The mind....

I’m back from the Tour of California, and being around such “can-do” people taught me several things.

First, the notion that road cyclist are these small/lean breed of slow twitch fiber endurance man, was somewhat shortsighted. Some of these guys are BIG, 6-2, 6- 4 and over 210 pounds of solid muscle was not rare. I used to think of road cycling, as these “T-Iny” aerobic animals slightly built, that can peddle all day. Sure enough there are few of those types, but now, with cross training and weight training these guys have the thighs (and shoulders) of linebacker’s – With the types of courses they now ride, they need the muscle to generate mega watts of power needed to climb the steepest of mountains quickly.

During a ridiculously hilly 15 mile time trial in Solvang, Ca, 107 cyclists attacked the course with the intensity of a rabid dog. This course had multiple hills with better than 12 per cent grades, steep switch backs, and curves that even made my stomach turn while we were driving the course in our Ford Expedition. The top riders averaged a little over 30 miles per hour (the average speed of the 107 cyclist was 27 miles per hour). Sure there were step down hill stretches, but really, 30 miles per hour on hills, you can only imagine what those riders could do on our flat lands.

The second thing and probably the most gratifying thing I observed was the attitude of all the people I worked with, not just the folks that I worked with everyday (the security team) but the entire staff. We were all committed to make something work – no matter the conditions, or circumstances. We all helped to put on an event that the world was watching (for true!) and overcame unexpected challenges.

We ran into situations everyday that fell outside the norm, and the 900 or so people that worked the Tour decided to make it work. We all set our minds to accomplishing something great – and we were successful.

Over the past eight days working closely with all of these people, and having the privilege of observing these highly trained athletes made several light bulbs go off in my head.

Often we collectively look at our world in terms of the limitations that it offers – not necessarily the opportunities. Our mind set is such that these opportunities have multiple limitations attached. It is not uncommon that we base our choices out of fear that some thing might not happen, rather than making a choice out of curiosity or adventure. That each choice or action has guards of curtail at every exit is not reality - or should I say it is reality, but just one of a hundred possible realities.

A small reality is the product of small thinking or a small under developed mind. I did not see that at the Tour… I saw athletes taking opportunities, reaching back and making choices, not out of fear that something bad would happen, but rather the fear if they didn’t go after it they would not achieve.

Please know this: all monsters and demons, demigods and every demiurge come from the mind. The weak body, the shit job, the poor wage and the putrid future; come from the mind as well. Bullies, bad men and ugly folk, trace them back and you will find that they all stem from the mind.

The villain the vicious the vapid and the vainglorious, are rotten apples that have fallen from the mind tree.

Depression comes from the mind.

So does the vanquished and the hemmed-in and the haggard.

The mind is responsible for all.

Don Juan Matus said “that our reality is but a single room in a house of a hundred rooms and with training we could learn to access the other 99, in fact with training we could actually get out of the house”.

The 100 realties come from the mind.

The house comes from the mind.

The realities outside the house, they all come from the mind.

But the mind is controlled by a gargoyle. The gargoyle is called ego, and ego likes to feast on sense gluttony, it spoils on excesses and it thrives on limiting beliefs, doubt and blame.

And small realities.

It (the ego) likes small "safe" realities. We choose not to risk, because of what terrible thing might happen, rather than what could happen that would get us closer to our goal.

The ego comes from the mind.

So train the mind in the art of austerity and self discipline, they are the anti-thema of ego - its harbinger of doom.

Foster moderation, adopt self control, give birth to integrity and hard work and you will be shocked how quickly you will reach your goal(s).

Once you control the mind you become the architect of all that comes from the mind.

Because….everything comes from the mind.

Glad I'm back, Til next time.....