Face Your Fears

 Hey guys,


I hope everyone is happy and healthy.


Time to fess up guys. I am not feeling well, cold like symptoms. I know I need to do it, take the Covid test. To be honest I have been avoiding it.


As luck would have it, I was learning about avoidance today with regards to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). You know those dark and scary thoughts and emotions we don’t like thinking about? The ones we have avoided since whatever trauma has occurred for you to create a negative coping mechanism?


I am learning that what we avoid erodes our confidence. If we never face our fears and mistakes we will never learn that we have the grit to face ourselves eye to eye. Is it easy? No, you are the strongest enemy you’ll ever have. Is it worth it? If your fears and insecurities are keeping you from the life you want, yes it is worth it.


Be well, 

Have fun,

Take care,

Be safe,


Sensei Mike 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shena Board, DIY build and basic demonstration

The shena board is a length of board raised off the ground by wooden feet. It has been used since ancient times by Persian warriors to assist and give greater variety with push ups and continues to be used by people who practice Pahlavani. This practice uses Persian meels (heavy clubs), wooden shields, metallic archery bows and shena boards. There is also the practice of spinning in circles, where we get the term whirling dervishes from. The exercises performed are done to drumming and chanting which provides instructions to the practitioners and a calm/meditative environment. Shena means ‘swimming’ in Persian. Which describes the tone of the exercise, fluid, wave-like and circular motions. The board provides a stable platform which allows for greater leverage, better range of motion, variety of movement and is easier on the wrists. Materials: - saw - drill - 3 drill bits (1 smaller for pilot holes, 1 larger for countersinking and 1 to screw in the screws) - 4  4 1/2” woo...
Read more

Stoicism

Early on in my service in Corrections I thought I had adopted a Stoic 'Stiff Upper Lip Attitude' philosophy. I would take those stressors, pay them no mind and push them aside. However, to be precise, I thought I was pushing those stressors aside, what I was actually doing was tossing those pieces of trash into a mental closet. Eventually the trash had overrun the closet, filled my metaphorical house and threatened to bring down the structure. Two years ago, after I started my recovery journey, I discovered what real stoicism was. It is an ancient philosophy that was born in Greece. It teaches how to focus on what we have the power to control, our thoughts, feelings and desires. Thoughts; quite often my thoughts would overwhelm me and rouse anxiety and anger. What I learned from stoicism was to take a step back from my thoughts and analyze them. I would take the thought and weigh it against the known facts to see if the thought was appropriate to the situation. When I learned ...
Read more

Meditation

I remember being told by more than a few people "you should meditate, it will help". I would try it but found it ineffective. What I came to discover was that I had not learned how to meditate. I didn't understand what it meant to "focus on your breath". I had to learn what to do with the thoughts constantly bombarding my mind and distracting me from focusing on my breathing. When I think back to all those times that I sat and tried "focusing", I have to conclude that I did not understand what focus really was. At one of the scariest moments in my life a kind nurse whispered something in my ear that sparked my education in meditation. "Download Headspace, it's an app." Thankfully I took her advice. Headspace has become a major part of my meditative practice. It provided a step-by-step guide to meditation and provided a framework from which to experiment. Meditation is simply focusing on only one thing at a time. You exclude everything els...
Read more