


    here is the rest of the country

    Below the fold is the rest of the data:

    23. Pennsylvania - Kerry
    25. Illinois - Kerry
    25. Maryland - Kerry
    27. Kansas - Bush
    28. Minnesota - Kerry
    29. Delaware - Kerry
    30. Oregon - Kerry
    31. Idaho - Bush
    31. Washington - Kerry
    33. Maine - Kerry
    34. Florida - Bush
    35. Wyoming - Bush
    36. California - Kerry
    37. Nevada - Bush
    38. New Hampshire - Kerry
    39. New York - Kerry
    40. DC - Kerry
    40. New Jersey - Kerry
    42. New Mexico - Bush
    43. Arizona - Bush
    44. Utah - Bush
    45. Montana - Bush
    46. Rhode Island - Kerry
    47. Connecticut - Kerry
    48. Hawaii - Kerry
    49. Vermont - Kerry
    50. Massachusetts - Kerry
    51. Colorado - Bush

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  17. Heavy people think more about their food than the economy

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  18. Yes and gas prices are affecting that too...

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