Arno Ilgner's Blog, page 10
November 9, 2020
How Biased Am I?
How biased are we really? We’re all biased in some ways based on many factors. The challenge is bringing such biases to our conscious awareness. With awareness we can make changes.
This is an interesting test that can give us such awareness. It’s the IAT (Implicit Association Test). It actually includes many subtest categories ranging from religion, race, gender to choose from.
The results they send you of any IAT test will include interpretations that have a basis in research done at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Harvard University, and Yale University.
Check these links for more information.
Detailed info on the tests
FAQs
START HERE if you’re interested in taking any of these tests.
Socrates told us that the unexamined life is not worth living. Mental training is about examining the mind because, through such examination, our lives feel more grounded and meaningful. It can be scary digging into our own psychology. Facing our fears is the first requirement for doing any mental training. I encourage you to do some digging.
This is an interesting test that can give us such awareness. It’s the IAT (Implicit Association Test). It actually includes many subtest categories ranging from religion, race, gender to choose from.
The results they send you of any IAT test will include interpretations that have a basis in research done at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Harvard University, and Yale University.
Check these links for more information.
Detailed info on the tests
FAQs
START HERE if you’re interested in taking any of these tests.
Socrates told us that the unexamined life is not worth living. Mental training is about examining the mind because, through such examination, our lives feel more grounded and meaningful. It can be scary digging into our own psychology. Facing our fears is the first requirement for doing any mental training. I encourage you to do some digging.
November 2, 2020
Practice isn’t Practice
One of the first books I read was The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck. The opening paragraph is quite powerful. “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
Life being difficult means work needs to be done. Work, of course, is stressful and uncomfortable. We tend to resist it. If we accept life as being made up of work, then it no longer matters. In fact, we relax into work and enjoy it. Acceptance shifts our attention from resisting work to paying attention to it.
I’ve been doing Tai Chi for a few years. Sun Lutang, the originator of Sun style Tai Chi emphasizes the importance of practice. He says: “One must travel far to improve.” He’s emphasizing the importance of practice for mastering Tai Chi.
Practice is essentially work. We tend to relate to practice as something we have to do. We see it as something separate from what we prefer to do in our lives. It’s an inconvenience.
Intrinsic motivation helps us practice. It allows us to observe our own process because it focuses our attention in the moment. Intrinsic motivation aligns us with the learning process naturally. We willingly engage work and practice. Practice isn’t seen as something separate and inconvenient.
When practice constitutes the essence of our lives, it’s no longer practice. It no longer matters that our lives are made up of practice. Practice is simply what we do to live the moments of our lives. Just as intrinsic motivation showed us, we need to be eager to do work. We must be eager to live the moments of our lives. We need to develop the ability to accept and allow the stress, problems, and challenges to move through us, in a sense. Practice is how we process stress; it becomes the mettle for life mastery.
Mastering anything requires constant daily practice. To master life we need to make practice most important. How we use our bodies and minds will determine how well we master our lives. This “how” points to process and quality. Our lives are made of processes and through constant practice we develop quality. That quality comes from having our attention focused in the moment.
It no longer matters that we have work to do each day of our lives. We accept that work constitutes the essence of our lives so we relax into it and enjoy it. We’re going to travel far in our lives so we might as well make practice an integral part of each day.
Practice Tip: Daily Practice
I’ve noticed that I rush through stress, whether climbing or living my life. I need to relax into the stress and enjoy each day. You may be doing the same thing. I’ve begun practicing slowing down. Slowing down shifts attention to subtle nuances that occur in the body and mind. Use this simple daily practice to relax into the stress of life.
Doing with the body: Making coffee or tea in the morning is a doing, not a thinking, process. A doing process requires our attention to be focused in our bodies via our senses. When making your morning beverage, don’t think. Rather, focus your attention on breathing, relaxing, and maintaining eye contact with what you’re doing. Smell the aroma of the coffee or tea.
Thinking with the mind: Planning your day is a thinking process, which means your attention is focused in your mind. When planning your day, don’t do anything else. Rather, focus your attention on identifying the tasks you need to do and prioritizing them.
Life being difficult means work needs to be done. Work, of course, is stressful and uncomfortable. We tend to resist it. If we accept life as being made up of work, then it no longer matters. In fact, we relax into work and enjoy it. Acceptance shifts our attention from resisting work to paying attention to it.
I’ve been doing Tai Chi for a few years. Sun Lutang, the originator of Sun style Tai Chi emphasizes the importance of practice. He says: “One must travel far to improve.” He’s emphasizing the importance of practice for mastering Tai Chi.
