Insight

Watching "Good Will Hunting" and realizing a lot of things in my life. I feel the movie has always hit a spot with me. I think that there is a lot of this movie in my life. Not the genius elements of the movie, but more the life growth in it. Damn late night television.

It's been a weird couple of weeks. More in a good way. Spent the better part of the past few weeks analyzing things that kind of through me. I would notice very subtly things in that I was resistant to. It was little things. Not that there are things that I don't want to do and I am indifferent to. More like I am resistant to and I am slightly on the left of afraid of doing it. Not fear just a pull towards not wanting to do it even when it shouldn't make a difference. Okay now I sound sort of crazy. Oh well.

Things that I am slight resistant to:

-Submerging myself in freezing water (conquered)
-Fasting with no food or water for 24 hours (to be attempted on Yom Kippur)
-Playing speed chess against the people in the park
-putting together a 1000 piece puzzle
-BJJ Tournaments

Well that's all I could think of for now. Anyhow, some of these might not be specific challenges but just small here and there challenges which I will take on along with the other stuff I will be doing.

Last weeks challenge was to post on eBay. How stupid is that? But I am resistant to dealing with the trouble of doing it and getting ripped off. I had a few bumps in setting  it up and I am only selling some books. Still learning my way around it. I had to get a book and still don't know all the stuff on it. But oh well.

This weeks challenge involves body language. I am doing the program of "You Say More Than You Think" by Janine Driver. After talking to some friends about this, I realize that I come off a little aloof. Some people have said that before they met me I came off as unfriendly. I have to agree. I think it is more shyness than anything else. After reading the book I realized that there are a lot of things that we say subconsciously. Anyhow, it's late, I'm delirious and time for bed.

Much Ado...

Week 21 and 22:


Well last weeks challenge was really weird. For most people it would have been relatively easy but for me it was kind of tough. My challenge last week was to do nothing. Huh Rey, you really lost it now. Now I know that sounds dumb and somewhat of a copout. But not for me. Let me explain.


I was going into last week thinking I should do some rah rah motivational, goal-setting sort of week. Problem with that. That is my normal response. I always do that. I also got injured last week and couldn't move the left side of my body. So I made the decision. Nothing...

I basically  did not go to jiu-jitsu, yoga. I didn't run or workout in anyway. I read only fiction and tv. I was somewhat normal. I have to admit, it was probably the most profound week I have had so far. One day, it was pouring and I spent 4 hours in Barnes and Nobles with a cup of coffee (okay a few cups of coffee) and books. It occurred to me that I was free to make decisions. I wasn't reverting to my normal self and I was coming from somewhere else. Inspiration. And it was also something else affecting me. My lack of trust. The trusting of life. The trusting that life was working the way it was supposed to. I mean, I am always going to be working on something, that is a given. It's just now I let go of outcome (somewhat). I really have to dwell more on last week, because it was more profound than I am capable of putting into words.

Week 22 Challenge:


This weeks challenge comes from reading author Joe Vitale's "The Awakened Life." It comes from the first section. It is to think optimistically. It involves, not thinking like a victim (tough). It means that I can't complain (damn...just kidding). It means reframing things as positive. It means I can't say that this is gonna be a tough challenge, but I get to do something cool for my life. So far, things have been awesome. Technically in the book, the challenge is to not complain for 30 days. I think that's possible. The challenges lie in looking at my life this past week. Reading the book made me realize that I have a victim mentality in certain areas of my life. I guess I subconsciously kind of fell prey to certain ways of thinking. For the next week at least I have to take responsibility for everything that happens in my life, good and bad.

I am also gonna do a few other exercises he mentions because they do sound somewhat beneficial.

Anyhow, it is late and I have had a pretty cool week. I'll keep you up to date in a separate post. Till then...laterrr

Week 19 and what's up for Week 20

So I am late yet again for another blog, but on a positive note I am consistently late. Okay maybe that was a bit cheesy, but then again so is the word cheesy.

Anyhow, this past weeks challenge was to meditate. I was, and to a certain degree still am kinda scattered in all the things that I should be doing. I really needed to meditate and get some kind of focus. Well let me tell you, it was tough. I haven't meditated in a while and it was really tough. Maybe it's due to the circumstances in my life currently. I also feel like I took on a lot of activities and am doing a lot of new things.

