Daily Yamabushi

Just slower

Sloths just have to start earlier. They’re still moving. They’re still making progress. It’s the same momentum, just slower.

How prepared are you?

How prepared can you really be? You know the likely outcomes, but not the actual one yet. You can prepare for the likely outcomes, but there could always be a curveball.

How prepared are you? Is it enough? Do you trust yourself to do it right? You should. Do it to the best of your ability in the moment, because nothing can prepare you for everything.

The last thing

When you’ve exhausted all your resources, your energy, your ideas, you only have yourself left to rely on. You only have your wit to guide you. The more times you test your wit, the better suited you are to these situations, but of course there is a limit. As much as possible don’t put yourself in a situation where all you have to rely on is wit, but at the same time, trust yourself and your ability that you can and will persevere. Because you will.

The rest is wit. Wit that you have in spades.

Stay sharp on one side

Tight corners take a special kind of presence, but there’s a trick to it. Keep aware of how close you are to one side, and everything else you do is irrelevant. Stay close to that one side without touching it, and you can guarantee you won’t hit the other side.

Staying sharp on one side gives you all the leeway you need.

Keep the Momentum Rolling

Back at the starting line isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

If you’re back where you’ve been before, it might feel like you’re going in circles, but if you think about it, you’ve built momentum from where you were to get back to the start. If you allow it, that momentum can get you even further than before.

If necessary

Slow, snail’s pace if necessary, but without stopping. That is a million times faster than the opposite.

Do all you can to maintain momentum, even if that means going at a snail’s pace. Then all that’s left is to get started.

Tail’s up

Practice or the real thing, which is the same thing, your tail needs to be permanently in an up position. Ready and rearing to go at a moment’s notice. Permanently on the hunt, permanently like you’re being hunted. Because you are.

Tails up. Tail is up. Where it needs to be.

Muscle Burns Fat

Building the engine means building the muscle that burns the fat. Muscle works even when you don’t. Progress builds progress. But progress requires a start, and continuity. Give it that, and the engine all but builds itself.

Make them good, make them right.

Seth Godin is completely right when he says ‘ideas that spread win’. Unfortunately, this is true for both good and bad or right and wrong ideas too. Your ability to create ideas has zero say on how good they are, but frequency undoubtedly breeds better. Similarly, your ability to not only share them, but have them shared is of utmost importance. Just make them good, and make them right.

Two Hands

Hold two eggs in one hand and you risk one cracking the other open. Hold one egg in each hand and there’s no chance of that happening.

Two eggs. Two hands. One at a time.

Much better

When anybody tries to reach anybody, it falls flat. Nobody has time for that. An empty void calling to an empty void. But when somebody tries to reach somebody, that’s when the magic happens.

When you are somebody, it makes the message much clearer, much more direct. And when you are somebody trying to reach somebody, a clear, direct message is much more actionable.

Are you a somebody? Is the person you’re trying to reach a somebody? Prove it.

End with Motion

You have a desire to change the world. You have a desire to do something different, something that’s never been done before. Take the emotion from that desire, and turn it into motion. Turn it into action, something that changes the world. Something different. Something that’s never been done before. Take that emotion, and turn it into motion.

Build on it.

Trust the system. Trust yourself. Trust what you’ve done in the past, and build on it. The system is the proof it worked in the past. Sure it may need adjustment, but that just shows versatility and flexibility. Two things that make a system that works.

Don’t stop early. Especially when you don’t have to.

Today the car in front of me slowed down before the light had changed to orange. Here we can generally know when the lights are going to change by seeing where in the cycle the pedestrian crossings are. If the lights for the pedestrian crossing are flashing red, or are already red, generally it means you are going to have to stop sometime soon. Only thing is, there are some exceptions. To be honest this wasn’t one of those exceptions, but the car genuinely must have thought they would need to stop, and so they did, even though they would have had more than enough time to pass through safely.

Wait for the orange light. Don’t assume that just because the pedestrian crossings are changing that you need to change your course of action. A red light, for sure. Yellow though? Only ever when it’s safe to do so.

Your only worry

The things you work on. The things you care about. The things you take responsibility for. The things you make an effort for. The things you go out of your way for. The things your measure. The things you try to better.

The only things you worry about.

Three words to describe you

I was watching an interview with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age years and years ago and I remember him saying that you should have three words to describe your endeavor or something along those lines, and one of the words was eerie. That’s about all I remember from that, but it obviously stuck with me.

If you had to have three words to describe yourself, or how you’d like yourself to either be, or to be perceived, what would they be?

Well, I think these three are pretty good: selfless, honest, and honourable.

Selfless because you are doing your best for others to live the good life. You are putting their priorities in front of yours.

Honest, because the opposite is untrustworthy, and when you’re untrustworthy, you don’t deserve anyone to work with you.

Honourable because to be honoured, you not only have to be doing something right, or something great, it has to be something that is beneficial to others.

Because you can

If you’re not built for it, build for it. These days it seems a lot of the world is catching up to the historically strong teams of the world, no matter the sport. Which just goes to show, if you aren’t built for it, you can still build for it. Obviously it’s easier said than done, but when you learn from the best, well, you get better yourself. Not built for it? Build for it.

Time to do the thing

It’s time because it’s time. It’s time to do the thing. Time isn’t going to wait for you, you’re going to have to do it sooner or later, why not now? After all, it’s time.

And You’re Golden

I’m about to start yamabushi training. Here is what I’m thinking:

Yamabushi training is but an extension of my normal life now. It’s nothing special. In saying that, I still get nervous. What if I make a mistake? What if I trip up? What if something completely out of my control happens?

You know what? It probably will.

Something out of your control not happening is the least likely scenario.

And so what do you do to prepare?

The same thing you always do; nothing special.

Your everyday life has prepared you for the mountains as much as it already can. Put your trust in yourself, put your trust in the mountains, and you’re golden.

The mountains are the real test. They tell you whether you’ve prepared adequately or not. They give you hints for how to go about getting ready for the mountains next time. And that’s about it. Because the mountains will come. And when they do, well, you know what to do.

Nothing special!

No one else

That’s who you’re doing it for. That’s who it’s for.

No one else.

Is it the right person? Yes? Then it’s for them. Make it for them. No? Then don’t worry even about it.

The pizza cooks faster

When the oven is warm, the pizza cooks faster. If you don’t want a quick result, don’t turn the oven on. If you do, well, you know what to do.

Is all it takes

It just takes one extra point to win. One extra point than your opponent. One extra point than your former self. If you can just add one extra point, you’re on to something big.

The Naysayers

One hundred to one. That’s probably a fair judgment of the number of naysayers to supporters. The problem is, the naysayers tend to get a disproportionate amount of fuel. To truly put your support behind something takes an equally disproportionate amount of energy, so much so, we take it for granted and often don’t show it to the people who need it. Conversely, it takes just one naysayer to ruin your day, and if you let it, your week.

Easier said than done, but don’t focus on the one in one hundred. They’ve proven that they’re an anomaly, and they should be treated as such. Focus on the 99 who support you. And that’s it. Let them take care of you, like you do them.

From the heart

On a whim and from the heart are the same thing.

The stuff you do on a whim often has more potency. This is probably because it gains from the lack of brain input. Too often we block ourselves from what our heart is trying to say simply because our head gets in the way. If we do things on a whim, sensibly, mind you, we have a great chance of channeling our subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is attached directly to our heart, and is exactly from where our best comes. Trust your gut, do it on a whim, and let your heart shine through.

• this post was heavily inspired by Master Hoshino

At the same time

It wouldn’t surprise me if people were surprised by the range of things I write about. One minute I write about serious stuff like acceptance (Uketamo) or the history of a mountain or something, then the next minute I write about my strange experience at a garage sale in rural Japan, for example. The thing is, both things are true, and both are as playful as they are intellectual. When it comes to yamabushi, really anything goes. We are very serious when it comes to our training, don’t get me wrong, but we are equally serious when it comes to playing. We understand that play is what gives the intellectual substance. One without the other can’t exist. So don’t beat yourself up if you feel like having a bit of a play. Equally, don’t beat yourself up if you are feeling a bit intellectual. Both have their places, and both feed off each other. Take it as it comes, and don’t worry about fitting into either of these categories either. Just do what feels right in the moment, playful, intellectual, or otherwise.

Scary or Otherwise

The foggy path is the best precisely because it is not clear. A clear path is boring and predictable. A foggy path is uncertain and unpredictable. Two things that keep you on your feet. With a foggy path you never know what you will come up with, nor against. And that’s a good thing. Trust your instinct that you will find a way through. Because you will. The foggy path keeps you excited and moving forward. It keeps you from being complacent. The foggy path is exactly that.

Can’t even pin myself

Is it necessary to be pinned down? Do you have to fit into a certain category? Can’t that category just be a category of one? Don’t pin yourself down. You can let others try, but know it has zero bearing on how you pin down yourself. If you choose to in the first place, that is.

Can’t pin me down. Don’t even try.

And letting things be

Things that take bandwidth are going to take bandwidth. Don’t add your thoughts and judgments to make it worse than it needs to be. Some things take up more bandwidth than we’d like. Some things taking up any bandwidth at all can feel overwhelming.

Let them do their thing. Don’t give them any more bandwidth than is necessary. Let things be, and let them take care of themselves without excessive worry on your behalf.

Climb it first

Climb the highest mountain first. That’s the real low lying fruit. The highest mountain means anything else is easier to get to. You gain from having that initial fresh energy, and then you can just let momentum, and gravity, do its thing.

Happens when you’re on the hook

On the hook. In the deep end. Under pressure. All important in getting the best out of you. All there for the cause. Your best work happens when you have no safety net, and nothing to fall back on. What’s stopping you from doing your best work? What’s helping you do your best work? And should you do more of it?