Practice is essentially work. We tend to relate to practice as something we have to do. We see it as something separate from what we prefer to do in our lives. It’s an inconvenience.
Intrinsic motivation helps us practice. It allows us to observe our own process because it focuses our attention in the moment. Intrinsic motivation aligns us with the learning process naturally. We willingly engage work and practice. Practice isn’t seen as something separate and inconvenient.
When practice constitutes the essence of our lives, it’s no longer practice. It no longer matters that our lives are made up of practice. Practice is simply what we do to live the moments of our lives. Just as intrinsic motivation showed us, we need to be eager to do work. We must be eager to live the moments of our lives. We need to develop the ability to accept and allow the stress, problems, and challenges to move through us, in a sense. Practice is how we process stress; it becomes the mettle for life mastery.
Mastering anything requires constant daily practice. To master life we need to make practice most important. How we use our bodies and minds will determine how well we master our lives. This “how” points to process and quality. Our lives are made of processes and through constant practice we develop quality. That quality comes from having our attention focused in the moment.
It no longer matters that we have work to do each day of our lives. We accept that work constitutes the essence of our lives so we relax into it and enjoy it. We’re going to travel far in our lives so we might as well make practice an integral part of each day.
Practice Tip: Daily Practice
I’ve noticed that I rush through stress, whether climbing or living my life. I need to relax into the stress and enjoy each day. You may be doing the same thing. I’ve begun practicing slowing down. Slowing down shifts attention to subtle nuances that occur in the body and mind. Use this simple daily practice to relax into the stress of life.
Doing with the body: Making coffee or tea in the morning is a doing, not a thinking, process. A doing process requires our attention to be focused in our bodies via our senses. When making your morning beverage, don’t think. Rather, focus your attention on breathing, relaxing, and maintaining eye contact with what you’re doing. Smell the aroma of the coffee or tea.
Thinking with the mind: Planning your day is a thinking process, which means your attention is focused in your mind. When planning your day, don’t do anything else. Rather, focus your attention on identifying the tasks you need to do and prioritizing them.
October 26, 2020
When Positivity Becomes Toxic
Many of you know that I’m an advocate for neutral thinking rather than positive thinking. I’ve come to this realization because life includes aspects of positive and negative experiences, both of which can enrich our lives. Life isn’t just positive experiences. Death, grief, and suffering give dimension to our lives and thus it’s important to accept and be present for these experiences.
This video, The Shadow of Toxic Positivity, digs into this subject. The narrator makes some interesting points, one of which comes from Epictetus the Stoic philosopher:
“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death, for instance, is not terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death that it is terrible.”
Life consists of both the positive and the negative. Rejecting the negative means we reject 50% of what makes up life. (Think about that)
Toxic positivity creates a thick, dense shadow, which will surface when we least expect it. (Do you want to be surprised this way?)
Toxic positivity forces us to be happy, instead of letting happiness reveal itself at the proper time, when we feel it. (“Feeling it” means you’re in tune with your body. Are you paying attention to it, to the state your body is communicating to you?)
Helpful positivity is having a mindset of acceptance and willingness to engage the dark events when they arise. It’s the middle way of navigating both aspects of life and fluctuating between them. (If “helpful positivity” is the middle way, then why not just call it neutral thinking?)
Consider what we’re doing when we deny negativity in ourselves or others. (What are you doing when you deny this?)
How can we help others when we deny them at the same time, deny their authentic experience? (We should ask ourselves the same question)
If we deny the negative and repress it, then it comes back stronger. Everything--beings, emotions, and thoughts--want to live, want expression. By repressing the negative we make the negative stronger until it overwhelms us. It’s better to be present for the negative experiences when they occur and focus on how they realign our lives. They tend to realign us to important aspects we’ve ignored along the way.
This video, The Shadow of Toxic Positivity, digs into this subject. The narrator makes some interesting points, one of which comes from Epictetus the Stoic philosopher:
“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. Death, for instance, is not terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death that it is terrible.”
Life consists of both the positive and the negative. Rejecting the negative means we reject 50% of what makes up life. (Think about that)
Toxic positivity creates a thick, dense shadow, which will surface when we least expect it. (Do you want to be surprised this way?)
Toxic positivity forces us to be happy, instead of letting happiness reveal itself at the proper time, when we feel it. (“Feeling it” means you’re in tune with your body. Are you paying attention to it, to the state your body is communicating to you?)
