The Rock Warrior's Way Quotes

“Remember, your highest goal is learning, and only in action does true, experiential learning occur. This is what you climb for.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Success and failure do not exist in the present, only effort and action exist.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Why do you seek out a challenging climb? Climbing achievements matter little in the grand scheme of things. They don’t create world peace, send your children through college, or even make you a “better” person. The learning that can take place in the process of your climbing achievements is what matters. Climbing can challenge you to the core, which is valuable and allows you to learn about yourself and expand your possibilities. You dig deep on a climb, gain self-knowledge, and apply that self-knowledge—that power—to any situation. If a climb you expected to be difficult proves to be easy and doesn’t challenge you, then it loses most of its benefit. Remember the importance of feeling challenged.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Climbing through a challenging section of rock can resemble conversation. In conversation many people stop listening to what’s being said. Their attention becomes focused on why they agree or disagree with some early remark. They plan ahead to what they’ll say next, even though their remark will probably be out of context at that time. They end up channeling their energy into defending their old set of beliefs instead of being open to the possibility of learning something new from the speaker.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Authentic self-worth comes from an internal value system, not from simple achievement. Self-worth comes from the positive results of your effort. You may have learned something about yourself or gained the experiential confidence to attempt more difficult challenges. These effects are genuinely valuable. The achievement itself, however, is no reason for an elevated sense of self-worth. You might not have learned anything from your “success,” or you could have learned something equally valuable by not meeting your objective. Here’s the complete scenario for performance-oriented self-worth: If you have a string of weak performances, you’ll be down on yourself in general, creating a destructive downward spiral. If you climb well half the time, you’ll be the passive recipient of reward half the time, and of punishment the other half. If you manage to climb well all the time, you’ll get the dubious reward of becoming an egomaniac with a precarious self-image, destined for a crash. You can look forward to an old age spent in endless rehash of past days of glory. If you think about it, no matter how well you climb, tangling up your self-worth with your performance is a lose-lose situation.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Așteaptă-te să fii pus la încercare și să înveți.”
”Gândurile despre... (lipsuri)... nu fac decât să ascundă realitatea, să ne devieze atenția și să ne facă înaintarea mai dificilă. În loc să regretăm ceea ce nu avem, putem să ne îndreptăm atenția spre recunoștința pentru ceea ce avem. Aceasta ne dă putere.”
”Simțindu-ne bogați, suntem gata să dăm – să dăm ce este mai bun în noi. Acest mod de gândire ne dă putere.”
”Acceptă călătoria. Fii împăcat pe parcursul ei. Privește-o. Atunci când poți fi una cu dificultățile și haosul, atunci o vei transcende. Parcurge-ți calea, observând, fiind atent, învățând și crescând prin înțelegerea a cine ești și a ceea ce este posibil pentru tine. Abordată în felul războinicului, stânca te va învăța.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers

“As we accept these responsibilities, we grow to accept a great truth: life is difficult. Once we fully accept difficulty as natural and normal, we cease to be offended or daunted when we encounter a struggle or a test. We can embrace these tests as opportunities. Difficult experiences are the way we learn, and they also are the way we can appreciate ease. We understand brightness by its contrast to dimness, happiness by its relationship to sadness. By embracing this duality of experience, we allow ourselves to find peace within our difficulties rather than wasting our power on trying to escape them. We”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“4. There are two types of fear: survival and illusory. The former is healthy and helpful while the latter is not. It is important to be able to distinguish between the two fears.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“When you feel distracted or stressed, ask, “Is my attention focused on solving this problem?” or, “What is the opportunity for learning in this situation?” If attention isn’t focused on solving the problem or acting on the opportunity, stop leaking that attention and use it impeccably to deal with whatever is at hand.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Do you love to challenge and test yourself on a difficult climb, or do you simply love the feeling of accomplishment or the praise from your peers once the climb is over?”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Don Juan tells Castaneda that if you live by the Ego, then you can count on being offended or defensive for the rest of your life.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“What I found in my search for meaning was this: It’s our responsibility to create our life’s work in something we are passionate about because that is the most effective way we can create happiness in our life. A life’s work in “that something” is the best path to challenge us and it’s the most effective way to serve others.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“It’s our responsibility to create our life’s work in something we are passionate about because that is the most effective way we can create happiness in our life. A life’s work in “that something” is the best path to challenge us and it’s the most effective way to serve others.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Second, the work is a process, and that process lasts a lifetime. Every time you gain a new plateau, a massif of unrealized potential soars above you. In this sense, you never “arrive,” once and for all, on the mountaintop.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“First, accept that life is hard, and that transforming our life—or our abilities, which amount to much the same thing—is very hard.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Dan Millman councils us that “every act is a deliberate act of will. Even when tying your shoes—tie them impeccably.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“Performance is most easily improved not by adding things, but by removing obstacles. Maybe”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

“A climber arrives, fairly pumped, at a clipping stance on a sport climb. He is ten feet out from his last bolt and very anxious to get clipped in. He’s tense, over-gripping, and out of balance. Gritting his teeth, close to falling, he finally makes the clip—and instantly relaxes. Immediately he finds another good handhold within reach. A sloping foothold he mistrusted suddenly feels very adequate.”
― Arno Ilgner, The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers