Thinking Outside the Box

As the St. Louis Cardinals entered the postseason in 2006,

a rejuvenated Scott Spiezio was more prepared for success

than he had ever been. Physically, he had spent countless

hours in the weight room and even more time working on

his hitting and fielding. From a mental standpoint, 10-MT

had successfully prepared him to manage the postseason

pressure.

Spiezio had learned to use centering breaths to control

his heart rate and arousal state. His performance statement,

“See it; short and compact swing,” helped him develop

and maintain pinpoint focus on staying calm, recognizing

the pitch, and then putting a powerful, short, compact

swing on the ball. Spiezio used his personal highlight reel

to train himself to believe in his ability to perform well

under pressure. He had visualized himself being calm,

confident, and successful countless times throughout

the season, which helped lead to his triumph in that key

eighth-inning at bat against the Brewers. To intensify his

work ethic and enhance his self-image, he repeated his

identity statement to himself in his daily mental workouts:

“I put the work in. I am a dominant major-league hitter.”

After defeating the San Diego Padres in the National

League Division Series, the Cardinals were down one

game to none in the National League Championship

Series against the heavily favored New York Mets. In the

seventh inning of Game 2, the Mets were ahead by 6–4

and appeared destined to take a commanding two-game

lead in the best-of-seven series. With two men on base and

two outs, Scott Spiezio once again found himself down

to his final strike with the Cardinals’ season seemingly

hanging in the balance. He had swung and missed on two

tough changeups by Guillermo Mota and was expecting

another off-speed pitch but instead saw a fastball, which

he pulled foul to stay alive.

With Mota keeping him guessing, Spiezio stepped out

of the box to regain his composure. “See it; short and

compact swing,” he told himself as he stepped back into

the batter’s box. The very next pitch, Spiezio put a short,

compact swing on another fastball and crushed it off the

right-field wall. He missed a home run by inches, ending

up with a triple that drove in two runs to tie the game.

The stunned New York Mets were unable to recover, and

Spiezio doubled in another run in the ninth inning.

The Cardinals went on to beat the Mets in a physically

grueling yet unquestionably memorable seven-game

series. Eventually, St. Louis would ride the momentum to

a World Series championship over the Detroit Tigers. The

so-called experts hadn’t given the Cardinals much of a

prayer against the Tigers, who were coming off a dominating

series sweep to capture the American League pennant.

Of course, there weren’t too many people giving Spiezio a

chance of such a career revival, either. For Spiezio and the

2006 Cardinals, numbers could not relate the entire story.

The team did not listen to what other people thought,

because that was not important. What is important for

athletes is to focus on the process of success and what it

will take to reach their goals. The 10-Minute Toughness

workout gives athletes the focus that they need to reach

their potential and beyond.

(From 10-Minute Mental Toughness)

Honor and Courage in the Writing Life

The Greatness of the Warrior does not come only from her strength and daring, her skill with the sword or light saber, or her ability to vanquish her foes. It comes from the honorable way she conducts herself, from her devotion to truth and peace, from the respect she has for others, and from the courage with which she faces battle. To fulfill his greatest potential, a writer must also foster these qualities in himself. Despite the focus of writing classes, excellence in writing isn't only about voice and style. It is also about finding the truest parts of ourselves and having the moral strength never to waver from what we hold sacred. To find that strength, we can look to the warrior as a model and a guide. 

Devotion to Truth

The medieval knight believed that whoever was on the side of truth would win the battle. Even if we must be more realistic today, truth is no less important now than it was a thousand years ago. But if someone asked you right now to list the basic truths you live by, could you answer? Most of us can come up with some sort of response, but it is seldom well thought out or clearly articulated. It takes some work to uncover what we truly believe in, but once we do, those truths can serve as beacons both for our daily lives and for our writing. 

Courage

"Fiction never exceeds the reach of the writer's courage," says Bastard Out of Carolina author Dorothy Allison-and the same could be said for any type of writing. Courage is the first quality we think of when we envision the warrior. Surely it takes great valor to go into battle knowing that death may be waiting for you there. Writing doesn't demand that kind of immense physical bravery, but it does require great moral valor. 

What is so threatening about writing? Many things are. You face the blank page knowing only you can fill it-and only if you slice into your soul. You open the deepest regions of your heart to strangers who have no reason to care. You offer the fruits of your labor, love, and struggle to agents, editors, publishers, and reviewers who will often tell you it is unworthy, feeble, pathetic. You ask those agents, editors, and publishers to risk their careers for your ideas. You face the fact that you may work for years and years without external success. You read the work of others who get published to great accolades-even when they do not write as well as you do. You have to tell everyone who asks that, no, you have not sold any of your five novels or eighteen short stories or eighty-two poems. You deal with rejection, rejection, rejection. 