Helpful positivity is having a mindset of acceptance and willingness to engage the dark events when they arise. It’s the middle way of navigating both aspects of life and fluctuating between them. (If “helpful positivity” is the middle way, then why not just call it neutral thinking?)
Consider what we’re doing when we deny negativity in ourselves or others. (What are you doing when you deny this?)
How can we help others when we deny them at the same time, deny their authentic experience? (We should ask ourselves the same question)
If we deny the negative and repress it, then it comes back stronger. Everything--beings, emotions, and thoughts--want to live, want expression. By repressing the negative we make the negative stronger until it overwhelms us. It’s better to be present for the negative experiences when they occur and focus on how they realign our lives. They tend to realign us to important aspects we’ve ignored along the way.
October 19, 2020
Flowing Up a Climb
In the last lesson we used the metaphor of a river to understand motivation. We saw that we needed to align ourselves with the universal force of intent to apply our energy effectively in our lives. Now, let’s look at climbing. A river flows with gravity whereas climbing goes against gravity. Yet, we still need to find a way to use gravity to climb well. Just like the river metaphor, we need to understand the three components of manifesting intrinsic motivation in climbing: force, energy, and the channel through which the energy flows. The force in climbing consists of gravity and our intent to climb. The energy is our physical and mental energy. The channel is us and the route.
First, the force. Gravity helps us know how to move and how to apply our energy. We don’t fight gravity. It’s because of the consistent pull of gravity that we know how to move. Our intent determines how we apply our energy. If our intent is to achieve end results in the future, then we’ll climb differently than if our intent is to apply processes in the moment. Intent gives us a direction for our attention. A process intent focuses our attention in the moment.
Second, energy. We have a certain amount of physical and mental energy. We need to cycle between applying our energy and recovering our energy. We use gravity’s pull to know where to rest to recover energy and how to move to apply energy. If we stay too long in applying our energy, then we’ll fall. If we stay too long in recovering our energy, then we’ll stall.
Third, the channel. We need to blend us and the route. We need to blend while resting to recover energy and blend while climbing to apply energy. Relaxing allows gravity to pull us down onto our feet while resting. We utilize our legs to support us instead of our arms. Doing this allows us to recover as much energy as possible. Then, when we climb, we climb along the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is the easiest, most efficient path between resting points. We also climb continuously. Climbing continuously gives us momentum and creates flow.
Flowing in a boat, down a river, creates movement automatically as gravity pulls us. In climbing, going against gravity, we need to create movement intentionally. Continuous climbing creates intentional movement that focuses our attention in the moment. The force of our intent and the force of gravity work together. We blend gravity, climbing along the path of least resistance, with an intent to climbing continuously. Doing this lets us flow up a climb.
Practice Tip: Blending with gravity
Recovering energy: When you rest at climbing stances, relax down onto your feet. This will be a continual process. So, constantly relax your grip and lower your heels. While resting, look up and identify the path of least resistance between where you are now and your next stopping point.
Applying energy: When you move between stopping points, climb continuously. Climb a little faster than usual. Doing this will create momentum and help you flow.
First, the force. Gravity helps us know how to move and how to apply our energy. We don’t fight gravity. It’s because of the consistent pull of gravity that we know how to move. Our intent determines how we apply our energy. If our intent is to achieve end results in the future, then we’ll climb differently than if our intent is to apply processes in the moment. Intent gives us a direction for our attention. A process intent focuses our attention in the moment.
Second, energy. We have a certain amount of physical and mental energy. We need to cycle between applying our energy and recovering our energy. We use gravity’s pull to know where to rest to recover energy and how to move to apply energy. If we stay too long in applying our energy, then we’ll fall. If we stay too long in recovering our energy, then we’ll stall.
Third, the channel. We need to blend us and the route. We need to blend while resting to recover energy and blend while climbing to apply energy. Relaxing allows gravity to pull us down onto our feet while resting. We utilize our legs to support us instead of our arms. Doing this allows us to recover as much energy as possible. Then, when we climb, we climb along the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is the easiest, most efficient path between resting points. We also climb continuously. Climbing continuously gives us momentum and creates flow.
Flowing in a boat, down a river, creates movement automatically as gravity pulls us. In climbing, going against gravity, we need to create movement intentionally. Continuous climbing creates intentional movement that focuses our attention in the moment. The force of our intent and the force of gravity work together. We blend gravity, climbing along the path of least resistance, with an intent to climbing continuously. Doing this lets us flow up a climb.
Practice Tip: Blending with gravity
Recovering energy: When you rest at climbing stances, relax down onto your feet. This will be a continual process. So, constantly relax your grip and lower your heels. While resting, look up and identify the path of least resistance between where you are now and your next stopping point.
Applying energy: When you move between stopping points, climb continuously. Climb a little faster than usual. Doing this will create momentum and help you flow.
October 13, 2020
Problem Solving Complexity Solved with Jiu Jitsu
What is the value of Jiu Jitsu for living our lives? One of our trainers practices Jiu Jitsu and recommended this interview video with John Danaher, a New Zealander Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor, as containing important mental training principles.
I’m particularly intrigued by the most valuable lesson he suggests that Jiu Jitsu teaches for life: being able to solve problems under stress. Developing this ability truly does help us live as warriors. With it we can relax into the present stress in a calm way and do what needs to be done.
The short video outlines this value of problem solving under stress.
Check the longer video for more interesting bridges to life, such as what it means to be an effective coach, channeling violence in helpful ways, and the clarity of competition for revealing who we are inside.
Incremental complexity of solving problems under stress in short video: (2-½ minutes)
Solving problems under stress is just the beginning.
Jiu Jitsu problems are problems unlike any other. The problems aren’t static; they’re dynamic.
You’re dealing with a cognizant, thinking opponent who’s trying to defeat everything you do. In other words, the problem changes every second. The solution you thought would work in one moment, doesn’t work in the next moment.
Not only do you have to solve problems, but you have to solve them at a faster rate than your opponent is solving the problem you’re presenting to them.
I’m particularly intrigued by the most valuable lesson he suggests that Jiu Jitsu teaches for life: being able to solve problems under stress. Developing this ability truly does help us live as warriors. With it we can relax into the present stress in a calm way and do what needs to be done.
The short video outlines this value of problem solving under stress.
Check the longer video for more interesting bridges to life, such as what it means to be an effective coach, channeling violence in helpful ways, and the clarity of competition for revealing who we are inside.
Incremental complexity of solving problems under stress in short video: (2-½ minutes)
Solving problems under stress is just the beginning.
Jiu Jitsu problems are problems unlike any other. The problems aren’t static; they’re dynamic.
You’re dealing with a cognizant, thinking opponent who’s trying to defeat everything you do. In other words, the problem changes every second. The solution you thought would work in one moment, doesn’t work in the next moment.
Not only do you have to solve problems, but you have to solve them at a faster rate than your opponent is solving the problem you’re presenting to them.
October 8, 2020
A River Flows Through It
The New York Times published an article recently about a study two college professors did on motivation. They studied extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and found that intrinsic motivation is the most effective. They also found that a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation was not as effective as intrinsic motivation alone. This is essentially what we discovered in the last lesson. By developing the third freedom, the freedom to be our authentic self, we connect with intrinsic motivation.
Motivation is defined as a need, desire, or condition of being eager to act or work. “Work” is an important part of this definition because work is stressful. Motivation needs to move us willingly in the direction of work and stress. We must be eager to be in stress, not at a comfortable end result. We climb because we’re eager to be in the stressful climbing experience, not at the top where the climbing experience is finished. When we’re motivated intrinsically, the hard work of stressful climbing takes on a nature of play.
There are three parts of intrinsic motivation manifesting itself: a force, energy, and a channel through which the force directs the energy to flow. The metaphor of a river can help us understand this relationship. When we think of a river we may think of water flowing. Actually, a river consists of a river bed (channel), water (energy), and gravity moving the water (force). The river bed directs the water’s flow, water is the energy flowing through the river bed, and gravity is the force causing the water to flow.
There’s a symbiotic relationship between the river bed and the water. The river bed adapts to how the water flows through it and the water flows how it’s being directed by the river bed. The river bed has a certain structure that directs the water’s flow, but it also allows itself to be moved as the water does work, eroding its edges and depth. Likewise, the water allows itself to flow through the structure of the river bed, but also does subtle work to modify the river bed.
The water doesn’t have a goal of reaching the ocean; it surrenders and allows gravity to pull it through the river bed, along the path of least resistance. The river bed doesn’t resist how or where it’s being eroded. It surrenders and allows the water to flow and do work. The work that the water does is not seen as something to be avoided. Rather, it’s the opposite. Work is seen as easy because water is going the easiest way, through the channel, along the path of least resistance. If we build a dam on the river we limit the flow of water and make the river weak. Remove the dam and the flow of water is restored, making the river strong again. Water is aligned with the universal law of energy, following the path of least resistance through the work of eroding the river bed.
Now let’s use this metaphor to understand intrinsic motivation. We consist of our body/mind (river bed), our life purpose (water), and the force of intent (force of gravity). Our body/mind is the channel through which we live our lives. Our life purpose is the energy that wants to flow through us, and intent is the force causing our energy to flow. The universe has an overall intent to grow and expand, of which we are a part. That intent manifests itself within each of us as a unique life purpose, which provides us with a vehicle for us to grow and expand.
There’s a symbiotic relationship between our body/mind and our life purpose. Our body/mind adapts to how our life purpose wants to flow and our life purpose flows how it is being directed by our body/mind. Our body/mind has a certain structure (our physical body and our mental mind) that directs (or impedes) our life purpose, but our body/mind also allows itself to learn as our life purpose does work, changing us. Likewise, our life purpose allows itself to flow through the structure of the channel, our body/mind, but also does subtle work to change us based on being moved by the force of intent.
Let’s say our life purpose is “climbing.” If we’ve lost an arm due to an accident, then our physical body will impede our “climbing” life purpose. If we’ve been conditioned by society to believe that climbing is dangerous, then our mental mind will impede our “climbing” life purpose. These physical and mental limitations are obstacles, like dams on our river, that impede universal intent, and our life purpose, from manifesting itself through us.
If we surrender, by letting go of externally imposed goals, and accept the situation as it is, we allow universal intent to flow through us. We don’t resist how we’re being directed by intent. We accept and allow our life purpose to flow so our body/mind can do the required work. Recall that “accepting” and “allowing” were two important aspects we found in our last lesson for creating the freedom to be our authentic self.
When we’ve clarified our life purpose and eliminated our social conditioning, then intent can flow through our body/mind unimpeded. Intrinsic motivation, in essence, is having this alignment. It begins internally, with the universal intent to expand and grow. Intent manifests itself as our unique life purpose, which is expressed externally through the body/mind. Extrinsic motivation is the reverse. It uses end results in the external world to influence our life purpose and intent.
We can’t push the river to motivate it. If we build a dam to push against the water, the flow will diminish. Yet, the force of gravity is still there. If we remove the dam we allow gravity to move the water again, along the path of least resistance. Likewise, we can’t push ourselves to be motivated. If we don’t feel like climbing, then goals like climbing 8a will have limited effect to motivate us. If we create external goals to push us, we diminish our connection with our life purpose and the flow of intent. We must remove the external goals (dams) to allow intent to move our life purpose again.
Any life purpose is stressful because it requires us to grow and expand, to work. Remember, motivation needs to move us willingly in the direction of work and stress. We must be eager to do work. If we’re doing something that interests us and grabs our attention then we’re moving in the direction of our life purpose. Being aligned with our life purpose helps us deal with the pleasure/pain motivation issue, moving toward pleasure and away from pain. Our attention is easily focused on the stressful work because we equate it with pleasure. Work has taken on a sense of play. Stressful work is being done in a non-stressful way. We’re pulled into work because we want to be there. Then, once there, we follow the path of least resistance to do the work. We’re aligned with the universal law of energy, following the path of least resistance through the stress to grow and expand.
Intrinsic motivation is powerful because it flows freely like water in a river. The flow originates from a universal force, the force of intent. We’re aligned. Then, we live our life purpose and take action to manifest it in the external world. Extrinsic motivation simply puts dams on that river and impedes its flow. All we need to do is remove the obstacles, the dams, and let it flow.
Practice Tip: Feeling Alive
Don’t do anything because it’s good for you; do it because it gives you a feeling of being alive. Doing something that is “good” for you is an end result motivation. You dislike doing it now, in the present, for a “good” reward in the future. Doing something because it gives you a feeling of being alive puts you in contact with intrinsic motivation. You feel alive when your attention is engaged fully in the present moment.
What makes you feel alive? Chances are it’s anything that captures your interest and attention. Identify one or two interests and then do them today. If you practice doing what makes you feel alive, then you’ll connect with your life purpose. This will take time, so be patient.
Motivation is defined as a need, desire, or condition of being eager to act or work. “Work” is an important part of this definition because work is stressful. Motivation needs to move us willingly in the direction of work and stress. We must be eager to be in stress, not at a comfortable end result. We climb because we’re eager to be in the stressful climbing experience, not at the top where the climbing experience is finished. When we’re motivated intrinsically, the hard work of stressful climbing takes on a nature of play.