As for other areas of my life. I have been doing really well working out as of late and getting some momentum. That is until a few days ago. I have been a bit aggressive in my workouts and kind of put myself out of commission for a few days. I decided to make this week about getting myself healthy again and get more rest and do workouts that are a bit more restorative. I do want to change up this week to a large degree due to the fact that I have been going so strong for a while. Nothing fancy just more rest really. I like to be proactive in life and keep going but I am learning that being proactive is knowing when not to do something.

As for other areas of my life, I was thinking back to what I have done so far this year. I mean to think about it, it is almost the middle of the year (if we make it past judgement day that is... May 21st End of the World Humor). I had lots of flashbacks to some of my prior challenges and it actually felt like something from which I could draw from. Whether I was successful or not, I found that since I did something similar, I would be able to take action in ways I normally wouldn't. I have to admit, it's been tougher as of late and I really have to chose some challenges that push me in different directions. Really the lessons I am learning are about doing different things. If it doesn't work, try something else. That and learning to adapt to different situations. But the only way you can learn to adapt to different situations is putting yourself in a variety of situations. Anyhow, I will post this weeks challenge in the next blog due to that fact that I am losing consciousness. Anyhow, till the next one...later.

Never Surrender...

It has been a while. Seems I am saying that a lot lately. I have been busy doing a half million things lately and trying to get to writing this blog has been a little difficult. First off:

Last weeks Challenge:

Week 17:


Was a health week. I was to do The Egoscue Method everyday. I did pretty much everyday. I did do an abbreviated version though on Saturday. Translation, I did half of it because I felt overtrained. That has been a tendency of mine and truthfully I should work more on my recovery mode (sleep). Trying to find that perfect balance is tough for me. Work in progress I guess.

Week 18:


This week is a tough one for me. I need to get a hold on my finances. This is one I am hoping to keep going on after this week. Finding a balance with my finances is tough for me as well. I kind of have a tendency to get gung ho with it at first and then it falls off by the wayside.

My particular gameplan will include:

-Finding out where I stand (ughhh)
-Tracking my spending
-Use of Tools, particularly Mint.com
-Learning resources...Books I will mention in a latter post

Other strategies will present themselves I am sure. I really do not want to do this but I realize that I have to get a hold on this area of my life.

Making changes in life is hard and like when I am on a diet, I will similarly have to make some sacrifices  this week as well.

The first resource is gonna be a book by Ramit Sethi:

The name of the book is I Will Teach You to Be Rich. He has a blog as well at iwillteachyoutoberich.com. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I guess I will be taking that first step;)

Later

Psychologically Tougher Than I Thought...

Adversity has been an interesting teacher. It's been busy few weeks. I've been in the middle of a few projects and trying to keep up with these weekly challenges. The tough part for me is keeping up with my personal goals while trying to grow with these weekly assignments.

My big fear is not living up to my potential. Actually throwing out things this week reminded me so much of all the dreams and goals that I've had in my life. I found so many things that reminded me of my past. I threw out a lot of junk, but then there was stuff that I threw out that was just tough to get rid of. It's crazy how much junk we accumulate in our lives. But it was the stuff that I didn't throw out that just brought back so many memories. Pictures from my past. Some of the friends that I grew up with. Little mementos that reminded me of good times. I still want to throw out stuff. I guess I already got rid of 50 things, but I want to keep the momentum up and get rid of some more stuff.

Other than that, it's been a good but tiring week. I finished up week 4 of my running program. I also started doing my TRX and I think it rocks. I should put up a review of that product soon. I also am inspired. Some great fights coming up. GSP vs. Jake Shields and Manny Pacquiao vs Mosley. Watching a lot of the training documentaries on them is really inspiring and makes me want to workout LOL.

I realized adversity is what makes me hungry and makes me want to grow. Being comfortable is the worst curse of all. You think everything is alright. You think that there is nothing to do. Time passes and then you see that you are stuck. If you are lost and don't know what to do, you're in a good place. If you are comfortable, you ain't reaching high enough. Later..

Nothing succeeds like failure....

So I know it's been a little bit. I didn't get to post last week due to some interesting occurrences in my life. I probably won't go into it in this blog until things are further revealed but it did affect circumstances in my life to a certain degree. That being said...

The Last of the Samurai:


Was dwelling on the plight of the Samurai. I remember watching the Last Samurai and thinking that it was sad to see the end of an era. In this day and age it would seem that everything is so transitory now. Life changes faster than ever. How does one adapt to such a quickly changing landscape?

