Breathe: A Life in Flow

by Rickson Gracie

Uncle Carlos took to finish his meals; he would chew each bite for over a minute, and it would take him more than an hour to eat a small plate of food.

My dad believed that if your mind and will are not strong, you’ll spend your entire life getting carried away by your desires and weaknesses. You’ll spend your whole life paying for things you don’t want.

and death, you can’t reach the next level of performance. Soon I would realize that if I were to dance on the razor’s edge, I might fall off it and die. That was the price of admission.

My insecure state of mind came from the fear of losing. If you fear something that has not even happened, then quitting becomes a form of self-protection. Fear is not the enemy; it’s simply a self-protection mechanism that must be managed.

After much meditation, I realized that I had never really valued time. I thought that I controlled time and could put things off, like talking to my son, until later. After Rockson’s departure, I understood that there is no tomorrow, because life can change forever in the blink of an eye. I needed to do my best every day because it might be my last. I no longer had the luxury of wasted time!

The youngest child sees everybody in the family for who they are and then decides who he is going to be.