Writing takes another kind of courage as well. It takes courage to write the raw, unvarnished truth: to expose your most private memories, dreams, and fears; to face up to what is wrong in the world and put it on the page; and to write with utter authenticity. That is why so many of us shy away from anything ugly, sordid, or repulsive in our writing. It is also why publishers' slush piles are full of works that read false-too many of us are trying to stay on safer ground. 

Fortunately, you can learn to deal with all of this fear. This is not to say that you can get rid of it entirely-or would even want to, for a certain amount of fear can be a powerful motivator-but that there are techniques for making it manageable. 

(From Writing as a Sacred Path by Jill Jepson)

NEW: My Twitter Address

You can also follow me on the following twitter address:

http://twitter.com/zekariali

Being or Doing?

I'd like to invite anyone interested to post their thought on being and doing. Which one is more fundamental and essential? Which one should we cultivate first? Which one produces more result? Which one should we cultivate more to achieve our dreams?

Prayer is the Light of the Spirit

Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light. I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the day and night. 

Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God's love, and so make a palatable offering to the Lord of the universe. Throughout the whole of our lives we may enjoy the benefit that comes from prayer if we devote a great deal of time to it. 

Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, mediating between God and man. The spirit, raised up to heaven by prayer, clings to God with the utmost tenderness; like a child crying tearfully for its mother, it craves the milk that God provides. It seeks the satisfaction of its own desires, and receives gifts outweighing the whole world of nature. 

Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God's grace. The apostle Paul says: We do not know how we are to pray but the Spirit himself pleads for us with inexpressible longings. 

When the Lord gives this kind of prayer to a man, he gives him riches that cannot be taken away, heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. One who tastes this food is set on fire with an eternal longing for the Lord: his spirit burns as in a fire of the utmost intensity. 

Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive him as in a splendid palace, and through his grace you will already possess him, his image enthroned in the temple of your spirit. 

(From a homily by St. John Chrysostom, bishop)

Gross National Happiness-Bhutan

Watch this video about Bhutan and its King. Amazing!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXJwNSkdTH0&feature=related

THE SEVEN CENTERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The following is from a classic of the higher consciousness frontier; The Handbook to Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes, Jr. which explains the Living Love system to higher consciousness. 


1. The Security Center
This Center makes you preoccupied with food, shelter, or whatever you equate with your personal security. This programming forces your consciousness to be dominated by your continuous battle to get "enough"from the world in order to feel secure. 


2. The Sensation Center
This Center is concerned with finding happiness in life by providing yourself with more and better pleasurable sensations and activities. For many people, sex is the most appealing of all sensations. Other addictive sensations may include the sound of music, the taste of food, etc. 


3. The Power Center
When your consciousness is focused on this Center, you are concerned with dominating people and situations, and increasing your prestige, wealth, and pride-in addition to thousands of more subtle forms of hierarchy, manipulation, and control. 


4. The Love Center
At this Center you are transcending subject-object relationships and are learning to see the world with the feelings and harmonies of flowing acceptance. You see yourself in everyone-and everyone in yourself. You feel compassion for the suffering of those causht in the dramas of security, sensation, and power. You are beginning to love and accept everyone unconditionally-even yourself.


5. The Cornucopia Center
When your consciousness is illuminated by this Center, you experience the friendliness of the world you are creating. You begin to realize that you've always lived in a perfect world. To the degree that you still have addictions, the perfection lies in giving you the experience you need to get free of your emotion-backed demands. As you reprogram your addictions, the perfection will be experienced as a continuous enjoyment of the here and now in your life. As you become more loving and accepting, the world becomes a "horn of plenty" that gives you more than you need to be happy. 


6. The Conscious-Awareness Center
It is liberating to have a center from which your Conscious-awareness watches your body and mind perform on the lower five centers. This is a meta-center from which you non-judgmentally witness the drama of your body and mind. From this Center of Centers, you learn to impartially observe your social roles and life games from a place that is free from fear and vulnerability. 


7. The Cosmic Consciousness Center
When you live life fully in the Sixth Center of Consciousness, you are ready to transcend self-awareness and become pure awareness. At this ultimate level, you are one with everything-you are love, peace, energy, beauty, wisdom, clarity, effectiveness and oneness.