What was interesting was that there was a lot to learn from the Samurai. They had been a force to reckon with until pretty much the advent of the gun. Not to say that everything about the Samurai was obsolete. There was much going on with the spiritual and mental dimensions but in the end, the once feared Samurai sword became obsolete. People still practice swordsmanship today but it is highly unlikely that we will be going into battle with swords anytime soon.

Giving up what we know so that we grow into the new is kinda tough. I have to admit, I am pretty stubborn about change. I keep thinking, why mess with what works. But after a while, even that doesn't work anymore.

I've been playing a lot of Starcraft 2 lately online. I'll probably be playing a lot more being that Online Poker has been banned in the US. Yeah, it kind of sucks, especially since I did that challenge a few weeks ago. Life changes so quickly. Anyhow, I have been allowing myself to just think differently about Starcraft. I kind of play knowing that I will lost and look to accomplishing some other objective as a sign of growth. It seems that if you are afraid to lose it ironically seems to make it more likely. I also realize that it's more than just in the gaming world. I have to admit, your ego has gotta kind of develop some tough skin because you have to get used to sucking. I'll play a game and do different strategies while playing. If I become too reliant on doing something a certain way I'll force myself to do it another way. Even in jiujitsu, after a while people will figure out what you are doing. Those who change the quickest seem to keep growing.

That being said, I realize that I am a failure in life. But embracing failure and learning to adapt quickly becomes the only way to survive.

Week 15 Challenge and Week 16 Challenge:


So I didn't post last weeks challenge. I tried learning Spanish. Tried is the key word. I don't consider last week a triumph but then again was I really expecting to learn Spanish in 7 days. Well...I guess I was. I used an app that I downloaded and it pretty much reminded me of high school again. It walked me through a whole bunch of non essential bits of pronunciation and conjugation that I really didn't get into the meat of learning Spanish and that left me a bit peeved. Oh well. No sense in beating myself up.

I guess failure is an option.

For my week 16 challenge I will be getting rid of 50 things. It was an idea from a book called "Throw Out 50 Things". Clever title huh? Anyhow, I figure I need this in my life right now. Life is not only about what you add to your life but also what you eliminate from it as well. You should check out my diet. Anyhow loving this song... I heard it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Later.

Running the distance with a touch of food poisoning...

Playing Catchup:

So it's been some time since I've blogged, this I know. My last challenges were to play poker, or more specifically play 100 games in 7 days. FAIL...oh well, I played 89 games and then was hit with a case of food poisoning. I actually will finish those 11 games to finish it. I gave it a go and did pretty well (meaning I actually made money). 

My last weeks challenge was actually to start a running program. I actually am gonna continue this challenge for 12 weeks. I figured I would make it a "challenge" to get a good start on it. I am actually following the protocol set forth in the book "Run You Butt Off" by the editors of Runners World. It's driving me crazy that my shoulder is messed up because I would like to start lifting again. I actually wouldn't mind doing another round of p90x. But being that the adaptable survive I guess I will stay with what I'm working on now. Namely running, kettlebells yoga and jiu jitsu. And sticking with my diet. 

A great resource for info on working out and eating right (well at least for me) is marksdailyapple.com. I am also considering adding TRX Training via trxtraining.com. I would say I was a solid weekend warrior. I have a ways to go to be a full blown athlete but I would definitely surprise you. One of my goals would be to run a 5k. But enough with that challenge...this weeks challenge is.

Week 14:

Quite some time ago, I practiced a lot of music. Namely piano and guitar. I was working a lot on different things and ended up hurting my hands. I would play in pain and it ended up not being a good thing. Flash forward to today. I still have issues with my hands. Playing pop piano or blues and such has never hurt my hands but ten minutes of classical piano...done. It has been a lot better now that I've been working with the grips I mentioned in an earlier post. Which brings me to...

Learning a Chopin Prelude. Ouch. If you don't know, Chopin is tough. I am picking a Prelude because it is only one page. It's been quite some time and I hope I still have the chops, and I also hope I don't open up a bad can of worms and jeopardize my hands even  more. 

Life Goes On:

Been in a weird head space the past few days. Preoccupied with various issues in my life. I keep getting these moments of insight at various times and it makes me reevaluate various situations in my life in a new light. I guess I allow myself to experience the full effects of the emotions attached and in some ways it can get overwhelming. After a while I am good to go. But resolving the issues attached is not so easy. I guess part of it is comparing yourself to others in life and wondering if how you are living is right. But in a lot of ways, that is a double edged sword. Maybe you are comparing yourself to the wrong people. 

My Hero of the Week: