Do We Become Our Thoughts?

One of the things that I often lament about my childhood is that I spent so much time watching TV.  It seems like so much wasted time in light of understanding the power of books and reading as an adult.  I was a slow reader (still am).  The time I did spend reading was often on school reading assignments which I was never interested in.  It wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I really developed more of a habit of reading for knowledge and enjoyment.  I’ll talk often about the power of and importance of educating ourselves.  There are so many problems that can be solved with some time invested into a good book on the subject.  

However, I’m beginning to speculate that there may have been some value in my TV watching when I was growing up.  My favorite themes of  television primarily involved sports and action movies (still do).  Jean-Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone were all huge action stars when I was young.  Watching these actors and athletes on TV gave me something to aspire to as a kid.  They seemed fit, athletic, and capable of handling physical altercations… all things that I really wanted to be as a timid overweight kid.  Whenever my favorite athletes were on TV, whenever movies depicted the heroic journey of an underdog (Rudy), or whenever these action stars were saving the day, I would envision myself as I saw them.  I found lots of inspiration in these stories and images.  These were my role models in a real sense.

Something that I think about often is the fact that when I was growing up I never looked at doctors, teachers, lawyers, or engineers and thought to myself, “I want to be like them when I grow up!”  But I always looked at athletes and Hollywood action stars and thought, “I want to be like them when I grow up!”  It was never about fame.  It was always about what I perceived their physical capacities to be and wanting to experience those abilities in my own body.  I was and still am fascinated by the pursuit of physical ability.  Do you remember the Van Damme Commercial with Volvo Trucks where he does the splits between the trucks?

When I first saw him do middle splits in the movie Bloodsport, I remember thinking that I wanted to be able to do it but it seemed impossible at the time.   Especially given how much chronic pain I had in my knees.  Any unique ability with the lower body seemed otherworldly to me.  But know at 42 years old I’m developing my middle split and I’m danger close to having front splits:

Okay, so what’s the point?  I think there is a lot of truth to the idea that we become our thoughts.  In spite of the many challenges of a traumatic childhood and going down a career path of corporate america that was completely antithetical to who I am, I’ve never stopped thinking about being a physical creature.  That meditation seems to have led to 100 pounds of weight loss, becoming a US Army Green Beret after leaving Corporate America, and being more athletic in my 40’s than my entire life.  I have become a real life version of the movies I watched growing up.  Of course, none of this happens without action but it sure seems like the stories we tell ourselves and the vision we maintain are extremely important in shaping that action.

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