I love the Twenties! I’ve been pretty jacked up since the start of this new decade. My recent posts on the power of thinking and mindset have unleashed a wave of energy and creativity in me that I’ve never experienced. This is not hyperbole. Even when I get smacked down with life, I’m back up quickly. Upon further reflection, I’d like to share three, three-pillar frameworks. One of these is borne from the despair of a concentration camp, one from The Iceman, and one from your author.
One thing that slows me down and creates spirals of procrastination is my physical self. Physical stamina and high levels of energy are required for the world's highest performers. Mental energy is your most valuable commodity. How then to find more significant levels of these fundamental elements. Enter Wim Hof, The Iceman.
I’m always trying new things. It usually takes three touches with something before I say, “OK, you got me.” It was on a Life Mastery Community Call with my colleague and friend Charly Caldwell that I’d heard of Win for the third time (Here's Charly!) OK! That’s it. Let's go!
Wim believes in three pillars to achieve heightened levels of stamina, personal control, lower inflammation, and many other benefits. First is BREATHING. Second is COLD EXPOSURE. The third is the COMMITMENT. Sounds Scary! Let’s do this!
I’ve started the implementation of the Wim Hof Method of Breathing. Specifically, this is a first thing in the morning meditative practice. On my back, I take 30-40 full-body breaths, belly, upper lungs, head, and then release. I do this 3 times each morning. Between each set, I measure my oxygen retention, the amount of time I can lie still, without taking a breath. After the first round, guess how long? I would have imagined 45 seconds. Nope! One minute seventeen seconds. After the second round, 2:47. After the third round, I lay there, on my back, crackling with energy and not taking a breath for 3 minutes and 2 seconds. I feel alive as never before after this practice. I’m hooked. This is your new tool.
Several client meetings on Friday focused on PURPOSE. I was reminded of the seminal work of Victor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Victor Frankl was a renowned psychiatrist. He survived four Nazi Concentration camps and lived to write this book. His survival was buttressed through these three pillars: Pursue a life task (Purpose), Love, Suffer Bravely.
Pursue a Life Task
Nazi guards stripped Frankl of his possessions and confiscated a psychology manuscript he'd been working on for many, many years. After the initial loss, shock and disbelief, Frankl vowed to survive his time at Auschwitz to rewrite the work. He would later publish it.
While suffering from typhus and on the brink of death, Frankl wrote notes for his manuscript on pieces of scrap paper he would find around camp. Any bit of paper. Frankl believed in his heart that the manuscript was valuable, and that he was the only person who could capture his unique perspective. This is something we all can align to when we are considering a large undertaking.
“In the Nazi concentration camps, one could have witnessed that those who knew that there was a task waiting for them to fulfill were most apt to survive.” – Viktor Frankl
Everyone has their “Vocation.” In Catholic High School, Father Rog would teach of our Vocations, but none of us knew what this was. Well, most of us didn’t. So what awaits you, and when will you find it. As your life task, find what I think is everyone's common Purpose. Take the gifts you have been given, no matter how rich or minor, and do the absolute best you can with them. In pursuing this common purpose, we will make our lives one long apprenticeship that prepares us for the task that, in the end, will define our lives.
Love
To Frankl, “love” is the act of seeing the potential in others and helping them actualize that potential. M. Scott Peck in his book “The Road Less traveled” identifies love the same way. Love is creating opportunities for your child; love is mentoring a junior member of your team; love is introducing your friend to someone who can get them a more rewarding job; love is comforting a sick parent, so they can find the strength to live another day. When you lack meaning, find someone you can elevate; aim to make someone else’s life a little bit better. Get so busy helping others you forget yourself in the process. Wow. This is so powerful.
“The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to another person to love—the more human he is, and the more he actualizes himself.” – Viktor Frankl
Suffer Bravely
Frankl endured unimaginable amounts of suffering inside Nazi concentration camps, but he found a way to transcend his suffering by imagining himself standing in front of a group of students in a wellโlit, warm lecture room.
“I imagined myself giving a lecture on the psychology of the concentration camp! All that oppressed me at that moment became objective, seen, and described from the remote viewpoint of science. By this method, I succeeded somehow in rising above the situation, above the sufferings of the moment, and I observed them as if they were already of the past.” – Viktor Frankl
Whenever an unexpected, uncontrollable setback happens in your life, find a use for it. Look at the suffering objectively and ask yourself, "How might this be valuable?" FAIL FORWARD!
When you encounter suffering, use it as an opportunity to display and strengthen your beliefs, values, and ideals, and inspire others in the process.
My own three-pillared foundation borrows one from Victor Frankl and one from Wim Hof.
PURPOSE - MINDSET - STAMINA
Controlling your thoughts is the foundational element here. TO keep control, physical Stamina, and Mental Energy is paramount. In directing your Mindset toward your Purpose, you elevate your desire to create more STAMINA AND ENERGY.
It’s an AMBITIOUS, AUSPICIOUS, DELICIOUS, MERETRICIOUS CYCLE.
PHOTOCREDIT - J Kawski - Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain
