What’s Your Mental Martial Art?

I’m sure we could all benefit from learning how to be a little bit more content with where we are in life.  It’s certainly something I’ve been consciously working on over the last couple of years.  I’ve got a regular job and I live a regular life which means I am fortunate enough to not live in poverty, I have good health, and a good group of people that I interact with on a regular basis.  I’m fortunate and it’s really easy to forget sometimes, so I’m spending time thinking about what mental exercises I need to focus on to maintain my contentment.  In particular, I’m trying to spend more time in a state of gratitude.

I get bored sometimes.  Especially with my job.  I’ve been a Security Guard for 5 years.  As I’ve mentioned many times, as a thinker and writer, being a security guard is valuable because my headspace is all mine when I’m at work.  However, if I let my mind tunnel in on the fact that I’m not learning or producing much, I start to become frustrated with the situation.  What’s become more helpful to think about in recent months is that the time I spend at work actually allows me to build whatever kind of mental skills I want to build.  If I want to repeat a particular mantra all day long, I can do it.  If I want to visualize certain sequences for martial arts, I can do it.  If I wanted to learn a language, I could do it.  Of course, if I want to think of new writing ideas or if I want to edit current articles, I can do it.  Not to mention that I can also do as much stretching and light exercising as I want to.

I’ve got plenty of space and opportunity to craft both the mind and body I want to have.  I’m realizing that for the last 5 years my attitude and self perception have been the main barriers to taking maximum advantage of this opportunity.  I believe we all recognize that substantial positive outcomes are based on consistent action for long periods of time.  I don’t think about just the last 5 years in this regard.  I think about my whole life…

• Before I started dating my wife, I was single for 14 years. I wasted so much time being sad about being lonely.  I think back to how much I could have been learning and building myself with some of that time.
  
• There were certainly times in the military where I could have been reading more and gaining an even better understanding of human psychology  and physiology.  Two things I’m very interested in.  Instead I might have been stewing over something a superior did or watching some movie that was worthless.
  
• Again, 5 years ago I started working in security.  I needed an easy job that paired well with trying to build a business at the time.  But, I’ve spent lots of time worrying about what other people were thinking of me being a security guard instead of thinking about the business I was working on.
  

I have to develop a daily practice of clearing my mind of the filth of worry, anxiety, and self- judgment based on false narratives.  So much of my struggle with being a security guard has been the thought of, “Is this all I’m going to do with my life?!”  In that statement there is a hyper focus on my job title, my income, and how I think other people are judging me.  First off, I make plenty of money for me and my wife’s lifestyle.  I would love to make the money I make now, purely writing my articles and selling books.  That would be amazing.  As far as my title and judgement from others, I don’t spend any time thinking about other people’s job titles because I’m too busy thinking about my own life.  I bet it’s the same for other people.  The frustration I’ve felt with the work in times past is an outcropping of flawed logic and letting my emotions get the best of me.  

Cleaning up our logic.

Orienting our thoughts towards all the good things we have.

Coming up with creative ways to improve how we utilize what we already have.

Being more grateful and telling ourselves to be more grateful.

Reading, watching, and listening to things that remind us of these things.

I’m looking at this process as the Martial Art of my internal world.  So much of martial arts is learning to train certain instincts out of our physical reactions.  For instance, the instinct to close our eyes and pull our head straight back when someone punches at our face.  A trained boxer will keep their eyes open while also moving their head to the side and slightly forward as a straight punch comes their way.  This puts them in a position to counter punch or execute another defensive move in sequence.  In this scenario, gratitude seems like a basic defensive tactic to exercise against the instinct of self judgement and, at times, envy.  My counter attack when I feel moments of frustration at work is to go on offense and think about my writing, martial arts, fitness, and consciously express gratitude for all I have.

Just like any high level martial artist takes time and consistency to develop themselves, it will take time and consistency in exercising gratitude against the moments of boredom and frustration I may feel with work or some other part of my life.  Recently I’ve developed a regular practice of breathing exercises and morning meditation to directly address these issues.  I’m going on offense by meditating on what I’m grateful for, daily. 

What mental opponents do you need to train to defeat?  Anger, Pride, Envy, etc?

What mental martial arts do you need to practice?  Prayer, Meditation, Journaling, etc?

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