There are three parts of intrinsic motivation manifesting itself: a force, energy, and a channel through which the force directs the energy to flow. The metaphor of a river can help us understand this relationship. When we think of a river we may think of water flowing. Actually, a river consists of a river bed (channel), water (energy), and gravity moving the water (force). The river bed directs the water’s flow, water is the energy flowing through the river bed, and gravity is the force causing the water to flow.
There’s a symbiotic relationship between the river bed and the water. The river bed adapts to how the water flows through it and the water flows how it’s being directed by the river bed. The river bed has a certain structure that directs the water’s flow, but it also allows itself to be moved as the water does work, eroding its edges and depth. Likewise, the water allows itself to flow through the structure of the river bed, but also does subtle work to modify the river bed.
The water doesn’t have a goal of reaching the ocean; it surrenders and allows gravity to pull it through the river bed, along the path of least resistance. The river bed doesn’t resist how or where it’s being eroded. It surrenders and allows the water to flow and do work. The work that the water does is not seen as something to be avoided. Rather, it’s the opposite. Work is seen as easy because water is going the easiest way, through the channel, along the path of least resistance. If we build a dam on the river we limit the flow of water and make the river weak. Remove the dam and the flow of water is restored, making the river strong again. Water is aligned with the universal law of energy, following the path of least resistance through the work of eroding the river bed.
Now let’s use this metaphor to understand intrinsic motivation. We consist of our body/mind (river bed), our life purpose (water), and the force of intent (force of gravity). Our body/mind is the channel through which we live our lives. Our life purpose is the energy that wants to flow through us, and intent is the force causing our energy to flow. The universe has an overall intent to grow and expand, of which we are a part. That intent manifests itself within each of us as a unique life purpose, which provides us with a vehicle for us to grow and expand.
There’s a symbiotic relationship between our body/mind and our life purpose. Our body/mind adapts to how our life purpose wants to flow and our life purpose flows how it is being directed by our body/mind. Our body/mind has a certain structure (our physical body and our mental mind) that directs (or impedes) our life purpose, but our body/mind also allows itself to learn as our life purpose does work, changing us. Likewise, our life purpose allows itself to flow through the structure of the channel, our body/mind, but also does subtle work to change us based on being moved by the force of intent.
Let’s say our life purpose is “climbing.” If we’ve lost an arm due to an accident, then our physical body will impede our “climbing” life purpose. If we’ve been conditioned by society to believe that climbing is dangerous, then our mental mind will impede our “climbing” life purpose. These physical and mental limitations are obstacles, like dams on our river, that impede universal intent, and our life purpose, from manifesting itself through us.
If we surrender, by letting go of externally imposed goals, and accept the situation as it is, we allow universal intent to flow through us. We don’t resist how we’re being directed by intent. We accept and allow our life purpose to flow so our body/mind can do the required work. Recall that “accepting” and “allowing” were two important aspects we found in our last lesson for creating the freedom to be our authentic self.
When we’ve clarified our life purpose and eliminated our social conditioning, then intent can flow through our body/mind unimpeded. Intrinsic motivation, in essence, is having this alignment. It begins internally, with the universal intent to expand and grow. Intent manifests itself as our unique life purpose, which is expressed externally through the body/mind. Extrinsic motivation is the reverse. It uses end results in the external world to influence our life purpose and intent.
We can’t push the river to motivate it. If we build a dam to push against the water, the flow will diminish. Yet, the force of gravity is still there. If we remove the dam we allow gravity to move the water again, along the path of least resistance. Likewise, we can’t push ourselves to be motivated. If we don’t feel like climbing, then goals like climbing 8a will have limited effect to motivate us. If we create external goals to push us, we diminish our connection with our life purpose and the flow of intent. We must remove the external goals (dams) to allow intent to move our life purpose again.
Any life purpose is stressful because it requires us to grow and expand, to work. Remember, motivation needs to move us willingly in the direction of work and stress. We must be eager to do work. If we’re doing something that interests us and grabs our attention then we’re moving in the direction of our life purpose. Being aligned with our life purpose helps us deal with the pleasure/pain motivation issue, moving toward pleasure and away from pain. Our attention is easily focused on the stressful work because we equate it with pleasure. Work has taken on a sense of play. Stressful work is being done in a non-stressful way. We’re pulled into work because we want to be there. Then, once there, we follow the path of least resistance to do the work. We’re aligned with the universal law of energy, following the path of least resistance through the stress to grow and expand.
Intrinsic motivation is powerful because it flows freely like water in a river. The flow originates from a universal force, the force of intent. We’re aligned. Then, we live our life purpose and take action to manifest it in the external world. Extrinsic motivation simply puts dams on that river and impedes its flow. All we need to do is remove the obstacles, the dams, and let it flow.
Practice Tip: Feeling Alive
Don’t do anything because it’s good for you; do it because it gives you a feeling of being alive. Doing something that is “good” for you is an end result motivation. You dislike doing it now, in the present, for a “good” reward in the future. Doing something because it gives you a feeling of being alive puts you in contact with intrinsic motivation. You feel alive when your attention is engaged fully in the present moment.
What makes you feel alive? Chances are it’s anything that captures your interest and attention. Identify one or two interests and then do them today. If you practice doing what makes you feel alive, then you’ll connect with your life purpose. This will take time, so be patient.
September 23, 2020
Three Types of Freedom
How much freedom do we have to direct our lives? Our understanding of freedom can give us insight into what motivates us so we can direct and move our lives toward what we desire. There are three types of freedom. The first kind of freedom is “freedom from,” a freedom from the constraints of society. Second, is “freedom to,” a freedom to do what we want to do. Thirdly, there is “freedom to be,” a freedom, not just to do what we want, but a freedom to be who we were meant to be.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the eighteenth century French philosopher, observed that “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” These chains are oppressive societal rules that restrict what we can physically do. But they are also mental chains, chains that restrict what we believe we can do. These are the chains of social conditioning, the values society projects onto us. We feel we have no power to move ourselves in the direction we want to go in our lives. Rather, we feel we’re moved by society, moved by whatever society deems valuable.
We may want to climb, but if society tells us “it’s crazy and dangerous,” we don’t. We’re moved away from climbing by reacting to a conditioned societal value. If we remain unconscious we’ll only gain freedom if society removes the rules, or if someone removes our social conditioning. That never happens. The removal comes from an internal shift within us. We achieve “freedom from” when we wake up and realize we are more valuable than society’s values or our conditioning.
The second freedom, “freedom to,” emerges after we’ve achieved “freedom from” society’s values and begin creating our own. If we value climbing, then we go climbing regardless of society’s crazy and dangerous labels. We’re moved, not by society, but by our values. This is a big step forward, but it tends to manifest itself through our ego. We are moved toward what we experience as easy, comfortable and pleasurable, and moved away from what we experience as hard, stressful and painful. In other words, we’re motivated toward pleasure and away from pain. This manifests itself unconsciously as striving for end results, which are realized after the stressful climbing experience.
The third freedom, “freedom to be,” emerges when we develop more consciousness. We need to move beyond an egoistic approach to life, and how we’re motivated. We need to be the mover of our own life, moved by the universe. Being moved by the universe is surrendering to our own unique purpose for being here. If we can tap into that, then we live an authentic life, moved by a force greater than ourselves.
A big part of accomplishing this level of freedom has to do with accepting and allowing. We accept our current state and allow whatever is happening, whether pain or pleasure, stress or comfort, hard or easy. Accepting and allowing don’t focus on end results; rather they are processes. Therefore, a shift to this third freedom requires a shift from end results to processes.
Krishnamurti, the philosopher from India, once expressed his ultimate insight as: “I don’t mind what happens.” If a pleasurable, comfortable, easy experience comes into our lives, we accept and allow it. If a painful, stressful, hard experience comes into our lives, we accept and allow it. There is no resistance to what is. Resistance distracts our attention from the situation, with an emphasis of seeking comfort. This process of accepting and allowing provides many situations for developing awareness and self knowledge. We relax into the stress so we can be attentive and learn from it. We begin to find the truth of our being, who we are, and our purpose. This truth can then set us free.
“Freedom to be” is a freedom where the chains of society are cast off, the veil of the ego is removed, and our authentic being can reveal itself. Once we reach this kind of freedom, our motivation becomes truly intrinsic. Energy can then flow unimpeded from the universe, through us and into our experience. Intrinsic motivation is powerful because it engages us in pleasure and pain equally. We do stressful climbing because there’s nowhere else we’d rather be. If we love climbing, then we know that to live the life we want, to have the freedom to be who we authentically are, we must climb. Reaching this level of freedom is no small feat, especially living in a society with plenty of rules and conditioned values. When we reach this level of freedom we live in society, but we’re not moved unconsciously by it. We’re part of the world, but not of it.
Practice Tip: Accepting and Allowing
In order to solve problems you need to be present for them. Accepting a problem as it is, without wanting it to be different, focuses your attention immediately on the problem. Your attention isn’t distracted by being frustrated that you have a problem or wishing the problem would go away. Next, allowing yourself to be with the problem focuses attention on the components of the problem, from which possible solutions can be discovered.
Write “Accept and Allow” on pieces of paper and put them in obvious places so you’ll see them throughout your day. Use these notes as reminders to refocus your attention on accepting the problem as it is. Next, when a problem arises, allow yourself to be with it, to be in the stress of not knowing the solution. You’re now in the fertile ground of a learning experience.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the eighteenth century French philosopher, observed that “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” These chains are oppressive societal rules that restrict what we can physically do. But they are also mental chains, chains that restrict what we believe we can do. These are the chains of social conditioning, the values society projects onto us. We feel we have no power to move ourselves in the direction we want to go in our lives. Rather, we feel we’re moved by society, moved by whatever society deems valuable.
We may want to climb, but if society tells us “it’s crazy and dangerous,” we don’t. We’re moved away from climbing by reacting to a conditioned societal value. If we remain unconscious we’ll only gain freedom if society removes the rules, or if someone removes our social conditioning. That never happens. The removal comes from an internal shift within us. We achieve “freedom from” when we wake up and realize we are more valuable than society’s values or our conditioning.
The second freedom, “freedom to,” emerges after we’ve achieved “freedom from” society’s values and begin creating our own. If we value climbing, then we go climbing regardless of society’s crazy and dangerous labels. We’re moved, not by society, but by our values. This is a big step forward, but it tends to manifest itself through our ego. We are moved toward what we experience as easy, comfortable and pleasurable, and moved away from what we experience as hard, stressful and painful. In other words, we’re motivated toward pleasure and away from pain. This manifests itself unconsciously as striving for end results, which are realized after the stressful climbing experience.
The third freedom, “freedom to be,” emerges when we develop more consciousness. We need to move beyond an egoistic approach to life, and how we’re motivated. We need to be the mover of our own life, moved by the universe. Being moved by the universe is surrendering to our own unique purpose for being here. If we can tap into that, then we live an authentic life, moved by a force greater than ourselves.
A big part of accomplishing this level of freedom has to do with accepting and allowing. We accept our current state and allow whatever is happening, whether pain or pleasure, stress or comfort, hard or easy. Accepting and allowing don’t focus on end results; rather they are processes. Therefore, a shift to this third freedom requires a shift from end results to processes.
Krishnamurti, the philosopher from India, once expressed his ultimate insight as: “I don’t mind what happens.” If a pleasurable, comfortable, easy experience comes into our lives, we accept and allow it. If a painful, stressful, hard experience comes into our lives, we accept and allow it. There is no resistance to what is. Resistance distracts our attention from the situation, with an emphasis of seeking comfort. This process of accepting and allowing provides many situations for developing awareness and self knowledge. We relax into the stress so we can be attentive and learn from it. We begin to find the truth of our being, who we are, and our purpose. This truth can then set us free.
“Freedom to be” is a freedom where the chains of society are cast off, the veil of the ego is removed, and our authentic being can reveal itself. Once we reach this kind of freedom, our motivation becomes truly intrinsic. Energy can then flow unimpeded from the universe, through us and into our experience. Intrinsic motivation is powerful because it engages us in pleasure and pain equally. We do stressful climbing because there’s nowhere else we’d rather be. If we love climbing, then we know that to live the life we want, to have the freedom to be who we authentically are, we must climb. Reaching this level of freedom is no small feat, especially living in a society with plenty of rules and conditioned values. When we reach this level of freedom we live in society, but we’re not moved unconsciously by it. We’re part of the world, but not of it.
Practice Tip: Accepting and Allowing
In order to solve problems you need to be present for them. Accepting a problem as it is, without wanting it to be different, focuses your attention immediately on the problem. Your attention isn’t distracted by being frustrated that you have a problem or wishing the problem would go away. Next, allowing yourself to be with the problem focuses attention on the components of the problem, from which possible solutions can be discovered.
Write “Accept and Allow” on pieces of paper and put them in obvious places so you’ll see them throughout your day. Use these notes as reminders to refocus your attention on accepting the problem as it is. Next, when a problem arises, allow yourself to be with it, to be in the stress of not knowing the solution. You’re now in the fertile ground of a learning experience.
